Ouch!

Dry. Flaky. Itchy.

That's the state of my skin at the moment. I am ok getting a sunburn since I never really bothered about the colour of my skin (dah memang gelap kan!). It's the complications that comes with it that I just couldn't cope with. I am now itching all over!

Iskandar and Farouq, who 3 days ago were busy lounging by the Mekong River eating peanuts and papaya salad (they're very cultured people!) said that I need 3kg of Fair & Lovely ...... ceh!!

A close (but hampeh!) friend said I looked like a kunta-kinte descendant.... ceh ceh and more ceh!!

A doctor friend of mine said I looked 'sweetly tanned'.... emmm, macam ni ler... why can't everybody be as polite as her eh? hehe..

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This song has been playing in my mind for days now. I think it's a way of my brain telling me that I have not been to any musicals/plays for far too long. Maybe I shall just listen to my ALW CD for the time being, just to remind me of the good ol' days.. I am too pokai to even check out on any upcoming shows for now!



Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses whither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day . . .

Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Every streetlamp
Seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters
And the streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I musn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning

Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is

Look
A new day has begun...

Memory (from CATS) - Andrew Lloyd Webber-

Another tick on the list

I have finally fulfilled another of my life to-do list and it was a great fun. I am too lazy to describe it in details so as usual, let the photos do the story-telling ya :)


The destination: Salang, Tioman Island


The accomodation: Puteri Salang Inn


The great (tho sometimes crazy!) company


The pitstop between dives: Pasir Panjang


The leisurely (or competitively for a certain someone!) activity: UNO


The yummylicious food


The night view


The sombre mood on the ferry home: reluctant to leave!

The main activities? Let's wait for photos from bakawali ok... more photos here too!

A tribute

This house used to be loud and vibrant all day and night
With kids running around on rampant, with all their might
One particular girl thought her footprints looked nice on the newly-painted wall
Sent her grandfather fuming and chased her around the house until nightfall

There used to be a huge bourgenvilla tree in front of this house
Where the girl used to hide whenever she was lazy to board the school bus
Or she would hide her textbooks among the tree branches
And told her aunt the books were missing, just another I-can't-go-to-school excuses

When other girls her age would play barbie dolls and other girlie toys
She was only interested in rounders, combats or flying kites with the boys
In the afternoon, she would help her grandma cutting grass and mending the plants
Or she would climb up the jambu/rambutan/kedondong trees and got bitten by the ants

2 decades later, she hardly goes back there but never forget the sweet memory
The house itself has lost its colour and strength but never its old glory
She hopes the house will be preserved and stay within the family
This is her kampung, nothing can delete it from her life history

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I learnt alot about politics when I was at primary age due to my granddad's decades of involvement in it. At the tender age of 8, I've already read a lot of political books like Malay Dilemma and many more which titles I could not remember anymore. I was genuinely interested and was very well-versed on the topic back then.

My dad briefly joined politics too in the mid-late 80s but got disillusioned with the money-politics, back-stabbings and all the dramas involving UMNO Johor at the time (and quite a few of those from his time are ministers now) so he shied away. But my granddad stayed on and remained as a true politician who really fought for the betterment of his people till the day he retired from politics. He looked after 'orang pasar' @ the local small businesses to the point that he would lent them his personal money when they were in need although he himself already retired at the time. There were a few times when I followed him on his pasar and pasar malam rounds (we just walked from home, no flashy cars back then) and I was so proud to be 'cucu Haji Hussein' . Of course, I was happy back then because I was treated with free satay and ABC but looking back now, I realised that these people really looked up at my granddad, not as a politician, but as somebody they could really rely on.

Of course, being 'cucu Haji Hussein' had its own disadvantage... as a somebody with strong religious background, my granddad were frequently invited to teach al-quran or marhaban at my sekolah agama and being his 'cucu' I obviously had to perform and behave. Performing wasn't that hard..In fact, I frequently scored the highest in every subjects especially arabic (although the only thing I can remember now is 'jumjumatun-tengkorak'!) but behaving was another story all together. I remember one day after sekolah agama, my friends and I saw some sukun (what is it called in English?) on somebody's land near the school and decided to take some (the key word here is 'take' not 'steal' ok!). Since the fruits were too high up on the tree and we couldn't climb up, we resorted to throwing stones hoping that the fruits would drop. Unfortunately, one of the stones (and it was a big one!) went straight to the owner's house window and it broke into thousand pieces. Of course, we saved our butts and quickly ran away but the day after, the owner came to the school and told my ustazah that "cucu haji hussein pecahkan tingkap saya semalam!" Needless to say, I got a slash of rotan from my headmaster that day but because he was a good friend of my granddad, he decided to keep the incident to himself knowing that I would surely get a taste of my granddad's tongkat burung if he got to know about it!

