Happy 2nd - Sembang at Kay's

Happy Birthday Blog!!!

It has been two years since my first posting made it to cyberspace. What started out as something that I was just "trying out" has now become something very dear, very close and very special to me. I owe it to you all out there my blogging mates for making this space of mine come alive, filled with wise sharings, crackled jokes and colourful musings.

May our common traits of update dash, image uploading, blog hopping, peeping and at times stalking, continue to blossom our relationship!!!

Bye Bye Kids....

The ASEAN camp is over. The curtains finally came down last Friday night with a grand dinner hosted by the Minister himself. The ASEAN participants, although very exhausted from the week long activities, were excited with to meet up with ministry officials, sponsors, country Ambassadors and reps. They put up a beautiful cultural show for the guests and it was indeed one unforgetable night for them.

So what's next for them once they return to their countries? Guess they'll be talking about the camp non stop in the upcoming days. Last I checked, the number of visitors to the Portal has increased tremendously. Looks like some of them are already showing off what they have been doing at camp to friends and families back home.

For me, I'm so, so glad that it's over. All the hard work has paid off and the client is happy with what they saw..thank God!!!

I just have one more big assignment on Tuesday. After that, this old machine will take a break for a few days. A couple of routine tasks still await me, nothing rocket science, something I should be able to complete in no time, thus allowing me to relax a bit and come next week...thada....koalas, kangaroos, whombats here we come!!!

Can't Sleep - Mumbai Blast

The great bricks of Agra Fort

It was a rather depressing night for me last night. I had work to catch up with but that wasn’t really the reason why I was so pissed. Earlier in the day, India was rocked again. This time in the City of Mumbai, one very heavily populated city, popular with its Bollywood stars and also the financial centre of Mr Manmohan Singh’s government.

According to Indian media reports, an unknown group – Deccan Mujahideed was behind these brutal attacks on the city. Apparently, the Deccan is a region in southern India that was traditionally ruled by Muslim kings. Many quarters have said that this attack was deliberately planned to hit the international targets which are frequented by foreigners and the top Mumbai elites. Two years ago, bombs exploded during the rush our at one of the train stations. This time, target was the Taj and Oberoi Hotels.

If there is such a thing on caste for hotels, indeed the Taj and the Oberoi Hotels would be placed in the highest position. High profile (local) businessmen dressed in fine wool suits accompanied by their beautifully dressed, fair skinned, perfect English speaking wives are the usual sightings in these hotels. They all walk with such fine grace only stopping to chat with acquaintances of their same kind. As they pass you, that soft sandal wood scent follows the breeze. Once they are done with their mingling or meetings, they call upon their drivers and within minutes the obedient servant, dressed in the pressed white uniforms will drive right to the entrance of the hotel. Having opened the doors of the Indian made cars – the Ambassador, they are entrusted to deliver their Maam Shahabs safely and happily home or to other destinations of her calling.

Ahhh…that’s the kind of luxury lives these Taj and Oberoi frequenters lead. A few meters away, just outside the borders of the hotel, the colors are different, the smell is pungent, the pace is a lot faster, the skin is a lot dryer and even the teeth is less white (if there’s still any teeth left in the poor soul). This is where the real India lives and breed – all the other many millions of the population. Little homeless children crammed the shantytowns while the sick and very old would just die on the streets underneath their cardboard homes. Side by side but such a world of difference.

At the Oberoi hotel lobby

Indeed some of the sights of India could be somewhat difficult for one to swallow. I’ve been to India a few times. When I tell friends that I’m going to this colorful place on earth, they don’t believe me. They’d say I’d never survive that place, so smelly, dirty, overly polluted and populated like India. As a matter of fact, I had doubts if I could survive the trips. Nonetheless, I managed to pull through each one of them.

