What is one day...

A day will not end, except by the coming of a night. A night will not end, except by the coming of a day. That cycle constitutes a complete day. 24 hours, by the measure of our clock. That's the will of The Creator.

In four-season countries, the days last longer than nights during summer and shorter during winter seasons. In the northern hemisphere, the day-night cycle can be the whole year; six months of night.

So how do we measure one day then, is it by the hour or by the alternation of a day and a night. If a day is constituted by one daytime and one nighttime, then one day in the northern hemisphere could well be one year, isn't it?

Being a man...Javanese way

We are made to differ, as a person, a group, in origin, in culture, etc. We should celebrate the differences, for it is through those differences that we fulfill the needs of each other.

Nakamora was at Mangku Negara kraton the other day when he learned from Pak Agung, the guide who took him around the sultan palace, that for a Javanese to be a man he should have these five things: (1) wismo, which is building or a house; (2) wanito, that refers to wife, (3) vehicle, which he forgot what was it called in Javanese, but refers to means of transportation; (4) curigo, or suspicion that refers to the need to have weapons as personal defense when attached; and (5) burung or bird. These may just be symbolic of the traits that Javanese man should have.

Life cycle..

Empty chairs and empty tables. Like those in les miserables. Abandoned in the dark of the night. Expectedly so, as the road side stall is already closed. It was bustling then, with cendol and fruits. That was during the heat of the day, the battle aim is freedom from hunger, the battle act is consumption of the food.

For the seller, it is to make ends meet, to pay bills, to put food on the table, for family to eat.
That is the chain of needs, of others that we provide, and of us that others serviced.

That thought rhymed in Nakamora's head as he passed the cendol stall, looking like a device left and forgotten, to be used again during the day. That night, he was driving towards Pontian. Days ago they thought of fulfilling a need there, but didn't. Cendol was eaten elsewhere.

Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then...

The pyramids of Giza

The title of this post is just the first part of a quote "Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a story teller." It's from Ibn Battuta, the famous Muslim traveler from Morocco in the 14th century. He traveled for 29 years, starting at the age of 20, and covered about 120,700 kilometers. That is a lot of travel, especially during that time when mobility is so remote from the convenience of today.

Travelling is one of Nakamora's passion too, but he may not cover that far neither that long a time. In the little travels that he made, he agreed that travels broaden his perspective on life and enhance his understanding of people, culture, and past civilizations.

The thin multi-story houses in Hanoi, for instance are so to avoid paying taxes for houses that are wider than 20 feet. The seemingly incomplete houses in Cairo, are so to avoid paying taxes too, if the house is completed. Hence the exposed reinforcing bars are there on top of the buildings to show that they are still under construction. To some of Egyptians, the pyramids were built by the subjects out of love for their kings, not by forced labor. These are just a few observations and information that he gathered as examples. There will more for next time, God willing. For now,
he needs to plan for the next travel.

Point and shoot

Holiday trip to some places are good time to educate us on with whom we share the world and how different is the topography from our area of habitats. In fact, according to many views, travel or going places is a better investment compared to buying gadgets and such. Memories increase in value, the experience lasts forever and non-tranferable. Gadgets and other nice to have items don't. In fact,  some of the items are liabilities as they depreciate in values.

During travelling the tendency is to record as much of the scenery by pointing and shooting the camera almost at any point of interest.
Recently Nakamora reviewed all the photos he took and raised many questions to himself. What happens at the edge of the picture. Why the person has no head, etc. That's point and shoot.
He tell himself that next time he need to take more time to compose the picture before shooting. But then, that is not always possible. Perhaps it is better to just enjoy the view, record it it memory, and snap only as as appropriate. Well, in the end, it all depends on the situation and the opportunity of the moment.

Here, there, and everywhere...

A view of Stephansplatz, Vienna

Can one truly claims that one has been here, there, and everywhere when in actuality one has been to the airport, hotel, and airport again but nowhere else here, there, and everywhere? Probably not. But correct to say that one has passed through those places.

That was Nakamora many years ago for work-related travels. Vienna, Monte Carlo, Ljubljana, Paris, Sydney, Seoul, Takasaki, Tokyo, Beijing, Dhaka, and Bangkok are some of his here, there, and everywhere places. Years later, Nakamora tried to recall what was it like in so and so place when he was there. How's the food, the weather, the people, the transport other than the taxi from airport to hotel and back? He neither strolled along the streets nor mingled with the crowd in shopping arcades, etc. He has no idea, no recollection beyond the meeting room in the hotel.

Not anymore. Nakamora really feels that he ought to know more, to see more, including the nearby places that can be reached in a fair amount of time by bus or train from a place that he considers his base. Brussels is only a few hours away by train from Paris. Prague isn't very far from Vienna by bus. Hiroshima can be visited readily by train from Osaka, etc. Well, that's what he is doing now, and he feels that he can claim that he has been here, there, and everywhere; not just passing through here, there, and everywhere anymore...

To whom or what loyalty belongs?

