Beware of what you want and ask for....

Short stories have the value of providing us with insight into life, into things that we might go through or have gone through. It can rationalize things that may seem irrational. It can put things in perspectives. Hence Nakamora wishes to share the following story which he came across in a daily tabloid quite some time ago.

There was an old lady, staying alone in a village, supporting herself by selling vegetables and other produce at the local farmers' market. One of her best selling product is tempe. Tempe is a traditional soy product produced by fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempes can be eaten fried or cooked in a curry to be taken during regular meals with rice.

The lady is very pious, God-fearing, always do good deeds and never ever cause problems to others or do any bad or evil things.

Tempe - done and sold at a night market near Nakamora's house

Every time, before packing her produce to leave for the market she would check to see if her tempe were done and ready to sell. One day she found that her tempe were only half done. She wondered why as to her best memory she didn't change the recipe and followed exactly the way she always make tempe.

She prayed for her tempe to be done so that she can sell them that morning at the farmers' market. She believed Allah can do anything. She always depended on Him and have great faith in Him. In the meantime she prepared her other products, and when done she checked the tempe again. No change, the tempe were still as before.

She was a bit shaken but not losing confidence. She prayed again asking Allah for miracles. She needed to sell the tempe to support herself. Besides, it is the end of the month; there will be a lot of shoppers in the market. A large part of her monthly revenue comes from sales at the end of the month. She said, “Oh Allah, I know you can make miracle, I know you can make anything at your will. Help me, please make the tempe done. I am asking you for a miracle.”

She packed the tempe together with other products and made the trip to the farmers' market hoping that during the trip her payer would be answered; a miracle would happen; and the tempe would be done.

On arrival she set up to display her products. She peeked into the tempe covering to see if they are done since she wanted to display the tempe too. She was taken aback when she saw that the tempe were still as before, half done. She started wondering why her wish was not granted. She is pious, never forget or intentionally forget to pray, never did anything bad. She felt sad and her faith was somewhat weakened when she almost got angry with her predicament.

She left the tempe in the package in despair, but still harboring the hope that somehow the tempe will be done. Hours went by, occasionally she peeked into the tempe covering to see if they can be sold. No change. The market is about to close and sellers all prepared to go home. So as she.

As she was about to leave, a middle aged lady stopped her and asked if she have tempe, half-cooked; as the lady did not want them fully done. She was surprised, and this time she prayed to Allah not to grant what she has been asking for all along. Please, let the tempe stayed as they were. She responded to the lady that yes, she has plenty of half done tempe. The lady glowed and smiled happily as she has been asking here, there, and everywhere for half-cooked tempe. The lady asked to buy all of her tempe.

Slowly and trembling, she opened her package and took out the tempe. Yes, the tempe remained half-cooked. And the lady bought all of them. Before the lady left she asked why she wanted half-cooked tempe. The lady replied that her son is studying in the USA and craved for tempe, so she wanted to mail him the tempe. Fully cooked tempe would have gone bad while in postage.

Now, the she understood why her prayers were not granted for Allah knows best, and has a better plan for her. It touched her deep in her heart and thank Allah continuously as she made her way back home while regretting to almost show her anger when her wish for the tempe to be done were not granted.

Sometimes, what we asked was not what we actually wanted, Nakamora thought. He philosophized that it's better to ask for the tempe to be sold than for them to be fully done. Focus on the goal - after all, what matters is the tempe are sold, not for them to be fully done. Thus, Nakamora concludes, beware of what you asked for...

Consolidation...

Many years ago I thought that it is better to separate different topics in several blogs, hence I have more than one blog. But with the labeling facility coming into being that would not be necessary anymore. Postings can be labeled accordingly, and as result passive blogs can be avoided. Hence postings at my other blog "Don't Throw Them Away" which was started in November 2007, will be gradually migrated to this blog. The blog is about traditions, knowledge, experience, culture, and heritage and how we can benefit from them...

Old things tend to find uses later, they tend to be recycled and become useful again. This is not just for material things, but also for concept, philosophy, and fashion....

Keris Making (Wavy Blade Daggers) -- A Dying Art / 12 Nov 2007

Keris making at a cottage industry in Terengganu

Making keris (wavy blade daggers) in Terengganu, Malaysia... looks simple, but there are a lot of scientific principles underlying the age old traditional method for making keris... forging, tempering, etching... the tools look equally simple, but they are able to be perform the task of producing a beautiful keris used to make the keris... it is a dying art, no one to pass on the knowledge to; youngsters no longer find such a 'career' or vocation attractive...

What's in an abbreviation...

We use abbreviations a lot. With sms or texting the short form of everything becomes handy. But not every short form carries the same meaning. The photo, complete with the typos, intentionally made, I believe, is a case in point. It was taken near the Segambut eateries area, Kuala Lumpur; not in any other town in the east coast of the Malaysian Peninsular.

