Batu Kurau

Just came back from Batu Kurau, Perak.

I've been making weekly trip to Batu Kurau for the past month to assist Fakhrul with his on-going Msc project.

His site is located in a rural area deep inside Sempeneh village in the territory of Batu Kurau. The first time I was there, I was marvelled by its scenery. It is theoretically a jungle, but villagers there converted it into many segments of small plantations, including orchards. So in a way, it is practically a series of orchards in a jungle.

There are rubber plantations on the way towards the 'research' site. What makes the scene stand out is the apparent amount of big 'stones' among all those rubber trees. I have never seen rubber trees planted alongside big stones. Even 'Batu Kurau' got its name from a big rock that resembles a fish (ikan kurau). The Kurau rock is still standing today, although I never had a chance to see it.

I was told next week will be our last trip. Hopefully I'll take some time off to truly admire the beauty of Batu Kurau next week, because I'm sure there will be a long long time before I'll have another opportunity to come back there.

* Nothing to write actually, just wanted to activate my neurons' reflexes through quick writing. I've stopped writing long enough that my synapse is just too slow too react now. I need to arrest this halt immediately or else I'll risk losing my already limited writing ability (have to write report, thesis[still a long way]...so writing is very important for me).

My Hobby is...Trying to Stay Happy Everyday

Tales From School

National Day

As we are celebrating Malaysia’s Day today, and I'm having plenty of time to waste, I’ll share an amusing anecdote about an actual event happening in one secondary school in Penang, two weeks ago.

It was slightly a rainy day that morning. I was in the vicinity of the school’s canteen. Crowd of students gathered at the school's assembly area, which was just next to the canteen, where they were scheduled to have their school's level National Day celebration.

As students started filling the assembly compound, my interest grew. I couldn’t remember ever celebrating Independence Day during my secondary school days, as we were too busy focussing on academics (aha).

We did celebrate it during Matriculation; I still remember our principal (I was formerly from Mara Kulim Matriculation, the head of our matriculation was known as principal instead of director) wore a full army suit when delivering his wind-up speech on top of our assembly hall.

I was aghast and confused simultaneously upon seeing him in action; was he about to declare a state of emergency? It was amusing because all the other teachers wore the usual casual attire. He delivered his speech in a strong, fiery manner...army style. I was seriously thinking that he was about to declare a war. A friend of mine, sitting next to me, bewildered as I was, quipped, “dia ni dah buang tebiat ke apa?”

I was jolted back into reality by an announcement. A teacher announced that a special student was going to perform. I knew that student personally...as his father always came to me early morning every day to book for his lunch. He has a 'disability' with his vision...he couldn’t see properly. He wore a very thick spectacle. He is practically blind.

His disability didn’t deter his special talent. With a violin placed on his left shoulder, he started playing KeranaMu Malaysia almost to perfection. Heavy noise that was prevalent early on dissipated abruptly...as every students and teachers paid close attention to his tune. Every breath we took in synchronized with his violin’s stick movement...as he mesmerized us with the captivating sound of his music. He may not see properly but his talent was there for all to see.

After he received a rapturous applause upon the completion of his performance, a new segment started.

A quiz.

I loved quiz.

The quiz was about our nation’s forefathers.

"Tunku Abdul Rahman dikenali sebagai bapa apa?" came the first question.

A student raised her hand, and answered enthusiastically,

"Bapa Kemerdekaan!!!"

“Well done! Come on up here to pick your prize” was the teacher’s reply.

Second question was a bit tricky.

“Tun Abdul Razak...bapa apa?"

There was a wee bit of a silence among students. They looked on each others' face, discussing among themselves.

Then came a murmur from someone next to me...she was one of the kitchen's helpers.

"Bapa Najib..."

*Update 17/9/2016
I don't know why, but it's obvious the font used is quite big, is it? And I couldn't fix it...all the words are either becoming smaller or bigger (beyond my acceptable range of satisfaction) every time I try to fix it. 

So I'll leave it at that (sadly). Next time I'll try to figure it out. 

*Update 12/10/2016
Problem solved :)

Mid-September

It's already mid-September, 2016. In less than four months, 2017 will be knocking on our door.

Time really flies, and it flies so fast like a shooting arrow. It will kill you if you didn't keep up with its pace.

I am still on my 'sabbatical' leave, due to expire at the end of this month.

I still have two more weeks to indulge myself in whatever things that could satisfy my curiosity.

Which means, when October comes, I'll be going back to my old routine.

