Last Touch

I see an old man,
With hope in his mind,
With heart in his hands,
With tears on his cheeks.I see an old woman,
Lying on a deathbed,
Gasping for air,
Struggling to survive.I watch him in perfect silence,
His eyes never leave hers,
His mouth quivers,
His hands tremble.

I see tears rolling down his cheek,
For he knows soon she will leave him forever,
But he will never leave her.

He’ll be sitting right next to her,
He’ll be watching her,
He’ll be waiting.Til she breathes her last breath,
Til her heart beats the last beat,
Til she shed the last teardrop.I see him reach for her hand,
His weak hand, caressing her, soothing her,
His shaky lips, whispering words softly,
Only he and she can hear.“For all the times you had stood by me,
For all shared dreams,
For all the joy and happiness,
Darling, you will forever be in my heart,
Life will never be the same without you.
May Allah bless and forgive you for all the wrong deeds you had done,
May you be one of those people sent to Heaven,
May you rest in peace,
Soon, you will leave me,
Alone in the world,
With empty feeling and loneliness,
So darling, let me have your last touch before you leave me forever… because I love you.”

The ‘Last Touch’ was written in dedication to my late grandmother (I called her Uwan) who departed on 20th October 2005, and to Allahyarhammah Datin Seri Hendon Mahmood, Malaysia’s First Lady who also departed on the same date.

Allahyarhammah Datin Seri Hendon

Al-Fatihah.

Journey To Paradise

Life is a journey. Life is so thorny. Not knowing when we might stumble and get wounded along the way. But keep on walking and walking and try not to get derailed until we reach our own final destination. Be strong!

Life is full of challenge. From the day we were born til the day we die, we have to face the challenge of what life has to offer. Be brave!

Let’s just be courageous. Let’s just walk ahead. Don’t be afraid. Let’s hold hands and take one step at a time. Let the journey be the journey everyone wants to go. A journey to paradise.

Storming The Brain

The corporate company I am currently working with is indeed the premier toll expressway operator in Malaysia and I believe the company is already at its best. Frankly speaking, I am very proud to work with this well established company. Some people call this company a gold mine, some even say it a comfort zone. Well, I do agree with them, but I perceive the company differently.

This Company to me is a venue to know and get closer to people with higher level of thinking. A venue where I can spill out my creativities and show them off and be recognised. A venue where ideas are heard and appreciated and not simply thrown away. A venue where I can explore more in what I do best, civil engineering, and will not become brain drain. A venue where there is a chance to stand tall, work hand in hand with the Managing Director, CEO, COO. As a summary, this Company is a good place for my self-development.

Speaking of which, the Management had organised a 5-day brainstorming session from 12 - 16 September 2005 which was called as The Special Task Force, as a way to get as many ideas out as they could from the staff. Well, I was one of the 30 selected people who voluntarily participated in the program. These people were then divided into 6 groups of five. Two groups would be sent away to Cameron Highlands, two groups to Pangkor Island and two groups to Port Dickson, for the so-called ‘vacation’. At the end of the program, we would all have to present our “outside of the box” ideas to the judges, comprised of the Company's Managing Director and five demanding Senior General Managers.

My group unanimously had chosen Cameron Highlands, yayyy! A cooler place - good for mind, body and soul! But berangan aje laaa…. the 5-day vacation was totally excrutiating to me and my teammates, Ijoe, Amran, The Razzler and Ajoy (dah jadik arwah dah). No good sleep, no good food, no lari-lari in the tea garden macam cerita Hindustan, no lepak-lepak. Painful! Arrghhh… Perah otak macam perah kain basah. There was one night where none of us uttered a word and none of us came out with any brilliant idea. It was a silent night. Syed finally broke the silence by letting out a loud sigh “I think the box is just too high to climb to get outside-lah!” which made us laugh terbahak-bahak.

Well, the program was similar to the TV show, The Apprentice, except that in this program there was no Mr. Donald Trump sitting amongst these VIPs, provoking and intimidating you. And the best part was, nobody got to hear the word “You are FIREDDDD!”.

Never Too Old

This was the first time I celebrated my other-half’s birthday. It was his 43rd birthday yesterday and I wanted to make it a special one for him. So, a few days back, I secretly bought him a flashy Montblanc wallet at Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur as the birthday gift and made a dinner reservation at a romantic restaurant, Courtyard Damansara. I presented the birthday gift to him last night while we were having dinner together. So here’s wishing you…

“Happy 43rd Birthday, sweetheart. You’re never too old for me.”

'V' For Vietnam

One of the tunnel holes of Chu Chi Tunnels

From afar, the never ending rattling of automatic weapons can be heard. However, as the Americans get deeper into the wood, peculiarly not a single Vietnamese can be seen. No sound of children’s cry of fright. No sign of movement. Where are they? It seems like a dead land, but the traces of human presence are very obvious. Chopped wood bundled neatly and stored in a newly built hut. Fresh growth of fruit plants and vegetables cover some parts of the area. A flaming bonfire confirms the existence of those people. Where had they gone hiding?

The Saigon’s Notre Dame Basilica

That was a common scene of the Chu Chi Tunnels during wartime in 1968. Chu Chi Tunnels being one of the most famous and extraordinary battlegrounds, is located about 30km Northwest of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam in the Chu Chi rural district. The Chu Chi Tunnels consists more than 200km underground maze where thousands of fighters and villagers could hide. The rural district is noted as the base where the Vietnameses mounted their operation of the Tet Offensive in 1968. By using the tunnel network that stretched from Ho Chi Minh City to the Cambodian border, the Viet Congs managed to control the rural area. The main axis system has many branches that connect to underground hideouts, shelters and entrances to other tunnels. Vietnameses are born to be naturally skinny and petite, an advantage for them to fit through very small and untraceable entrances and passages (0.5 meter to 1 meter wide). One has to bend or drag when walks along the passages. 

