We were in JB for my usual trip to see mum and other kinfolks. Early in the morning, after dawn prayers Ram and I headed for the palace gardens to spend sometime exercising. I was having a little bit of difficulty walking the spacious grounds, although I had my walking stick with me, as the palace grounds is one very big open space with lots of trees, open grass areas and greens all round. I had the intention to do my regular qi gong exercises which includes the qi gong walk there.
We walked around a little bit and then picked a spot that was suitable for us to do our qi gong moves as well as the qi gong walk. The crowd of health conscious ‘exercisers’ were there, some walking, some jogging, some running, and some doing static exercises. There were also those who do their exercises in groups. While we were doing our qi gong moves, this group of ladies, all in white Ts and black pants, came by and started doing their thing not too far away from us. Ever realize that normally when people are in one big group they are noisy? …….. All talking at the same time …….. and all had to raise their voices over their own in order to be heard!!! That is why they are noisy, I mused to myself. I thought exercisers should concentrate when they exercise and not talk, but this group I thought could do both!!
We spent slightly more than an hour in the palace grounds. The weather was fine, morning dew was slowly drying up as the sun began to rise and the rustle of trees in the morning breeze invigorates our senses as we exercised and did our qi gong moves, but I am sure the group of ladies close to us did not notice these things in their contention to be heard!!
After the exercise we headed for the graveyard to visit the graves of my dad, Ram’s mum and dad and also other relatives. The whole place appeared quite unkempt with tall grass and fallen leaves and twigs all over. It had been raining almost daily in JB I was told and perhaps that’s the reason that the place looked the way it was. Anyway, we did what was necessary for us to do at the graves we visited, cleared them of the fallen leaves and overgrowth, did some simple prayers and left. We spent about an hour there.
While walking back to the car I began to feel my right leg giving up on me!! I had been walking quite some distance this morning and I thought I may have overstretched my right leg’s ‘walk-tolerance’ level, walking stick not withstanding. I had to carefully and slowly walk back to the car and then rested for a while in the car before proceeding on. What were my thoughts while resting in the car? ‘Oh my! Where have all the energy in my legs gone to? Can I still walk future distances? Will the walking stick be my regular ‘companion’ now?’ Hmmmm straight questions with no straight answers…………..
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tough Questions
I got this in the mail and I don't normally pass these things on and neither do I attempt to clutter up peoples’ mailboxes but I thought this one was good.
Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who already had 8 kids, three
of whom were deaf, two were blind, one mentally retarded, and
the woman had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?
Read the next question before looking at the answer for this one.
Question 2:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts.
Here are the facts about the three leading candidates.
Candidate A - Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with
Astrologists. He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and
drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B - He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon,
used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C - He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't
smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.
Which of these candidates would be your choice?
Decide first. These are not trick questions. See the next posting for the answers.
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who already had 8 kids, three
of whom were deaf, two were blind, one mentally retarded, and
the woman had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?
Read the next question before looking at the answer for this one.
Question 2:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts.
Here are the facts about the three leading candidates.
Candidate A - Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with
Astrologists. He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and
drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B - He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon,
used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C - He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't
smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.
Which of these candidates would be your choice?
Decide first. These are not trick questions. See the next posting for the answers.
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
The Answers to Tough Questions in another Post
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.
And, by the way, the answer to the abortion question:
If you said yes, you've just killed Beethoven.
Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging
someone. Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember: Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
Now, read the following which I similarly received in my mailbox:
Can you imagine working for an organisation that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is? Give up yet?
It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of
Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep Americans in line. They are also the same bunch of Idiots who try to do the rest of the world…….
“Author Unknown”
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.
And, by the way, the answer to the abortion question:
If you said yes, you've just killed Beethoven.
Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging
someone. Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember: Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
Now, read the following which I similarly received in my mailbox:
Can you imagine working for an organisation that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is? Give up yet?
It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of
Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep Americans in line. They are also the same bunch of Idiots who try to do the rest of the world…….
“Author Unknown”
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sita and Najla in PJ
Last weekend was a full activity weekend for us. We had three separate weddings one of which was for four couples together at the place where we attend our regular religious classes, AlJenderami. At the same time Sita was back at home with little Najla and their helper. Sita had a workshop to attend. Fahrul also happened to be in KL to attend a training course.
In between running around doing our chores and errands, we played with Najla who never failed to keep us entertained. She was playful and easy to handle but not when her mother was at home. She will soon turn a whiner, demanding this and that from her mum and refuses to be with the helper. She even threw tantrums at times, a complete turnaround from the angel she was without the mother around. But then again, most little angels we know of behave similarly when their mothers are around. Sort of getting back to the mother for leaving him or her for long periods of time……
We attended all the weddings. It was an opportunity for us to catch up with relatives and friends and pleasantly surprised that we met some whom we have not met for years. At the wedding of a cousin, Sita and Najla came along and little Najla was the angel she was as usual, in her cream and light brown laced gown, and responded angelically (if there is such a word) to those who acknowledge her. For a 2½ year old she knows how to grab attention to herself while appearing demure and innocent!!