I was told I would be embarking into a new area of research, which includes animal handling.

My first phase of research is over, now we are entering the second phase.

Sadly, Yana has left the team. I do not know where she is and what she is doing now, but I wish her all the best.

There are many things that I'd like to jot down here, but I need space to write comfortably.

Currently I'm sharing this lab with three other friends.

Every single time that I have the feel to write something, Safwan is sitting just beside me.

Now that he's sleeping (yes we sleep in the lab, on the floor, with flattened boxes as our mat) so I have a bit of a freedom to write.

Not much to write, but at least I'm jotting down something.

When you leave something unattended for a long period of time, it will get rusted.

I think my keyboard is already accumulating so much dirt.

Forgetful? Write More.

In the study of hadeeth (or the science of hadeeth), there is one category of weak hadeeth called "soo.ul-hifz" (it's from an arabic which I couldn't extract here...it literally means weak memory).

One who is "sayyi.ul-hifz" is the one who is mistaken more than he is correct.

There are two types:
1. One whose memory was always bad throughout his life.
2. One whose memory became weak, either due to old age, he became blind, or his books were burnt (this type is called al-mukhtalat).

The ruling for their narrations:
1. For the first type, his narrations are rejected.
2. For the second type, then:
     1. what he is known to have reported before the "ikhtilat" is acceptable.
     2. what he reported after the "ikhtilat" is rejected.
     3. that which is not known whether it was before or after, then judgement is                    suspended until it is clear which is the case.

(The above short notes are extracted verbatim, except the underlined part, which I added, from Tayseer Mustalahil Hadeeth, written by Dr Mahmood at-Tahhaan)

*******

1. The short extract above briefly tells us the need to write more if we have a short memory span.

2. It always startle me when I try to recall a memory from the past, I always try to equate it with something totally different from what it was supposed to be.

3. Emotion plays a big part in our memory relapse. Due to our emotional attachment, our facts become massively distorted from the truth.

4. For a quick example, when asked about her present state of marriage, one girl rejoiced immediately and told the questioner with glowing excitement that she was always happy with her state of marriage from the start.

5. Well, that is further from the truth. She is happy now, but not then. In fact, in the early period of her marriage, she was clearly unhappy and poured her disappointment to somebody (which unfortunately was the questioner himself). Over time, her marriage becomes a lot better and she unconsciously loses her early memory of her disappointing start to her marriage.

6. Sometimes we have a reservation about something...be it towards people, situation or our own feeling. Almost all of the time, we tend to forget it when things get better. When these things rear their ugly heads and come back to haunt us, it's maybe too late to turn things around.

7. So to avoid this distorted truth, write more. I am always interested by truth and emotion, but for me, truth always comes first before emotion.

August!

Well it's been almost a full-length month since I last posted on this clandestine blog called Pancasara.

I am re-adjusting my life to a new tune. I must admit that Prof Bouchet and Dr Ellen have permanently stamped a big mark on me during our short stint together.

Not a single day passes by without me remembering every minutes of our short stay together.

Those moments were temporary, but the memories that come with it will last forever.

As I said before, I should be writing numerously, but time constraint keeps strangling me. I now have an unrelated job to keep my mind off things, I still need to prepare my overdue proposal, and I must keep my mind fresh to absorb new knowledge as they come.

I am meeting new people now on a daily basis, and it includes those that are half my age. It is awkward to hear yourself being called uncle for the first time, but I must accept the harsh reality that I'm getting old.

So I'm bracing myself for the new month of August. This is my favourite month; throughout my life, good and magical things always happened in August. So hopefully this time it won't be of any difference from the yesteryears.

Till then.

Aidilfitri 2016

"Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum"

I received this raya greeting from somebody, which I personally thought was a bit odd (because it sounded different).

I have limited number of friends, and I rarely sent out raya greeting except to my confidants. So I have little idea about what constitutes a good raya greeting, except for the usual Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin.

Today, I found out that this greeting is indeed a sunnah, words that were uttered by the prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) during Aidilfitri.

So, I learned a new thing today.

I will be actively writing and learning new things starting this week, as I am about to embark into a long journey with a known expert in his field (malacology).

He is Prof Philippe Bouchet and his wife, Prof Dr Ellen Strong.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I'll make sure it will turn out into a memorable experience.

So, this may be a bit too late, but better late than never. Selamat Hari Raya, Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum.

P/S : During our journey, I was corrected by Prof Bouchet that Dr Ellen is not a prof as was initially told to me by Dr Aileen, so I've made a minor correction above.