Friday, March 8, 2024

Musafir

kota itu

penuh dengan impian 

segulung cita-cita

pertemuan tak diduga

memori suka duka


rumah itu

setiap pagi dan petang

tidak sunyi bertasbih

mensyukuri nikmat

Tuhan yang satu


lebuh raya itu

kau susuri setiap hari

masa berganti masa

ilmu dan rezeki

bekalan dunia akhirat


kereta itu

berkhidmat dan berjasa

mengembara bersama 

tiba masa ia mengeluh

tersadai, terbiar, terlupus 


sahabat itu

mengajar dan menyedarkan

menghiburkan yang kecewa

mendewasakan remaja

kini jauh di mata


ramadhan itu

tetamu istimewa

di tunggu dan di rindui

mengharap belas dan kasih Ilahi

diampuni dosa dosa yang lalu


28 Syaaban 1445

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Fun with idiom/proverbs

I still remember during my primary school until university years in Malaysia, every so often the teachers (even my father) will emphasize and remind us about the importance of learning and mastering English. There were (I think most probably still up until now) some generalization that people who can speak/read/write good English must be brilliant and they were look up to.

Of course it is always a good thing to learn another language but unfortunately some narrow minded people like to ridicule and treat other languages (usually from undeveloped/developing countries) or even their own mother tongue as "low class". Well there are many factors contribute to that but most probably due to the legacy from centuries of westernization and colonization of mind.

In the Quran, Allah mention:

عَلَّمَهُ ٱلْبَيَانَ    

"(55:4) and has taught him articulate speech."

To put things to simple context here all languages (and of course everything in this whole universe) is from God, so why must we ridicule God's creation?

Currently, the worlds information is at the tip of our finger but it is still not sufficient if we only search them in English. Having living and working in Japan for >8 years, I notice that many information can only be search or discover when we use the original Japanese technical terms. 

It is always interesting when you try to grasp the meaning and origin of some words and this time I have compile some fairly similar idiom/preverb meanings from English, Bahasa Melayu, Japanese and Chinese: 

1) English: Blow one's own trumpet

2) Bahasa Melayu: ماسوق باکول اڠکت سنديري (Masuk bakul angkat sendiri)

3) Japanese: 手前味噌 (Te mae mi so)

4) Chinese (Mandarin): 吹牛 (chui niu)

All the idioms/proverbs above is generally use to describe when someone is trying to boast about themselves but each language uses different subject which closely related to different and unique culture setting. English with their trumpet, Malay with their basket, Japanese with their miso (fermented soybean paste) while Chinese with their cow.

From the link below you can check at some of those interesting origin of those idiom/proverbs:

1) https://blog.kano.ac/2019/03/05/temae-miso/ 

2) https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/1000/meanings-behind-%E5%90%B9%E7%89%9B-and-%E6%8B%8D%E9%A9%AC%E5%B1%81 

If humanity still exist for the next several centuries (Wallahu'alam), I reckoned the global culture gap will become narrower then ever, so does that means each surviving language will come up with new idioms/proverbs that could be easily comprehend by all people at that time? 

手前味噌ですが、below is the presentation link for the ITA tunnelling awards 2022:



(3 March 2024: Let us hope the genocide in Gaza will end soon and all the war criminals will be brought to justice. Salam (Peace))






Friday, September 15, 2023

Those small little moments




Fast forward 2023, these video still lingering in my mind.
Of course they are only for fun but in real life we do lost in translation more than we actually notice. 

Humans communicate and express themselves in all sorts of way, it can be
- verbally
- texting (emoji, gif, sticker, memes, etc) 
- facial expression
- body language
- music, art 
- others  

However no matter 
how persuasive is a speech during election campaign,
how beautifully a poem is written, 
how insightful is advice from a teacher,
People only choose to believe what they want to believe.

In a world where we can have a virtual meeting anytime, anywhere,
Just because these tools exist does not necessary make us a better & effective communicator.

That is why with different kind of people, at different kind of place, at a different time,
Added with a different kind of social settings and culture,
We can feel and behave almost like a completely different person. 

When humans communicate and express, 
Every person is unique and will developed their own style,
How did they develop, I guess it all comes back to their little past.
Those small little moments is all the difference that it makes.

The love and tender from a mother, 
Those daily routine going back and forth to classes,
The encouragement and praises from a boss,
The innocent and pure joy from a kid.

On the other hand, those small little moments can also be
When respect, good conduct & empathy are in steep decline,
When blaming, hating, back biting and cursing become a norm,
When family and good friends just don't care anymore,
And the list goes on...

But remember we can always make a difference,
So let us always try to be kind and be those positive small little moments in other peoples life.

Salam & Selamat Hari Malaysia
2023.9.16

"And the servants of the Beneficent Allah are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say' Peace." (25:63)

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

how long, how many?

how many roads must a man walk down
before u can call him a man?

how many rocks must a TBM bored
before it reach 44km?

Granite, granite and granite
humid, warm, dusty, noise, water
>1km overburden
fault, lineation, soft rock, thin overburden

God willing, everything will be alright
oh, even though u're a Totally Boring Machine (TBM)
but the truth is, you're so COOL..

Monday, May 16, 2011

5 before 5

Yesterday i received a shock news about an ex-college mate,
He suffered a disease (infection) and just like that.. he return to the Creator..
He is 24 years old.. Al-Fatihah to u Syafiq..

Never said that we are too young to die,
To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return,
and Allah knows best

5 before 5:
your youth before your old age,
your health before your sickness,
your wealth before your poverty,
your free-time before your preoccupation,
your life before your death.

(p/s: i'm now a happy and proud non smoker, thank you Allah :) )

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Not Anymore

Let me be another person to write about quiting smoking,
I know it's boring, i know it's typical, but it's very important to "us",
I've relapse several times, and it all happened because i kept it to myself,
I didn't make research, i didn't prepare enough, and my will to quit was not strong,

Before last month:
I think I enjoy smoking,
I think cigarette is my best friend,
I think smoking can calm myself,
I think....
but the truth is, i continue to smoke because i'm scared about 1 thing,
I'm scared and can't bear the withdrawal symptoms,
and so i'm trapped in Law of Addiction,
and it repeated again, again and again

And so i've decided i will stop feeding the nicotine monster inside me,
I will endure this withdrawal symptoms for the last time ever,
It will be bloody hard but IT CAN BE DONE,
Some of my friends already quit and for me they are superman,
(I want to be a superman too)

Cigarette u are not my best friend,
U only destroy me slowly but surely
I can't find any reason anymore
I cant be with u anymore

Ya Allah please forgive me for the wrong i've done,
Man is an imperfect creature and thus shall always wrong..
Ya Allah please guide me, ya Allah please help me..


"You think you love to smoke and you think it is so important to your happiness, but when you quit (and I know you will), you will find out that all that happiness associated with smoking is a lie. It’s a cheap carnival trick. It is nothing more than smoke and mirrors."-credit to Lesly

Saturday, March 6, 2010

GNH

a.k.a gross national happiness,
are u happy?


saturday night fever, but obviously not at redlight district


how do we look?



my everything