Coretan Aidilfitri: Penang

As long as I remember, family photo during this special day is a must, that was the time where most relative gather and exchanged duit raya, reminiscing stories of the good old days.. And for the other side of family raya this year, I only post these one photo which has been compressed into one..notice that little girl in every photo..?



She reminds me of myself but not at that tender age..I was in primary school and obsessed with camera and always have a strong radar and can sensed where the shot will be taken and I will definitely sit right infront of the camera, or anywhere that I was sure that the camera will captured my face...and I succeeded in making my face appeared 70 % in those photo...and that was the time we used 'KODAK'....any brand was kodak to us..be it Fuji or Konika...

And now with DSLR..Nikon, Canon, Sony..photoshop and what not..anything can be perfect, bulging tummy can be trimmed without any strenous excercise, freckles face be turn into flawless skin with lighter..kalah Fair and Lovely....

Whatever the camera is, with photoshop or not..the moment with the families are precious..and sometimes the best moment can't be captured in photos but they remains in our heart forever.

Coretan Aildilfitri-Kedah

Dua budak perasan cute dengan spek hitam..Hadif bergaya dgn Kakak punya, Sufiya pulak dgn spek abah...just before we left for Aloq Staq...during my time, there was no car, no long journey trip for raya..but riding bas Mara from Aloq Staq to Kuala Sala tengah panaih lit-lit was not an easy ride...spek hitam jangan mimpi la masa tu...

Clear blue sky with pure white fluffy cloud complete the photo..its feels good going back to a kampung..anytime.....

I miss going to our old madrasah for solat Aidilfitri..back then it was so serene on that glorious morning with many familiar and unfamiliar faces, I love going down the spiral concrete staircase and catching up with people that we only met twice a year...and sometime it rain on that Syawal morning and the air was fresh and it was a different kind of feeling seeing drops of water on hibiscus leaves from the garden...

Excited big sister on the first day of Syawal...when I was a kid, the best part of raya was always 'pi kutip duit raya' session, back then it was only dua kupang but there was one generous Arab family who lived nearby who gave us one ringgit..it was really big for us, their house was full of rich colour with lights everywhere, lights that was actually a chandelier...it was a strange sight for us who only knew 'lampu kalimantang' and 'mentol'...that was it, other than that was a strange thing :-P

We had a hard time with Hadif who just want to be with us..taknak berenggang, I just tried my skill in preparing / balut ketupat..baru satu, he started crying and I had to abandoned that first attempt with ketupat palas...looks like the skill could only be sharpened in next few years..makan nasi impit je la...

Eid Mubarak

Salam to all...many have left for their hometown by now, ..we just packed our bag and it seems that everytime during balik kampung we will face the same old problem..semua benda nak sumbat... :-

-kid's baju raya - checked
-kasut budak - sufiya-done, hadif - Adidas alamanda tak byk choice..kita beli di Al-Ikhsan Aloq Staq nanti
-baju mama - hmm..3 pasang sini, 2 pasang sana...cukup :-P belanja tak berhemah langsung (ignore the figure plss....saja bg bombastic)
-baju abah - tgh dok jahit lagi...i dah kata pakai ja baju melayu yg u dpt free masa Perhimpunan Hari Pekerja..u yg tak mau..
-bibik - hantaq pi dengkil...ohh she gonna have a chance to meet up with rakan sekampung and I bet after raya, she gonna request for this and that...al maklumlah..banyak idea lepaih jumpa kawan-kawan
-pokok bunga - kena prepare gel pokok ..takut kering tanah
-tukar duit raya - done
-sampul duit raya -tagging -done...duit tak masuk lagi
-zakat - paid
-kuih raya - tak buat dan tak beli...scale dah beli, mixer takdak lagi, no budget coz somebody bought other expensive toy...'yang, itu kira hak milik bersama tau.'
-tin utk isi muruku dari penang - tak cari lagi...
-bunga api - cik abang ni nanti mesti pi beli di Mergong
-kad raya - wish kat sini je la..

Heres wishing all of you Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf jika ada tersalah tulis, terguris hati...drive safely..

p/s: we are going to Rumah Amal Limpahan Kasih,Puchong today to give some duit raya on behalf of the office and after raya we will work on a small but meaningful project, it will be in terms of consultation and preparation and supervision of construction of surau and hostel for the kids.....so anybody yg nak derma apa2 saja duit,buku,baju-baju or just spend time with them..sila ke RALK,Batu 13,Puchong... http://www.limpahankasih.blogspot.com/

and if any of you are consultants in any related field, pls do come forward..

Proposed site for hostel and surau willl be on the right of this land

Masjid Sultan Mizan,Putrajaya

Masjid Sultan Mizan,Putrajaya is a new mosque and a significant landmark in Putrajaya. It's design is workable and practical compared to Masjid Putra which located near to Prime Minister Office.



This new mosque has been design to compliment its surrounding and I think they have studied Masjid Negara as their precedent, the same coolinf effect from infinity pool has been applied here.