Once while on the road returning from the fish market in the morning, little Najla, Ram and I, we passed by a Mc Donald’s outlet. Najla suddenly said, “Mc Donald’s is closed now right Tok Mi? People don’t go there anymore……” Ram, caught by surprise, quickly said “yes, it is dark inside and nobody there”, and lest she says something that refutes what Najla heard from her parents!! We guess Sita or Fahrul must have said that it is closed to avert her from going to the outlet too often!! We also guessed that the little angel was just testing us and trying to confirm what her parents had told her, smart little fellow……
Little angels always fascinate us…………..
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya.
In between running around doing our chores and errands, we played with Najla who never failed to keep us entertained. She was playful and easy to handle but not when her mother was at home. She will soon turn a whiner, demanding this and that from her mum and refuses to be with the helper. She even threw tantrums at times, a complete turnaround from the angel she was without the mother around. But then again, most little angels we know of behave similarly when their mothers are around. Sort of getting back to the mother for leaving him or her for long periods of time……
We attended all the weddings. It was an opportunity for us to catch up with relatives and friends and pleasantly surprised that we met some whom we have not met for years. At the wedding of a cousin, Sita and Najla came along and little Najla was the angel she was as usual, in her cream and light brown laced gown, and responded angelically (if there is such a word) to those who acknowledge her. For a 2½ year old she knows how to grab attention to herself while appearing demure and innocent!!
Once while on the road returning from the fish market in the morning, little Najla, Ram and I, we passed by a Mc Donald’s outlet. Najla suddenly said, “Mc Donald’s is closed now right Tok Mi? People don’t go there anymore……” Ram, caught by surprise, quickly said “yes, it is dark inside and nobody there”, and lest she says something that refutes what Najla heard from her parents!! We guess Sita or Fahrul must have said that it is closed to avert her from going to the outlet too often!! We also guessed that the little angel was just testing us and trying to confirm what her parents had told her, smart little fellow……
Little angels always fascinate us…………..
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
An Evening with the Prime Minister at his Residence
Sometime back, two years ago or thereabouts, I wrote of a visit by the Rector of a religious institution (Darul Mustaffa) in Yemen, Al-Habib Umar bin Hafiz. Since then he has visited Malaysia a couple of times more and in the meantime the Prime Minister had also visited Yemen and part of his activities in Yemen was to visit Darul Mustaffa.
Al-Habib Umar was in town again and arrangements were made for him to call upon the Prime Minister. An appointment was set for Saturday afternoon, two weeks ago. Representatives from various religious organizations were requested to accompany the Rector for the visit.
I was representing my group, the AlJenderami foundation (website www.aljenderami.com.my) I arrived at the PM’s residence just before the appointed time. The PM was already there awaiting the arrival of his main guest. I had the opportunity to have small talks with the PM while waiting for Al-Habib Umar to arrive. I also had the opportunity, while waiting, to view the main hall, the prayer area, dining area and other rooms in the main building. The PM’s private residence is in another portion of the building or an adjoining building (I assumed). Anyway, the building was huge, high ceiling and spacious with different levels.
The late afternoon prayer time came and just a while after that the main guest arrived. We prayed in congregation after which there was a dialogue between the two leaders on current religious issues and what ways are best adopted to address the issues. There was quite an exchange of ideas between them while the rest of us were just listeners.
High tea was served after the dialogue session. There were food, glorious food, spread out for the guests and all present to enjoy. Enjoy the food I did………
It was a pleasant evening and a rare opportunity for me to get close to the PM. He was an easygoing man, jovial and easy to chat with. No airs around him and appeared simple and approachable. I have a different opinion of those people around him though……….
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Exclusive Toilet in Kuala Terengganu?
We are now in Terengganu. I had a one day facilitating job at the place of work where I retired from in Kuala Terengganu, held at a hotel close by and another day (Thursday) in Kerteh. Ram followed me as usual. We stayed two nights in the hotel, a cozy 300 rooms resort by the beach open to the South China Sea and overlooking Pulau Bidong, the island that used to accommodate boat refugees from Vietnam during the Vietnam war. Facilities available in the hotel were basic but yet comfortable and pleasant.
The facilitating stint is similar to the one I did a couple of weeks ago. There was no hassle and I enjoyed the activity, so also the participants I guess. I still have some difficulties standing too long and I am still using the walking stick but that was no hindrance. As had been commented earlier I looked dignified with walking stick ha ha ha!! Some of the young participants also said so, the ladies I mean…. heh heh! Maybe I should continue using the walking stick.
