Tomorrow is the day we bid goodbye to Ramadhan and come dusk welcome Syawal. To some it is a sad farewell and to others a happy ending. Sad if all that one desired was not fulfilled and happy if otherwise. Ramadhan is the month one seeks His bounty which can be more than one can imagine if only one care to seek. Therefore woe be it when one slackens in total supplications to Him in Ramadhan. One may not get a chance to meet the next Ramadhan.....

The times we spent in the east Coast of the Peninsula was a bit too much for the both of us. Since coming back we have been a little under the weather, and with the loads of things we had to do in and out of the house, which was in a real mess not having been attended to for a long while, health started taking its toll on us. Despite the health setback, we had to attend to the chores, poor health notwithstanding, lest the mess continues into the festive period! So it was, head heavy and body aching, both of us continued to do what was necessary to spruce up the house. We were thankful though that son Shaffik and family came back on Sunday and hence we had additional help to do the necessary, and with the grandchildren around, full of their pranks and antics, all the aches and pains in our bodies melted away somehow...

We had planned to cook our usual sweetmeat for the festive day and we had purchased 2 kilos of good meat for it. I spent the afternoon today preparing the meat, pounding to soften it and cooking it. I think staying infront of the fire and stirring the big pot for a good two hours did some good for my throbbing head and aches in the body although standing for two hours was not any good for my knees. The throbbing in the head disappeared but the pain in the knees took over. Huh! one setback to another, ha ha. Age do play games with you. Anyway, a good rest afterwards was all I needed to recover from the knee aches.

It was announced that Syawal will start on Wednesday, hence we have another day of Ramadhan. I hope we can make full use of this last day to catch up before Ramadhan leaves us. I submit to the Almighty and I seek his guidance always....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling jaya

Nights Full of Blessings

It is now the last segment of Ramadhan and it was said that the last ten days and nights are full of Almighty's blessings which are bestowed in multiple bounty if only we care to seek. One night of the last ten nights, especially, holds something special for the ummah. No one knows which night of the ten but there has been many speculations, postulations, deductions and guesswork even, on which night it falls. To me it is only ten nights and one should not fret over which night it is but concentrate all efforts to submit to Him in all of the ten nights. If one can, one should submit wholly and sincerely to Him all of the Ramadhan nights. What are we if not for His blessings.

Ram and I have spent the last three weeks away from home. We have been staying in a hotel in the middle of Kuala Terengganu town and located very close to the town mosque, which conveniently served our purpose. This particular hotel was my 'second' home of sorts even at the time I was still in service and working in Kuala Terengganu some ten years ago. So, to return and stay in the hotel after all these years was like homecoming for Ram and me.

The mosque holds the regular and the additional Ramadhan prayer sessions, just like any other mosques in the country. For these last ten nights they hold prayer sessions starting at 3.30am. Meals for the breaking of fast and for the beginning of fast are also served to the congregation. So what more can one ask for. Some people practically spends their nights in the mosque. I guess they go home at sunrise to catch up on sleep!

Ram and I try to join in all the prayer sessions as much as we can and also joined the congregation for the breaking of fast twice. A third time we did was when the Prime Minister visited the mosque to break fast with the people. Of course, he made a political speech before the breaking of fast but I noticed that people who attended were not concentrating on his speech but were more interested in arranging the food on the table for the breaking of fast. Other days we break fast on our own either in the hotel restaurants or in our rooms as appropriate. Because of my work commitment I sometime return late to the hotel with little time to prepare for the mosque but but we try to make sure that we join the congregation for all the prayer sessions. Better miss out on the food than miss out on the congregational prayers.

We will be returning home tomorrow and need not return to Terengganu for a while yet. Hence we will be spending the final segment of Ramadhan at home and at our local mosque. I expect the house to be a mess and will need some sprucing up. So there will be alot of work to do when we return home. I only hope I can find time to catch up and update my postings here. I seek His guidance always.....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Kuala Terengganu

See The Bigger Family

For all those who have been following my blog and followed stories I posted on my bigger family, of how we get together and formed a movement to further the dreams of my late father and my mum, here is an opportunity to get a closer look at this bigger family http://www.warisantcc.blogspot.com. or go to the link Warisan TCC here. It is in Malay though but there are pictures of members of the family there. Thanks to brother Joe who, I am sure, spends alot of time moderating the blog, the family worldwide can get in touch in a single blog platform. So, happy viewing.

