Pulang ke kampong berhari raya

The excitement of balik kampong dah mula terasa (on the radio). Sedih mendengarnya.We used to be excited too about going back to beraya with Mak and other adik beradik. Sebelum raya pun dah sibuk pack apa yang patut dibawa balik.I usually buy new hari raya set for my mom and tempah cake raya yang beranika gaya. Pastu her baju raya and gifts from my various travels for my siblings, young nephews and nieces.

Tadi on the radio, listening to all this excitement made me want to sob je. Well, I did.Even Ramadan tahun ni pun tak terasa semeriah tahun lalu...ustaz-ustaz pun tak sama dah (so I stop going to do my teraweh at the beautiful surau - tu sebab takda tazkirah Ramadan dah this year).Mek is still in the hospital although better.I see her weekends sahaja but hope she will be able to balik beraya with us.

Tapi baju raya semua dah siap..lucunya tersilap ambik baju which I thought was RM880 tapi tak nampak ada 3 di depannya RM3880. Sapa la nak pakai baju mahal mcm ni. Maniknya berat macam batu sungai!

The Uzbek people will arrive after Raya so there'll be a different kind of excitement and busy-ness.
My FRGS tutup hari ni. Last min entry terkecoh2. Semlm lagi I dah mcm naik hangin when told certain things didn't balance up but nasib my RA cekap juga setting things right and I must thank Hizami for his kindness and Prof Ratna as well for helping out.Now we hope there will be more grants our way.It has been a wonderful experience.Not easy but we did it, alhamdulillah.From Croatia to Spain, we have a few publications, a book and a module printed.Praying for more blessings now.

How good are you with secrets?

I almost choked on my sahur drinks today when Z told me I could not keep a secret for long. How I would be "membuak-buak" to spill the beans. :D I was picking a conversation on this secret with Nik infront of her but her radar picked  it up (I forgot Z ni busybody juga orgnya).I had to tell her I was under oath and would not share it with her.

She said well, I'd give you 10 minutes because I can see you dah membuak-buak wanting to tell.

Haha.

I didn't, OK? Despite her trying - asking me all sorts of tricky questions to get some clues.She said she would need to learn from the moral of the story.I said you never listened to my advice so no point telling you any moral of the story. :))

But by 7.30 am, I had told one of my closest friends! (well...to get her advice to help solve the problem). She gave me a very useful advice which none of us would have thought of. :)

Hopefully, all will be resolved before too long.And I'm still behind 5 surah despite finishing 2 on iPad last night.

Azan Asar

A couple of days ago we almost berbuka early.Like pantang dengar azan...tidak boleh terlewat barang seminit!

Bibik yg announced boleh berbuka cos' her radio dah bunyi azan.As we were about to capai kurma, hubby jerit dari atas saying belum masa.TV lambat lagi nak azan.I looked outside.Cerah lagi.So which radio Bibik dengar ni? Radio Spore ke radio Indonesia.

We found out that it was radio Johor.Mcm joke org yg berbuka awal bila ditanya mengapa, he said azan Asar sama bunyi dengan azan Maghrib! :D Yang ini, azan Johor sama dengan azan KL.When we told Nik, he didn't think it was funny. Haha.

The new guy in my office is very resourceful.He was from everywhere so we worked on the CREAM schedule all morning and much of the afternoon (with Naim, Haslina, Su and Aznili). By the time I drove home, my head was throbbing so hard that I thought it would burst! ).And I have another conference to work on as well.Pengsan gua.

29th anniversary

Syukur alhamdulillah, Nik selamat sampai from his umrah trip - a day early from our 29th wedding anniversary celebration.There were flowers for him everywhere in the house.He just noticed the small bouquet by the bed.Duh! And he even forgot the flowers were also meant for our 29th anniversary.He thought hanya nak sambut dia pulang from umrah...what can I say??

At first we thought of some fine dining tonight.Then teringat betapa membazirnya bayar mahal-mahal tapi boleh makan separuh pinggan je.So we have decided to eat at the surau.Kebetulan malam ni someone is throwing a big kenduri.Haha.Just pretend it's for us.I'll bring in some fav kuih to be shared.Nak bawak lebih-lebih pun tak kena, kenduri orang lain.My first time berbuka di surau ni.

