Wish and hope during Ramadhan

Ramadhan come and go each year with different memory and experience, and this year is nothing less, it is even better than before.Last two years when we attended Iftar with a bunch of friends, the scenario and ambience were different, there were time where there was a deep uneasy feeling, feeling left out especially when other people were busy introducing their pregnant wife or busy managing their kids on the table. That bonus question was something that I don't like people to ask me coz I don't have the answer, all I could say was, 'Its God's Will'..most of the time I just sailed along and forget about just being 2 instead of 3 or more...

And today at the table I try not to hear the same question again being asked to other woman and I try not be the centre of attention. Pregnancy is the second best thing after marriage and we can't avoid all the attention, praise, greet and question from people around us but I can't bear looking at the other women who still trying for years and one who just finished her second cycle of medication.Coz I've been there......I know how it feels

The journey isn't smooth as we expected, some people will get it as they wish but some have to wait and still waiting. What makes me strong each day through out this rough journey is the thought that God will grant my wish sooner or later, and having a supportive partner and family are essential. I remember buying books of 'How To..'and never miss Discovery or Nat.Geographic channel on this topic and of course this simple programme - Anita, where they featured HRH Tengku Puan Pahang who had the same experience, I even wait for the repeat just to see her face and listen to her courage. There was one article about her and the TAFF in Prestige Magazine and I read the section not twice but many many times just to give my self, support, motivation and courage and stop grieving but appreciate Life coz they are people out there who are even worst.

For these women I hope they will be stronger and may their wish come true and never stop dreaming and asking from Him especially during this Ramadhan.

(Last week during Iftar hubby told me that last year at the same chair in our dining room he prayed for this Gift..and this year his wish has been granted, I almost cried when I heard about it)

Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

It just 5 minutes before the break, but my tummy has started singing keroncong and other unfamiliar song, staring at the colourful meal makes it even worst and not to mention the aroma of laksa that makes our heart race faster. When the time came it usually started of with kuih and then heavy meal until my tummy bloated like a melon.
By 8.15pm we are ready with telekung at the madrasah, most of the time the madrasah were occupied by elderly who have to climb up that steep staircase.And the men used an old curved concrete staircase.The small madrasah could only make up 4 saf for women, so most of the time I was pushed to the corner next to the window and could hear the 'tok tok' sound clearly when the call for Isyak prayer.
Most of these women will also bring their grandchildren and that was the time when we get to know each other.One thing that I like being in this madrasah is the smell of fresh flower normally bunga cempaka or what my grandma used to call - 'bunga chempa', they stuffed it inside their telekung maybe as a replacement for perfume and they also wear a fashionable 'bedak sejuk' on their face :-)
Everytime before we start out terawih prayer, Bilal will called out loud 'Safff..',a reminder to all to keep a close distance while praying rather than leaving a big gap, he will also asked the boys to proceed to the back but most of them will only play not pray.

..That was in the 80's, when most of the women that I met was about in their 50 or 60's and now living in Putrajaya, the scenario is different, no more sweet scent of 'bunga cempaka' and 'bedak sejuk'.We have a big mosque here with intricate design and motives on its dome and interior and the space is spacious where it could accomodate thousands of people. A grand interior and high decorative ceiling can't beat the warm and cosy even sentimental value of old madrasah.This mosque was design with many considerations in mind but it still failed to provide the comfort especially its ventilation, where central cooling system doesn't work well here, therefore many stand fan need to be provided and this lead to a big gap of Saf. People will comfortably find a space directly behind the fan, and when the prayer start they don't care to move forward, some will who understand will definitely change the position.


Things are different, this is not a small town where people know each other, no more hugs and kisses on cheek after the prayer, no sound of grandfather's clock in an old madrasah...But I will try to do the best since this is the first time Ramadhan and Terawih with a litle one inside kicking during the prayer.

Hijau Kuning Tanahku..

