A rather confusing ......

On this particular day at the usual place that we socialized, a friend that I had known for a long time decided to talk a little about another friend of ours... I shall call him Mr.A... He Mr.A start with a sort of a question!!.... Do you know that Mr.C and Mr.B are both brother..Mr.C been the elder brother of Mr.B.... I said I do not know, since Mr.C is not a regular at this place where we frequent..As for Mr.B, I know him well and we used to exchange notes of common interest from time to time... My friend Mr.A continue with his story....Today both Mr.B and Mr.C were present and they sat apart from each other, some distance from both of us.. Mr.A continue saying that Do you know that Mr.C is also the father in law of Mr.B ?....This got me confused!!...For a while I am totally lost, Mr.B's brother Mr.C is also his father in law?...How come?, where is the catch here!!...I was just wondering and still confused....I know the spouse of Mr.B, a charming lady indeed but I know very little of their extended family....Here I am amazed as well confused with the story told by my friend Mr.A...It actually take further explanations from him before I got it!!...Soon the confusion is settled...And now I understood that Mr.B and Mr.C are brother, Mr.C been the elder of them and that Mr.C is also his brother Mr.B's Father in Law....Are you still confused ? .. Well it did confused me in the beginning and it confused others as well when I told others of the two brothers....So friends if you are confused, you are not alone...I supposed if you give some serious thoughts you would find the connection here...I would just leave this just like that.........Have fun...And take care..

At peace with myself....

This just came to my mind... It is about that day in a mosque... I sat there waiting for the prayer time. And as usual had a small talk with friends who were here for the same purpose, the Magrib or evening prayer... I would come early to the mosque, the reason being that I do not want to rush to be at the place of worship and the second reason is that I want to be able to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the space in the mosque... It would be noisy when more people arrive... Being there alone give me that feeling of peace where I would have solace and seek grace from the lord... I love to be there before the others arrive...The atmosphere of peace and tranquility during the time when I am alone without the interferences of other noises either natural or man made is something that I treasured most...Been at peace with myself!! I have been in temples and churches on visits but as yet to be in a synagogue....To me one common factor that these places have is that all these places of worship have that same holy atmosphere...That special feeling of holiness that you could get only in such places...So been in the mosque early is a plus point for me, it give me that special space in time that I just could not get anywhere else...I never like to listen to those rhetoric given by speaker in such place for I believe that only good thoughts and manner should be allowed in such place...Rhetoric by some speakers at time contain thoughts unworthy of such a holy place, thus its pollute and corrupt the peaceful and goodness of the atmosphere.... I believe that only good thoughts should be allowed in such places...Other negative thoughts have no place in such a holy place...For that reason I would not stay to listen to those rhetoric....I am happy of been there just for prayers, for contemplations and a bit of socialization with regular friends... Have a nice day....

Gong Xi Fa Cai.....

Happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends... May the country continue to prosper in this year of the Dog... Let us work together in peace and harmony and together as Malaysian we may enjoy the prosperity together....Remember we Malaysian can do it in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh!....Have a nice day...

With hopes....

Friends I received this wonderful site from a friend and since it has to do with the present and future of our species I am sharing this with everyone who visit my blog....Do visit this site and give it a thought and share it along as well....Have a nice day... hopes

A simple lunch at Malacca..

