Gara-Gara Kebajikan Najib

Nak tergelak serta geleng kepala  apabila mendengar macam-macam kisah yang terjadi gara-gara pemberian RM500.00 kepada rakyat yang berpendapatan kurang daripada RM3000 untuk seisi rumah yang sangat-sangat mendapat sambutan hangat semenjak sebulan dua ini... agak-agaknya bilangan borang yang telah diedar mengatasi kutipan untuk Ombak Rindu.  Ini kisah betul-betul terjadi (adik yang cerita, cerita disampaikan oleh jiran sebelah rumahnya), di pejabat LHDN KB semasa pembahagian borang.  Adalah  seorang lelaki tu sanggup menjatuhkan talak ke atas isterinya then and there kes berebut nak kan duit RM500.  Ceritanya dua-dua nak mohon tapi pegawai cakap, mana boleh dua-dua mohon, seorang aje yang boleh buat permohonan.  Terjadilah perang mulut antara mereka kedua suami isteri tu....pada firasat saya lah ni mungkin laki yang memang liat nak bertanggungjawab...dapat duit buat senyap!  Kisah kedua pula antara seorang penghulu kampung yang pro kerajaan dan imam masjid pro parti satu lagi...hehehe.  Tak nak dibaginya borang tu kepada imam ...Wallahualam...

Where is the missing bledo?

Hmmmm....browsing the android this morning and this picture came up from the gallery, ada orang ambil gambar jugak benda ni and its not me.  Lately a favourite with the ppl at home and for only RM2.00 its not bad....

All about nothing...

A young man popped his head  just inside the office's door and offered...mak cik nok beli colek? Colek gapo lah pulok.. and how did he managed to get through the guard downstairs?  Whatever....I haven't eaten this for a long time...crunchy and sweet but whoa.. how much did I pay for this succulent mango...RM2.50! 

Took a picture of the hibiscus below before going off to work, lovely pink ....

seakan-akan warna baju melayu PM, yang duk belakang tu nampak asyik garu hidung jah...ada kes resdung doh ni..

Told you...its all about nothing...sighhhhhhhh

Vege For Lunch

  What else can one asked for when all kinds of eateries is only within walking distance from the office? Antara rajin dan malas saja nak keluar cari makan and... felt like going vegetarian for lunch so I walked to the Muhibah Aneka Cake shop.  The vegetarian section is upstairs, cakes and bread occupies the ground floor.  The menu varies everyday, eh macamlah rajin sangat pergi hari-hari ke situ nak tau apa menu dia.    Sebulan sekali pun belum tentu lagi pergi..hehe

Popia Pisang in the foreground

Some of the dishes (looks unappetising cos dah kena  usik dek earlier lunch crowd)

They also sell all kinds of organic food (mahal!)

Popia Pisang 60 sen satu, Kuih Malas RM1.00 

My mixed vege lunch (RM3.00)

Organic Noodles (mahal jugak ni)

Mini Pizzas and doughnuts 

Lunch murah dan mengenyangkan..

al Hikmah

I cannot recall much about my late uncle Dato' Haji Ahmad Ismail (Dato' Lela Negara), a name well related to publications of books, magazines and translations in Kelantan circa 1920s and 1930s.  He was born in Kota Bharu in 1899 and only passed Standard II from a Malay Government School and later he learned the English language from a Ceylonese teacher.  On his own initiative he managed to master the Arabic language with the help of his friends and of course with the help of dictionaries (Arab-Malay in Jawi, I presumed) which was then his best companion. 

Ayah Ngah became involved in the writing world when he was made an editor of al-Hidayah (1923) with Dato' Muhammad Ghazali Ariffin, Hassan Haji Omar, Haji Abdul Rahman Daud al-Makki, Muhammad Adnan Arifin and others.  In 1929 he opened his own printing company,  al-Mathbaq al-Asasiyyah (spelling?) located in a row of shop houses at  Jalan Hilir Pasar, Kota Bharu right infront of the wet market  of KB, a very busy area in those days.  Cold Storage occupied the end lot next to uncle's 'opih chat' (that was the name we used to call his shop).  It was around this time (1929 onwards) he printed and published books that was translated from the Arabic language...Egypt, Turkey, France and English being the background for these books. Book titles such as Tut Ankhamun (1929), Chogan Setia (1929), Pahlawan Perkasehan dan Peperangan (1930), Selamat Tinggal Ayuhai Timur (1931), Perjalanan Mustaffa Kamal Pansha (1931), Puteri Mesir dengan Puteri Raja Rarina and Rasputin (1935) were published.  I can't for the life of me imagine how these books look like nor the contents because I don't know if there is any copy left lying around now.