Kuala Sala, Kedah Darulaman :

When we were small going back to Tok's house in Kuala Sala were not something that we look forward mainly because of the transportation, there's no bus service in that village, that means the bus will drop us infront of the mosque and we have to walk for about 15 minutes to reach Tok's house. Along that short journey we will be greeted by ayah's relatives and friends and sometimes our journey were interrupted by cows who lazily lepak in the middle of the road.
For us it was really a very long journey but I realised now that I should not regret it, that was when I have the opportunity to discover a lot of things that could not be found in Alor Setar.
Kuala Sala is just a small village where houses were built parallel with the only main road that connect them to outside world. Each houses are facing the road and at the back are acres of paddy field, the best part of Tok's house is there's a small river after the paddy field and only a few meters walk we will reach the beach.
This small river is the important system for paddy field. There were many coconut tree at the back of the house that leaning towards the sea, and we will climb and sit on it while enjoying our freshly cut sugar cane.....so sweet and juicy
This used to be my favourite area, this is where we play 'masak-masak' with my late aunt, we used hibiscus bud as chili, and cooked using coconut shell, this is also where I seek peace and hide from pain when I fell from the 'pangkin'(platform) while playing 'batu tujuh' with my cousin: Sharmi (Simah kenal kan..), Bani and twin Shoni and Shaki.I had a big bump on my left shoulder and was sent for traditional massage and it was so painful...:-(
In order to reach the paddy field we have to cross over few grave stone hiding in a bushes, Tok said "tu kubuq orang lama-lama, takdak apa aih.." but who wants to believe that? especially me who love to think that it's spooky..when the night came, we wil sleep with Tok and Ngah inside a kelambu while Tok will tell stories about her neighbours,it's kinda spooky because the only sound that we could heard is the waves and her low tone voice, she didn't scared us but the way she talk make me want to hide inside my blanket and fall asleep as fast as I can.

These are our precious supply of fresh coconut juice and milk. I like the way it grow reaching up to the sky, and here you are feeling small and scared, scared that the tree will get angry and start shooting it's cannon coco ball..

I think my interest in planting is inhereted or developed by my surrounding especially here in Kuala Sala people plant the same thing, it is a common sight, purple and green/yellow sugar cane, pelam sala and guava were plant at the front portion if the house, while colourful hibiscus will line as a fencing. Sometimes my grandpa (Wan) will brought back crushed seashell from his fishing trip and poured along the fencing and the entrance.
This lovely flower is a hit among kids where we could suck the juice, it comes in different colour.

When the place is dear to your heart, this is what you do, built a mosque and name it after your mother or father, this was built by Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli, the floating mosque with picturesque view of the sea..

Now living in concrete jungle seeing only grey sky makes me appreciate and looking forward to experience kampung life again, the last Merdeka trip while driving next to 'tali air' I saw an old man washing his shoe and an old wooden bridge waiting to fall down,not far from him there were kids fishing, laughing and enjoying their own game.
It was all green and green landscape with Gunung Jerai standing tall and proud complete the whole picture. I will come back when the next season start, who said we don't have four season?, in Kedah we have different season and the landscape change from island view, to serene green and then it turn into gold and finally light brown with smokes in the middle of the field.

I love the sun, the sea ,the moon, the waves...

The leaves swayed, the sun is going down and sometimes hiding behind the cloud, the birds fly......and I could only captured this moment and share it with everybody

Intermission - Alor Setar

A travel journal during Merdeka Holiday.

Around town - Rumah Kelahiran Che Det. Jln Kilang Ais:

entrance to Dr.M's house in JLn Kilang Ais,Sbg Perak, Alor Setar. This area has become an exhibition complex with additional building to house further display item and info. This is the first time i visit this place even though our house is just 10 minutes away :-)
The verandah is a typical element found in this area where it act as greeting point.

rattan chair in Living area, the house is well ventilated with enough fenestration and fixed timber Louvered.

kitchen and preparation area with rack (para).The house divided into several main component: verandah, living, one bedroom (rumah ibu), guest room, kitchen and dining and a small washing area. Kedah house are different from others mainly on the composition and heigt as well as architecture, where houses were built one storey higher due to geographical condition and the culture itself.The lower ground normally will house 'reban ayam' bathroom and act as an open storage and preparation area.









Pekan Rabu:

One of the oldest market place in Alor Setar, situated aLong Jalan Tunku Ibrahim and next to Sg Raja, this complex has gone few renovation and extension since it was first built.Local and traditional item from food to cloth, cutlery, couLd be found here as well as stuff from Thailand like snacks and matt. The price are a bit expensive that why the owner could where big chunk of jewellery :-)


can anyone guess what these white balls are??

