Cerpen Hanif-(Sambungan)

 

5 bulan berlalu. Aku menerima sms.

“Akak, saya dah bersalin, anak perempuan. Suami saya dan anak-anak semua ada bersama”. terasa lapang dada ini menerima sms tersebut. Sms tersebut datang dari emak Hanif yang telah lama luput dari ingatan ku. Terbayang keriuhan keluarga itu. Terbayang bagaimana bahagianya si ibu setelah kembali berkumpul bersama suami dan anak-anaknya.

“Rezeki anak”, bisik hatiku.

“Syukur Alhamdulillah, saya gembira mendengar berita ini”. Aku menjawab smsnya dengan hati yang lega. Aku bersykur pada Allah. Semoga si suami telah mendapat hidayahNya dan  bertaubat. Amin…

-TAMAT-

Blasphemy – Durrani Tehmina

I bought the book from Karachi Airport, while waiting for my flight to Lahore a couple of weeks ago. As I was browsing through the bookstore looking for books written by local writters, the store owner handed me Blasphemy. Without thinking much, although the title and the color didnt look interesting, I paid, since it is one of the cheapest. Then off I boarded my flight.

Last night I picked it up and started to read it. OMG..!! It is the most depressing book that I’ve ever read. I could not let go the book until I woke up in the morning with headache and heartache. I’ve only completed half through.

Just read part of the summary…………

'To me, my husband was my son's murderer. He was also my daughter's molester. A parasite nibbling on the Holy Book…'. Set in South Pakistan, the novel inspired by a true story, is a searing study of evil, an uncompromising look at the distortion of Islam by predatory religious leaders. In prose of great power and intensity, the author tells the tragic story of the beautiful Heer, brutalized and corrupted by Pir Sain, the man of God, whom she is married to when barely fifteen.

I could not believe such an inhumanity exists in this world. Thank God we are living in this peaceful country of ours. Salam 1Malaysia!

Andy Rooney (CBS) said…(Among others)

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: 

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn't care what you think. 

If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting. 

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. 

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

(email courtesy from my sis-inlaw,2T)

Sorry girl, no trip for you

We planned to go for ‘Umrah’ on this coming August, for the whole family.  When Nadia entered the boarding school, she was told that a long leave is not allowed. What to do… I had to cancel her name from the list.

We also planned to go for a company trip to Medan, Indonesia, in this coming June. It was planned much earlier before Nadia was accepted to the matrix college to continue her Pure Science study. Air fare paid and accommodation was booked, so are itineraries. If she goes, she will miss 2 days of classes. I thought, it should be ok. Then I wrote a letter to the college, requesting for her to be excused for the 2 days of absences. REJECTED!

 

“Mendung kelabu….Berlinangan airmata”

Its ok girl, think for your future. There is always a next time. We will bring you photos of Samosir Island.

Parents-O-Parents

As a parents to an only daughter, we miss her very much and we would give all the need that help her to reach her comfort zone in her new environment, the boarding school. She asked me to cook for her, I did, even if I had to wake up very early in the morning. We sent the food to her and watched her eat, then drove back to KL. She needed money to buy books, the father dropped everything and went to the bank to credit the money to her account. Last weekend, she wanted to come back on Friday and return to school on Sunday. My husband and I left our office early on Friday day to ensure that we reached Perak before 6pm so that we could be back to KL before 8pm. She called to inform that she had a stomach ache, I could not sleep until she said she was ok. Only now that I know... "this is how my parents felt"

Gopeng? What is there?

After a long journey from Islamabad, via Bangkok, continued with the Arabian night, I ended in Gopeng, Perak on the very next morning, Sunday. That was my first visit to my loving daughter, Nadia, since her enrolment to the boarding school at Perak Matix College (Kolej Matrikulasi Perak).

Its is about 2 hours drive from my place. Driving up north without GPS, we exited the right junction towards Gopeng, referring to the map given. It was as if going into Oil Palm Plantation. Once or twice we had to stop, allowing a herd of cows crossing the road. Along the way I was wondering how the school would be and of course in my mind ,"poor Nadia. Can she adapt to this environment?".

We drove further in, about 30 minutes from the North-South Highway. At Last, we saw decent buildings on our right. I read the sign board. Phew..!! that was it. The college is looking good with a beautiful scenery. I couldn't say more. I took lots and lots of photographs.

Men visitors are not allowed in to the hostel, so I went in. 4 persons in a room. The washrooms are many and they are quite OK, although Nadia was a bit.... (you know what I mean). Well.. what do you expect, girl. You've got to learn how to share.

It was a relief to see Nadia found new friends and is getting herself into the new life. I cooked early morning and brought her my Bryani rice. She enjoyed her mama's cooking. The college has 7 cafeterias, but they are serving the same food. I tasted the food and I don't blame Nadia for complaining. It was TASTELESS. I hope the college will do something with this matter.

After lunch, we walked around the area. The library is very nice, the field is wide and the view, excellent!. They have a big mosque, clinic, student lecture hall is big and all air conditioned. All the buildings are within walking distance. No transportation required. Therefore, Nadia's car is now resting at home.

Then, we decided to drive outside of the college compound. The scenery is excellent. We drove further and further into the villages. We saw a sign 'MY GOPENG RESORT'. Hemmm.... sounds interesting... lets check it out. We drove following the sign deeper into the jungle-alike, passing a few durian trees. The road was getting narrower and narrower.

"Where is the resort", I wondered, until I saw another sign 'My Gopeng Resot, 5 km'. Were had gone through about 5km, now another 5km to go. Sigh... we were almost exhausted.

"Fine, lets go for it". We continued our journey.

At last, WOW! WOW ! WOW ! Look what we discovered..
This must be a paradise to the eco-tourists. We passed by a 4WD with a sign 'Fear Factor' on it. also we notice 2 stores selling equipments for white water rafting and rock climbing.

At the end of the adventure, we stopped by a stall selling 'Cendol' to quench our thirst at the so-called town area.

Wedding-Arabian Night

15 MAY 2010, on the day I touched down in Kuala Lumpur, after a heavy scheduled trip to Pakistan, I could not spend a minute to rest, as I had to rush for to the nearby store to do some shopping for my daughter, on her items required at her boarding school, while I was also rushing to attend a wedding of my husband's nephew, Anaz, at Putra Jaya at that very night. My hubby and I was rushing like crazy that day.

I came back from my shopping at 6pm. It was time to go for the wedding. The theme was Arabian. I didn't have much time to think for any costume. I appeared in my newly bought Punjab's suit, which I got from Islamabad, while my hubby appeared in Batik, so were all the men seated within our tables.

Its was a fun occasion. Many relatives came. The young and the old. The musical performance, a group from Palembang, was good, that we enjoyed ourselves and didn't have a chance to move around meeting other relatives.

Honestly, I don't know many relatives from my husband's side. However, I noticed some people were not there. Where was Abang Hussain? A cousin who is fun to be with. Where was Dr. Ismail Merican? The honorable uncle. How about Kak DD and Abang Ihsan ?

It was a grand wedding. Congratulation to the parents, Nana Bab and Kak Pah.

We reached home after midnight, needed to catch some sleep, before leaving to Perak to visit Nadia at the boarding school, early morning on the next day. ZZZzzzzz..zzzzzz...z.z.z