family tree

I wes expressing my anxiety to my sister over the loosening of family connections nowaday, when my mother chipped in on how her ancestors tighten back the family knot,
'Orang tua dulu dulu kalau adik bengadik dah jauh depa pedekat balik. Kalau nak menikah depa tak mau cari orang luaq, cari kaum keluarga yang dah jauh sikit, ambik buat menantu. Macam ni kaum keluarga jadi tak terputuis'
In those days it was considered normal practice when distant relatives made promises to have their son or daughter married to the son or daughter of other relatives without the knowledge of the couple involved. And this practice of promised marriage or prearranged marriage did happen in my family too, involving my elder brother.
It happened in the sixties. My late grandmother did petty business for a living and used to stop over or visited her distant relative while doing her business. In one of her visit she saw 'ada sekuntum bunga yang sedang mekar ditaman kat rumah kaum keluarganya itu.'

' Aku ada cucu jantan, anak tengona, kerja kerani. Kalau hampa setuju mai la kita pedekat adik beradik, bagi depa menikah.'

Without hesitation this relative of hers happily accepted the offer and my grandmother was given a photo of the bride-to-be to be shown to my brother.

('pedekat adik beradik' is a subtle way of saying or making promise for a marriage) .

My grandmother was very very disappointed indeed when her proposal to 'pedekat adik beradik' was totally rejected by my brother. Imagine the frustration and embarasment she had to undergo.
That distant relative was made to wait and was heard complaining to other relatives,
'Bila depa nak antaq rombongan mai meminang anak kita, la ni ramai dah dok mai minta. Anak kita ni biaq la bagi kat adik beradik daripada bagi kat orang . Lagi pun baguis pedekat adik beradik,
kalau padi kata padi,
jangan kami tertampi-tampi,
kalau jadi kata jadi,
jangan dok biaq kami ternanti-nanti.'

Kesian juga!

When asked later on how she was able to solved the issue without hurting the feeling of her relative, my grandmother had only this to say,
'Tu la gatai mulut pi dok janji dengan orang. La ni biaq abang hang cari bini dia sendiri'

Now you don't have to worry about getting closer to your relatives, you can now surf www.geni.com and built up your own family tree. Your children may use it to find out who their ancesters are as well as their distant relatives. Complete your family tree by visiting your relatives and secure all information from them.




SELAMAT MENJALANKAN TUGAS AS PEGAWAI FARMASI FIKRI.
SELAMAT BELAJAR LAGI FOR ANOTHER YEAR FUAD.

Hospital

We felt relieved when Fikri was given a clean bill of health and was finally discharged last monday after spending five nights in the Penang GH for suspected dengue fever. Since he was on drip days and nights non-stop, and we too got the feedback that his platelets count was going down, we felt a bit worry as to the seriousness of the disease. Furthermore there is no drug presently available to treat dengue and what they do to the patient is to drip them with lots lots of drip solution, hoping that the virus causing the dengue got flush out when the patient urinate.
And of course when your love ones fell sick, you get closer to Allah, supplicating for His mercy and protection and sincerely hope that Allah heals him soon enough. And we do have parents for the sake their children health are ever willing to sacrifice thereupon their own life.
Never forget that illness that befall upon us is a test from Allah and in this very time that Allah wants us to reflect and that He is the creator of all things, the real and the unseen.
The five days that he was there we never fail to visit him. As we walked along the hospital corridor on our way to ward 17, we came across patients with all kinds of illnesses, some sitting alone on wheelchairs, old folks with bandaged eyes, some on stretcher with frail faces and also this old woman sitting quietly and alone on the bed oblivious of what is happening around her. I wonder what's in her mind and what is she thinking about.
I suddenly recalled an event that happened a few week ago. I was reading Quran when my mother came to me and said,
' Bila aku mati hang baca lah banyak2 hadiah kat aku'
Another event that I recalled was when I brought my mother to see her ailing younger sister (Mak Tam) a few month ago.
'Minta doa kat Tuhan kalau nak mati jangan la sakit lama2, tak dak sapa nak pengesoh kita. Kita dok sakit tak bolih nak buat apa, depa kerja banyak, langat ka nak bela kita'
These are some of the things old folks (I am one of the old folks) have in their mind and what their wishes are as they wade with what remain of their life in this world.





FIKRI
TAHNIAH DIATAS TAWARAN JAWATAN PEGAWAI FARMASI. DAH SUJUD SYUKUR?.

