The last deepavali open house

...oh yes, they are still on.

We went to Delesh's in Bangsar. Nice spread esp the santan apam.Met a few new faces.Razi of some O&G and Delesh's dad's friend dok cerita pasal calculations of the new moon ke hapa.Raya tahun ni lari satu hari from India.

I thought I sat next to this Astro radio DJ but sebab I tak kenal the young ones, tidaklah saya ambik gambar dia but he had a very nice voice..mcm dj kat radio.

BWF - final day

Dr. H and I were inspired by BWF esp while talking with Datuk Zurinah and her hubby (who happens to be Dr H's uncle!) that we agreed to form our own poets' circle with lots of activities eg jamming once a month, workshop retreats esp one at his kg in Kuala Kangsar by the river (ada chan tidur rumah Saniah).We will rope in other colleagues...my own dean was a poet star back in Sudan.Oh syoknya kalau jadi!

Some pics of today's events:

"Asian Face of Islam in NZ" Exhibition

I was invited to the opening of this art exhibition brought by NZ High Comm (the exhibition did well in Indonesia and had travelled quite a bit.You get to read some info about the people behind the exhibition below).

The invitation came long before I realised it would be during our BWF week (it's 2nd day today and I would miss Dina Zaman's talk which would have taken plc same time as the exhibition at UM).

But I had given them my word (the NZ High Comm reminded me many times about the event...even a few days before it!).

I got to meet the young Prince of Negeri Sembilan (the much talked about esp among young people.I first heard of him via Z who met and worked with his org Krash Pad last year for merdeka day..saja jelah dia dan cucu Tunku Abdul Rahman tu...hahaha) But who would blame our young people.Tuanku Bidin (or Abs as he was known when he was a student in the UK..ejaan tak pasti but it sounded like that) IS a charming young man.Very polite and menghormati orang tua and there were two young beauties who were tailing him (as reporters).Semua dia layan baik and not rude or nampak mcm menggunakan kesempatan.Z kata dia tak tau cakap Melayu (he just got back from a long stint overseas)

But the exhibition was interesting.Anjum Rahman was a young girl when I was in NZ was featured in the exhibition.What an achievement! Ran for parliament! Some day she will win, InsyaAllah.

BENL Writers Festival

Day 1 went so well with us having so much fun (the literary circle remained small,though - what is new).I am so impressed by the two presentations done by my MSL groups.The issues they raised were really deep and current.And the confidence generated in answers given...wough..who taught these kids? :))

Prof Muhd Haji Salleh spoke in the afternoon.More laughter.The crowd was good this time.Prof offered a literary meeting at his plc...I think the students should take it and meet other young writers.

I'm set to resign from my CERDAS post.Will send my Dean the letter by end of this month.Sebetulnya saya sudah muak dgn terlalu byk kerenah yang mengada-ngada.Jiwa puitis saya ingin bebas. :))

Read my poems written with Dato Shan, serial piece with Dato Ti, a piece on kasih ibu plus my fav ebola poem.What do you think Haekal? (a self-confessed follower of my blog). Bagus tak the ebola piece?Came off a conspiracy theory I read somewhere. ;)

Well done again to the BWF comm.A great job indeed!

Kak Yah Part 2

So I got Hakim, my nephew on Nik's side to help pi ambik ubat at Pantai since today I would be busy with students' rehearsals for their BENL Writers Festival kicking off besok.

I told Hakim wait for my phone call (the nurses were supposed to call me when ubat dah siap for pickup). By 11 am or so Hakim rang kata dia dah ada di Pantai.Ooo aloh! Then he said nurse tanya ubat apa nak.Itu le ini le.Baru nak ajar dia wht to say he text-ed back kata dah dapat ubat.

It cost him only RM30.Ubat only for 2 weeks.Depa kasi potassium je.Haiyo..tau gitu kita kasi Kak Yah makan pisang je lebih sikit..more natural, kan? Oh well, in two weeks, we might find something else pulak.I hope good things je le.

Prof Alias of RMC dok sms suruh attend dia punya event petang ni.If people ask you more than once, maknanya dia betul2 nak you dtg kan? So dalam panas tu I pun walked to the venue.Kipas spray tu rosak pulak.Ainul and I komplen.Alias suruh Hasnah spray je I dgn air biasa.Nak ke, he asked. I said nak sebab I tengah mengelupor kepanasan ni (mesti madu yemeni ni - kadang2 I take 3 times a day sebab dia sedap).But lucky some techies came and fixed the kipas.I enggan berganjak w/pun disuruh duduk di depan.


So we had a good time catching up with each other's news.Dr CN tunjuk gambar cucu baru dia.Comel gila.Tarik Ramadan is coming again.Kat UM.Lama-lama muak juga dengar all talks dak?

I was going through my newer poems to be read besok.The one on ebola quite cool (biarlah I yang menyatakannya sendiri secara jujur dan telus.Haha).Another protest poem against imperialism.Orang putih suka le pieces like this.Islamic post-colonial feminist, label mereka nanti (mood tengah nak perasan now).