At a seminar towards the end of last year Nakamora listened to a presentation related to human resources, particularly on employees attitude towards the organisation. It's said that there are three categories of them: engaged, disengaged, and actively disengaged.
Nakamora surmised that the level of engagement must be correlated to the loyalty or sense of belonging of the employees to the organisation, which in turn are related to factors such as environment, renumeration, and opportunities to grow. However, for certain groups of employees, particularly the professionals, organizational loyalty is not relevant. Their loyalty is to the profession, not any organisation. That perhaps is the reason for giving professors tenured status, so that they won't likely go away.
As the talk is moving to it's conclusion, the speaker presented a video clip on who's sinking your boat. Well, Nakamora thought that not every organisation can be likened to such a ship, as the employees loyalty belong not to the ship, but to the domain of discipline that take them to the boat in the first place...

Ramadhan is ending...

Well-consummated iftar

Truly, time flies.. Only a few days ago Nakamora thought fasting started, and suddenly today it is ending in about three days. How swift.. It could be so because of the many events, of global nature, that occupy the airwaves, and brain waves too. The continuing search for MH370 somewhere in the Indian Ocean, the World Cup in Brazil, the ill-fated MH17 in Ukraine, the onslaught of the innocence in Palestine/ Gaza by a party that Nakamora refuses to recognize by writing the name.

On a personal scale, this Ramadhan is different. Extremely rare that Nakamora patronizes the many bazar Ramadhan to buy food for iftar. The sky-rocketing price, the lack of food quality, and the difficulty for parking dampened his spirit. Some, or most of the food items, are priced beyond value for taste.. and some were not even prepared properly to deserve the names they are given. This reminded Nakamora of a stall at a food court in Tanjung Malim that sells nasi lemak. The dish lacks all the main ingredients to deserve the name nasi lemak. It has no ground nuts, no cucumber, and no sambal ikan bilis, or rather sambal ikan bilis full of onions and no anchovies. The owner has the chick and no remorse to call his dish nasi lemak. But there are still people having breakfast at the stall, just as there are still crowds, albeit smaller in size compared to previous years, at the bazar Ramadhan. Perhaps, we have become apathetic and indifference...

Happy Eid to all Muslim readers...

Ageing peddlers...

Nakamora feels bad about himself every time an elderly approaches him. Plastic bags in both hands, full with packages of kerepek or some kinds of local snacks. With sad eyes, they would beg him to buy the snack. Not the kind that he likes, and often times the packaging too has almost worn out. He pity the peddlers, but several hundreds questions rush in his mind, begging for answers:
- where are they from?
- who brought them here?
- where do they stay?
- is the daily sale enough to support them?
- who made the products that they peddle around?
and, most importantly, where are their kin and siblings? At that age they should be resting and just relaxing...

Hardcopy or softcopy?

When e-mails was introduced years ago Nakamora thought that would be the beginning of the end of the postal service. He was wrong. On the contrary, the postal service thrives as orders for goods can be made faster on-line. But goods cannot be virtualized, transmitted, and realized yet - that Star Trek technology isn't here yet.

Now he thought that this time his prediction is right - that social media has replaced greeting cards. This Eid-ul-Fitr for instance he received only three greeting cards. Down by many folds from the number he used to enjoy holding, reading, and keeping. Most greetings come in softcopy - via Facebooks, being tweeted, or short message system.

But then, his observation could be wrong again. He is no longer in circulation for quite a number of years, he is not in the loop but only at the periphery of the circles of major happenings, contributing to society in a manner that is different than before. But then again, some of his friends mused the same thing too. This year there aren't many cards, so they say. Thus, he could be right, or at least half-right.

Anyway, selamat hari raya aidilfitri 1434H to all readers...

A stranger who is not a stranger...

Nakamora trained his eyes to every nooks and corners of the yellow-colored shophouses. The majority of them, if not almost all, are eateries of all types of dishes and all kinds of operations: mamak shop, kelantanese food, thai food, lebanese food, indonesian food, cake house, seafood restaurant, and even a restaurant named after a popular local cartoon TV series that is set to supplant doraemon.

He has been looking for him, someone from the other part of the world. Could it be Pakistan, Afghanistan, or any of the other ...stans countries. He couldn't tell and he never cared. After all he was nice, well-mannered, and seems to know how to carry himself around. Nowhere could he be seen.

He used to sell wooden handicraft, and Nakamora bought one several years ago. It was their first encounter. Nakamora since then stumbled on him whenever he went to have his meal at one of the restaurant, and they greeted each other cordially. Last year in December he said that he is going home for a while and will come back when it is summer in his country.  That's about March this year, but he's still not to be seen.

He was a stranger, but somehow he isn't, else Nakamora wouldn't be bothered looking around. In life, there are occassions that touch your heart, and there are people who did the same. Mohamad Abid, to Nakamora, is one such person.

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...

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

The title of this posting is that of a popular Western movie, which is Nakamora's favorite genre. It has been used in many instances to describe exactly that combination of events when they come in a package. That was what happened in Nakamora's recent trip to France.
The good - in a train into Paris from a town called La Rochelle a gentleman gave away his seat by taking Nakamora's own three coaches upstream so that he can sit next to his wife. Similarly a lady willingly moved around to another seat to let her seat be used by his wife.The bad - it was a hectic trip with very little breathing space. The ugly - he was not reminded, but it happened. His guard was not adequate. Nakamora was a victim of the latest 'football' trick used by the pickpocket community of Paris. He was extra careful after that...

