My Syifa..

Yesterday was the day that matter most to my daughter,Nurul Syifa. I had seen her work so hard throughout the whole of 2014 and yesterday she reaped the fruit of her labour. Nurul Syifa was born in the year of the Ox at around noon,UK time. She was a blessed child..carrying her in my womb for nine months was not difficult at all. She was delivered a few weeks ahead of time- if my memory serves me right, I think around 37 weeks. So,naturally she was kind of small. She weighed less than 3kg. at the time when she came out to see the world. I was doing my Masters at that time. It was not that difficult to take care of her. She loved to sleep-a habit that sticks to her until today.

She called me at around noon yesterday and professed that she called me first and she wanted me to be the first person to know her SPM results. Before that, I witnessed that my friends' children were getting straight As. I wrote a remark emphasizing that A is not everything. It is what you do with the As is more vital. I knew that probably Syifa will not get straight As. I am hoping that she will get a few As.

Allah SWT granted my wish. Syifa secured 3 As, 1B, 1B+ and 4 Cs. I was rather pleased with the fact that she got credits for all her science subjects; physics, chemistry and biology and she got the same grade for Add Maths.

At night, there was a long discussion about the course that she should be taking. Lots of suggestions were given. The uncles wanted her to do accounting, the cousins were suggesting programming. I like the idea of her furthering her study in Multimedia at UniKL but the fees was rather hefty. The auntie was even suggesting mass communication! At the end of the discussion, she decided to stick to Screen Arts- that was and still is her passion. I was advising her that if she liked what she learns, she will be more motivated to seek the knowledge-just like me when I was studying to be an English teacher.I still regard those years as the best years of my life.

In the silence of the night, I woke up munajat to Allah and pleaded so that He would show the right study path to my Syifa. She is a good daughter and she deserves to be happy in her quest of knowledge seeking. I want her to say that studying was the best phase of her life! Subhanallah...I surrender to Allah..

Raudhah

Ulasan Novel : Raudhah

Penulis : Ramlee Awang Murshid

Novel yang baik dengan plot yang tidak dijangka. Saya sebenarnya 'takut' untuk membaca karya Ramlee Awang Murshid (RAM) sebab saya tahu yang beliau merupakan seorang penulis yang baik dan juga seorang penulis yang terkenal terutamanya untuk golongan remaja. Saya pernah mengajar di USIM secara sambilan dan apabila ditanya siapakah penulis pilihan pelajar, ramai diantara mereka menjawab yang mereka amat meminati hasil tulisan RAM. Ketika itu, terdetik untuk membaca karya beliau dan apabila anakanda saya sendiri mula meminati hasil karya beliau saya semakin tidak berani untuk membaca kerana takut 'terjebak'. Saya takut saya tidak boleh berhenti membaca! Raudhah adalah karya pertama RAM yang berani saya singkap.

"Bismillah...aku mencintaimu kerana Allah"- ayat yang cantik dan tidak pernah saya jumpai dalam mana-mana naskah cinta sebelum ini. Sebetulnya, Raudhah memang bukan naskah cinta antara manusia tetapi lebih kepada pencarian satu jiwa kacau ke arah keredhaan Illahi. Watak utama ialah Faris yang di awal cerita ialah seorang pembunuh upahan:Contract Killer. Tetapi conscience beliau yang menyebabkan setiap kali beliau membunuh, jantungnya sakit. Kesakitan itu akhirnya menemukan beliau dengan sahabat lamanya iaitu Hambali. Hambali yang membantu Faris untuk kembali ke  pangkal jalan sehingga satu hari ketika Faris koma, Hambali terlibat di dalam kemalangan dan jantungnya telah diwasiatkan  untuk Faris, Faris mendapat kehidupan semula dengan jantung tersebut. Melalui Hambali juga, Faris dipertemukan dengan Junaidahtul,yang pada awalnya merupakan tunangan Hambali. Dalam pencarian jalan kembali, Faris telah ke Makkah dan Madinah bagi menunaikan umrah. Ketika Faris difitnah di Madinah dan dijatuhkan hukuman pancung, Junaidahtul yang digelar Raudhah, tidak henti berdoa. Takdir menentukan yang Allah menduga mereka yang benar-benar ingin bertaubat. Di penjara, Faris mendapat gelaran baharu: Awwabin.