*pengesoh - to look after a sick person

Mop

A few week before retirement I had this thought in my mind - why do wife normally live longer than the husband . The wife as I observed survive many many years after the husband had passed away. I am not trying to deny the will of Allah in determining someone life, but there must be factors behind it that make wife live a healthier and longer life than the husband. In fact statistic show that woman's life expectancy is higher than the man's.
Husband who smoke a lot I think they deserved it when they 'close their eyes' earlier than their wife. The lifestyle they lead not only bad for their organs but also their entire family. I think the government has been right in asking the cigarette company to label their packet of cigarette with pictures of diseased organs and fetuses caused by years of smoking cigarettes.
I think wife is more active when at home especially during weekends doing housekeeping and so on. Have you heard wife complaining about their husband sitting idly, watching tv or reading newspapers while wife is busy doing housekeeping, cooking, looking after babies and so on and so forth? While wife is burning their calories by doing all these things, the husband is accumulating fats and plaque of cholesterol in their arteries. In this kind of situation, no wonder that wife will outlive their husband.
So I started my first day of retirement by mopping the floor, sweeping it, washing plates, so on and so forth. Mopped marble floor look kind of shiny and it really feel smooth on your soles when you walk on it barefooted. Not a grain of sand or dust to tickle you soles and consequently you had this enormous feeling of satisfaction.
'Tapak kaki tu tak rasa apa apa ka?' with a smile I asked my wife, at the same time trying to hide what I have done during her absent from home and hoping that she could feel the different.
'Alaa saya buat kerja ni dah bertahun tahun, TAK TANYA PUN'
Jawapan macam ni yang buat umur husband jadi pendek, betul tak?
Disappointed? or just accept it as an undeniable truth!
So what's your reaction if you get that kind of unappreciative answer?



BUAT LAH KERJA DENGAN IKHLAS, BARU ADA GANJARAN PAHALA. ORANG YG APPRECIATE KERJA ORANG LAIN DAPAT PAHALA JUGA.


*'sugar coated' in the above dialogue.

Penyejuk Mata (qurrata a'yon)

Sejuk mata emak ayah tika menolak daun pintu,
terpandang anak diatas sejadah, sujud menyembah Allah yang satu,
menadah tangan memohon ampun kepada Allah atas dosa emak ayah,
munajad dipertiga malam dengan linangan air mata,
sholat diawal waktu, wajah jernih dibasahi wuthu'
senyuman terukir dibibir, aurat terjaga,
mata memandang lembaran qur'an, lidah tertil membaca firman,

Sejuk mata emak ayah tika melihat anak
santun berbudi, lembut
bersalam mencium tangan, bertemu pipi
atok, mak char', mak ngah, mak dak, mak tam, mak lang, mak cik, mak su
ikhlas menolong membantu pabila bertemu,
bergurau, senyum dan ketawa,
menghormati dan menyalami sepupu, anak saudara,
sahabat emak dan ayah,

Sejuk mata emak ayah tika memandang anak
berpakaian mengikut syariat,
tidak bertindik disatu telinga,
berbakti
untuk agama dan warga,
sentiasa sehat, cergas, bertenaga.

Syima, Fadhli, Fikri, Fuad adalah permata,
buah hati emak dan ayah,
penyejuk mata.



PHARMACIST FIKRI, SETINGGI-TINGGI TAHNIAH.

Toilet

I had just stepped out of the toilet's door when an Indian lady confronted and cynically spoke to me in fluent longat utara,
'Apa Pak Cik ni masuk bilik ayaq pompuan!'
'Ya ka!, sorry sorry, nasib baik tak dak pompuan'
I turned my head looking for something to confirm what she had said and ooh yes there I could now clearly see woman-wearing-gown signboard pasted to the wall for all to see. How on earth that my eyes missed seeing it in the first place. Lucky me, there was no one in the toilet or no reporter around while I was using it. Very unfortunate of me if someone might made a fuss out of it and simply accused me as 'pak cik gatai' or an old peeping Tom or a potential molester. And the allegation is then turned into a sensational news splashed in the newsmedia.
Actually you become oblivious of your surrounding when your mind is preoccupied and wrestled with many problems. Problems are multifaceted, they can be family, financial, business, etc and these mind boggling problems may unconsciously drift your mind away to another unknown dimension. I think this what happen to me that day. I was in another dimension when I entered the wrong toilet. I might have seen the signboard but my mind failed to register it as a lady's toilet. Or was it the age factor that caused the incident?
The embarrassing incident occured at Pasar Dato' Kailan (Allahyarhamah Dato' Kailan is the mother of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) in Kepala Batas. This Pasar is an imitation (not like) of Pekan Rabu in Alor Star. It is worth visiting it if you happen to be in Kepala Batas.
Syima, Fadhli and Fikri were born when we were staying in Kepala Batas. Kepala Batas which was a small and quiet town 30 years ago, has turn into a bustling town with many government offices, a hotel (Hotel Sri Malaysia), beautiful housing areas, dewan mellinium, well-equipped hospital and now is set to become a modern, sophisticated, futuristic administration centre for Seberang Prai Utara District. Big thanks to Pak Lah.