We were in Malacca for the weekend, at our condo beside the sea.. It is part of the Merak Melaka Beach Resort... Our apartment is facing the sea and with the wind so strong it would be just difficult to open the door facing the sea, but because of the fresh air that blow in... I did open the door on the balcony and it was indeed refreshing...As usual it is humid and had that salty taste and smell ...We seem to have one thing in common with our friends who now live in Bali, Indonesia...They too live beside the sea...This sea actually somehow connected with the sea at Bali....Anyway it did not rain now, not like the last time we were here...It was raining then with strong wave bashing the shore, this time the weather was fine but as usual late evening the wind that blows from the sea seem to be real strong but the wave was not as strong like before..We took the time here to redecorates the apartment and do some touch up here and there, trying to makes it a dream apartment beside the sea...A couple who live in a bungalow near the sea here came over to visit us and was delighted to see our apartment has a new look... It was nice for them to come over to visit us here...We all sat at the lounge facing the sea and chat a while and then left to do lunch at a restaurant in the city of Malacca...We left in one car, his Mercedes and I sat there enjoying the ride...We do lunch at a restaurant call the Gerai 35 at Jalan Plaza Mahkota 5, Plaza Mahkota, Bandar Hilir, a new part of the historical city of Malacca...The food served here are that of the home cooked Malay food, the images about are some of the dishes served... We had fried Chicken, Asam pedah fish [sour and hot fish light curry], Masak Lemak cili api rebung [bamboo shoot cooked in coconut milk with chilly]...Crisps salt fish, salad and the sambal belacan [hot shrimp past sauce] and of course white rice... It is indeed well prepared and we all enjoy this simple meals... As usual we chat a little while enjoying the lunch and then after that met the owner, one Mr.Baharom... Who had been in this business all his lives... I would recommend others to visit this place and try for themselves...We did enjoy the lunch and hope that others would also do...Well friends that was our day...

Religion and reforms....

Here is an interesting and thought provocative article from e.sinchew-i.com... Read on and give it a serious thoughts.... It look like our species have lots to learn.... Have a nice day....

Of brownies and little Azib....

Thank you Atuk [grandpa] say little Azib to me when I handed him the Brownies that he had ask for.... I was at their house just at noon and as usual Azib the youngest grandchild is jumping around and happy to see me arriving.... I brought among other things some seedless grape and it all washed up and ready to eat... I told him that it is nice but he had something else in his little mind. He just want the Brownie instead... He may had planned all this early.... So I told him that I would get it later and then went out to get the brownie at the bakery nearby...... He was real delighted to get what he wanted... Brownies with hazelnut... And as I was about to leave he came running saying "Thank You Atuk".... I just smile and was about to bid him "Bye", when He started to say something more to me.... In his little English that he had learned.... He say "Atuk when I say Thank You, you must reply with "You are Welcome".... He smile that great smile that he always does as He say those beautiful words... I was surprise and taken aback and I smile, a smile of happiness..... For once I am lost as what to say... In fact my memory was jolted back in times to the event that happen sometime ago, when our petite Adibah, his elder sister say thank you to me just like he just did today.... I never expect that He would expect an appropriate reply from me when He say Thank You!!... Adibah must have taught Him this.... That small talk by this little kid really makes my day... I was real happy in that he has learn to say the right thing at the right moment...For he is just three years plus.. We adult sometime just took things for granted.....I drove back smiling and proud that our little boy is learning fast in these ever changing world....I relate this interesting episode to my spouse, his grandma and She smile with happiness as well..Indeed these are moments in our live that makes living so beautiful and wonderful.... Happening like these makes you wonder of the ever changing environments that our grandchildren are living now.... And I guess we miss all these little events when we were bring up our children and only when we are in our golden age and with grandchildren that we began to see these manifestations of love from our own...Which was all the time were there while they were growing up and we might have missed it and only now when grandchildren did that, we not only see it with our eyes but our hearts as well.... That my friends is living and it continue to color your live as you journey on....It is never a dull day if you look and notice those small events that happen as we go by.....Have a nice day....

A guarded expectation......

