Da’ KRUsader’s Manor™

I really have to apologise for the apparent lack of activity in my blog throughout Ramadhan. It’s not that life has suddenly stood still for me, but work and the usual routine what one would normally associate on doing during this month once dusk settles, is too common to be typed about. And I certainly do not like to talk about what I do during this month, which is between me and HIM. As for other activities like shopping for Hari Raya and stuff related to it or breaking fasts, I think everyone else experiences the same thing and again it’s something I avoid talking about as it might reflect a showing-off attitude as to how my house would look like.

Plus Iftars are not my cup of tea. There’s no fun breaking fast with good company only to stop halfway to observe our responsibilities. I’d rather hang out once the last prayer for the night is observed. And if the Singapore Singtel F1 Grand Prix seemed to be the flavour of the past week, then I’m not a fan of it one bit since I do not understand the rationale behind paying thousands just to sit on the stands and watch the cars zip by in seconds. The only thing I looked forward to the event was if Ferrari were to win and I would enjoy topping up my petrol tank with Shell’s V-Power this weekend, which would have dropped to the same price as Formula 98. Looks like I have to wait for their next win somewhere.

Tomorrow, we end 30 days of abstaining from hunger and thirst, from cravings and vices, from bad habits to bad characters. Year in year out, I will always feel a certain degree of sadness on the last day of Ramadhan and reflect whether I have done enough to earn a place in Jannah, what more not having to suffer the pain of my soul leaving my body, which is likened to 300 swords stabbing you all at once, nor whatever punishments that await once the last funeral sender has taken his seventh step away from my grave. Cos really, we cannot see the future and dunno if this would be our last Ramadhan or not. Every minute that ebbs away is one step closer to our graves.

But this is not a time of sadness, neither do I want to scare nor sadden you with what lies in store for every human being that walks this Earth. This is a time to celebrate victory, a victory that signifies our win against our ills and vices, a victory that showcases our strength to overcome the odds 13 and a half hours daily for 30 days and hope that it would spill over for the next 11 months and beyond. But let’s celebrate this victory in moderation and not one of extravagance. I’m sure in this time where the economy is making us tighten our belts, the mature side of us kicks in. And I’m sure a majority of us would do well to look after our respective budgets.

So after all that is said and done, I would like to take this opportunity to wish one and all Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. May the prayers, Qur’an recitations, Zikr, alms-giving and any extra deeds you have done over the course of the month be rewarded amply with a place in Jannah. I would also like to apologise if any of my words or actions were deemed hurtful to any of you reading my blog or through knowing me in the course of your lifetime. We say farewell to Ramadhan but definitely we hope to meet it again and again and again, Insya-Allah, and I hope you share my sentiments as well…

I have to admit, I’ve been facing a bout of writers’ block lately and that wee bit of laziness thrown into the mix. That should answer why I’ve not been updating this blog for the past fortnight. Anyway, life’s been rather mundane and routine, so nothing much is worth updating except for what happened over the weekend.

This past weekend, even though it was raining almost throughout, I still managed to spend quality time with family. And what better way to spend it whilst watching the beautiful fireworks by the One Fullerton mall??? The annual Fireworks Festival went on on Friday and Saturday (22 & 23 August 2008) and as you all know, being the fireworks suckers that we are, it wasn’t an opportunity we were about to miss so easily. Anyway, this could be our last Fireworks Festival as we’ll be taking a break for about 4-5 years down the road, seeing that Ramadhan is slowly making its way into August. Unless the event happens before Ramadhan next year, I foresee that we won’t be able to enjoy them till Ramadhan ends before National Day. As they say, we’re just enjoying it while it lasts…

Anyway I don’t understand the rationale behind paying $25 just to sit by the floating platform at Marina Bay to enjoy this event, or spending $50 at Esplanade just to qualify from a lucky draw to watch it from its rooftop. The best things in life are meant to be free and this definitely ranks as one of the best in my life. The incessant downpour turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For one, I believe, it turned off many people from coming over to view the fireworks display. Surprisingly too, when I scanned my eyes to look at the crowd, it wasn’t that many as in previous years when even Esplanade Drive was closed and people would pack all the way to the Padang just to view the fifteen minutes’ display. Sure, people stood along the pavements of Esplanade Drive but traffic was still flowing and the road was not closed to the public. Maybe it has lost its essence???