Tidak seperti kebanyakan cerita, Faris tidak berakhir dengan Junaidahtul. Faris menemui cintanya yang baharu iaitu cinta kepada Allah SWT. Cinta yang benar dan cinta yang sejati. tetapi seperti kebanyakan cerita yang lain, akhirnya they live happily ever after. Faris menjadi seorang manusia baharu dengan membuka episod hidup yang baharu.

Pengajaran: 

Terdapat beberapa episod di dalam penceritaan ini yang membuat saya terkenang kembali kepada pengalaman semasa di Makkah dan juga Madinah, Seperti terbayang kesesakan ketika di Raudhah. Saya juga melakukan apa yang dilakukan oleh karekter Junaidahtul ketika berada di Raudhah. Bersolat dan terus bersolat agar tidak di'halau' oleh penjaga wanita yang berada di situ.

Bagi saya, RAM berdakwah dengan caranya sendiri. Selesai membaca, tidak dapat tidak kita melihat keEsaan Allah SWT, kuasaNya dalam menentukan sesuatu dan kebijaksanaanNya dalam mengatur kehidupan kita. Terima kasih RAm kerana karya yang baik ini.

Rating : 4.5/5

My Akmal

" Mama, semua orang kena balik 29hb ni. Mama mai la ambik Akmal tau!"- the plea from my son.

He called home every now and then and when he pleaded for me to go and get him, I could not say 'no'. I was lucky as at the same time, there was this training and placement company from Singapore was looking for talents and I had arranged for them to meet the management of Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan. Incidentally, it happened to be on the 29th! We departed after Maghrib on Wednesday. Why did we depart so late? My boss persuaded me to attend a meeting that day and the meeting was scheduled to end at 4.30. The meeting was rescheduled to the next day but I went back at 5.20pm,only 20 mins earlier then usual.

When I reached home, my mother in law was already waiting.(We managed to persuade her to join the trip.) We reached JB at 11pm-almost midnight. We booked into Hotel Alam Indigo in Plentong. For RM180 we were given an apartment with two bedrooms. The apartment was okay. But, it actually cost less if you booked via phone than thru booking.com. Walk in guests would pay only RM150 for a night for that room! Darn!! I lost RM30 for wanting to be well planned..The next morning, the whole gang sent me to the Polytechnic. Our guests- the company- was late. One hour late! But things worked well after that. The meeting ended at 2.30pm and I then rushed to the awaiting transport with my personal chauffer..i.e:my hubby. We picked Akmal up at his school close to 4pm.

My feelings when I saw my son walking towards us with his backpack? Breathless...felt like hugging him but I had to control myself. I was scared that his friends might teased him later on..Then we took him to the hotel. We had pre booked our usual hotel : The Lotus Hotel forgetting the fact that it did not have an elevator. So, my MIL suffered. After climbing up two flight of stairs, she refused to come down so she didn't join  us for dinner that night. I felt very guilty. Guiltier when we went to have a super nice dinner in Kg Senibong which was very famous for its seafood. You could find almost anything there..lobsters,crabs, cockles, so many types of fish...spoiled for choices. We went to Nonies as the adverts said: Siakap for RM1. We took Combo #4 which cost us RM134 + RM1 siakap=it was worth it. The buttered prawns were soooo good. Crunchy and juicy at the same time! We took some back for my MIL.

The next day was a 'lepak' day. We forced Akmal to do his homework and later in the afternoon we took him shopping at Aeon. He took the usuals: air kotak, maggi cup- i don't like this, biscuits etc. I noticed that Akmal was enjoying the attention that we were giving him. He also got a new pair of black trousers to match his baju batik.

That night we had dinner at Senibong again  but this time at a different stall and we regretted as this stall was more expensive than the one that we had the night before. We brought back fried keow teow for my MIL.

