I have lost another relative and a good former neighbour.

On 26th. November 2008 I lost another relative , a childhood neighbour and a kind host to us each time we drop over her house when we came back to the village ,Kg.Batu 38, Sabak Bernam . Mak Hamid or Hamid's mother , we used to call her . It was a normal practice for us in the village to call some one older by the eldest son or daughter's name . Since Hamid was her eldest son , so we called her Hamid's mother .Her actual name was Hajjah Salasiah/Lasiah , if I am not mistaken . She was about 70 years old and was suffering from what we Malaysians used to call as the 3 in 1 disease ( heart , kidney and diabetic problems ) .I was told she was admitted to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang for some time .Unfortunately I came to know about it only on 11th. October 2008 , even that was informed by some one through a slip of the tongue .

On 12th.October 2008 my wife and I went to the Tengku Ampuan Hospital and visited her at Ward No:7 . She was so happy to see us although she was in pain . Unexpectedly , she asked forgiveness from me and so did I . Before we left her we told her that we would be visiting her again and that we would pray for her recovery .I did not expect that she would die . After that I left for Sarawak . While in Sarawak I called my wife to ask her to visit her at the Hospital to check on her development . Subsequently my wife went the Hospital .Unfortunately , she was not able to see her as she did not know that she had been moved to another Ward . My wife did not pursue further because she thought that she could have been discharged from the Hospital . However on 21st Nov. 2008 I was told by a relative that she was still in the Hospital but was transfered to Ward 8 .On 24th. November 2008 my wife and I went to Ward 8 of the Hospital but was told by the nurse that there was no one by that name admitted into that Ward . So we came back feeling hopeless .

On 27th.November 2008 at about 7.30 am I received a telephone call from Hamid who informed us that his mother had passed away . We were so sad because we visited her only once in the Hospital and now she had passed away . At about 7.40 am we left our home and drove our car to the village to make our courtesy call before her ' last journey ' . We reached the house at about 9.30 am and saw the big crowd there . I had the opportunity to take part in the prayer for her last rites before her burial . Later, I also went to the cemetry and gave my helping hand in the burial process . As it was raining earlier , the cemetry was very muddy . My feet and my trousers was practically soaked with mud .Any way I was satisfied for I had given my helping hand for a good cause .

She was our last relative in the village . Before this I would normally never miss to visit her and her family each time we came back to the village . Now , that she is gone we have no one else to visit there . I guess we have no more reason to be back at the village .

May Allah bless her and may her soul be among the good souls in heaven .

Amin.

We visited Siti Nuralia Zahra at her maternal grand parent's house in Kajang today ( 23rd.Nov.2008 ) .She looks like her sister Alisya.

Today ( 23rd.Nov.2008 )Siti Nuralia Zahra is 7 days old. She looks cute today.

Azman receiving his MBA at UiTM Shah Alam.It was officiated by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Sultan Mizan.

Azman receiving his MBA from Yang Di Pertuan Agong , Sultan Mizan at the convocation of UiTM on 20th November 2008

Azman received his MBA from UiTM.

On 20th.November 2008 our son Azman received his MBA degree ( Master in Business Administration ) from the UiTM Shah Alam . Unfortunately , I was unable to attend the convocation ceremony due to some unavoidable reasons . Any way, I am glad that he has finally succeeded in achieving the highest qualification so far , from among his siblings . I hope his success would encouraged the others to follow suit . I have always stressed to my children that they should not stop studying after getting their first degrees . They should strive to get higher qualifications in order to make themselves more markettable . Further more our religion always stress to its followers to make learning a life long process . Infact , there is a hadith ( sayings of the Prophet Muhammad ( pbuh. ) ) that if one dies while in the process of learning ( whatever knowledge that is beneficial to mankind ) he or she would die a worldly martyr ( syahid dunia ) . Another hadiths says that one should pursue knowledge as far as China .The high regards put on those pursuing knowledge should augur young Muslims to better themselves and be competetive to face the challenging years ahead .

Congratulation to Azman .

Yet to be named third grand-daughter.

Cute grand-daughter Adrina

Bestowed with a third grand daughter .

On 15th.November 2008 at about 3.30pm. my wife received a telephone call from our son Aizad in Kajang informing that our daughter in-law Nurhaniza ( Aizad's wife ) had been admitted to the maternity hospital . At about 7.00 pm. Aizad called again to inform us that his wife had given birth to a baby girl . Thanks to Allah for bestowing upon us a bouncing baby girl - a second daughter to Aizad and Nurhaniza and a third grand daughter to us . As it was already late , we decided that we would visit her the next day .

On 16th.November 2008 ( Sunday ) at about 8.30 am. , my wife , son Azman and wife and I , left our home in Klang and proceeded to Kajang . We reached the hospital in Kajang at about 9.30 am . It was a private hospital situated on a row of shophouses in the middle of Kajang town . The ward was on the second floor . The baby girl looked almost exactly like her sister Alisya . From her features I could forsee that she would grow to be a tall lady like her sister . Nurhaniza told us that she would be discharged from the hospital in the afternoon on that day . I suggested she be named Siti Nuraliya . Any way the final decision would be theirs to make .

After about an hour at the hospital we went to Encik Agus's (Nurhaniza's father ) house not far away from there for a courtesy visit . We left his house at about 11.30 am. On the way we stopped at a Nasi Briyani Gam stall where we had lunch . The Briyani rice was superb but the price was a bit expensive considering the fact that it was only a makeshift stall where they do not have to pay high rental .A plate of chicken or beef briyani was RM 11/- while the mutton briyani was RM 13/- . Comparatively it was RM 8.50 and RM 11./ respectively at Nasi King at Taman Sri Andalas Klang .We reached home at about 1.30 pm.

We received a letter from UTM Skudai informing that our daughter Farin had been offered a place to continue her studies for the Masters programme in Electrical Engineering beginning July 2009 . Although I would prefer her to do her Masters overseas , I would also allow her to decide for herself . As the current economic situation in the country today is not so conducive and jobs are scarce , I would suggest for young able students to continue equipting themselves with knowledge and qualifications in order to be competitive both locally and internationally .