One of the mosques next to Tak Mahal

Truth be told, I love this place. Call me a hopeless romantic, but there’s just so much romance here. What’s with that great love of Shah Jahan for Mumtaz, the discrete love affairs of the Moguls Kings and his secret ladies, the land owners and the little peasant girl…the list is endless. Love and passion is depicted in their architecture, literature, song and dances. The practices (and positions..heh heh) of Karma Sutra, ayurvedic healing and even Yoga, put emphasis on love, peace and harmony with oneself. Hence, why the bloodshed, why the sadistic acts??

Nissa at the Oberoi pool

It gives me chills to the spine thinking about the dead and injured in Mumbai. Human lives should never be wasted just as such, Muslims or no Muslims, militant or no militant. It could have been someone so dear to you, it could have been members of our congregation or even the guy who lives down the road. None of such beastly acts is worthy to man and neither should we condone them.

Hotel lobby...

As I look out from my window this morning, my condolences goes out to the families of victims who perished in the condemned blast. I wonder if it’s too much to ask for – the act of trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all peoples.

Peace to the World….

Thanksgiving Dinner

It snowed that morning. Most of the students on campus had gone back to their home towns to celebrate Thanksgiving. There were just a few more weeks of classes before study week and after that it would be our finals. The spirit of holidays has set in even as we struggle to keep up with our assignments.

Liza & I - one Spring break in New York

I was at the foreign students office one day when I came across the invitation to celebrate Thanksgiving with a teaching staff’s family. The invitation was for foreign students who were on campus during the holidays. I must have been with my roommate, Liza, I think at that time. Eager to experience a truly American Thanksgiving celebration, very happily we signed up for the dinner.

Not long after we put our names on the notice board, the foreign student’s office called, saying that we would be having Thanksgiving dinner with the family of a History professor. Okay…that we thought was going to be an experience worth going for. A few days before Thanksgiving, the wife of the professor called, introducing herself and told us of the pick up arrangement. And that even got us more excited.

Moi & Liza

Both Liza and I thought of what we were going to wear, should we be dressed in our normal slacks and sweater or should we go looking more cultured - donning a traditional Malaysian costume. It was between baju kurung or the kebaya. In the end, we chose the kebaya. I was going to wear my kerawang kebaya and Liza was to put on one of hers.

I remember this kebaya that I had. It was beige in colour and the sarong was the long batik lepas kain. Just before I left to study in the US, my late father had taken me shopping in Singapore!! It was indeed a treat for me. I remember shopping for materials to make baju kurung and of course the kebaya piece. I got the kebaya piece from one of the shops in Arab Street together with two pieces of batik sarong and telekung. Abah being Abah, would never compromise quality for anything else. He wouldn't mind paying for the premium as good stuffs would last a life time. True enough, those bajus and kain batik that I got more than 20 years ago still look the same, even after so many wears.

It was a very cold day, that Thanksgiving day. The dreary winter weather had started to test our tolerance on the wind chill and the sub zero temperatures. It was going to be a challenge for both of us, going out in our thin kebaya when the temperature was somewhere around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. But we were so gung-ho to promote our Malaysian traditional attire, cold or no cold.

The professor picked us up at our apartment around 4pm, if I recall well. It was almost dark by then and cold too!!! The temperature had dipped even further. Imagine both of us, in a kebaya and sarong and heels. Thank god for our winter coats for keeping us warm during the ride. One thing with these Mat Sallehs, they have gotten so used to the cold, at times some of them didn’t bother having the car heater on during the early days of winter. Bila dah berkepul-kepul mulut with asap, baru lah they all on kan the car heater tu.

A typical Thanksgiving dinner spread

Our host was very friendly and homely. They had two girls who were pretty young still, and with the two of us, it was dinner for six that night. The professor told us the story of Thanksgiving and what significance it had to the American families. They served us with the traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, potatoes, corn, cranberries and pumpkin pie. When offered red wine to go with the turkey, we politely turned it down and settled for milk instead. Dah jadik macam kanak-kanak sihat lah pulak. Servings after servings and I could feel there wasn’t much space left in that kebaya for me. I was filled to my lungs, nasib baik the buttons of the kebaya didn’t pop. My kain sarong was so tight that I had to go to the bathroom to loosen the tali pinggang.