The last day was rather sad as I had to part with Akmal again. He seemed okay. We had a simple lunch at a wakaf in his school. To sum up: Akmal seemed to be able to cope with his new environment. He has a few friends ( and even a few admirers) and he likes his school and his teachers.

Akmal and his RM120 baju batik...

Mom's reaction : Leggaaaaaa...

I am looking forward to seeing my son again when he comes back for Chinese New Year. Balik sendiri naik bus ..InsyaAllah..

Sweet Dream Cinta

Ulasan Novel :

SWEET DREAM CINTA

Pengarang:

Nina Kamal

Saya tidak pernah membaca karya Nina Kamal dan ini merupakan naskah pertama beliau yang menjadi santapan hujung minggu saya. Di akhir pembacaan, saya dapati karya ini adalah karya yang baik. Nina menggunakan dua dialek utama iaitu dialek Kedah dan Sabah. Mungkin juga penulis mempunyai pengalaman peribadi dengan dua dialek ini sebab ianya berjaya dipersembahkan dengan baik sekali.

Plotnya agak mudah. Novel ini menceritakan kisah cinta seorang anak kecil iaitu Ramona yang dipanggil Moon bersama heronya Adrian yang dipanggil Ian.  Moon adalah gadis kampung yang teruja melihat kegembiraan sebuah keluarga menyambut Hari Raya di Jitra. Ketika kecil lagi hatinya sudah terpaut dengan Ian yang dianggap sebagai jodohnya. Ian pula menganggap Moon sebagai pengacau dan dia tidak menyukai Moon. Bersama saudara sepupunya yang lain, mereka seringkali membuli Moon namun Moon tetap mengekori Ian walau ke mana jua dia pergi.  Perkara ini berlarutan sehingga Moon mencecah 17 tahun. Pada tahun tersebut, Ian membawa pulang Mia-teman wanitanya untuk menyambut Hari Raya . Moon rasa tercabar lalu memfitnah Ian dengan mengatakan yang dia telah dicemar oleh Ian. Ian bertindak dengan mengambil penerbangan balik ke Kuala Lumpur. Moon,kemudiannya mengikut keluarga tersebut balik ke Kota Kemuning. Apabila mengetahui akan perkara tersebut, Ian terus terbang ke US dan tidak pulang sehingga beberapa tahun selepas itu. Di Kota Kemuning, makcik Ian yang berketurunan Kadazan- Cik Pat, merupakan orang yang telah memberi perspektik kehidupan yang baharu kepada Moon. Hasil pujukan Cik Pat, Moon mula belajar bersungguh-sungguh dan akhirnya memilih Design Art sebagai bidang yang diceburinya. Moon bekerja sambil belajar dan bakatnya terbukti cemerlang apabila beliau sering memenangi beberapa pertandingan.

Bidang rekabentuk perhiasan wanita juga telah membawanya kembali untuk bertemu semula dengan ahli keluarga Ian. Norman, sepupu Ian, terserempak dengan Moon di dalam satu pertandingan dan sejak itu hubungan keluarga telah disambung semula. Ian kemudiannya pulang ke tanahair untuk menghadiri kenduri kahwin kakaknya. Ketika itu, Ian terkesima melihat kejelitaan Moon tetapi cintanya ditolak oleh Moon. Kecewa, Ian kembali ke US tetapi mendapati dirinya tidak lagi mampu untuk tidak memikirkan tentang Moon. Ian kembali mencari cinta dengan cara yang lebih berhemah. Pada masa yang sama Cik Pat menyerahkan pentadbiran Isadora-syarikat kesayangan Moon, kepada Ian dan Moon sangat berkecil hati lalu merancang untuk memerangkap Ian sekali lagi. Ia berhasil dan Ian mengahwini Moon yang sememangnya sudah dicintainya. Tembelang pecah bila Ian melalui pengalaman intimnya bersama Moon. Ian kecewa bila mengetahui sebab utama Moon mengahwininya. -- semuanya kerana Isadora. Ian menjauhkan diri.