The other side of the world: Part 2

Lets take a walk trough Kolkata town:

Kolkata map
further info : link
history




Cable Bridge (Vidyasagar Setu)


Howrah Bridge
Another historical bridge in Kolkatta crossing the Hooghly River, we were not allowed to stop by and snap any photo,so go to this this site for interesting history of the bridge :Howrah




M.P Birla Planetarium at Jawaharlal Behru Road - one of the largest single storey planetarium in Asia with Indian Architecture and imitation of Buddhist stupa


Interior of lobby area







Old building under conservation works using wood scaffolding


one of colonial building



Typical houses in Kantal Baria Road, Calcutta where it houses 3 or 4 family with clay roof tiles and mud floor. Most of the houses were built with bamboo as rafter and low roof with no ceiling. One courtyard is shared by these family.


Clay brick

The other side of the world: Part 1...ctd

This is how it looks like before houses were built,there are parameter wall to demarcate each lot. the place that we stay used to be like this some 30 or 40 years ago. Next to it is a double storey house under construction, the steel bar will be left jutting out from the roof for future extension, i'm sure about the foundation of the building, whether they consider it or not.

Pukeri or pond with stagnant water and no overflow pipe or discharge, source of water, some who can't afford process water from authority will depends on this for washing, cleaning, bathing..there are even big fish in this pond, but you should know to really clean it otherwise the taste is unimaginable.


Notice how the women dress and how skinny the kids are, except for one family who are a bit wealthy. this is the entrance to Bhod Babu house, there is a gateway at the back leading to his house and other houses. The yellow house on the right side is the dhorji and Ghoro(Bhod Babu's son) house on upper floor. This is the only space which wider and the place where they greet us the first time and say goodbye. There is one water pump for the family here on the left side, imagine they carry the water up and down the house including one pregnant lady..pity

Women usually eat separately from men, where they need to serve their father, husband or uncle first. So here were women from two different world getting to know each other in Bhod Babu's room. We had a visitor that day so many food were served most of it were too sweet for my taste.

View from roof top towards the courtyard overlooking the pond.




Street vendor selling puchka serve with sour gravy that looks similar to budu, I don't dare to try coz he used his bare hand to insert the gravy inside the puchka. Puchka is a hollow fritters (?) made of flour and deep fried. If we think about hygeine and cleanliness then, India (not all) is not the place, people come here for the culture and history and the adventure and mystical as well as colourful landscape





Orange juice mixed with serbuk asam, so refreshing,they normally used 4 oranges to produce one glass of juice. This is in Calcutta town during our shopping spree.

The other side of the world: Part 1

As requested by Simah:

These entry is a glimpse into Benggali culture living in Calcutta based on my own personal experience and not a thorough research.

I think I shall start with the people themselves, we in Malaysia used to call people with turban as Benggali, but actually they are Punjabi(Singh / Kaur) and their origin are from Punjab, a different part of India. Benggali are from Kolkata or Calcutta, situated next to Bangladesh and Nepal.Their language is of course Benggali not Hindi,Tamil or Urdu, different part of India have different unique culture and so does the people, their skin, the language, their food, economic almost everything.

Some of them looks like Nepalese and Malaysian with brown skin tone and women still wearing sari and men in loongy (pelikat).Even though they wear white shirt or sarung it looks pale and greyish due to dusty condition and the water quality.

The place that we stayed was in a village near Bartala (a trading area with port)and I referred it as Chota Masjid Village (chota means small). Calcutta used to be British administration centre and then under Communist, so there are still evidence especially graffiti at shop lots. Bartala is so crowded and far from imagination. You could hardly see this in a movie except for Discovery/ N.Geographic documentary, if there is any. There are people everywhere and the ration is almost 40 people per one car on the street!!The road is in bad condition with no proper drainage and garbage collection point and people pee almost everywhere.

My FIL brother's house (Bhod Babu, Bhod means Big -> so big uncle) is only few minutes from this street and the car need to pass by a narrow road, at first it wasn't a great ride coz I was afraid that it could dive into a pool, there are pool (puker) everywhere in this village. This village is different from what we see in Tamil movie with buffalo walking slowly in a green field, houses with big lawn, but one similarity is one house is filled with 2 or 3 family.

It used to be a green field with puker but when the population increased houses were built closed to each other with 2 floor to accommodate extended family, besides most of the villagers are related.There are houses that separated only by 1 meter gap with no perimeter drain, no gutter and no toilet! Some who could afford might invest on this otherwise go naturel..But we were very lucky, Bhod Babu's house has been extended and upgraded to Malaysian requirement by my FIL, he don't want his menantu too feel kekok and face any difficulty.