I am still commuting weekly to the East Coast of the peninsular and addressing the higher demands on my time leaving me little time to do anything else, and less so to post my thoughts in this blog. And this month being Ramadhan, the need to spend time more advantageously is even greater and I seek guidance from the Almighty to enable me to apportion the time available appropriately. Apologies if the postings here gets too infrequent. I will make efforts to do more, with His blessings.....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya

Long Overdue

It has been more than two months since my last posting. Much have happened since. Ram and I have been spending time away from home more than being at home and mostly in the east coast of the peninsular. I have alot of commitments to attend to, mostly facilitating the technical training of new employees and the training scheme is for one year. So, it looks like Ram and I will be commuting to the east coast more often now and for about one year. This may be extended if there ius an extension of the scheme beyond the initial one year plan. Ah well, it keeps us occupied though.

This commitment takes us away from the regular activities we were used to, like attending to the community services near our home, attending to the activities and classes at our favourite charitable foundation, attending to the Retirees Fraternity for which I am the secretary and others. We manage time, however, to visit mum in the south and to attend to weddings and major family gatherings. This is essential and is one way of maintaining and preserving family and social contacts and camaraderie.

My brother's mother-in-law, staying with him and family in Melaka, passed away while we were in the east coast. She was 80 years old and had been quite sickly at the time. We could not attend her funeral, but we had the opportunity of meeting her a few months ago. She was very frail and had then asked us to offer special prayers for her. Now that she is already gone then only we realised that she was indeed asking us to pray for her. We made an effort to visit my brother and family as soon as we could get away from the east coast.

We also held a simple gathering of nephews and nieces, Ram's sdie, in our house recently, to offer special 'thanksgiving' for various happenings amongst family members and to seek the Almighty's blessings for our well being. There was a good turnout of Ram's family members including her two sisters who came up from JB to be with us for the occassion. A birthday of one of Ram's grand-nieces was also celebrated that night, complete with cake-cutting. There was alot of family banter and I think everyone had fun. Too bad Shaffik and Sita could not join us for the occassion, being too far away.

My family grouping, TCC, held a meeting recently to plan activities for the upcoming annual gathering of family members. Although I am the Chairman, my schedule was too tight that I could not attend. It is quite a distance to travel from the east coast to the south and it is a one day travel one way!! Instead of postponing the meet everyone agreed that the meeting should go on without me and another senior family member took the chair for that meeting. Praised be to the Almighty that the meeting went well and that specific action plans were set in place and in motion.

I hope I can still find time to post here as regularly as possible. I will try ... I will try.... with the blessing of the Almighty....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya

Roman Bath Near The Circus!

After visiting the Stone and Wood ceremonial structures, and after a short picnic in a park nearby, we went on to Bath, another city in the Southwest, about almost an hour away to the east, from where we were. The city was very hilly and the buildings mostly old and typical of English designs. We started off with visiting a park and observed several hot air balloons taking off nearby. It was exciting for Najla especially to see the balloons from up close. She commented that the balloons got fire burning and asked why. I think she could not comprehend why fire was needed for the balloon to fly. She nodded and said ‘yeah’ when I explained but she had that blank look! The park must be close to the University as we noticed many students ‘doing their own thing’ in the park.

A short distance away from the park was the Circus. No no! not the animals and trapeze type, but the housing and living quarters’ type. Yes, it was the typically English four storied apartments (including basement), in three blocks built in a circle, hence the name ‘the circus’, surrounding a small park in the centre with large trees in a circle as well. A road runs around the circus, in front of the apartments, with three entry and exit points, one of them leading to the city centre about half a mile away. Najla was running around the little park and played with the kiddy stuff there. She was enjoying herself. It was then almost 8.00pm but it was still light and bright as sunset nowadays is about 9.30pm.