Biarkan! Biarkan!

Kebangkitan semula mahasiswa/wi?

I could not believe waking up to the news that IIUM students berjaya juga berhimpun despite all curbs done (yang membuat jalan keluar sesak di Gate 3... org2 Kg Sg Pusu pun ramai yang menyumpah cos' we clogged their route).

Adakah ini bermakna kebangkitan semula pelajar-pelajar uni sejak taring mereka diikat di  tahun 80an dan 90an? Dare I say I am so proud of them? Berlaku juga missiles antara pensyarah uni lain and team pro-UM on this issue.I can't believe the level of thinking of some people...kalau berkumpul,itu keganasan.Itu mengacau kedamaian.Ayo...depa tak belajar adolescent psy ke? Or menjiwai the objective of teaching and educating youths in this country? Bdk2 ni lagi disekat, lagi dia menjadi2. If I were to have my say, I'd say berhimpun le di padang UIA tu...berpidato le...nak voice out, voice le.Nak Rector and top management receive their memorandum? Ambiklah.Apa susahnya.And nego with them from time to time.Understand where they are coming from.Org tua nak lawan org muda? Terpelanting nanti.Bkn takut.Strategy. :)

We are taking Kak Yah to see Dr Rajbans today.Hopefully ada medication which will work for her.

Part 2

So we took Kak Yah to see Dr. Rajbans at Pantai.I listen to him all the time when he's on Light&Easy and had met him at my Fulbright conference last year.Dia memang consistently baik dan gentle.

I helped explain when Faisal seemed tak reti nak explain after describing the impact of her fall and all.Last-last I told Dr Rajbans we suspected her of having alzheimer's.Dr tanya how old Kak Yah was.60, said Faisal.Bila Dr went through her past medications from UMMC which dah habeh supply for half a year and hence, she stopped taking,Dr. kata she's on thyroid med and sometimes symptoms like wht Kak Yah had could happen if tak ambik meds consistently.We went ohhhh.He said too sudden to have alzheimer's and too young to have it.It would happen gradually bkn mcm ni.

So he ambik darah Kak Yah to check segala.

Once outside the clinic,Nik teased me: tulah pandai sgt diagnose org alzheimer tak alzheimer...Dr.Google, katanya. :))))

We are all relieved Kak Yah belum nyanyuk.Monday sahaja her blood test results keluar and we could take her meds.Lembab juga Pantai ni.Kalu kat Ramsay-Sime, dan-dan tu dapat result.Chit! (siksa nak pi cos' parking sokmo full walaupun bertingkat2 underground).

Ziarah

Today Prof Gayah and I janji jumpa at Ramsay-Sime Darby Medical Centre at Subang Jaya to visit Tan Sri Ani Arope.Dah lama nak visit but I was down with a bad flu.Then my cough came back.But I bought a mask and pakai sanitiser before masuk the ward.

He's not eating and was on fluid diet.His male nurse jaga dia siang malam.Otherwise his mind is very alert.He wants to add a few more articles for the second edition.Gayah is kindly working on that.I dah busy dgn benda2 lain.As we were leaving, Tan Sri hulor tangan (he wore a glove) so I pun sambut cos' my tangan pun dah ber-sanitised.His grip was still strong and he said, masih kuat grip dia.We all laughed.His sense of humour will never go away.I asked Nik if orang-orang zaman lama ni mmg jenis salam kuat gitu.Itu hari one of the veteran writers pun salam kuat.Tiap kali jumpa, tiap kali salam! (dalam satu hari.Mungkin dah lupa).Nik said in Islam mmg mcm tu bila bersalam.But it is also true org putih kalau bersalam mmg dia grip habih.

Oh ok.

Kita doakan agar Tan Sri cepat sembuh.

En Terbos

Entry ini utk Dr Bubbles yang masih di Spain.

En Terbos ni kuat menipu.Serba serbi dia menipu.Entah apa benda yang didapatnya menipu.Satu hari dia membawa satu produk.

Dia pun canang satu kampong: produk asli! produk international!
Disebabkan khalayaknya semua wanita terpelajar (ahaks) di mana deceit was not a virtue and not practised among them, maka En Terbos berjaya menjual ubatnya.Untungnya beribu sekali dia melabun.Wanita terpelajar tu masuk uni sesaja tetapi daya menangkap seorang kaki kelentong tidak pernah diajar guru mereka.

Hari ini apabila saya nak membeli madu yemen grade A, saya teringat En Terbos.Akan tertipukah saya sekali lagi, saya bertanya? Budak di kaunter itupun tak pasti apa yang dijual mereka.Saya tanya bagaimana bisa kamu ingin berjual tanpa ilmu? Terus mereka melabun : ya, ya...kami pernah berguru dgn Harun Din bab madu.

Saya gulung anak mata saya ke atas.Nmpk yang putih sahaja.Oh puhlease..there cannot be too many En Terboses in this world, fikir hati saya.