We had a good dinner that night but we both definitely had to work extra hard at keeping warm. Clad in just the kebaya and kain batik lepas, didn’t quite help and somewhere during desert I could see Liza shivering and so was I. Dalam hati we were saying like, tak de heater ker kat rumah prof ni. Even in our small apartment, our heater was put to max very time the temperature dipped.

Finally after the pumkin pie desert, we were ready to leave and the professor sent us back to our apartment. In the car, we could hardly speak as we were so afraid that we would stammer with our words. Burrrr…it was so cold and nasib baiklah dear prof had the heater on in the car. If not we’d surely kejung till we reach our place.

My daughter Farah wears this kebaya now. Batik lepas sarong is substituted with beaded batik skirt, putting a little modern touch to go.

We thanked our host for their hospitality and stood for a while at the front door to wave him goodbye. As soon as we saw him driving away, we quickly ran into our apartment building and stood near the hallway heater. Ahhh…it felt so good!! Baru lah dapat rasa our toes and fingers yang were almost frozen earlier.

That was some experience we had, the Thanksgiving dinner was one and the cold was the other. After that dinner, the kebaya went straight into the closet and didn’t make its appearance till the ice melted and summer warmed the land.

Double Yeah

Two reasons for the jubliation today.

Reason no 1

Faris was discharged late this afternoon. Alhamdulillah... All tests done on him, didn't point to any signs of the big "C" (which was my biggest fear ever). It's a real relief now that he's out of the hospital. I was a little worried about his condition after the biopsy yesterday. When I arrived at his room late afternoon, I found him in tears. According to him, the procedure was very painful and once the anesthetics was gone, the pain was unbearable. Isshhh...kesian pulak tengok dia meleleh air mata. In the end, ABE decided to accompany him at the hospital, just incase he felt worst in the night.

He has follow up visits with the doctors next week. Doctors will discuss with us the findings from the biopsy then.

When I signed the release papers earlier, I almost fell off the chair upon seeing the bill. Fuhh...what a whopping amount it was!! Thank God, for the medical coverage provided by T*B.

Reason no 2

Girls from the Philippines

ASEAN program day 1 and 2 went smoothly. No major hick-ups. Participants are really enjoying themselves. It was really delightful to see such close ties amongst them, especially during the learning sessions. And the exemplary acts of friendship showed by the Malaysian participants were really commendable.

Malaysian & Brunei boys

Teachers too are going Internet savvy.....Malaysian & Lao PDR


The Malaysian Team...yess, girls & boys...GO GO GO!!

To my team...Two days down and three more to go, people!!

Hang in there just a little bit more yah...

ASEAN Thingy

I’m at camp again. The camp has gone regional this time – to the ASEAN region. This is one of the consultancy work we do for one of the telcos in the country. My team was given the task to develop the curriculum, content and learning Portal for the camp. This was in fact the reason for my sleepless nights, splitting headaches, and obviously the extensive growth of gray hair in the past one month. Finally, after sessions and sessions of discussions, it was thumbs up on the curriculum from the client and its organizing partners. (Later, I was informed that my curriculum was presented in cabinet. Woooo…didn’t expect it to go that high level.)

This morning's activity - ice breaking session

The camp which starts today is attended by participants aged between 10 – 14 from the countries in ASEAN. There are about 130 of them, kids and teachers. Looking all bright in their red t-shirts the kids are all ready to explore the world of technology – today and tomorrow.

Logo created by the Malaysian team

To my team, thank you for the all hard work and commitment showed by all. We’ve come this far, there’s no turning back now :)

Bibik-less in Shah Alam - Part 1

It’s day 4 today, the house is quiet and less buzzing. Reason to this is, WE now have no Bibik fussing over the dirty laundry or pacing up down in the kitchen to prepare our daily meals. Thus, stamping us with the bibik-less status.