He produced the magazine al-Hikmah (a popular magazine in Kelantan of that era) with the help of Abdul Kadir Adabi (Adabi... a very catchy name first used for a private school in Kelantan in the late 60s and later used as a brand name for food condiments..Kicap Manis Adabi etc etc).  al-Hikmah was first published in 1934 but publications had to stop in 1941 due to the break out of the Second World War.  The magazine featured translated serial stories such as Pundi-Pundi Biru (1936), Kecenderungan Perempuan (1936 - 1937) and Rahsia Kasih (1938)... a pity none of the mentioned stories were printed into novels/books.  In 1937 he published the well-received 'Kerana Mahkota'.  Sadly, uncle's 'opih chat' is no more in operation since the 1980s when his son who took over the business died in the early 80s and none of his siblings were interested in the business and the shop lot was sold off.

A copy of al-Hikmah kept by a cousin as a personal collection

Ayah Ngah was also influenced with Tok Kenali ( a very well-known ulamak in Kelantan) who played an important role in giving sound advises and ideas for al-Hikmah.  Tok Kenali was a regular patron at uncle's opih chat where he spend the time to read newspapers and magazines of that era.  Infact my mother used to tell us that Tok Kenali frequented our house after his asar prayers at Masjid Muhammadi and held intellectual discussions on current issues with uncle and my grandfather, who was also a learned man and kept journals and also involved himself in writing.  

And yes...he brought back reading materials for my mother (his youngest sister).  In the 1920s and 1930s malay girls were not allowed to go to school but my mum was one determined girl and self-taught herself in reading Jawi.  She would hide what she was reading from my grandma and would only read after everyone else was asleep by using a small 'pelita'.  However, her nocturnal activity was discovered by grandma and she was scolded for trying to enter a man's world.  But mak...I'm so proud of you for being literate in those days and we (the siblings) caught the reading bug from you.

I remember being in awe and scared of Ayah Ngah and would always hide behind my mother whenever we visited him.  Still fresh in my mind when after isya' prayers I would accompany mak to his house, we walked along the almost deserted road to his house which was about 1/2 km away from our house.  He would be sitting cross legged in his white pagoda t-shirt and sarong and talked in a deep guttural voice which I do not comprehend at all and the times when he passed by our house on a 'teksi' (trishaw) on the way to his 'opih chat'  complete with his tongkat (walking stick) looking sternly at my sisters and I sitting on the bar at the old wooden door.  My sister recalled mum  telling her, Mak Ngah (uncle's wife) would always prepare kopi O and a plate of his favourite fried bananas, the 'pisang khaghae' (small green skin banana) and he would settle down to write at nights. That's the only memories I have of my uncle... and he passed away in 1969 due to what illness I cannot recall.

My youngest uncle (Ayah Su)

Last but not least I can say that we have quite a few budding writers in the family, another uncle, Ayah Su my mum's youngest brother was a reporter with Utusan Melayu in Singapore in the late 40s.  My second eldest brother (Abang Ngah) when he was studying at the Federal Military College (now Royal Military College,  RMC) won an essay competition organized by the New York Herald Tribune and won a trip to New York in 1961.  My sister, Teh Ani who was an editor with DBP and a daughter of Ayah Su, Kak Mah was a reporter with NST in 1980s and 1990s.  As for yours truly, I can't be counted as a budding writer and it is only for the love of reading and writing that I caught the bug too.  For the rest of the family who are reading this entry...please ponder for a while and ask yourself...am I bitten by the writing bug?..Probably you do!

My thanks to Haji Ahmad Farid Mahmood (Binaraya PKINK) for his time in searching and supplying me the above facts (written by Abdul Razak Mahmud) regarding Ayah Ngah (the picture is from a calendar published by BRP on Tokoh Penulis Kelantan for the year 2003);

and facts from 'Titih Galur AIF' - courtesy of our dear Teh Ani

So True...

From the most astonishing of things that you know Allah,
yet you do not love Him ..
You hear His caller,
yet you delay in responding to Him..
You know the extent of His wrath,
yet you expose yourself to it..
You taste the anguish of loneliness when disobeying Him,
yet you do not seek intimacy by obeying Him..
You experience the heart constricting when speaking of other than Him,
yet you do not desire the heart's expanse by engaging in remembrance of Him or communion with Him..
You experience the torment of attaching the heart to other than Him,
yet you do not escape from it to the bliss of devoting yourself to Him and repenting to Him..
More astonishing still is the fact that you know you are in dire need of Him,
yet you turn away from Him and hanker after that which distances you from Him..
[Ibn al-Qayyim] 


(Sourced from HOTD)

" SELAMAT MENYAMBUT AWAL MUHARRAM 1433H "

Air Naik....

A normal scenery behind the house at this time of the year...

 Before going off to work this morning, a calm morning..

Air tak sampai ke pagar rumah lagi..

6.45 pm..the wind was blowing hard and the water has risen...

When I heard voices...

It was these 2 boys riding horses in the water..

Mana nak bawa kuda tu???