Most of the houses are flat roof, the reason is when the son got married he will have to stay in that house and since land is scarce he need to go vertical. These flat roof is also a dry yard with 6 meters colourful sari hung from the rope down the first floor and a playground for kids especially for kite season. I don't know whether you could imagine this but it was surreal and beyond expectation..too far.

They are poor people but with warm heart and good hospitality, only men are allowed to work especially as tailor,helper at dhorji while women have to take care of the house chore. There are many dhorji inside the village but it wasn't a proper shop some are just 3 wall with a curtain to hide their design. Every month they will sell their product at a bigger market where traders from all over India will come. Some women do involves in this trade but they work from home with small amount of wages. Their bedroom is their storage, some even worse, one small room with 3 people from 3 generation living in a dark room which is their only bedroom,living,dining, and work space..there is no mattress only thin matt, I saw this with my own eyes the day I went to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye

Parting


THERE'S no use in weeping,
Though we are condemned to part:
There's such a thing as keeping
A remembrance in one's heart:

There's such a thing as dwelling
On the thought ourselves have nurs'd,
And with scorn and courage telling
The world to do its worst.

....

part of a poem by:
Charlotte Brontte (i'm not good in poetry, so I just cut and paste :-)

It is hard to say goodbye, but I have to let her go, after three years being my companion and now she's leaving, I know she's in a good hand of my own family.
She have been travelling with me from Kedah to Johore,from highway to ferry cruise and she almost carry a dead body when I was panic. Now I kiss her goodbye.













(thanx kinat for the photo)

Sky

.."look up to the sky and and all you see is rain, but when the clouds has blown away the sky is blue again.."
Miss Sally (SNC) thought us this song, an oldies with lyrics been modified to suits us..

But when I look up to the sky today after the rain, the sky is still grey and gloomy and hazy. Its been almost two weeks now and there is no improvement, there were times that I keep on blaming Indonesian authority for not doing enough to overcome this problem. Deep down inside I'm worry that if it keep on going like this for more than four times a year, just imagine the long term effect on us especially people with asthma and babies. Maybe this is a test not only for Indonesian who suffered from earthquake, tsunami but also a reminder to us. Maybe there things that are wrong going on ..I don't know, I'm not Nostradamus..but as human being and a Muslim I believe that there is always a reason.

May tomorrow be better so I could see the clear blue sky again.

Sick

Nothing interesting to share and last week was spent on bed with hair covered with air asam.Hopefully my little one inside is doing fine.Insyaallah. Cobbaaann...

Susah dan senang : Merantau ke Deli

Sebelum
"Demi Allah saya akan melindungi engkau Poniem!Dan biarlah Allah memberikan hukuman yang setimpal kepada saya, kalau saya mungkir"..

Selepas
"Kau boleh pergi dari sini! Kau orang Jawa!Boleh turutkan orang Jawa, kau boleh kembali ke kebun! Sebelah mata saya tidak boleh pandang pada kau lagi. Pergilah dari sini, mulai sekarang saya jatuhkan kepada engkau talak tiga sekali. Pergilah!"

Things change with time,people change with so many reason and sometimes reason that are hard to swallow, bitter..and the sweeteness and excitement of love will just fade away. This a an extract from : Merantau ke Deli by Hamka (2002)Maybe some of us have read this book but I just finished it today after spending two day concentrating only on this book :-)

It happens everywhere in every culture and love and marriage is a sacred bonding that need to be build each day not only the first 7 months or 7 years..but forever. I have the courage to finish up this book not because of the thickness (181 pages) but it reminds me of my own friend who are still in this chaos of finding a solution to bring back the light to their marriage, at the beginning everything was so perfect with rainbows of colours and now there are only dark cloud and waiting for a disaster.

This is a good book as a guide in not only marriage but also culture where people sometimes blindly follow and push themselves hard just to please these unreasonable expectation.

"Demikianlah keretapi itu mengerjakan kewajipan yang wajib dipikul setiap hari, mengangkut dan menghantarkan, membawa dan memulangkan; baik yang berhasil maksudnya merantau ke Deli, atau yang datang kosong pulang pun kosong. Banyak yang telah pergi tetapi lebih banyak jua yang datang. Banyak yang putus asa lalu pergi, kemudian datang kembali, kerana ada pepatah orang yang telah lama tinggal di Deli : "Jika sekali air sungai Deli telah diminum, nescaya akan datang lagi dan minum lagi."