We walked about the town area, quite busy with people out partying and enjoying the good weather, most in restaurants and cafes sitting outside in the open. We went looking for the historical, public ‘Roman Bath’ but found it closed. So we had no chance to see the exhibits in the building but went around the outside of the main building and the pump house nearby. According to the brochures the bath is not in use now and is only displayed as a tourist attraction. It would have been interesting to see the exhibits…. If one need to take a bath? There is a bath and spa outlet close by that charges £25/- for the full works, whatever that was……

We later asked around and located the town mosque, performed our obligations and then had dinner that we bought from a suitable fast food outlet in the town centre in one of the parks close by. People were walking through the small park with some walking their dogs. There was one particular man who walked along close to where we were sitting with his dog unleashed. Najla was especially nervous and apprehensive seeing the dog coming by. But when the dog just passed by she commented, “luckily I have cut my finger nails”. Apparently Sita had coaxed her to cut her long finger nails by ‘conning her’ that long finger nails invite worms to live underneath the nails and that dogs like to lick little childrens’ fingers that have worms in their finger nails. Phew! What a relief it was for Najla heh heh!

It was close to midnight by the time we were ready to leave for home in Tenby. We noticed several people staggering along drunk and one particular girl being helped along, hardly able to walk on her own, obviously very drunk. She was whisked away in a car by her friends who were themselves in some level of intoxication. I wondered if the driver was capable enough to drive! We arrived home at close to 3.00am and ever ready for bed. It has been a pleasant outing, something old, something not so old, and something new along the way. What next? We only have a few days left in Tenby and we have no specific plans of how to spend it. For me, I will continue my daily walk as the weather forecast said the sun will be up and the temperatures anywhere between 15 to 22 degrees centrigrade, nice and cool for walks in the country side……




MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Tenby, Pembrokeshire,
Wales

About Stones and Wood In Heritage

A fine Saturday, the sun was up and temperatures hovering around 18 degrees centigrade with a cool breeze. This was expected as confirmed by the weather forecast. We went Southwest to Salisbury and Amesbury of the Wiltshire area and then on to Bath. We started off at about noon and headed off to visit the historical site of Stonehenge, the stone structure believed to be from the Neolithic period and used for ceremonial purposes. We have heard of it, read about it and understood that there had been various theories on the existence of the circular stone structure. Whether the stones were constructed for ceremonial purposes or whether they were markers for some religious functions are still debated by historians and there has been no conclusion as to its purpose. It was believed that the stones were brought to the site and constructed in the indicated formation. The origins of the stones were believed to be from Wales and if that were true then a great effort would have been taken to transfer the stones from Wales. Were they brought by sea or were they by land? Why specifically stones from Wales? What was their significance?

It was a three and a half hours drive from Tenby to reach Stonehenge. We went directly to the site passing through small towns in the suburbs of Wiltshire; the towns appeared to be very old with some houses looking very ancient and some appeared to have been built of mud and thatched straw roofs even. The roads we passed through were small, winding two way country roads where extra caution was required and where passing space was limited. This slowed us down somewhat but we carried on anyway. The Stonehenge stone structure was located in an open field and on high ground and was visible from a distance. We noticed it from the distance, an arranged cluster of stones, and the stone structure slowly got clearer and clearer as we got nearer. On arrival we noticed quite a large crowd of visitors, some having arrived in several tourist buses or coaches and the parking lot set aside for visitors and provided by the English Heritage society were quite full. The whole stone structure area was fenced up by a six feet high chain fencing. There was an entrance fee to enter within the fenced enclosure of the Stonehenge but visitors were not allowed to get near the stone structures as they were roped off. So there was not much difference if one had gone into the enclosure or stayed outside of it.

There was nothing much else to see or do at this location. We stayed for about an hour, took some pictures like the tourist we were, before moving on. We checked out one large stone piece close to the fence that looked similar to the ones in the cluster of stones in the main structure. There’s moss growing on it. The stone looked quite ordinary. No way of telling where it came from. Perhaps Archaeologists would be able to tell. I wondered why this sole piece was left there and not brought or placed together with the others in the cluster. There was only about 20 meters left to transport it to the cluster, after having brought it from Wales, if indeed the stones were brought from Wales as claimed by historians.