Virtual in reality

It is a tiring journey, being in a plane for over fifty percent of a day. Amsterdam Schipol airport is 13 hours 10 minutes away from KLIA by the midnight flight. Arriving at Amsterdam just as the sun breaks through the horizon. Lucky that the airport has nice waiting areas, open to passengers of all classes, secluded from the main thoroughfare where other passengers are departing or arriving. Not all trees there are real, but the prerecorded background sound of a farm area, birds chirping, ducks quacking, give it a sense of reality. A nice place to rest before boarding the  next connecting flight to his final destination. Nakamora has just to be aware not to fall asleep there, like others also in waiting.

Looking back looking forward

In a day what is the event that touches your heart and emotion the most? Ask that everynight, so thought Nakamora; and he did so that night. It was an exceptional day. It wasn't hard to come up with a list. It was a day of happenings. There are plenty of things to be joyous about. Winning at exhibition, making good progress on outstanding works, just returning from an interesting holiday, solving financial woes, getting that new thing that you have been wanting for some time, etc. But for him it was a simple visit to his mother. He visited her quite often, but today it struck him how she has grown old. She was young, no doubt, full of energy and investing it all in raising her kids. He just thought whether he is returning that investment adequately. We are so busy growing up that we overlook that our parents are growing old. The lyrics of "Number One For Me" by Maher Zain played in his mind...

A Tale of Two Turtles...

It was about three weekends ago that Nakamora released two turtles into a lake. They have been staying in an aquarium of sort in his house under the care of his wife. Kuru-kuru and Kuri-kuri, the name given to the two turtles, must have been very happy to be in the open waters, many thousands times the size of their home in Nakamora's house; the place they stayed for over a year. They don't know that they are known as Kuru-kuru and Kuri-kuri, of course, unlike other pets such as cats. The lake, Tasik Komanwel, is just nearby the sports stadium at Bukit Jalil. There are many turtles in the lake; must have been put there by others like him, Nakamora thought.

Kuru-kuru, or was it Kuri-kuri, crossing Lake Komanwel

As he drove away, after spending some time beside the lake to ensure that both Kuru-kuru and Kuri-kuri are safe, images of Kuru-kuru, or was it Kuri-kuri, swimming away to the other side of the lake, the manner in which they climbed out the bucket as he lowered it into the water played in his head. He wondered how natural it was for the turtle to swim away, to be at home in the lake, even though they have not been swimming before since their home in Nakamora's house is so small. It is an intrinsic, in-built ability, he thought. He felt happy, and satisfied. Satisfied in the thought that his wife, and even more so himself, agreed to release them. Happy in the thought that the turtles will have many more varieties of food, much wider space to play around, plenty of nice spots to sleep and rest or sunbathe. They will in time meet others; and probably share their experiences too..

Turtles can outlive him, he thought. Turtles can live for a hundred years or more. Perhaps 100 years from today the lake will be full of turtles. It may come to be an attraction - a zoo of turtle, a turtle territory, a sanctuary. And Nakamora smiled to himself, contented with the thought that he contributed to that future, and two of them have spent one percent of their lives in his home...

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...

The games of life...

A bowling alley

Nakamora was at a bowling alley recently, passing time away while waiting for something more useful. It turned out that it was a worthwhile time 'wasted' anyway. He played around a few mind games in his head.
As he watched the bowling pins fall, some fall only a few while the more seasoned player fell all pins in one hit, a question struck his mind - what use could the skill in targeting the balls in real, everyday life outside the alley be? And he couldn't answer that question. But as usual he try searching for answer by formulating alternative questions or posing the same question to other games.
Swimming, archery, shooting, horse riding are sports the skills of which can be used in some situations in life, in a dire situation the skill developed for swimming can be used to save life, for rescue operation, etc. He searched his mind and still fail to see the use of bowling. In fact more games in similar class make way to his head including soccer, tennis and the like. Could he be wrong?

Hello again...

At times, knowing the presence of a follower, the least expected that is, can be a motivator to continue what you have been abandoning, due to the lack of internal drive. Such is the case with this blog, and hence this posting after a very long lull period.
A lot happened last weekend. Meeting friends and relatives can be a morale booster. Your presence is acknowledged and the fact that others can still recognize you and remember your name after a long absence is refreshing. In the midst of doing your own things, you tend to forget others. Gatherings such as the one last weekend can put you back on track.
MATTA Fair 2012 is yet a gathering, but of different sort. Tens of thousands potential travelers and tourists were there, including Nakamora and spouse. How else can we see our brethren in other parts of the world go about their lives and to see the wonders of creation and to be humbled by it. Sampling of culture in the form of stage performances, to whet the 'lets travel' instinct, were also at hand at the Fair.

An Iranian perfromance at MATTA Fair 2012, 9/9/2012, PWTC

The first sunset of 2012

Almost  sunset, captured at Pantai Gelora,  Kuantan.

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