Sastera dan sejarah

Based on one research that I heard on a radio last week, women are smarter when they are pregnant..? maybe because of motherly instinct that we need to nurture, educate, cherish and love the child ,that turn a mediocre women into smarter one..I wish that it is true and I want to believe that I'm turning towards the same phase.

I just finished two books by A.Samad Said- Di Hadapan Pulau & Sungai Mengalir Lesu; the scenario and context are almost the same, revolved around suffering and hardship during Japanese occupation. It was told thru a different perspective and it was all well written. The first time I read Pak Samad books was in 1992 right after SPM and I managed to complete reading 5 of his books in three months (Salina, Langit Petang, Hujan Pagi, Sungai Mengalir Lesu and my favourite - Daerah Zeni).and also Shanon Ahmad's.I don't think whether I could have the same motivation now.

Those two books were actually not in my reading list, it's supposed to be The Fountainhead, but after awhile I felt like I don't have enough time and I don't want to waste my time searching for far and foreign literature when at the same time I don't know much about our local literature scene.Fountainhead is related to work so that could be finish up later.

My mini research are moving slowly now with 10 pages already in Words format and I'm getting more interesting info thru the internet. Next step is to contact Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia cawangan Kedah, MTPNK, Muzium Negeri and most important local people..people on the street, especially elderly..

Sweet and Sour

The season of the year has arrived, everywhere we go there are rainbows of colours, red hairy, green spiky and golden yellow jack..by the road side, at pasar tani, nite market..you name it..and this is the best time to pack your things and head back to kampung (especially for those who seldom have time to do it..?) jenguk-jenguklah orang tua di kampung..sambil penuhkan kereta dgn buah..;-)

Living in Alor Setar with no orchard and relying on pasar malam makes me excited when the season came. I remember when I was about 7, we had a visit from my granny who lives in Yan, she came with a gunny full of fruits especially mangosteen..she was too old for her age to take a bus ride all by herself..I hardly knew her and I think that was the last time I ever met her, and until now everytime i look at the purple fruit i will always remember her..semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atasnya.

Some people might hate the smell of durian but to me its heavenly..how can't we not enjoying this smooth yellow flesh with strong aroma? There are some with bright yellow and firm flesh,some with smooth and greyish flesh..there are also different names for these durian..some call it kucing tidur, maybe because of the form of each ulas. And the worst nitemare is durian with big white worm...yucckkk!!! I was told not to eat durian during this period, its too hot for pregnant woman..but different people will give different piece of advice..mom said ok..as long as I take it in small amount, but I just want to be safe.

I'm not an expert in agriculture but I think there are some species of fruit trees are common in Kedah especially nipah, this is not seasonal fruit and there are easy to find along river bank, the sweet white flesh are best enjoyed with it's juice in a hot sunny day.Has anyone tried nira nipah? there's one stall before plaza tol (A.S Selatan )selling fresh nira nipah.

There's one exotic fruit that I think hard to find now, maybe some of you might came across of this 'nanam' fruit. I knew about this fruit back in the 80's somewhere in Langgar, Kedah. It looks like guava trees but we don't have to climb or used stick to pluck it because it grows at the base almost touching the ground. We can't eat it fresh but best eaten as jeruk due it its strong sour taste..

Hmmm..how I miss my hometown and its exotic fruits..but I have to take care not to over indulged. From my MIL point of view, pregnant women or anybody who try to conceived shouldn't eat too much fruits due to it's acid level, even an apple! Contradict to medical opinion but it's up to us to whether to believe it or just to put it aside and head to durian stall..:-)

Parcel from Pg

For the last few weeks there was a chaos in Tg Tokong, everybody were thinking, cracking their head and rushing to courier service asking whether they could deliver this special parcel. They thought that they don't have enough time or maybe the recipient need it badly and urgently..But this recipient still have the patience and she could wait for another few months.

I received a phone call on Thursday asking me to go to one place in USJ9 to 'have' this replacement for the parcel that I should received from Tg Tokong, so on Friday during lunch time I went alone to that place and retrieved it..and it was totally different, but I can't complaint too much, just accept whatever come.