Retak tidak belah apabila Cik Pat disahkan mengidap kanser ovari. Moon memohon maaf dan mereka berbaik semula. Moon mendapati bahawa beliau sendiri sudah menjumpai cintanya terhadap Ian. Berlaku beberapa insiden kecil yang akhirnya membawa kepada pertemuan perasaan di antara 'matahari' dan 'bulan'.

Saya cuma bersyukur bila di akhir cerita mereka hanya bercakap tentang anak dan tidak pula Moon mengandung! Lazimnya novel Melayu selalu berakhir dengan si heroin mengandung dan melahirkan zuriat sang hero!..Klise kot.

Untuk novel yang berharga RM28.00..ia bahan bacaan yang berbaloi untuk hujung minggu anda!

Ulasan : Kerana Aku Untukmu

Ulasan Novel :

KERANA AKU UNTUKMU

Pengarang :

ACIK LANA

Acik Lana merupakan seorang novelis yang tidak asing lagi bagi para peminat novel Melayu. Barangkali, karya beliau yang paling tersohor adalah Maaf Jika Aku Tak Sempurna dan juga Aku Bukan Mistress. Walau bagaimanapun, kedua-dua karya tersebut bukanlah karya pertama Acik Lana yang aku baca. Karya pertama beliau yang menjadi santapan mindaku adalah Akadku Yang Terakhir.

Aku mendapati yang karya Acik Lana memberi sedikit kelainan dari segi susunan plot dan Acik mempunyai gaya penceritaan yang baik dan mampu membuatku setia sehingga ke akhir bacaan.

Bila aku ke MPH Alamanda baru baru ini, aku sempat mengintai senarai Top 10 dan aku dapati salah satunya adalah Kerana Aku Untukmu. Tanpa berfikir dua kali, buku tersebut terus berada di dalam genggaman! Aku membeli buku tersebut pada hari Khamis dan habis membaca buku tersebut menjelang tengah malam pada hari Jumaat.

Kerana Aku Untukmu merumuskan tentang kesetiaan dalam berkasih. Watak utamanya ialah Darriz Imdad dan sebagaimana lazim, watak anak muda yang kacak, bergaya, bersifat pelindung, setia dalam berkasih dan sudah tentunya kaya raya. Watak heroinnya pula ialah Zenia-nama yang agak unik,yang bermaksud bunga dan sudah tentulah heroinnya juga cantik, lemah lembut tetapi tidaklah terlalu merimaskan. Beliau merupakan wanita yang bekerjaya dan tidak terlalu 'menurut'. Digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang sangat tabah.

Zenia merupakan seorang anak yatim dan banyak terhutang budi dengan Pn Norizan,tuanpunya sebuah Rumah Anak Yatim. Pn Norizan mempunyai seorang anak yang liar-Fakhry. Fakhry dipaksa berkahwin dengan Zenia dengan harapan agar perkahwinan dengan Zenia mampu mengubah Fakhry. Zenia terjerat. Walaupun beliau pasrah tetapi Fakhry jelas tidak menyukainya dan melayan Zenia dengan buruk sehingga akhirnya ianya membawa kepada perceraian.

Darriz Imdad pula jatuh cinta pada Zenia pada pandang pertama dan merasa amat kecewa apabila mendapati yang pujaan hatinya itu sudah pun berkahwin, Zenia pula merupakan pekerja di syarikat di mana Darriz merupakan COFnya, Berada di bawah bumbung yang sama membolehkan beliau terus dekat dengan Zenia..dekat tapi jauh. Berlaku beberapa insiden di mana Zenia telah diselamatkan oleh Darriz sehingga akhirnya Darrislah orang yang menolong Zenia ketika Zenia teruk dibelasah oleh Fakhry.  Sifat Darriz yang penyayang dan berkongsi keprihatinan terhadap Aiman-seorang anak yatim yang comel, membuka hati Zenia untuk membiarkan cinta melamar dirinya lagi.