BERSUNGGUH-SUNGGUH DAN BERISTIQAMAH DALAM BERAMAL SOLEH.

Project

We finally agree though risky to put our hard earned money into NSH Maju Enterprise (NSH is combination of the first letter of our names, Ng (age 52), Safiee(58) and Hasim(59)) and initiated our first 10 acres vegetable growing project at Titi Panjang Merbau Pulas.
The project looks viable on paper and money back guarantee after the third round of planting , provided that the vegetables produced are of good quality, high demand, and no glut of the products in the market. Price of sayur as usual not stable, fluctuating every now and then. When the vege price goes down the one who suffers most are the producers, as to middleman, they keep on smiling all the way to the bank.
For good crop growth, chicken dung is a must, blended into the soil a week or more before sowing the seeds. With high yielding quality seeds, adequate fertilisers, competent workers and a comprehensive infra such as drainage, overhead irrigation system, fences, farm roads, strong trellis (for climbing vegetables such as timun, kacang panjang) etc, the risk insha'allah can be very much reduced.
Manual workers are legal Bangladeshi, recruited and trained to become highly motivated workers, hardworking, punctual. With regard to punctuality, we are very concern and strict with them.We will deduct their income if they came late for work. They are also not allow to engage in too much talking while working as this can affect their work efficiency. We make sure that their wages are paid on exact date as promised. We realize that late payment even by one day can demotivate them.
Safiee with his 30 years experience in vegetable planting is the backbone of the project. He is very competent and knowledgeable in running a commercially large scale vegetable farm. He provides the overall expertise, planning and also supervising the 7 Bangladeshis recruited for the project.
Money for the project come from two Finance Ministers MrNg and me.
Work starts at 7 o'clock in the morning and finishes at 6 in the evening. 'Rondaan' in the project area is also being carried out during the night. Hard works are really needed to make it succeed.
Seven acres are now planted with bendi, kacang panjang, and timun and the remainder three acres will be planted with petola. Currently the project produces about 60-90 kg bendi and 200-300kg of timun and the generated income is still inadequate to pay wages for the 7 workers. We still have to go deep into our pocket to make the project running. Hopefully with good management practices, we will be able to reap some profit and generate enough income insha'allah on the third round of planting to cover the expenses incurred.



KATA RANG TUA:
KALAU TAKUT DILAMBUNG OMBAK JANGAN BERUMAH DITEPI PANTAI
START A PROJECT WITH WHAT YOU KNOW BEST.

Al-Hafiz

If I had begun the journey years, years, years ago, I might have arrived at my destination by now. But as people always says, it's better late than never, more importantly when seeking knowledge and improving your spiritual life. With patience, unwavering mental strength, perseverance, long healthy life, and adopting the right method any good muslim or muslimah is capable of achieving the desired destination, insya'Allah.
The first step of my long journey began when I enrolled as participant to a one day course on new effective method of hafazan Surah Al-Qur'an organized by Pusat Islam USM. The new 'kaedah' of hafazan called 'Kaedah Jibril' specifically created for the busy working muslims was presented by the creator of the 'kaedah' himself Ustaz Hj Mohd Asraf Ayob Al-Hafiz. Participants who diligently follow this 'kaedah' are guaranteed success as they will be able to by heart 10 popular surahs out of the 114 surahs in the Qur'an in less than seven months.
'Membaca dan menghafal surah-surah AlQu'ran adalah ibadah yang tinggi nilainya dan merupakan amal soleh yang sangat dituntut untuk dilaksanakan'
Allocate time for reading and understanding Al-Quran no matter how busy you are.
Begin the first stride, start the journey now.
Two well known official Imams at masjid Al-Khalid USM, Ustaz Zamrus and Ustaz Zaid son of Professor Zhari whom I know very well attained the title of Al-Hafiz at very young age. They began their journey early and they now have safely arrived at their destination. How nice to be able to stand before Allah and by heart recite beautifully any of 114 surahs in the Qur'an.
Kak Long, Bang Ngah, Bang Lang and Fuad, have you begun your journey yet?
The destination to your journey is AL-HAFIZ (AL-HAFIZAH).
INSYA'ALLAH.



TAHNIAH DAN KESYUKURAN PADA ALLAH ATAS KELAHIRAN CAHAYAMATA PERTAMA:
NORAZLIN DAN ZAIDI.
AZREE DAN SUHANA.