Received another phone call from Tg Tokong, another parcel is coming and I have to collect from the same place on Sunday..I've been waiting for this one and pray that it will be the right one.

Last nite my heart was beating so fast, waiting for hubby to collect my parcel..It was around 10.30pm and finally I got my long-awaited parcel..
..Sambal Tumis ikan masin with pajeri mangga...I had two plate of rice..legaa..Alhamdulillah harap-harap baby nanti tak meleleh air liur..;-)

And this morning I had the same meal while hubby drove me to the office..

How things has changed......

The best moment in life beside getting married and having lovely kids must be during our childhood time. Spending time studying and playing and make friend and being scold. I spend eleven long years in SNC - St Nicholas Convent (Alor Setar), a school where parents were dying to send their child in because of the system of maybe it was considered English school.

I entered SNC in the early 80's where the school church with pale looking nun were still around and we have to greet them whenever they passed by...'Good Morning sister..At those time they were many Serani student and most of them are good looking with long nice hair, properly dressed up with good command of English. I always fancy their English name : Elizabeth, Grace, Ann, Stephanie, Cheryl..and there were also Indian Christian with beautiful names like: Felomina, True Indian normally have these name : Nagarani, Telagawati, Bawani and a must have: Hemamalini, after famous Indian actress.

Those were the days when I always pretend that I was in English school in England !!(kecik-kecik dah perasan tu..)

We had a small school office for both primary and secondary, few small toilet cubicle for primary school with green field surrounded by palm trees and hibiscus, for secondary we had double storey building, pavilion, assembly hall, five nos. of food stall with 10sen drinks..and sister's house plus the church. There were lovely bell like purple flower blooming on a white trellis infront of their carporch. They also planted colourful carnation and few vege plants. It wasn't a Grade A school but it holds memory of thousands student.
It was the moment when Cindy Lauper, Bross, Alleycats rised to fame..and Abba and Carpenter song were recomposed by music teacher to suit us during music class.

Most of the system and orientation were into Western even though we follow Malaysian syllabus. English were compulsory, we even had an English Week, one will be find if she used even one Malay word and we had a class 'tulisan sambung' during primary maybe at standard 4..where you have to write an essay with proper italic font instead of one independent alphabet to construct a word.

that was then.....

this is the reality..a reality that hard to swallow..SNC is just a name, it is now Sek Kebangsaan and they have moved to other place with new modern standard design building, no more English style classroom with big doors. Things has changed to suit current demand and the old school is now just a abandoned building. Not really abandoned but taken over by some operator selling those cheap stuff..if you look at this picture from Google Earth: the green school field has turn into a pasar with blue tent..what a sad sight..the church is no longer there..no more purple flower..I did once comment in QOTH blog on related entry that 'i hate looking at the school now, it feels like looking at your ex..'
One day I passed by the road going to the roundabout and I notice that there were still few abstract painting at the corridor..the same old painting..I almost cried..

Terubuk masin and deep dark shaft

He arrived safely on Friday with tired face and dirty pant but extra luggage with sourvenirs, buah salak (pi jauh2 beli buah salak) and ikan terubuk masin. He was so excited telling me how he went to that huge site and how they went into 70 meter (at first i thought it is just 15 or 17 feet )deep dark shaft. I know it was his opportunity to learn and explore new things but looking at the photo and heard about their guide who almost faint because of the pressure down there and maybe lack of oxygen enough to make me nervous.

(*this is the only photo that i could attached, the rest kena minta permission dulu :-)

Before he came back I craved for ikan masin and now ikan terubuk masin is still in the freezer untouch ! dah depan mata tak nak makan pulak..any good terubuk masin recipe? or just fry with onion..yumyum

Super-Man

I'm not a big fan of any 'super'-man', man that could fly with his underwear outside from one tower to the other, or man that could transform his flat chest to a muscular and green body..but I do enjoy watching them..NO..I'm not going to give a review about the latest movie. I just wish that my hubby could be a superman.hehehe..

Minus the blue suit, I wish that he take extra care of his safety today while walking more than 15 feet down inside a tunnel in Bakun.
He will be inspecting one of the lifting equipment and other stuff, while writing this, he's still on the way to this site.

'Semoga semuanya selamat pergi dan balik"- from both of us in Putrajaya.

