Visiting period

I;ve always enjoyed raya because i like to go "raya" ! It is a traditional malay culture which was cultivated in me when i was young. In Johor , the raya celebration has always been elaborate. Everybody will have new clothes and new decorations at home even though they cannot really afford it. It is a conscious effort come Syawal every year.Nowadays , especially amongst KLiltes , it is not obvious anymore.A calculated "open house" is more appropriate in order to plan one's hectic schedule. We rarely visit each other at home during normal days ; maybe during Syawal period it becomes an excuse to continue this culture.

After prayers in Muar , we would begin by visiting all my close grand uncles and aunties as a group. It was fun going from atuk rumah "air hijau" to atuk "halwa". It was nice to meet all your relatives eventhough i don't really know most of them.I would plead my father who would prefer to spend his time sleeping to go out and see people !

Most of my grand uncle and aunties had passed away. Only tok tam and tok cik are still around. The family members of the deceased one rarely go back to Muar. I don't see them anymore and it is a waste not to know your own distant relatives. Maybe , some families would keep track but unfortunately nobody in ours took any effort to organize it. The PARIT SETONGKAT clan !!

I do however still go for raya and this year was another "pulun". We return late at night - such a satisfying feat visiting at least 5 families in a day. Tiring but nice in my effort to ensure sillaturrahim. With dzaeffran around this year , it is more meaningful. I pity him though , because it disrupts his feeds and sleeping time;therefore the unusual tantrums that he showed during our visits. But what the heck right? We have to start them early !!

Family togetherness is important. We are losing it bit by bit - with each generation. I want my next generation to understand this concept and apply it so that it'll not dissapear without one realising it.

" Jangan lupa pakai lampin yaaa... "

Raya classics

complete set 


Tok Ma n Tok Pa 


favourite nenek to bully 

Role model ??

endorsement from Muar 

Remembering your loved ones..

Before marrying wifey , I've never experienced visiting the cemetery on Raya day. Well, at that time , most of my elders were still alive. Wifey and family would go and visit my father in law's tomb after the prayers. I 've never met my father in law as he passed away in 1992 of MI. ( myocardial infarction ).Few would argue I;m lucky especially during my courtship but sometimes I do wish that i have one to interact with. It's just not written in my destiny.


with his arwah Atuk.. 

The passing of my unborn child at 7 months in 2004 made my visit that year during Aidilfitri more meaningful.I could understand better and appreciate the graveyard visits. It was my saddest moment in life and the tomb was the only thing left for remembrance. I can still remember clearly seeing him delivered with no crying in sight or expected , watching him bathed and covered with the white cloth "kapan" ; praying and bringing him to the cemetery from KLH mortuary on a hot afternoon ; 20 04 2004. Slowly burying the pint sized lifeless baby whose destiny was not to live our lives but Insya-Allah as a martyr with a guranteed place in heaven...

dzaef's elder brother's tomb 

Meng ( my younger brother )and I managed to visit Tuk Abah's grave in Muar on the morning of 2nd Syawal. Mind you the signboards were bad that i had doubts of my direction while driving there . Jalan Bakri was SO LONG and Batu 6 was not obvious until we actually arrive there !! I woke Meng up quite early after Subuh prayers ; he did not realize the unappropriateness of his t-shirt in the cemetery. It is a bit ironic isn;t it having " I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" on your chest while reciting Yaasin !!


t-shirt " I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" 

Life is not ours to keep nor waste. One should cherish every moment while living it.It is meaningful as well to reflect and cherish the loved ones who are not with us anymore.It is not about visiting them at any frequency within the year ; but through our du'a ( prayers ) everytime we pray to god.

Alfatihah....

atuk abah's tomb 

Birthday-Syawal raya sakan..

family picture 


posing maaf-maafan 
We celebrated Syawal this year with takbir on raya eve in Taman Tun. Dil and Mafiz was around and came over. Few Meng's friends were present as well. It was good as it was the first time we hosted such an event.It was small but very satisfying as everybody had their chance to "karaoke" !! Cuak ek Dil.. hahaha.. It was a good way to celebrate my Birthday as well !! Yups , this year 1st Syawal coincided with my birthday ! Honestly , this was the first time i did not really celebrate it as we were too busy celebrating Syawal !! Thanx to all who remembered and wished me that day !! *smile*


Taman Tun family 

After Aidilfitri prayers , we brought Mak and Yo to Taman Tun.Well , having a KL based wife make things easy come raya. Only 10 minutes apart !! It was the first time as well Mama and Papa celebrated Aidilfitri in KL. Well , when MAktuk is not around anymore this will be the pattern of our future celebration. But when i still have a kampung , I will always go back to my kampung. I love raya in kampung !!