Well today I thought that I should write about this episode of my life...It happen at the end of last year....I believe like everyone else, especially those in their golden age, a news of a visit from a close friend is indeed a welcome one. You would be real happy when friends say that they are coming over for a holiday with you... At this age with wisdom on our side we always wish that everything would be well but at the same time we guarded our expectation with wisdom...You know with the wisdom you now have, in real life things does not always work like it should or would, so do not expect too much lest we would be disappointed if it did not materialized.. It is best the we just keep thing in its prospective, just like that and hope the that things would works as planned....Well, it all started when I received emails from a close friend of ours.., The contents of the emails were rather optimistic in nature...He being my classmate of the forties and fifties while schooling in Kuantan, now working in the paradise somewhere in the East.....Naturally we are delighted of such visit...He has been in the hospitality industries all his life and had retired and for some reasons after a lapse in his retirement days, he landed himself with a job to managed a sprawling Holiday Resort in a paradise of a sort... The offer was too good for him not to accept although he had retired and had plan to takes its easy with life after retirement, just like me...He is of the same age like me and at that age we are supposed to stop working and enjoy life.... I am told that he took to the new job like fish to the water...He love the hospitality business and now he is spending his golden age in this paradise...Living like the rich and famous in the resort...And being paid to do just that... What a lucky guy this friend of mine!!.. Well some people are born luckier then others....So the trip to Malaysia and having a holiday with us was supposed to be just one of those things that us old folks do, just do what we like, the way we like it...Since I love to drive, I would do the driving and He would just play tourist for a change....We together with our spouse would go for a trip to nowhere, like drive to any places that are nostalgic to us...And enjoy....What a way to go and enjoy life.....And then a few days after Christmas I received a call from Him...Actually the call was first from his spouse to my spouse. While they were talking I sense that the trip has been called off and then when I spoke to Him He say in a simple word that they just could not makes the trip this time and would do it some time later....Well to me it is OK for somehow I already knew that the trip would not materialized, for just a day ago I 'received' a sort of a indication that this trip to nowhere would not happen. As usual I just kept it to myself and took it easy...Perhaps my guardian angel had pass by and drop a hint to me, like so many times before, I just could not explain!!!... Well as I had said before life is like that... At this age we all have to takes things easy lest we would be depress and as we all know being depressed is not healthy at this age... So I just forget about it and continue with my life and the daily ritual as usual.....Well friends we had planned to go on a trip to nowhere and indeed it turn out to be really a trip to nowhere!!!...What else could we ask for... Have a nice day....

Cloning...

Friends Cheer Up and Have a nice day....

Another day.....The future....

It is late evening and am at the keyboard, just wondering what to write..The weather had been somewhat uneven, rain and dull sun...The sun had not been shining as it should be...Well, it is still the end of the year monsoon season with the north east monsoon wind still sweeping the peninsular...It has its advantage in that it keep the temperature a bit cool all days long...In the tropic it is never cool so when the temperature goes below thirty degree Celsius it is cool for us who live in the tropic... With the grandchildren gone back to their home...The house is a bit silence and back to normal again...And just now I received another email from my friend an English gentlemen in the UK who love to travel to the east but had to abort that plan for health reasons. Anyway I believe he is happy as it is and enjoying his regular visits to the pub and whilst the days away with his jolly good fellows, yarning of their youth and at time singing old tunes of their great adventure serving on Her Majesty Service in a long forgotten war in the east including a country call Malaya then...So fascinated was He with the charm of the country that he left part of his soul here, in this tropical paradise that we now call Malaysia... Well Ken...Have a drink on Me and do have a great day....Friends that is life at this age and we all have to take it as it is and enjoy... On visiting the blog A Sweet, familiar Dissonance I found that we could now sent an email to arrived in the future... Really to the future, say you want to send your good self an email to arrived say in the year 2036... You Now could do that by means of this website.... Well it look like we have another tool to remind us in the future like a Happy Birthday to someone you love in the future...Or whatever you think you could foretold that would happen in the the years to come!!..... I think I am going to send myself an email to remind myself of Me in two years time..... Or we could just post something that we are thinking now and see whether that thoughts would still be relevant in a year or two from now....It would nice to try....It sound a bit weird and crazy but then if we do not try we would not know, no harm in trying!!... Thanks to Lynn for introducing this site.... Say what would we be doing in ten years from now...Interesting to know ya!...Why not post your thoughts in an email to yourself to the year 2019.. If I am still around in that year I would be eighty by then....Well we can never tell...Life is like that... Have a nice day...

Eid Adha and the fun....