The first night, only Aida, Syahindah and me went. It was a great experience for me as I have not taken the MRT along the North-East line for a good 2 years now ever since I had a car. I seemed to forget how fast and efficient it is to get to the city minus traffic jams and ERP gantries. I think I should do this more often so I would save on petrol and rising car park fees, not to mention the ERP as well. Syahindah seemed to attract a lot of attention from train commuters. They can’t help staring and smiling at her, and she was just being her, sitting quietly on her stroller. The fireworks??? Beautiful!!! But we had to wait for 25 minutes or so before they were fired into the sky. Naturally, Syahindah grew afraid during the display due to the loud booming sounds emitted, but she still enjoyed it and clapped when the crowd broke into applause the moment it ended.

We went again on the second night, this time joined by my parents-in-law and maid. Syadiyah was left behind at my parents’ place as it was raining, even when we left home. This time I drove instead of taking the MRT. Thought of parking at the Esplanade but it was already full, likewise at One Fullerton. As it was drizzling when we reached, I dropped the rest at One Fullerton before moving off to park at the NTUC Income building further down the road. There were a lot of parking lots available, even the view to the floating platform was clear, had it not been blocked by the construction works next door. This time round, we came armed with a picnic mat and Pizza Hut delivery menu to while the time away. It was about 8:20pm that we reached the place (the fireworks came on about 9:10pm), so the time spent was best used to have dinner. Syahindah was still quite afraid this time but not as bad as the previous day since she had her grandmother carrying and cooing after the fireworks with her. The good thing was, even though she was afraid, she did not cry or bawl like other kids around us. Maybe it’s in her blood already to appreciate one of the beautiful things in life and she’s had ample training when she was still in her mother’s womb.

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Sunday morning was spent with my maternal family. As I had mentioned a few entries ago, my cousin Ezaad had a supporting role in “Kallang Roar The Movie” currently being shown in local movie theatres. So to lend him our support, we had a family outing just to watch the movie at Downtown East. There were about twelve of us plus two others in the theatre (it was a 10:50am show), so literally we had the cinema to ourselves. I told the rest that when the scene where Ezaad, who acted as Nasir Jalil, scored the equaliser for Singapore, we should stand up and cheer and cheered we did. I jumped up and down my seat and went over to rub his cheeks. The stranger behind us could only watch and grin.

So how did I find the movie??? It was certainly an eye opener for me on what actually happened all those years ago, how our footballers played for the country with pride, without thinking of cash and fame like how certain professional footballers go about living their lives these days. One does not need to serve National Service to feel pride and patriotism, hearing the inspired speeches by Uncle Choo Seng Quee (played by Lim Kay Siu) being delivered were enough to make tears welled up in my eyes. All the more when he gave those speeches knowing he had gangrene. The cast was a riot and even if certain parts were exaggerated, the movie’s substance and essence were kept intact. The intricate homework done by the director Cheng Ding Ann was admirably applaudable. Who would expect him to relive the way the late Dato’ Mokhtar Dahari (played by Rafaat Hamzah) used to celebrate after scoring a goal in this movie or included the Milo tin as a poignant reminder of how Milo was a proud sponsor of the national team in years past before a certain beer brand came along???

Us conquering the theatre… And that’s the star giving us the peace sign…

Anwar Hadi, my junior in polytechnic, did a tremendous job acting as my uncle Dollah. Even if I didn’t know that my uncle was such a joker as portrayed in the movie, the physical resemblance was simply uncanny. In the words of my aunt Faridah, his wife, Anwar really looked like Uncle Dollah back in his heydays. Come to think of it, when Ezaad was much slimmer, me and my friends used to call him “Saiful Apek” and Anwar himself looks like Saiful. Both Ezaad and Anwar can easily pass off as brothers, but of course you can tell the difference.