I'll take some pics tonight IA.

Nota kaki: I forgot to bring my phone so no pics.Bibik took some but I do not know how to transfer them here. :)) It was a meaningful berbuka.Some people from the pprt flats were thr.Alhamdulillah.

Bonding with my gal

Z is always busy with work but this week, we spend a bit more time together.Her dad is still away so we have to do the marketing together, sometimes scale bazaar ramadan up and down together or she would drive me to Putrajaya to visit Mek. So last night I belanja her berbuka at Everly in Putrajaya although budget asal kat kedai mamak near Ummi's home (murtabak dia mcm murtabak Spore sedapnya) but she and my maid had been good gals the whole week so kasi special treat la sikit, kan?

Masih ramai orang berbuka di hotel.Penuh! Everly is never known for good food but its Ramadan spread baguslah.Tapai pulut, bubur lambuk, jus kurma, jus limau kasturi, jus winter melon, sirap bandung...just to name a few. Kambing golek..mak oii..I didn't eat much (buffet mcm ni cepat muak) but the tapai and lambuk were good!

Bibik tunggu Mek mlm tadi cos' she demam.The professional nurse we hire jaga dia siang je and on week days.Weekends we take over.Alhamdulillah she is better but still bedridden.

Puasa

Carlotta arrived on Sunday. I told her tahun ni I could not take leave and my weekends are full, looking after Mek cos' we take turn looking after her now so my weekends are out. And I said dia boleh tinggal dua hari je at my house (teruk tak?) cos' I would be working and sibuk nak melayan dia.It's Ramadan.I would like to spend more time doing things I should for Ramadan.But I took her to Taman Tun bazar ramadan.Bukan dia je nak gila tengok makanan dan minuman anika warna.Me also.Mcm tak pernah puasa! The best of Ramadan is also this. :)

She wanted to interview me for her Muslim women project. So we spent all day and part of my evening on this. Sari pun tak lepas ke surau for teraweh. Nik is in Makkah with Mus. So malas nak pi sorang without him. Z and I solat di rumah je.

Just heard that one of the twins berlanggar..habis kereta Mek - total loss.Besarnya ujian Mek kali ni.Semoga dia & family tabah and will sail through this ujian. Sal said it's also a test for all of us.

Alfatihah Muhammad Ali

I heard the news on my morning radio this morning.The Champ died on a Friday.Allahuakbar, the Most Merciful and Compassionate! Mulianya mati seorang mujahid. Not because of drug overdose, heart attack in some seedy nightclub, not in the arms of a prostitute, not drunk...

I cried more than 3 times over his death. I wondered about my over-sensitivitiness.Semi mentioned something about us belonging to his era.I don't get sentimental over such thing easily. I think it's because for a long time I discovered what a genius he was.He came out off black poverty, discrimination and racial hatred. He dreamt big and made it happen.Not without faith in Allah.My god, every time I listen to his interviews, I marvel at his intelligence and wisdom. Read what Muhammad said here:

 "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

and this:

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

US Presidents from Bush to Clinton to now Obama all had honoured him.Clinton gave him the honour to carry the Olympic torch way back in the 1990s. Obama gave him this tribute http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0604-obama-statement-02.pdf

Alfatihah Muhammad. May you meet the other Muhammad (pbuh) in firdausi.

The Defense

All 29 or so of us turun padang to justify or validate our MyRA 5* rating.I started frm home 5 am stg to catch the 6.50 am bus to Putrajaya (malas drive). I thought it would be done by mid-day.Habis pukul 6 pm! Wough...what a long day.

Our bit went smoothly.We had a nice and kind auditor.The other auditors pun baik-baik but a couple of units got into sticky situations...byk juga points kena tolak.Finance turun to 8 million from 21 million. But we still pray that we could reclaim our 5* back after sliding one * last year for MyRA 2014.

The result will be out in 10 days. Some happy pics after a hard day's work at The Everly in Putrajaya (Alamanda is such a boring shopping mall).