Yesterday was the Eid Adha or the Hari Raya Haji in Malaysia... As usual the whole family was at our home and to us the Grandma and Grandpa it is indeed a great day to celebrate the religious festival...... How we wish that all days are like this and we would be able to continue to enjoy the presence of those kids, the wonder of been a grandparent.... Like the saying on a sticker " Had I known that grandchildren are such fun, I would have had them first " ... Well that could only be thoughts, an impossible one to accomplish!! Have a nice day.....

Globalization.....

No these images are not from New York, Boston, LA or London.... These Images might looks the same but the places are different and in a different part of the world.. In this case it is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia... All these images are at the One Utama Shopping Complex at Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.. I took these images using my Nokia cell phone. That my friends is part of globalization....The making of a global culture of a sorts. It is happening whether we like it or not...Remember the story of a Japanese kid as related by Thomas L.Friedman in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree...It was the kid first visit to LA with her mother..It seem on arrival she saw some of the images I mentioned above and she look at her mom and utter " Look Mom they also have Big Mac"!..Well it look like she is right or was She right?...It is rather difficult to give a true answer..She was right from her point of view!...Our world is getting smaller day by day and I hope Like all those images above, we would have the images of peace and harmony all over the world as well... We in this country are indeed blessed to be in one of the peaceful place in the world...Friends let make 'Peace' contagious and let it spread all over the world...We who live in a peaceful environment know best what it is like to live in a peaceful country....So let us do our bits in making this world of ours a better world to live and enjoy life... Let spread the message of Peace....'

Those were the days...

This picture is from my archive... A scene where the Queen of England visited Malacca in the early seventies.. I was given the responsibility of organizing the cultural tour for the Queen and her entourages which includes Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh and the late Lord Mountbatten... Looking back to those great days in my life, I felt it was just like yesterday...The memories still clear in my mind... What a great day it was....During my years of working in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Malaysia, I had many opportunities like this, meeting heads of government both when these dignitaries visit Malaysia or when I had the opportunity to go on official visits to foreign countries.... [that's Me talking with Prince Philip]

Changing a light bulb ? ....

Well, the story of changing a light bulb have been going on forever, and it look like there is no end to these interesting stories about this simple appliance that 'brighten' our lives and we just took it for granted... Here is a great story ... Read on and have fun... Take care.

The Coffee and our species.....

Well, never a day I go without coffee... True from the time I could remember, I have had coffee and it has been a ritual of a sorts at breakfast, after lunch and dinner.. Or wherever I go for a drink, except of course at the Mamak restaurant or stall, where I would have the Teh Tarik [Specially made tea with milk, the Malaysian way]... So the other day I was at Ikea and sat together with the others of the family for a short break before going into Ikea store to wonder and feast the eyes with the wonder of interior decorations and eventually on the way do more damage to the pocket as usual!!... We sat and as usual I would order coffee and hotdogs to go...The coffee here is freshly brewed and one are allowed to consume as much as one could drink for the price of one cup... Per person of course!!... And I love those hotdogs that this Swedish run store do it..it is a sort of a perfect simple hotdogs for me....I am writing this not because of the visit to Ikea or the hotdogs but rather on the subject of Coffee and here is a blog Locust St. that I visited recently and there is a great write up of this great drink that our species love so much "Coffee"...Personally I never knew that Coffee have such an interesting history!!. I got to this wonderful site from one of my favorite blog lynnspace.com ...Do visit this blogs and I believe you would enjoy reading it as much as I do...Have a nice day...

Of Christmas and Malaysia...

I received this article from my daughter a few days ago and since it is about Malaysia and the way Malaysian live and enjoy life, I thought that it is worth to share it with all who visit my blog... This article came from an American who was here to attend a meeting of a sorts and while here discover the real Malaysia that he never knew before... To us Malaysian the content of the article and the happening are just part of our everyday life and we would just take it for granted but to those out there who had never set foot on this enchanting country, it would give them an insight of the real Malaysia that Malaysian love... Well.. Like we often say "to know Malaysia is to love Malaysia and Malaysia is truly Asia"....True we are a country that try hard to be the best in this part of the world, so that we may continue to enjoy life and in the process contribute in making this world of ours a better place live and enjoy life.... Have a nice day....