Up and down

Precious things are hard to get, but when you have it in a hard way you know that it's going to be like a big great thing compared to other valuable things in life. Here I am enjoying this moment and at the same time worrying about what could happen if I make one silly mistake.

The last few days was a nightmare..I noticed there was a pink spot and realized that it might be something abnormal, I just pray that everything will be ok and hope that God will give me a chance to sail smoothly in this new journey.

SUNDAY:

On clear Sunday morning we went to the emergency ward, I was so nervous..Few minutes waiting before the triage session was like days waiting for uncertainty. I was called to the other department alone..Laying on hospital bed and thinking and praying..After brief diagnosed I was send to O&G ward upstairs on wheel chair, and I heard the nurse called hubby..

Another session of painless experience but for me it was horrible..I'm a bit coward when it comes to hospital equipments especially needles.

Changed to bright pink sarong and waiting for MO while I pray for the safety of my little one...I was shaking mainly because it was too cold and I'm too skinny. I imagine that it's going to be an unpleasant experience..And it was at first but the moment I saw the image on the screen all those uncomfortable feeling fade away..Still small but I could see the heart beating fast..Alhamdulillah. That was the best moment for the first time seeing someone inside you.

MO said that nothing to worry, it just a normal thing..Syukur. I was discharged after 45 minutes investigation..

MONDAY :

Second antenatal checkup at a clinic, everything was fine except for my weight, I was supposed to gain around 0.5kg in one month in the first trimester, but I shocked to found out that I gained 1.0kg extra and the nurse mark it with red pen..I thought that I was underweight, so I keep on eating more carbo especially rice ,bread, thosai and noodles plus milk at night..hmm..Should take care of my food intake from now on. I thought that pregnant women should eat for two, but I was wrong, we should eat healthy food and gain proper weight.

I was smiling all the way to the office yesterday..

Careless

I left a bit late for work today, rushing down and by the time at the lobby, I realised thtt I forgot my car key..call hubby to pass the key and rush down again..lift stop at level 4, and there were one lady in her middle 20's with two small boys enter the lift(deep down inside I felt that she didn't care much about them, I don't know what it is but something is not right)..the lil brother look cheerful..thumping his leg and make faces..I just smile at these cheeky boy..he placed his right hand onto lift door and still playfully teasing his big bro..

The lift stop at level 1..and the lady still didn't care about that lil boy..lift door open and his hand were still there and stuck in between the panel and the door!!! He scream..and I shouted at her.."tangan tu..!!!"..she just quickly walk out and carry the crying boy..and the big brother was also panic.."kenapa kakak?"...I don't know whether she's a maid or their aunty, but one day if I met their parents I will surely report this.Not that I'm being kepoh but they need to know what is happening........or maybe the big bro has told their mom..

What if the worst thing happen? Only God knows..

..That L-shape room..

As a human being good sunny day, fresh breeze of air and a good view are essential things that enhance our life apart from other basic necessity. Imagine yourself in a room less than 70sqft, L-shape with one door and no window to enjoy outside view and no morning fresh scent..Can you put yourself in this situation? One need not to be a well educated or have any basic design knowledge to understand this..

But what if a person who have been in this business for more than 10 years and so called 'professional' and practicing architect as well as a principal with foreign training, with books around him all the time decide a design this kind of space????..A house is a space for people to live in..!!It is a habitable space, therefore it need to be pleasantly design, well ventilated and have ample lighting, complying to at least basic design standard and requirement and also authority requirement.

Some people are just stubborn or maybe they can't accept the fact that their idea is wrong..Even though you highlight and comment so many times..If he is just a freshie, I think that should be fine, maybe he's not sure due to lack of experience..But in this case; a principal who used to be a lecturer could design and trying so hard to defend his stupid and wrong idea..Even a dog house need a proper design..

Or is it just because that L-shape room is just for a maid and we think that she is just a worker who need to work all day and night..Double standard!!! His only judgement and statement is this: "they are supposed to be working, not sleeping.."..Maybe he should left his design table and his Lamy Pen..And stop talking s#*t about design principle..Go and do something else..And don't spoil the whole industry...

I'm not sad about our client's maid, but I'm sad because we have this kind of people who have a lot of money, went for oversea education, came back as a professional and practicing in this country and at the end making all the mess..And complaint too much about requirement, regulation, mindset, standard of everything..hampeh..

Even a homeless can define what is habitable space..........