We moved on from there to another location about 15 minutes drive away where there was another historical, heritage thing that was named, by no coincidence I believe, ‘Woodhenge’. I learned of this when browsing the ‘net’ and since we were in the vicinity and we had the time, it was only natural to check it out. Woodhenge was called such as archaeological excavations done many years ago found wood stumps arranged in several concentric circular formation that was believed to have been used for some ceremonial purpose, much like the intent of Stonehenge. I thought there must have been more than a coincidence that Woodhenge was found not too far away from Stonehenge and whether there had been any relationship intent between the two. The weathered wooden stump had since been replaced by concrete. Looking at the size and shape of the concrete stumps I believe the original wooden stumps were tree trunks cut into pieces of two or three feet height and placed in a circular formation, and maybe used as stools for people to sit on in some ceremonial function. Perhaps they were used for funeral or burial ceremony during the Neolithic period. There was no indication what period they were from and it was just left to our imagination. I could only imagine that it was pre-historic and used as non-religious, ceremonial and cultural function. There was no indication of any religious connection there, so also at Stonehenge. But then again, I may be wrong…….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Tenby, Pembrokeshire,
Wales

Change Of Guards

Our first day in London after returning from Spain was intentionally spent to observe the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace. We were reminded, before leaving home in Mid-May that if ever we were in London we should visit Buckingham Palace, especially during the changing of guards’ ceremony. We left the hotel at 10.00am and took the bus from the front of our hotel to go to St James Park. The guards on duty at the palace were mounted by the army from my country, a special arrangement and honor given to members of the Commonwealth Countries. We went specifically to observe this.

There was already a large crowd in front of the palace. There were people everywhere and all foreigners. Yes, the guards in front of the guard boxes at the palace were in the familiar ceremonial uniform of our army. There were, of course, policemen on foot and mounted on horses on the streets around and along the streets at the front of the palace grounds, and outside of the palace fence, controlling the crowd and also traffic. It was still early then for the changing of guards’ ceremony and we joined the crowd in posing and taking pictures to live up to the name of ‘tourists’ heh heh.


Signs that the ceremony was about to start came at about 11.00am when the first batch of horse riders and foot soldiers in full regalia accompanied by a band marching out from the side entrance of the palace, followed by a second batch a little while later, moving away to some distance from the palace area. Soon after that they marched back into the palace grounds and the change of guards’ ceremony started then. The band meanwhile played several contemporary songs and at the point just before the guards changed the British National anthem was played. The whole ceremony actually took about one hour and the crowd stayed on throughout the ceremony. Some of them commented that the guards do not look Caucasians and Sita proudly mentioned that they were from our country in the East!! I could not clearly see what went on as the crowd was really large and the ceremony took place over the wide area in front of the palace. I did not want to jostle for space amongst the crowd and stood some distance away. I had to strain and try to see through the crowd. Sita and Fahrul however did not move away from their position and managed to inch their way closer and closer to the fence. They managed to get some good pictures. Ram had found herself at the fence and stayed there all through out the ceremony.

Once the ceremony was over Fahrul and I had to rush to Kensington Park where the main mosque is located for us to perform our Friday obligations. Ram and Sita decided to go to Knightsbridge meanwhile, and pay a ‘courtesy call’ at Harrods ha ha!! Harrods is another tourist ‘must visit’ destination in London. We met them at Harrods later in the afternoon and then went to Queensway for a late lunch, or were it early dinner? at a ‘Nandos’ outlet which, we were assured, was suitable for us. The patrons here appear to be the younger crowd, a little noisy and some boisterous even. We had a seat at one corner, hence not bothered by the boisterous groups.

After dinner we decided to take a leisurely walk, as it was still light then, around the area and also find the apartment I used to live in some 25 years ago, located on Devonshire Terrace, close to Paddington Station. It was a pleasant walk as traffic was very low in that area then and it was also slowly getting dark. It was past 9.00pm then and time to return to our hotel. Najla was also getting restless and a little cranky.

The Devonshire Terrace Apartment



We checked out of our hotel on Saturday and returned to Tenby. There are no specific plans for the next two weeks we have left in UK but one thing for sure, we will want to see the countryside of Wales. Najla has to go back to her playschool in the mornings, having been away for more than a week. She even said that she wanted to go back to school. I think she missed her school friends already………

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Tenby, Pembrokeshire,
Wales