Anyway, back to my granddad and his devotion to his passion...

During general or local elections, my granddad would personally filled in every single polling information cards for his area members and sent them himself to their homes to ensure that all members would know where to go and have all the polling details with them come the important day. He was so particular about the polling cards that I was not even allowed to help with the filling in since he said my handwriting was not legible enough for people to read. And I got sticky bright stars at school for nice writings ok!

A true politician my granddad was, he passed away last friday night, on the eve of the recent general election. Although he had retired from politics for more than 5 years before his death, I guess he is still regarded as a local legend. On the morning of his burial, people came in droves to pay their last respects including the two parlimentary and state candidates, Shahrir Samad and Adam Sumiro. It was really heartwarming to see many voters including 'orang pasar' made a detour to the house before they went to cast their votes.

Anyway, in the last few years, my granddad had only one real wish and his wish was finally granted on that fateful saturday. His body was buried just next to my grandmother's, his beloved wife, who passed away 5 years earlier. May god bless both their souls. Al-fatihah.


My grandparents with my cousin and I... somewhere in the 70s..

One humbling experience

It started with a few old and new friends trying to help Iskandar @ Dr Bubbles making a difference in a few kids' life. RM200 soon multiplied and in no time, he managed to collect roughly RM9k for his brilliant mini libraries project. A few went to Janda Baik to materialise the mission a few weeks ago and I joined the second trip to Kampung Cheh, Bukit Gantang Perak last weekend. It was one humbling learning experience and we had so much fun too along the way. I think I've learnt so much more about humanity and goodwill within this 48 hours than I have in years!

Iskandar, Farouq, Bro Nasrun, his wife Kak Nett and myself left for Ipoh on Saturday morning after a brief breakfast meet at Setiawangsa. Since 2 of the guys happened to be STAR Old boys, we went to have 'Nasi Ganja' at Jln. Yang Kalsom to let them take a journey down their memory lane as soon as we arrived in Ipoh (kasi can la kan..heheh..). Here is a photo of it, especially requested to be put up here by another Old boy, my former 3MMMP boss :)


Sorry that the picture is abit blurry.. I only remembered to take a snap of it when I already had my fingers onto it!

We met up with Salina and her brother at that Nasi Ganja place so once our stomachs were filled, we made our way to Bukit Gantang in 3 cars. At Nurul Hidayah, we were greeted by smily yet shy faces of the young residents and later, by the friendly owner, Pak Manap. Bro Jiwarasa (from Ipoh) and Kak Laily (from Penang) with their respective families joined us soon after. Let the photos do the rest of the story-telling...


Our destination


The task began: sorting out the books


A light moment


Some were donated, many were bought


Mission accomplished (for now at least)


The kids enjoying the new books


Khusyuknya Fila


Pak Manap's homestay: where we went to rest and clean ourselves

Later in the afternoon, Pak Manap and Mamagie took us to visit a poor cancer patient in a neighbouring village. I almost wanted to cry seeing the condition she and her family were in. Yup, poverty still exist in this country even after 50 years of independence...

In the evening we went back to Nurul Hidayah for BBQ and get-to-know session with the kids. The initially shy and reserved kids turned out to be very chatty and asked numerous questions, which some I couldn't easily answer like "Ahli Psikik tu kerja apa kak?"


BBQ


Kak Nett chatting with the kids about future careers


A serious discussion with Pak Manap and Pak Tam ( sebenarnya tengah tunggu ayam and ikan patin siap tu..hehe..)


Filling in the gaps with the career books (nasib baik Is beli buku 'Ahli Farmasi', senang sikit nak explain!)


The kids posing with my handbag

By the end of the night, I was really close to the kids that they even asked me to spend the night with them. Part of me wanted to, but I didn't want to interfere with their daily routines. I did spent some time in their dorms though, dispensing old hostel tricks such as how to make a good bed before saying goodbyes. We then headed to Pak Tam's place, and even managed to learn a few massage tricks from him before calling off the night.

Early sunday morning, Mamagie and I went for a short visit to a couple of cancer patients' houses after breakfast, and again, their living conditions particularly of a very old lady who can't walk and lives alone caught my nerves. If only I could do more for them...sigh..

We then joined the rest to visit another cancer patient who owns this:

Such a strong lady she is

Before we left for KL, Pak Manap took us for a nature and history trail and brought us here:

Kampung Warisan Resort

and here:

Long Jaafar resting place

We finally bid goodbye and left Bukit Gantang at about 11am. But another twist of event followed. Instead of straight to KL, we ended up here:



All for a good cause of course :)

More photos here soon.