AS RAMADHAN PULLING DOWN HER CURTAINS....

Yesterday marked my first month as a lecturer and a weekend-and-public-holiday- husband-and-father.

Diyana was in Kuching having great time with a friend whom she had never talked before even though they were together in law school over in IIUM.

Syazwan felt bad when his brand new Proton Saga SE was scratched by someone in the faculty's car park.

Syafiq was still head over heel in love with his scrambler. He spent hours at a time cleaning, polishing and beautifying his motorbike.

Amalia, our youngest, was a little bit green when she saw Diyana's all white bedroom set was brought up her into her sister's room. She was very pleased with how her room looked like, you know the new lilac paint and the purple curtains and not to mention her English cotton baju kurung and 'scaly' scarf.

Our Teratak Syakirin too was ever ready to celebrate the coming Aidilfitri. Her hall had been painted with apple green coat of paint and so too was the curtains. Instead of the brightly coloured material used in the previous years, this year the curtain was gray, perfectly matching with the new paint/

Upstairs, all the rooms had been painted and their ceiling replaced with plaster ceiling. Gone then the problem of guano falling down from the ceiling.

I was all alone in the house, reciting the holy Quran. Now I was at the At-Taubah surah. I have just finished once and now it is my second round. I hope that I can finish reciting the entire Quran for the second time before Ramadhan pulls down her curtain.

Have I done the right thing, taking up the new post after my retirement? Well, to tell you the truth, I am far more relaxed and perhaps happier now with very much less stress and strain.

Bye bye DVS and welcome UNISZA!

Attracting more people to Islam

Last Friday, for the first since I bought it, I drove our E200K to KL. It was our annual Eid's family shopping trip.

True to her manufacturer, she performed as expected. Even our Amalia noticed the smooth acceleration and corner-taking.

We put up a night at The Zone, Ampang. The two-room suite was a bit stale and not-so-properly-looked-after. But, it was spacious enough for the six of us.

So far we have tried both PNB suites and The Zone. We preferred PNB suites better, but this time around it was fully booked.

I joined the big crowd at Al-Syakirin's mosque for Friday prayers. The congregation of prayers was so huge that it overflowed the mosque into the park.

I was so jubilant seeing so many KLites performing their prayers so earnestly. I saw a few Whites tourist clearly awed by the huge crowd. They must have been surprised to see Muslims so obedient despite of living in a busy city like KL.

I still remember how an American embraced Islam a week after after accepting my invitation for a dinner in our house.

I still remember vividly how he was so impressed with the way I brought up my family. He even went as far as asking us who we really were! I told him that we were Muslims and that was how Muslims should live.

A few things that he was impressed with our family. One was how our eldest had to get my permission to go on a school's field trip. "You mean your daughter has to get your approval for a filed trip?" "Yes! As long as she is still living with us, she must get our permission, even when she is already above eighteen!"

Two, he looked at my wife and asked," Your wife cook everyday?" "Yes, she cooks four times a day! Cooking for her family is what she loves most."

He was one of the many Americans who unashamedly joined us in our weekened barbecues. He knew that my wife's barbecue was far more delicious than their normal salt-and-black-pepper bbq.

We even invited him to see how we perform our jumaah prayers, with me as the Imam.

After all that, one fine afternoon he came to see me and said that he was ready to embrace Islam. So, one equally fine day I brought him to the Islamic centre and he said his shahadah there, clearly and with full of sincerity and humbleness.

IN our short two-year stay in Athens, Georgia, we had, in one way or another, influenced seven Americans, both Whites and Blacks, to become Muslims. They all did it on their own will.

To me US is a land full of potentials for attracting more people to Islam. All we have to do is to show how Islam really is - the way of life, and not just over emphasizing on what to eat and what not to eat, this is haram and that is haram, at least initially.

I thought that it is Thursday today!

After the subuh prayer there I was busy packing dirty clothes into the small blue bag and collecting some still-clean-and-neatly-ironed shirts from the cupboard. I then casually put the bag on the front seat and hanged the shirts on the right back seat's hanger. I was all ready to rush home after office, that was at 4.00 pm.

Then something caught my eyes. It was a white A4 piece of paper tucked in at the chain-linked fence. I picked it up and read it. It was an invitation letter to iftar at the nearby surau. The date was Friday 27.

I quickly glanced at my newly bought Seiko and saw that it was 25, Wednesday.

Oh no, it was only Wednesday! I am supposed to go home on Thursday! I innnocently picked all the shirts and the bag and quickly brought them in again.

Wow! How did I mistaken today as Thursday? It is Wednesday man. I still have another day to go before driving back to Kemaman.

FIRECRACKERS, ARE THEY NECESSARY?

As Ramadhan progresses towards Syawal, more and more cases of children hurting themselves in firecrackers-related accidents. Some lost their fingers, a few ruined their eyesight, many sustained injuries and very few even lost their lives because of firecrackers.

Paradoxically, we do have quite a stringent law banning the manufacture, import and sale of these damaging and good-for-nothing contrabands. Where is our enforcement?