Last Wednesday, we sent Bibik off at the airport for her slightly more than a month leave, her much needed tour of duty leave. That was also the reason why we had to rush all the relevant papers to get her work permit done. Without the renewed passport and work permit, she wouldn’t be able to go and come back to work after her leave.

If my memory serves me well, Bibik Kasmiatun is our 12th maid. She first came to work with us when Nissa was about a year old. After a series of lousy and nerve wrecking maids, she was like heaven sent to us. I was apprehensive when she first walked into our home. The previous one before her stayed for only a little longer than a month. One day back from work, I found a letter in the mail box, with these words written on the envelope – “Adinda ku……”

I was furious upon seeing the mail, all sealed in floral envelope. I could have sworn that the letter was written on scented writing tablets. (Cheh…pandai je maid ni nak main cinta, dia tak tau majikan dia ni DUA tahun dok menulis surat chenta., segala cards and scented writing paper kita tau…so tak payah lah nak cover line!!)

I know it’s bad to read letters which are not ours. But in this case I just had to do it, for the best interest of my family. True enough my guess wasn’t wrong, it was a letter sent by her husband who was in Indonesia. In that letter, he had told her that he was coming to Malacca to work in a farm and she was run away when he gave her the cue to do so. I shivered upon reading the last line. Just imagine, if I had passed the letter to her and she would have been able to plan for her escape!!! And what was to happen to my children? Left home alone to fend for themselves. Ohh…tidak…no way you are going to get to do this!! Over my dead body, woman!!

In just two days I sent her packing, cancelled all her papers and put her in a boat back to Dumai. I called the maid agent there and told him to collect her at the Dumai ferry terminal. And that was the end of maid number 11.

Since number 11 didn’t serve the two years contract, I demanded that my agent give me a replacement. He told me I had to wait a little while as he didn’t have any candidates at that time. Okay…but you’d better have one coming my way soon, and that was an order.

We chose this old lady from the rest of the candidates showed to us. In her passport, her age was written as 39 years old. Nahh..I knew it wasn’t her real age. These agents can be unscrupulous at times and the age they put in the form is usually not the “asli” one.

When Bibik Kasmiaton first started work, I had to teach her a lot of things. She didn’t have much working experience as previously she was only a farmer back home in Lampung, Sumatera. She told us that her ladang was destroyed when the crickets ate all her cash crop. It wasn’t easy for her to switch from a farmer to a domestic maid. I had to show her how to mop the house, clean the bathroom, use the washing machine, and the other electrical appliances. It was a trying time for me too. At times I’d call up my Mom and tell her how slow my maid is. But Mom said to just be patient, InshaAllah, this woman will work out for me.

And there I was, a very patient maid trainer. At one point I almost gave up, the Bibik just wasn’t learning as fast as I had wanted her to. She still missed that one spot that needed extra scrubbing in the bathroom. Even after telling her many times, she still didn’t get my message.

Fuhh….apalagi hangat lah Ibuk ni. I remember one morning when I told her off.

I said, “Kalau Bibik tak boleh kerja ikut cara saya, hah boleh balik Indon. Siapa majikan sini? Saya atau Bibik? Kalau saya majikan, saya mau pembantu rumah ikut yang saya cakap!!”

And I did raise my voice at her that time, iyer lah…dah hangat kan.

I thought that was it, I’d soon see her packing her bags and wailing to have us send her home. I observed her in the following days. Very much to my surprise, she changed!!! She began to do things the way I asked her to and she even apologized for what all her kesilapan. What a relief it was for me. And Moi, the garang majikan, learned a few good lessons myself, one of it was that I am to be less fussy, and definitely to be more patient – lots and loads of the honorable trait.

And that was the new beginning of Bibik Kasmiatun's long tenure with us.