Walaupun pada awalnya ibu Darriz melarang keras akan perhubungan tersebut, perhubungan tersebut berjaya juga diikat dengan perkahwinan. Fakhry kemudian hadir memeriahkan plot dengan sifat 'gila talak'nya. Sifat tersebut telah membuat beliau menculik Zenia, mendera dan merogol Zenia tetapi kasih sayang Darriz yang menggunung telah menjadi penyelamat kepada segalanya.

Sebagaimana lazim, hero dan heroin hidup aman bahagia dan si jahat Fakhry disumbat ke dalam penjara.

Sesuatu yang lain tentang novel ini adalah keberanian Acik bercerita tentang hubungan intim di antara dua karakter utama. Saya suka karakter Zenia yang mempunyai kekuatan wanitanya yang tersendiri-soft but naughty at times dan kesabaran Darriz apabila mendepani setiap cabaran. Ini barulah sungguh- Cinta hingga ke Jannah!

Tahniah Acik Lana!  Saya bagi 4/5..

My Leisure Time

My husband and I went to visit my daughter, Nurul Afiqah in MRSM Parit. We departed from home quite late..at about 12 noon and arrived in Parit at 4.00pm. We parked our car at the usual place which was near the bus shed. From far, we saw our Afiqah walking towards us,ever so slow. My husband made a remark on how slow she walked and commented on the fact that I wanted to send Fiqah to UK so that she could learn to walk faster.

We took her out for shopping. We only had two hours. We went to Billion in Sri Iskandar. Shopped for her favourite food stuff and less than an hour we were done shopping. I then took a few minutes to buy some brooches. I thought they were quite cheap but I knew they would not last long. We sent her back at sharp 6 pm.,gave her the birthday present and you could see an almost immediate spark in her eyes. We then knew that she truly loved the present which delighted me.

As a mother,it worries me to see her not smiling. I miss her 'happy go lucky' attitude and the fact that she rarely worries about things. But I also know that she will talk to me when she is ready. I sure hope that whatever is bogging her will not be bogging her for long. There is nothing that a mother wishes for except the happiness of her children!

Time Without My Kids

January 2015 forces me into a new phase of my life as a mother. My children are away from me in their noble quest-searching for knowledge. My eldest, Muhammad Solehan is in his final semester of Diploma in Networking; Nurul Afiqah is in Form Three in MRSM Parit, Perak and my youngest,Muhammad Akmal decided to go to Johor Bahru-just to join the Art School-one of three in Malaysia. Only my second child-Nurul Syifa remained at home,waiting for her SPM results. She has always wanted to pursue her study in Video and Filming or Screen Arts and I am praying hard for her to get good results so that she could reach her dream..I am hoping that she would go to UiTM. Sending her to private institutions would have costed me too much..As for now, she is my protege. I am trying to turn her into a woman with the characteristics agreed by this eastern society. In other words, I am teaching her how to cook and clean the house. I am paying her though..RM200 working from 3.00pm-7.00pm , Mon-Fri.I see it as an incentive.
    Now, coming back to the point of my children leaving the house-I have dreamed of this moment-of when they will go off paving their young lives..charting their own course of life. But, it was only after  two days that I felt the emptiness of the house. I never thought that I would say this,but I actually missed what I had taken for granted. I missed the sound of the van at 6.30am honking in front of the house and in the evening, I missed the sound of the van sending my children home: the heavy sound of the van's door opened and slammed. The footsteps approaching the house, the opening of the door and a very loud,'Assalamualaikum'..Surprisingly, I also missed their smell...young children coming back from school has this one kind of smell...During the first week of them not being at home, I could still 'smell' them on the couch but the smell is gradually disappearing...sad,,,
    Now, at the end of every solat, I include a new line- I pray that Allah will protect them wherever they are. My du'a is for them to be happy with their friends and their lives at the hostels. I hope that they will be well taken care of by those in charged. I hope that my children can deal with whatever challenges that come on their way.
   I have also learned to cherish every moment that Allah has given me with my family. At the end, it is them whom I hope to see surrounding my death bed. Wallahu'alam. May Allah give me strength ..