Yes, there are cases of smuggled firecrackers confiscated, but I am sure many more seep through our borders.

What about parents? Why can't they have a better control of their children coming into contact with the supplier of these noisy firecrackers?

I for one really hate it when suddenly a big firecracker exploded in front of my house deafening as well as near killing me, if I were to have a weak heart!

Please let us take this issue as a national rather than the on-off thing. Enforce the banning of firecrackers hard. Instead of trying to boycott Israel related goods why don't we boycott anything to do with firecrackers instead.

Instead of wasting our time and energy trying to stop people buying products that are said to be associated with Israel (but knowing very well it is almost impossible thing to do, at least now), we better put our energy and time on making people stop buying firecrackers, no matter how slow and harmless they are as claimed by the sellers.

Let us make the few remaining days of Ramadhan and the Syawal month completely free of firecrackers.

A RABBIT WALKED IN

This morning as I opened the door to give my Citra a wash I saw a black and white rabbit nibbling away at tender newly emerged Imperata cylindrica shoots in my 4 by 6 courtyard.

It has walked in for the past three consecutive mornings. I am not sure whose rabbit it is, but I guess it must be the one who owns a black C200K in front of my house.

It looked tame enough but it hopped away as I tried to stroke his velvetty fur. It smartly hopped through the space in the metal gate, casually and taking its sweet time.

Talking about rabbit, do you know that rabbits practise coprophagy? It is the practice of consuming your own faeces. They do that to get at the rich nutrients found in the first faeces. They do it right from the anus, usually at night time.

Rabbit meat anyone? My children, they all, like me, love rabbit meat especially when I cook them 'Wok with Yan's' style.

The trick is never show the whole rabbit carcass to new rabbit meat consumers. And of course never show them how rabbits are slaughtered.

Even I do not have the heart to slaughter them, especially with the clever eyes looking right into yours!

OF GUCIL AND ULAT BULU BERRIES

Last Saturday's evening, as I was walking around Taman Samudera Timur, I came across a tree that looked very familiar among the overgrown Imperata cylindrica (lalang)in the vacant lot next to Indahwater sewage treatment area.

I went closer and touch its leaves. It was a Gucil tree! It had been ages since I last met a Gucil tree.

Do you know what a Gucil is? I am not sure what its botanical name is (I will loook it up later) but it is the tree that was a part of my childhood days.

It was the tree that brought me deep into Kampung Pulau Tempurung, Sakinan Choya's village, just to enjoy Gucil berries, either freshly plucked from the tree or pickled by her parents.

The berries, almost of the same size as Chee Kit Teck Aun stomach disorder pills, bunched up like a grape.

They are green when young and the colour changes from green to yellow, orange, red and finally black when fully ripened. The taste varies from sourish to sweet.

Sakinan was a smart girl. She brought Gucil berries to school and sold them to us. She got good money from the gift of nature.

A few feet away from the tree my eyes caught sight of a crawling plant, again looking very familiar.

It was the Ulat bulu berry plant. Unluckily all the berries were still young. The berries are usually encased in a special net to protect them from birds who just love to pluck them. When ripe, the berries change from green to bright yellow. When opened, there are seeds covered with jelly like material on the outside.

When I was small I used to go around the village looking for them, these ulat bulu berries.

Well some may not appreciate these gifts from mother nature, but I know I do. They are there not just for the birds, but also for us if we are inquisitive enough to look for them.

Who between us is more arrogant?

I have been called by a few negative names by a very selective few who just do not know me before. Names like relationship looking stupid,(fiance) disruptor, academic failure (for being away from the village too long) and the latest being opposite of humble and paying too much attention to myself.

When I was in standard six an ustaz said that he was surprised a 'stupid looking' boy could be that good to be selected to go to a boarding school. I was furious, to say the least. I told my mother that never judge a book by its cover. But later when the temper was gone I told myself that it was ok. I looked terrible sometimes, especially when I was walking on the bris soil barefoot - my feet would be blackened by the dust.

I was called a relationship disruptor by a man who was engaged to a second cousin of mine. He wrote a very nasty long letter accusing me of trying to take away his fiance from him.

Actually I first met her when I for the first time visited Tumpat to see my mother's cousin. Her father asked me to motivate her to study harder for her future. So, I sincerely talked to her (in a brotherly fashion) about the importance of getting a proper education. After the meeting we exchanged letters.

Somehow he got hold of my letters and suddenly felt threatened by my existence. He then wrote a letter full of accusations etc. At first I felt like writing him back in a similar if not worst. I knew how to do it, it was a piece of cake, but I refrained.

Then there were some people in Bukit Kuang who said that the reason why I took so long to finish my education (13 years in all - 8 in school and 5 doing my DVM) was that I failed exams. I paid no attention to the accusation for I know myself better than anyone else.

But the latest was the worst of them all. Someone who hid by the name of Anonymous tried to be good when he said that I should practise being humble and not to give too much attention to myself.

Come on man, stop hiding and come face to face with me. Let us see who is the more arrogant between the two of us!