The planning and position of this mosque has been derived from adjacent existing building therefore 'Kiblat Walk' has been created, one could appreciate the aesthetic not only internally but also on it's landscape and square with fountain and spacious space for overflow area.

For more photos of this mosque, please visit my flickr, on the right side of this blog--->

(i failed to link directly to my photostream :-(

Generally I think this mosque is more practicle and well design except for some minor issue like this one :-




Escalator leading to prayer hall, quite a number has been provided but safety issue is not considered. As we all know, we are not allowed to wear any shoes inside any mosque due to cleanliness, therefore people will be walking around on their bare foot and how do they expect people to use this escalator when their feet are exposed to this moving object. It looks normal and safe but can you imagine the moment this escalator reach the top floor and the bottom ..eww..



This is not acceptable according to safety code, but I'm not sure how they gonna handle this since everything are in place....'this is Bolehland'..remember..?..everything can one..

Missing glass panel, height : almost 1000mm...risk : tergolek, patah hidung patah kaki, tak boleh sembahyang berdiri...culprit; _________?

Big grand staircase with missing panel, not only one side but both... just imagine budak2 and makcik2 with kain telekung panjang, terpijak kain, nak pegang railing tapi terlepas, nak pegang panel kaca tapi tak dak..terus tergolek-golek jatuh..kalau tergolek takpa lagi..tapi kalau terhumban ke bawah..? I think the management should really take care of this safety issue especially during Solat Tarawikh...

Satu Kelahiran dan Satu Pemergian Abadi

People come and go..they come and left for a while but some will leave us forever..



On Monday, 7th Sept 2009 Nuzul Quran on the 17th of Ramadhan I went to a friend house to visit her newborn baby girl..at 3.0 kg she look so cute and was still sleeping ..undisturbed despite a loud sound from the tv and from us...babies always makes us feel serene..by just looking at them ...



The same day at about 10am back in Penang another soul was sleeping..but she sleep and sleep and will never ever woke up again...we received the sad news at 1pm and it was a sudden lost but the best for her who suffered a lot lately from cancer. Hubby went back to Penang alone before the burial ceremony.



We will miss her phone call whenever we are in Penang, coz she never fail to call my MIL's house to ask about us, about our kids...she always said 'Suhaila, ada baik ka..? anak-anak macamana ? Haffis..?'...



This auntie was the one who call my hubby 'Haffis boy'... auntie that were strong enough to survive many obstacles in her life, childless but not lack of love from nieces and nephews..



Unfortunately for my kids they don't have the opportunity to know her well and to call her Nani, to taste her famous muruku..no more phone calls asking about these kids...no more pain for her, no more medicines...only Al-Fatihah



We will always remember you in our prayer Sakinah Kala...Ameen

Love and Bonding

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family”
-Anthony Brandt-


Family is a small community that function with the existence of its member. The form of family are varies depending on local culture, upbringing and geographical location. The real meaning of family is something intangible, some people lives under one roof but they lack the essence, some are separated by continents but their bonding are so strong compared to the one that see each other every single day.

Since I have my own small family now, I realised my things that I neglected before in my younger years, those were the years of adventure seeking.

Living apart from our loves one might be easy peasy for some but for certain people it is unbearable.

My father in law came to Malaya at tender age, not even twelve yet. There was not much choice at that time, as we all know it is always hardship that makes people move out from one place to another. He left his brother and sister who are his only family at that time, and came to Penang to find something that could change his life and his family's fate.

He was brought here by a kind soul that was known to his family, so after a long journey from Kolkata he finally arrived at this land with hope and promises. I can't imagine what was in his mind at that time, a small child who was supposed to be guarded and cherish with loves and care living alone in a foreign land with foreign culture and language. Or maybe it was the hardship that changed a small boy into man at that time. Or maybe loves means sacrifice and leaving your love one was the best option.

I think he really work hard all those year and his families are always in his mind, even though he have a family of his own now, those in Kolkata are always in his heart, long distance calls are his medicine and so does some photographs of the growing and extending family.

When I was in Johore for five years, the worst part was when I fell sick..even a minor one, I just wished that I was surrounded by people closed to me. It was hard..and when my father in law who I call 'Mama' was diagnosed with kidney stone symptom, I think he will miss his faraway brother and others back in Kolkata even more. He told me that he was scared to go through the procedure...

I've been to his village in Kolkata once back in August 2005 (we celebrated Merdeka day in India :-) and it was all a different sight, a new world that is totally different from the one in Bollywoodland. Some houses stood just the same as he left for Malaya..the family are growing but everybody have to squeeze in to live in a small space for as long as they can remember or when fate change their life.


Hj.Mohossain Molla (middle) with his brother ,Bhod Babu(far left)in Kolkata

And this Ramadhan, with the sickness and old age I think the feeling and longing are much deeper...



Yesterday while watching Om Shanti Om, during this scene where Shah Rukh Khan and Kiron Kher appeared..my daughter said '*Dadi'...Ohh that was sweet..the bonding is there...(*Dadi means grandma in Benggali)

This post is kind of anniversary post for that meaningful trip to Kolkata 4 years ago.

I wonder how is it like having Iftar in Kolkata....?