Maktuk in Muar 

we went back to Muar after Zohor prayers. The traffic was smooth but a bit slow because of the incomplete highway improvement project. Nevertheless , we managed to arrive in time to visit both of my grand uncle and aunties.Dzaeffran certainly enjoyed his raya that he stayed up very late on raya night ! Kaut main budak ni !!


massive traffic 

We went back to KL on the 2nd day of raya and it was a mistake to go back at 6 pm ! It took us 4 hours before arrving in Bangi for Pak Long's open house . I had to go back as I was on call on the 3rd day of raya . Unfortunately I miscalculated as i forgot to consider that most of the people went back home during Deepavali and a number will go back home on the 2nd day ! To make things worse - it rained heavily and really "helped" the traffic !! HAksss...

But it was worth it.. every single sen..

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

Salam Aidilfitri.. 

To all my friends.. SALAM LEBARAN 2006 !!!

Mafeitzeral , Haniza , Myftzal Dzaeffran Qayyum and MDQ (2) !!!

Ramadhan then Syawal

with few of UMMC OT staff 

Ramadhan this year was very fast. Today will be the 28th and we all have fasted for 27 days.I must admit , that my observation of ramadhan this year is quite bad. I was not able to perform jamaah tarawikh in the mosque. Dzaeffran's presence had impaired my ability to perform the ibadah outside.( macam la buat tiap-tiap hari pun..hahahaha ) Wifey is all alone at home and we don't have a maid. Therefore , I just had to be at home ; sometimes nursing dzaeff as wifey on numeral occasion just passed out after a hard days work.

Work has not been kind though. Running long lists of surgical / orthopaedics / gynae list alone was an experience.Had quite a number of morbidity and one mortality during this October period ; but i reckon it was a good learning experience in my training. Quite a big number of my colleagues are on study leave ; they'll be taking their Part 1 exams in mid November. I have my aptitude assesment in January and I haven't even glance my books !! haaah..

Ramadhan seems to speed through us in a glance. I remembered when i was younger ; how long it was and Syawal's presence was awaited with joy. Syawal this year will be very special as Dzaeff is around and wifey is very excited to celebrate and bring Dzaeff around. I must say ; Dzaeff has a very good SQ . He seems to socialize well when brought to public gatherings. He enjoys the company and sometimes taking all the attention with his antiques! haks.. I don't know where he inherited that from as both me and wifey are shy and non-seeking publicity type of people !

I'm on call on the 3rd day of raya by the way.I reckon it is a good deal because I will have next weekend off which will be very busy when everybody is back from their kampung !! haks.. I can gurantee you that and I do pity the ICU MOs who will have a torrid time ! I'll be doing ObsnGy for November and December then ICU in January and February. wooohooo.. Two tough postings comingg...

Streamyx oh streamyx..

Apologies for my long absence . I did attempt to write on numerous occasions in the past 2 weeks , but unfortunately Streamyx connection was not kind to me..

AND I WAS ANNOYED...

IRRITATED...

After iftar , i will usually go to my computer and log on .. but my modem will flicker and flicker..and flicker.. representing the line instability !! I have written long entries but as I failed to post it , it dissapeared !! Alahai.. Kenapala lembab sangat streamyx during ramadhan ??

flick..baby..flick. 
I guess the line is congested when flock of "birds" log on at the same time .Bukak puasa pun kena bukak internet ke ?? hahaha.. well , look who's talking.

Anyway , I'm able to write today because of my day off ; Post call. Its 11 am now and so far no flickering in sight.. Maybe.. just maybe.. I'll be able to surf again.. in peace..

Pain week

see the broken pager.. it is still functional !!  

i am posted for 1 week as the "PAIN" anaesthetist ; my job is to manage an control post operative pain and chronic pain patients. No OT job for this whole week which has its advantages. However , it can be a bit boring and dull but everybody has to do it !!

I am equipped with a broken pager which receives paiges but unfortunately i cannot read it ! They'll call my handphone instead. hahaha.. see how UMMC's technology is !! Every morning I will have to do my rounds in the wards to check upon patients with epidurals , morphine PCA ( patient controlled analgesia ) or any other form of pain management given on previous days.I don't really know much but I am learning to master one of the important discipline in Anaesthesia.

Then I will sit in the recovery area managing patient's pain immediately after surgery on GA or any other form of anaesthesia. I do feel at times like a PUSHER offering and giving people Morphine to settle their pain an suffering!! hahahaha..

Notorious d.R.m.

He's 10.5 months now

We brought Dzaeff to the barber last week. I wanted to trim his hair myself but wifey insisted on seeking "professional" consultation. His hair was a bit long and people were starting to wonder whether is he a she . Of course , as a proud father i would like to make the doubt dissapear !!

anxious.. 

Dzaeff was ok for the first 10 minutes as he managed to stay still for the barber to trim his hair. After that , he became restless and it was a battle to keep him still and not cry !! haks.. In the end , the job was done but.. I could have done it myself at home !!!

with uncle.. 

As the firstborn , I must say Dzaeffran gets all our attention and excitement. We went out on Sunday to look for wifey and my raya clothes but ended up getting dzaeff's first ever SONGKOK ! He had a nice fit with size 19 and seemed to be comfotable with it ! haks ! Don't think i had this luxury when i wash is age. And of course , wifey was as picky as how she is that we ended up window shopping and not getting a decision to what colour theme will our Raya Aidilfitri be !!!

little songkok