Quick JB trip.

On Friday 27thApril 2006 we went to JB to pick up our daughter Fareen from UTM .She would be starting her semester holidays for more than 2 months . On 29th April 2006 she would be sitting for her MUET exams at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 9,Shah Alam . Our grand daughter Alisya followed us to JB. We reached JB at about 7.20 pm and put up a night at my mother in laws place .

We did not have enough time visiting relatives as we had to come back to Klang before 29th.April .

We left JB at about 2.00 pm .After picking up Fareen at UTM we proceeded to come back to Klang .We reached home at about 7.30 pm .

The next morning we sent Fareen to her MUET centre at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan,Seksyen 9,Shah Alam .She was there from 7.30 am till 1.00pm .

A wedding reception fit for the very rich.

Last night we attended a wedding reception at the Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam. It was hosted by my wife's distant relative who happens to be staying in Taman Sri Andalas ,Klang .Well since it was held at the hotel ,it was quite a lively one . The place was superb but the food was not as good and abundant as if we are to have it at our own home .I feel it is not worth it for the price of RM.68.00 per head .If it is for 500 people ( 50 tables x 10 for a table )it would cost RM.34,000/-. If one is very rich then it should be alright , but what if it is a hard-earned money , would you simply want to throw it away within a few hours ? Or if it is borrowed money wouldn't you find it difficult later to repay back the loan ? Just for the sake of glamour and praises from some , you would put yourself in an embarrasing situation after that .Is it worth it ? Worst still if the marriage does not last long .According to Syariah the purpose of the wedding reception is to announce to the public that our daughter is married and one should not make any more proposal to her . A modest feast can be made for friends and neighbours to mark the occassion . It is also an occassion for us to renew our friendships. There should not be any extravagent spending for the purpose .Having said that , does not mean I am totally against the idea of having a wedding reception in a hotel . If I have the extra bounty which I want to share with other people , I would also have it there . Why not ? It all depends on our own situation .Any way that would be my last choice because I would prefer to have more people to have a share of it .

At the end of the reception I met two friends , former sub-ordinate officers with whom I had worked with once , in Klang .One of them is now retired while the other is doing his Masters at UKM . They are staying in the same Taman not far away from our house in Klang .There you are , I have just renewed my friendships with two of my old colleagues .

We came back home at about 11.20 pm .

We do not know what is in store for us in the future. Only God decides .

It has been more than 3 months ( to be exact 105 days from 2nd.January 2006 ) now that we are living in Klang.We are adapting ourselves to this place and I feel not much different from that of Shah Alam.Life as a retiree is still lonely , without much contact with the outside world. Even friends are shying away from us except for the very few special ones .But because most of them are also old and getting worn out ,they too are less to be seen .I guess that is what life is all about .Once you are old and cosidered less useful to society you are slowly discarded from them .But I am determined that I do not belong to that category . I believe I still can be useful although perhaps to a different set of the society .I hope I can be of use to the spiritually minded society .I am working towards that . Once I complete my Pengajian al Quran at the University of Malaya I hope I would be able to teach the young kids around the neighbourhood to read the Quran . May be this is the last I could do to serve society . I may even volunteer myself to teach in the third world countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam etc . Infact I have registered myself with the United Nations via the internet to be a prospective volunteer worker .

Yesterday we went to Yassin's ( my cousin ) house in Sec.23 Shah Alam for a normal visit since he has been inviting us many times to see his new house .When we arrived he was not in .His daughter told us that Yassin's mother ( my auntie ) from Sungai Besar was in.She was there for a day's visit . So I decided to come in and saw my auntie .She was lying in bed because she had a stroke about 3 years ago and ever since has been confined to her bed .Oh God , please don't let that happen to me or to any member of my family . It must have been hell for her to be confined in bed as a result of the stroke . It must have been hell too for the person who is taking care of her daily needs .Even during that short visit, she was complaining about the ill-treatment that she received from her daughter with whom she is living in Sungai Besar and who is taking care of her .Her other children refuse to take care of her giving excuses that they are working and having no time to tend to her needs .What a lame excuse ! As I said earlier once you are old and more so become a burden to others , no one would want to be associated with you .Even your children would refuse to take care of you .I do not want to be a burden to my children either and would rather die than suffer like my auntie .Well as the Quran says only God decides on ' qadak ' and ' qadar ' .We do not know what is in store for us in the future .We , His servants could only pray for his blessings .

From Shah Alam we proceeded to Sungai Buloh to buy some grass to be planted on the coumpound of our house .We decided to do it ourselves instead of asking somebody else .It is much much cheaper to do it ourselves .The 'snake' Indians would charge us a few thousand ringgits when in actual fact it would only cost a few hundreds .( We were once cheated by these snakes ) .I still remember when I was in secondary school ,we were told of an English proverb that says ,' If you see an Indian and a snake , you must kill the Indian first before you kill the snake ' , which only shows that the Indian is more dangerous than the snake . In other words never trust an Indian .Well , I hope not all Indians are like that .

We came back with our ' kembara ' laden with grass , soil and fertilizers .I had to be extra careful driving home because the ' kembara ' was almost overloaded . Any way we reached home safe and sound although I almost had a bad cram in my right leg .