We checked out of the hotel at just before noon. My niece, a school teacher, and her family who was in Kuala Terengganu for holiday (the two weeks school holiday has just begun) picked us up and took us to lunch in town. After lunch we needed a rest room or toilet to ease ourselves. Furthermore we have a two hours travel to Kerteh by road and we can’t wait two hours. My niece mentioned that the Kuala Terengganu Municipality had built an exclusive toilet facilities in a public area meant for the use of the general public and tourists alike but we have to pay a fee to enter. That building, in a park, is really prominently named ‘Exclusive Toilet’ in large letterings. It is supposed to be a five star facility!! Yes, that’s what the locals call the facilities, Five Star Toilet. If the standard of public toilets in the local towns is anything to go by then an exclusive toilet should be a much desired outlet for our overfilled bowels or bladders. There were toilets that really put me off, that made me loose any desire to ease myself when entering them. Thus hearing that there is an exclusive toilet available we jumped at the prospect of easing ourselves ‘with’ pleasure…… hmmmmm. Never mind that we have to pay a fee, RM0.50 for toilet usage and RM2.00 for shower, it would be a pleasure to contribute for its maintenance. After all we pay similar amounts to use public toilets in the city like KL and PJ but the maintenance of these toilets are sometime much to be desired…… !!
So, into the Exclusive toilet we went. The entrance was lined with flower pots. There was a red floor mat along the path to the payment counter which was a glassed enclosure with two or three staff sitting inside. The signage was very clear, decorations appealing and atmosphere conducive for easinggggg…….. heh heh heh! We got receipts, without being asked, for our entrance payment, something not ordinarily practiced in most toilets in the cities even. There were two main doors, one for men and the other for ladies. We took our pick. On entering the main door of the men’s, I noticed clear division of areas for shower, toilets, urinals and wash basins. Surprise, surprise, the floors were clean and dry, I checked each open shower cubicle, and toilet cubicle and I could not find faults with them. They were clean and dry. The toilet cubicles were bigger than most public toilets I have seen. Each one of them consists of a toilet bowl, a side concrete table meant for storage of baggage or for changing of baby diapers or similar usage, and also washing facilities. A small drain covered by metal grids ran around the sides of the cubicle and designed such that any spillage of water goes directly into this drain. That was how they kept the cubicles dry…. It was a delightful experience. I did my small job and continued to marvel at the design of the facilities. I hope they continue to maintain the place as it is for a long time to come….
We took a cab from Kuala Terengganu to Kerteh, a journey that took us slightly more than two hours. One and a half hours into the journey I felt the urge for toilet again. I contemplated asking the cab driver to stop at a mosque along the way or to control myself until I reached Sita’s house. I decided to close my eyes and try to sleep hoping to forget that I needed a toilet. On reaching Sita’s house, I could not wait any more. I had to rush to the toilet…… hmmmmm. Then I remembered the saying of a fellow retiree, who is about the same age as I am, “At our age if you feel hungry …. eat only a little, thirsty …. drink only a little, sleepy …… sleep a little, and if you see a toilet anywhere you are ….. go in and do your job. You will never know when you will need it and usually you will need it fast. Heh heh, I should have asked the cab driver to stop somewhere for me to use a toilet……..
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
The facilitating stint is similar to the one I did a couple of weeks ago. There was no hassle and I enjoyed the activity, so also the participants I guess. I still have some difficulties standing too long and I am still using the walking stick but that was no hindrance. As had been commented earlier I looked dignified with walking stick ha ha ha!! Some of the young participants also said so, the ladies I mean…. heh heh! Maybe I should continue using the walking stick.
We checked out of the hotel at just before noon. My niece, a school teacher, and her family who was in Kuala Terengganu for holiday (the two weeks school holiday has just begun) picked us up and took us to lunch in town. After lunch we needed a rest room or toilet to ease ourselves. Furthermore we have a two hours travel to Kerteh by road and we can’t wait two hours. My niece mentioned that the Kuala Terengganu Municipality had built an exclusive toilet facilities in a public area meant for the use of the general public and tourists alike but we have to pay a fee to enter. That building, in a park, is really prominently named ‘Exclusive Toilet’ in large letterings. It is supposed to be a five star facility!! Yes, that’s what the locals call the facilities, Five Star Toilet. If the standard of public toilets in the local towns is anything to go by then an exclusive toilet should be a much desired outlet for our overfilled bowels or bladders. There were toilets that really put me off, that made me loose any desire to ease myself when entering them. Thus hearing that there is an exclusive toilet available we jumped at the prospect of easing ourselves ‘with’ pleasure…… hmmmmm. Never mind that we have to pay a fee, RM0.50 for toilet usage and RM2.00 for shower, it would be a pleasure to contribute for its maintenance. After all we pay similar amounts to use public toilets in the city like KL and PJ but the maintenance of these toilets are sometime much to be desired…… !!