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It's Ramadhan

At the end of Ramadhan 1431H we prayed that we would make it to the next Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, the prayer is granted; here we are, at the beginning of Ramadhan 1432H.
Bazaars are here again. The last day before Ramadhan the shops were crowded. Restaurants, cafes, and food courts were crowded too. It was as if tomorrow it is no more... (Photo: Bazaar Ramadhan at Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur).

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Senseless...

It is hard not to feel saddened with the plight of those businesses owners whose operations are disrupted. Who should compensate their losses. Countless people whose programs are disrupted, just because certain segments of the populace want to do things their way. Inconsiderate, incomprehensible...

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Someone's Loss...

is someone else's gain. Disruption in air travel due to the Icelandic volcanic ash costs airlines millions of dollars in lost revenue and due to extra operational costs incurred in the logistics of relocating and pacifying stranded passengers. Leaving passengers on their own or just giving them minimal treatments can tarnish image and long-term businesses. In fact, Nakamora opined that, the ability to effectively and efficiently handle situations like this is the hallmark of professionalism and service quality, of airlines or any other ventures.
On the other side of the equation, hotel industry at the city where passengers are stranded records bustling business. Occupancy rates jump. But, this is not the whole story. Would be travellers cancelled their trips, taxi cabs loss passengers going to the airports or to the city, some passengers chose to stay put at the airport, etc. There are losses, but who else gained?

One Sen No More...

Just for a record. 1 April saw the disappearance of the Malaysia one sen coin from circulation. The lowest denomination is now five sen. Physically, it followed the footstep of the RM one coin, that has similar brownish color, but bigger that was also discontinued last year. The value, one sen, still exists. Goods are still priced at that lowest denomination, but rounded up when transacted in hard cash. No rounding-up or down to the nearest five sen for other, non-hard cash transaction.

The Value Of 90 Sen...

It costs nothing. That is not an unfamiliar phrase. We have heard of it said at one time or another. But is it true? It ought to be to some people, depending on how they value things.
Consider this. There is no such thing as free lunch. It is paid in different forms, in one way or another, at one time or another. But they are cost, nonetheless, that are not measured in ringgit and sen. Some may not be countable at all. Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted - a saying attributed to Einstein. The value of anything is then a relative quantity depending on the reference point against which it is measured, or compared.
That was what Nakamora tried to come up with recently when traveling from point P to point B. The toll cost 90 sen only. He has a fair bit of time and not in a rush, thus he took the non-toll road. He was actually paying the 90 sen with his available time.
He was not lucky. The road was congested. He ended up spending more time on the road than he expected, and to him it worths more than 90 sen. But that was the risk that he took.
At times even the toll road is congested, especially at the toll booth. He could end up the same, spending more time than expected for a toll road. That thought console him a bit. It was preferable not to spend 90 sen and arrive late to spending 90 sen and arriving not early enough. The frustration would be doubled.

Platform Products

Technology greatly extends human capability and effectiveness in doing works. It also makes possible the propensity of our mind to move forward or backward in time and pick up matching activities. Thus, the kids in us, adults, can remain so and be entertained so. The adults in kids, viz. the urge or rush to grow up and do the things adults do, also to some extent can be fulfilled.
Nakamora saw an adult playing FreeCell and Solitaire games on his laptop while at an airport lounge the other day. He was oblivious to his surroundings. He was immersed completely in the game. Isn't kids like that too? We were like that when we were kid; if we can still recall. That person playing computer game at his laptop was not the first one that Nakamora saw. he has seen it before, elsewhere. But the current thought occurs to him only at this occasion.
Think of the mobile phone. It's now in the hands of kids just graduating from kindergarten. Isn't mobile phone an adult-oriented product?
That perhaps is a trend that is going to become ever more familiar with new technology products. They no longer answer the needs of any particular age groups. They now serve purposes that are defined by their users. User-defined purpose product that can be useful to all, irrespective of any age groups. If we can borrow the concept underlying the phrase 'platform technology', then these products are actually 'platform products'.

'Freedom' - at a cost

Some freedom you can actually afford -- just pay for it. Freedom to talk on your mobile while driving-- just buy a hands free, or pay for the fine. So as the freedom to speed along the highways, just pay the fine...

Freedom, independence

There are many dimensions of freedom, independence. At times we tend to look at it only geo-politically. The very meaning of independence, I believe, is not to depend on anyone or any factor beyond our control to fulfill our needs and wants; and able to adequately control or manage factors that could badly influence or negatively affect our well-being.

Beyond the usually known meaning, we must extend it to also include independence of drug, mat rempit, bad culture, etc. We may not be able to totally eliminate these but as long as they do not sap away significant amount of energy and resources, they should be tolerable and taken as the unavoidable in life...