Before the invasion of the Americans, Chu Chi had been a peaceful land of many gardens. One halcyon morning in 1968, Americans ruthlessly dropped strings of bombs on the peaceful land, killing thousands of Vietnameses. The blood-thirsty American squads mercilessly fired at the women and children. The Americans wanted to turn Chu Chi into a dead land, but Cu Chi would never die. Instead, the war had turned the Vietnameses into brilliant fighters, who they called themselves as Viet Congs. Slowly and silently they built secret tunnels as hideouts. While being attacked by the Americans several times, the digging continued until they finally completed the underground village. The tunnels, not only had they become the shelter for thousands of villagers but it had also become the safest place for the Viet Cong guerillas to strategize their fights and ambushes against the invaders. During ‘calm’ times, when the invaders temporarily stopped attacking, the guerillas and villagers would crawl out of the tunnels and would go about their daily bussinesses as usual. The men would chop woods, catch fish and built traps while the women would wash clothes by the stream, pluck some fruits and plant vegetables. Some Viet Congs would be stationed at every corner of the land to detect the advance of the Americans and send signals to the village occupants if it happened. Upon hearing the signals, the guerrillas and villagers would leave everything and scurry hurriedly into the jungle and into the tunnels through the ‘main entrance’. The last person would have to close the entrance door from outside and cover it with dry leaves and tree branches and ensure that there were no traces of footprints that might lead to their hideouts. Then he would enter the tunnel through another entrance (backdoor) which was much smaller and difficult to squeeze into. While the American troops searched around above ground, the Vietnameses went about their business underneath. 

Vietnamese health drinks

The war ended in 1975 with victory on the guerillas' side. Since then the Vietnameses moved on to live like normal people. They no longer lived under the ground. When I paid a visit to Ho Chi Minh City in June 2005, I took the chance to visit the battleground and I felt like the war had just ended yesterday.

Waterworld

Have you seen the animated movie, Finding Nemo? The brilliant film is about eventful journeys of two fish, Marlin and his son Nemo, who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from home and thrust into a fish tank in a dentist’s office. Buoyed by the companionship of a friendly-but-forgetful fish named Dory, the father embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic journey to rescue his son.

Anemonefish (Nemo) or scientifically known as Premnas biaculeatus come in a family called Pomacentridae (Damselfishes). They inhabit lagoon and seaward reefs and can be found mainly in protected coastal waters and lagoons with depth range 1 - 16 m. Typically can be seen in pairs in which males are much smaller than females. Morphologically, an anemonefish has a distinctive prominent preopercular spine that extends across the head-bar - juveniles and males are in bright red, females become maroon to nearly black. Feed primarily on zooplankton and benthic algae. They are absolutely harmless. There are various types of Anemonefish but the one shown here is known as False Clown Anemonefish (can be found at large in Malaysian water).

I saw few of them when I scuba-dived at Redang Island back in May 2005. What a fantastic world I had discovered at the very bottom of South China Sea.

Bang! Bang!

One fine sunny morning in February 2005, I headed to Subang Shooting Range for a shooting competition. Eventhough this was not the first time I ever held guns fully loaded with live bullets, I shivered uncontrollably. 

Greeted by a bunch of long time friends comprising of sharp shooters, police officers, bodyguards and frequent hunters I felt my fate was forecasted already. No way I could win this competition. Before we started with any event we were given the 4 rules of gun safety.

The 1st Law of Gun Safety - The Gun Is Always Loaded!

The 2nd Law of Gun Safety - Never Point A Gun At Something You’re Not    Prepared To Destroy! 

The 3rd Law of Gun Safety - Always Be Sure Of Your Target And What Is Behind It!

The 4th Law of Gun Safety - Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Your Sights Are On The Target!

The competition started with the .38 Smith and Wesson Heavy Barrel. It is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877 and uses a 148 grain (9.6 g) rounded nose lead bullet. Six small tables had been arranged in one line about 10 meters away from the target. Each one of us were asked to stand behind a small table. There, lying on each small table was a revolver. When the marshall blew the whistle we had only 5 seconds to pick the revolver up, aim at the target paper and pull the triger. Prit!Bang! Prit! Bang! Prit! Bang! After 5 shots, we inspected our targets. Hmmm… I had one shot that almost hit the bull’s eye, one that punched through in the black area, one that strayed outside the black area, and the last two that might have hit the birds. 

We proceeded to the second event, the Semi-auto 9mm Pistol (which was introduced in 1954). There were pistols on the small tables infront of us and we were asked to load the bullets into the magazines. The target papers were changed to new ones and placed 15 meters away from the tables. Again we were given 5 seconds to fire each shot. With an unsteady hand I aimed and pulled the triger. Prit! Bang! Prit! Bang! Prit! Bang! After 5 shots, I could see no sign of bullets found on the target. What a waste! 

The last event was the falling plate event for 8-bore pumpgun. So heavy and bulky the gun was, I thought I had grown some muscles after lifting it. The way of handling it was to place it perpendicular to your shoulder with your chest bent forward. The gun must be placed very firmly on your shoulder so that the impact when the triger was pulled would not hurt or bruise your body. Improper handling can sometimes be so hurtful. I managed to hit 5 out of 10 plates which made me the third winner.

I left the shooting range with a third-place medal in my hand and blue marks on my left shoulder.