MC

Often even if I have a temperature and larat berjalan, I would still go to work. Last couple of days, the cough I picked up the last few days in Uzbekistan got worse and I was groggy and yet I dressed up to go to work after visiting the doc.But Allah tu Maha Kuasa, doc gave me two days mc for conjunctivitis...memang I had to stay at home! And all I did was sleep and rest.But malamnya the cough got worse.And I lost all sense of time and day. Rupa2nya it's almost the weekend already!

I missed Nusrat's defense and the seminar on Faruqi. Nusrat said her thesis proposal was well accepted. The Dean himself would now co-supervise cos' Dr. Aimilia said it involved comparative literature and hence, someone from comparative religion would be more apt.I told Nusrat it was really her rezeki to get Prof Zein to co-supervise.

So used to moving around, I cooked Uzbek pilaf. Terlebih air so the rice lembik sikit but everyone said very nice.The second time would be perfect IA. Senang je membuatnya. Asalnya from Kabul.My tok nenek moyang moyet on my dad's side punya makanan. Patutlah saya suka mcm itik ke air. :D

Aminah came to do acupuncture on me...the cough got better and I could sleep better. Syukurlah Aminah still does home service.

Marilah kita berdoa sihat tubuh badan dan panjang umur untuk membuat ibadah Ramadan kali ni.Selamat menyambut bulan yang penuh baraqah.Our surau dah diperbesarkan.I told Nik to inform surau comm to keep the garden.Itu sebahagian dari senibina Islam.Jgn dok jadi kering kontang gitu.Tempat tinggal, tempat ibadah mesti sentiasa green dan segar.

I left my heart in Tashkent

Muahaha..looks like we are going back sooner or later!But Z said if she were to carry my knees on her and her dad, dream on la. :D

More pics. Nabila has 2k pics on her.My battery asyik kong...so these are the few I managed to get.Some are taken from pics sent to our WA group.

The girls at their boutique hotel in Bukhara (old city)

the photographer wanted a free style

there were 20 of us, 5 men but you see Dr Abideen Adawale shj in this
pic.We call him Mr. President Barack Obama cos' everyone stopped him
for pictures (tak pernah tengok org dari Africa)

The culture show at the restaurant we went to in Bukhara (piantan Maghrib)

Russian model showing Uzbek textile (also
at the restaurant we were dining)

With the young engineers

At the mosque in Bukhara which could take 10K people.
During Genghis Khan's time, he turned part of the mosque into his stable

This couple is celebrating their 55th anniversary.Both are scientists.
The lady taught Physics, the groom taught biology.A rep from the mayor
came to honour them.

A group of IIUM academics from various disciplines
on rombongan cik kiah

Sheikh Habibullah the khat king showing off the piece of work he gave to the President
of Uzbek (this one is his set)

Collecting white mulberries at the backyard of Sheilh's home.Manis gila

At Sheikh's khat gallery at his home with his grandchildren

Mr President, surrounded by admiring Uzbek gals

Smiley Ashrali and Khairul (our tourist guide who could speak Malay)

Our escort to shopping mall in Uzbek

Not from UIA, OK?  :)

Our breakfast table at Bukhara

Early diners

Architect Aziah tengah chong apa tu?

Cherries from the backyard. Oxford boy Firdaus sedang tersengih

Rombongan Cik Kiah with TIU

Queen Sheila with her dayang2

Tashkent : A happening city

The Russians moved Uzbek capital from Samarkand to Tashkent.What a sprawling,modern and exciting city.The people are friendly but things are expensive for they only want USD when we shop.Very limited credit card use even in the malls.Mostly they take Master card not Visa.I bought a shirt close to RM200.In KL maybe around RM60.Maybe they bought in KL pun.

But our time at Tashkent Islamic Uni was cool.A few research projects are in the pipeline.I'm keen on being in the manuscript team,translating some unpublished works of say Imam Bukhari ke.We saw a huge Quran written on leather during the time of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan.Allahuakhbar! Another teary moment for me.Tak pernah termimpi to be this close to someone who lived during the prophet's time.I missed visiting makam cousin nabi, Kusam ibn Abbas cos' tangganya tinggi sgt.I sat di kaki tangga.Jadilah.He brought Islam to Uzbek.Kata Nabi, Kusam was like him in looks and manner.