So, into the Exclusive toilet we went. The entrance was lined with flower pots. There was a red floor mat along the path to the payment counter which was a glassed enclosure with two or three staff sitting inside. The signage was very clear, decorations appealing and atmosphere conducive for easinggggg…….. heh heh heh! We got receipts, without being asked, for our entrance payment, something not ordinarily practiced in most toilets in the cities even. There were two main doors, one for men and the other for ladies. We took our pick. On entering the main door of the men’s, I noticed clear division of areas for shower, toilets, urinals and wash basins. Surprise, surprise, the floors were clean and dry, I checked each open shower cubicle, and toilet cubicle and I could not find faults with them. They were clean and dry. The toilet cubicles were bigger than most public toilets I have seen. Each one of them consists of a toilet bowl, a side concrete table meant for storage of baggage or for changing of baby diapers or similar usage, and also washing facilities. A small drain covered by metal grids ran around the sides of the cubicle and designed such that any spillage of water goes directly into this drain. That was how they kept the cubicles dry…. It was a delightful experience. I did my small job and continued to marvel at the design of the facilities. I hope they continue to maintain the place as it is for a long time to come….
We took a cab from Kuala Terengganu to Kerteh, a journey that took us slightly more than two hours. One and a half hours into the journey I felt the urge for toilet again. I contemplated asking the cab driver to stop at a mosque along the way or to control myself until I reached Sita’s house. I decided to close my eyes and try to sleep hoping to forget that I needed a toilet. On reaching Sita’s house, I could not wait any more. I had to rush to the toilet…… hmmmmm. Then I remembered the saying of a fellow retiree, who is about the same age as I am, “At our age if you feel hungry …. eat only a little, thirsty …. drink only a little, sleepy …… sleep a little, and if you see a toilet anywhere you are ….. go in and do your job. You will never know when you will need it and usually you will need it fast. Heh heh, I should have asked the cab driver to stop somewhere for me to use a toilet……..
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
Monday, May 28, 2007
A Meeting with the President of a Fortune 500 Company.
Sometime in early May I and a few colleagues, recently elected to sit as committee members of our retirees club, had the opportunity to pay a courtesy call to the President of the Company that I retired from. It is the national oil company which has gone global and is listed in Fortune 500. The president is a very busy man and being head of a global company he has to travel a lot. He had been away visiting customers around the world for three weeks and had just returned a couple of days prior to our meeting. It was pleasant for us to be recognized and accorded the appointment to call upon him so soon after his return knowing at the back of our minds that he would surely have other pressing issues to attend to in his office on his return.
On meeting us he immediately put us at ease by starting with small talks on the view from his office at the 82nd level of the building and other environmental issues seen from that level of the city and the surrounding hills. After the usual pleasantries he mentioned some areas of concerns, especially health of his staff, the state of affairs amongst the young and younger set of staff within the company and how he visualize areas of inputs that we the elderly generation can contribute to the company. We also discussed joint activities and areas of cooperation between the Retirees and the organization. All in all it had been a good meeting, indicative of his full support for our movement. We chatted on a lot of general issues, friendly banters even, and not necessarily related to activities of our club. We felt very comfortable with his acceptance and hope that this relationship flows down the corporate hierarchy, right down to those whom we interact directly for our activities. We left a good half hour beyond the time allocated to us and we noticed that he too was at ease with us, the reason for the extension of time I guess. He promised to find time to join us in one of our activities and I hope this will happen soon as it will boost participation of fellow retirees in the club’s activities…
MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya
On meeting us he immediately put us at ease by starting with small talks on the view from his office at the 82nd level of the building and other environmental issues seen from that level of the city and the surrounding hills. After the usual pleasantries he mentioned some areas of concerns, especially health of his staff, the state of affairs amongst the young and younger set of staff within the company and how he visualize areas of inputs that we the elderly generation can contribute to the company. We also discussed joint activities and areas of cooperation between the Retirees and the organization. All in all it had been a good meeting, indicative of his full support for our movement. We chatted on a lot of general issues, friendly banters even, and not necessarily related to activities of our club. We felt very comfortable with his acceptance and hope that this relationship flows down the corporate hierarchy, right down to those whom we interact directly for our activities. We left a good half hour beyond the time allocated to us and we noticed that he too was at ease with us, the reason for the extension of time I guess. He promised to find time to join us in one of our activities and I hope this will happen soon as it will boost participation of fellow retirees in the club’s activities…
MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya
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