Saya membelek2 botol madu yang berwarna hitam pekat di tangan.Ada no. telefon si pembekal.Lantas saya telefon empunya diri.Tidak pasti En Terbos atau tidak tetapi dia berbangsa Arab.Saya tanya adakah madu di tangan asli dan bagus.Dia suruh tengok grade jenis apa di botol.C, kata saya.C terbaik atau tidak, tanya si ngok ni lagi (pergi uni sesaja!). Kata En Terbos Arab di telefon..C tarafnya C.Mana A-nya, tanya saya.

Di kedai saya di KLCC.Boleh letak di kedai uni saya? Tidak boleh katanya kerana saya cuma jual kpd datin2 dato2 dan mrk yang kaya (begitu le lebihkurang perbualannya).Sekali lagi putih biji mata saya.Sudah ada unsur2 nak melabun gayanya.

Kami berjanji berjumpa besok di uni.Dia sanggup dtg bawak sebotol madu grade A+.Kita saksikan adegan berikutnya.

Yang nyata madu pertama yg saya beli dari En Terbos asli adalah dari lebah ternak.Warnanya sama dgn madu grade C yang saya pegang yg menurut En Terbos Arab, bukan dari lebah yang bebas menghirup madu bunga liar (grade A)dan dari pokok sidr.Takpalah..sudah termenterai ketika itu wang yg diberi adalah sedekah.Tetapi diharap dia sudah insaf dari menipu.Tidak ada faedahnya kecuali mencari dosa.

Nota tambahan: saya membatalkan pembelian dari En Terbos sebab jumpa madu yang sama yang murah Rm100 dari harga buat dato2 dan datin2.

Botol besar 500g harganya RM160; yang 250g RM85

(warna keemas-emasan)

Puasa Asyura

The ASA gang sepakat berpuasa dan berbuka beramai-ramai today.What they didn't tell me puasa ni kena buat berturut-turut sama ada sebelum hari asyura (9hb) atau selepas (11hb).Nasib I ni rajin men-google maka terbaca la perihal sejarah bagaimana puasa ini jadi sunnah and mengapa dibuat 2 hari berturut-turut dan bukan sehari je.Hai nasib betul I tak menjadi Yahudi puasa sari je! Cikgu tak ajar betul..dia ajak puasa je.

For those yang clueless, meh sini I cerita sejarahnya:

Satu hari seorang Yahudi Medinah dijumpai berpuasa.Pabila ditanya mengapa, dia memberitahu inilah hari Allah beri pertolongan dan selamatkan Nabi Musa dari dikejar Firaun dan bahwa Nabi Musa telah mengamalkan puasa ini setiap hari 10 Muharram.

Rasululullah berkata kita lagi hampir dgn Nabi Musa lantas disunatkan puasa juga tetapi dibuat dua hari berturut-turut agar orang tidak keliru amalan Yahudi atau amalan Islam yang kita buat.Fadilatnya dikatakan akan terhapus dosa2 setahun yang lampau asalkan bukan dosa besar.

I tak ingat if I had done this before.Maknanya tak pernah la tu puasa Asyura.

Z is in the news again (interview was done months ago while she was here for summer).Edge Financial Daily.

Nota tambahan: 10 Muharram juga hari Saidina Hussain dibunuh dan kaum shiah menyambutnya dgn memukul diri tanda kesal dan memperingati kematian Hussain sehingga badan mereka berdarah-darah.Tetapi mereka tidak berpuasa pada hari Asyura so kalau nak tau org tu shiah ke tidak, tengok dia puasa ke tidak on 10 Muharram.Ahaks.

Equal opportunities

So some of us sat all day yesterday on equal opportunities and whether our current kids had that competitive edge compared to yonder years.

Sudah tentu kita tahu jawabannya.So what do we do?
I met a few interesting people - the pretty lady from Medical School, UM, the two datos who felt passionately about pencapaian anak2 muda sekarang and a few Profs yang sudah lama berkecimpung in the educational world. Prof Dato' Dr. Bajunid shared with us the latest from his UNESCO meeting and suggested that teachers' min requirement should be having a Master's.I told him that's fine but if you have an unwilling government to invest in education, what would you do.He said tak perlu duit (aik?) and explained how it could work.I was not convinced.Nothing is free in this world.But he's a warm personality (maklum, an educator). We exchanged cards -  senang le I nak invite dia ke next year's ASA teacher's day celebration gamaknya - if umur pjg. :)

We had good discussions over what we cared most and the people invited were really hand-picked so no wonder, such a chemistry!

Malam tu we celebrated Nayli's and Irfan's bdays. Kak Yah is getting worse, kata Faisal. Gosh, I really think there should be a collective effort to care for her not Faisal seorang.

Today, Yayan brought over baju2 lama my mother for each of us to distribute to org2 miskin.I simpan a couple of pairs for my cucu cicit.Bibik took some and besok I'd give some to needy people at work.The baju cantik2 cos' byk yg anak cucu hadiahkan kpd dia. I remember giving her some from my various travels.Semoga sampailah pahala dari si pemakai kpd aruah.