After the show, we all had lunch at Fresh Bulgoggi, a Halal Korean restaurant situated on the first floor of the new E-Hub Downtown East building. While I did not enjoy the food, the company was great. Aida and I shared the same table as the new star in our family and his wife Julie, who incidentally also had a non-speaking role in the movie as Samad Allapitchay’s wife and their son Eshaan appearing as Samad’s son. It was kinda surreal to see the guy I grew up with being a movie star now but his down-to-earth persona made sure that his feet are kept firmly on the ground. Ezaad interviewed me and Aida and asked what were the unbiased and biased scenes in the movie for us. The biased one for us was definitely the pep talk given to him by “Uncle Choo” as it made him one of the leading players in the movie, even though he was not one in the first place. He said that scene was inspired by watching all the World Wrestling Entertainment shows. You should watch the movie to get an idea of the facial expressions he did in that scene. See, who said wrestling was all negative??? As for the unbiased scene for me, it had to be all those powerful speeches being delivered. Felt as though the dead man came to life to inspire us all over again. Over lunch, Ezaad and Julie also shared interesting anecdotes and experiences filming the movie. It was most definitely a learning experience for both me and Aida…

Julie ordering food from the touch screen… Cool…

P.S. I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank sis Nona Kirana once again for taking the time to interview Ezaad on RIA 89.7FM last Thursday when she was on duty, in turn helping to promote a local-made product. Me and my family appreciated it very much!!!

Have you ever had a friend you have not met or contacted in a long time suddenly appearing out of the blue and asked to have a meet up, to the point of planning your meeting time etc??? I’m sure some of you have. Do you suspect anything fishy, like why the sudden interest in the meet up or you just think of it as a sincere reunion of sorts to catch up on old times???

This past weekend, a childhood friend of mine whom I’ve not met in ages and not have any close contact since school days, sms-ed to say that he wanted to meet me to catch up on old times and *quote* “to discuss something” *unquote* with me. Out of friendship’s sake, I didn’t mind meeting him but I felt kinda disturbed by that second part about discussing something. More often than not, when people say something like that, they are bound to discuss some multi-level marketing or sideline business with you. If they are financial planners, all the more I will not waste my time hearing them out as I’ve already have my policies in place.

So I replied back and said as bluntly as I could that there must be a catch somewhere if he wanted to meet me out of the blue. I added on and said that I did not mind the meet up but I am not keen if he wants to share or sell anything, if that was part of his agenda. True enough, he replied and said that he agreed with me that whenever an old friend wants to meet, it is usually to his benefit, and that I can stop him anytime if I find the conversation not beneficial.

Even though I was feeling peeved by then, I still tried to remain cordial in my subsequent reply. I told him that I have principles and one of them is never to use my friends, no matter how close I am to them or not, for my own benefit or leverage. Subsequently I apologised to him for stopping even before we’ve started any conversations.

I have this thing about being very protective of the people in my contact list, no matter how close I am to them or not. Personally I am the kind of person who hates multi-level marketing or whatever stuff that pertains or is associated with it. That is why perhaps I am not cut out for a job in sales and marketing. For me, if you say you want to meet me to catch up on lost time, I will be more than glad to accede to such requests, but if you have other agendas up your sleeves, then I suggest you keep it to yourselves. And if someone were to ask me to ask any of the people in my contact list to support their businesses, all the more I will not give as I do not want to make use of my friendships with them for others’ benefits.

This was not the first time that I have experienced such scenarios. It made me think how far would a person use friendships for his / her own personal advantage. I know that in this day and age where businesses and sideline incomes are sprouting everywhere, such scenarios are common place and that my rants are misplaced. Some of you might even think I’m being uptight and aloof. Honestly I don’t mind if such promotions are done on a public basis, like an advert or in a blog rather than a one-on-one affair, since afterall, you have the liberty to buy or not. A one-on-one affair usually means that person has high expectations that you would part your cash out of supporting an old friend. It kinda leaves quite a sour taste in the mouth thinking that you’re being made used of for someone’s own monetary benefit and that to me makes sincerity thrown out of the window and friendship a mere decoration in name…

As of today 21st July 2008, I have officially sold my soul to the nation all the way till 1st August 2008. So any updates on this blog from now till then will be either minimal or none at all. Apologies then to those who hope to read something interesting about what I do over the next fortnight or the past few days, only to find yourself faced with this entry. I hope something interesting beckons sometime in between, especially since I am hoping to catch the Brazil Olympics football team in action. Actually there is something I want to show you guys but I simply have no mood to update this blog on it. Even wearing this grubby uniform feels like wearing Kryptonite. It just saps your energy and morale away. I’m hoping time will fly by cos there’s just too much work at the office that needs my attention and I can’t do that while I’m away. Bummer…