India

Yes, peeps. Mumsie was in Delhi, India last week. It was my second trip. the first being in 2008. Masa tu Abah came along and we went to Agra, and visited the Taj Mahal...and i blogged about that already...hehe

So, this time Abah dah tak mo ikut. So, Mumsie went on my own...attended the meetings and explored Delhi with fellow delegates. Delhi was HOT! Temperature wise, that is. Some days it reached 46 degrees! When you open the door, it was like opening an oven door! But that didn't stop us from venturing outlah! hehe..

Despite the heat, this time i find myself appreciating India more. Perhaps because of the DSLR. I found India to be even more colourful and full of "characters". On the afternoons and days we (as in me + a few other Malaysian delegates) were free, we hired a car to take us around. As most of us are women, the agenda is mainly shopping laa...hahaha...Shopping for what? For kain sari laaa...wwe went to this place called Sarojini Nagar Babu Market...kat situ tersangatlah banyak orang menjual kain saree and salwar kameez! Macam-macam colour and design..sampai mabuk kita memilih.

We also went to this place called the Nehru Place. More materials...but this place sell by the meters and cannot bargain. Ni macam Gulatis/Jakel lar...tapi Mumsie tak enjoy sangat kat sini coz tak leh bargain tu (tak enjoy, tapi beli tetap beli! hahaha!)

Makan pun OK. Tapi after 3 days of the same thing, jemulah pulak. Asyik-asyik tosai, idli, paratha...so, the last 2 nites, we makan KFC, setelah di sahkan ke-halal-an ayam KFC di sana tu.

Best of all, Mumsie managed to take pictures. Like I said...the DSLR opened my eyes to the colours of India. Most pixes can be found in my FB. Mumsie thinking...nak bawak the girls to India, one day....

Masyarakat Penyayang

Eversince Abah started working in KL, Mumsie has taken over the job of sending the girls to school. Somewhat surprisingly, I enjoy it. On a good morning we'll be singing all the way to the schools...on a not-so good one, Mumsie will be lecturing them...about oh-so-many things...but mainly about being responsible coz selalunya yang bikin kacau pagi-pagi tu is any one of them looking for stuffs for school...name tag lar...tie larr..homework lar...pantang betul Mumsie bila dah pagi tu baru nak carik!!

Anyhoo...Mumsie suka tengok parents lain when they drop off their kids. Most would hug and kiss the kids and some would even wait until the kids enter the school. I would wait until diorang hilang dari pandangan..

its so comforting to see many loving parents...physically loving, that is. Some dads, even. Apparently most men are no longer reserved. They hug and kiss their sons and daughters...so sweet!!

I'm comforted...ramai orang buang anak...tapi lagi ramai orang yang sangat sayang anak-anak mereka...

Babysitters

Was reading about the 8-month old baby who died at the hands of his babysitter...how heartbreaking it was to his parents...Sampai hati babysitter tu, kan?! and mind you, this is not an isolated case...its not the first and i'm afraid it won't be the last....

i kesian kat young parents in this big city today...its not easy...especially when both has to go out an earn a living. Kalau tak dapat live-in maid, they have to send the children to babysitters. No much choice there. Either way...they have to leave their children in the hands of other people, more often strangers to the family, in the beginning at least. You simply have to trust those people...

I had my share of babysitters when my girls were babies tapi alhamdulillah, rezeki anak-anak i murah in that sense...they had very loving babysitters!

First, when KakLong and KakNgah were babies, we had Abah's long lost relative who lived near us then (Gombak) take care of them. Ohhh...Ani (the kids called her Umi), her parents and her children treated the girls like their own!! They took care of KakLong and KakNgah better than I did! I never took leave when the girls were unwell, coz Ani and her mom would know better what to do to comfort them!! Everytime we send the girls after the weekend, Ani's dad (Atuk) will question us about the scratches and the mosquito bites!! haiyaaa...Sadly, after almost 2 years, we had to move to Melaka.

In Melaka, we sent the girls to Abah's cousin, who called herself Mak. Again, Mak and her family took care of KakLong and KakNgah like their own...so much so that when we decided to take in a live-in Indon maid, she really merajuk with us!

Cut long story short, that maid ran away and by that time we had little Sarah. I asked Mak whether she can take the girls back but she refused. Sigghhhh...macam tulah orang Melayu kalau dah berkecik hati...so, we had to send them all to this tiny nursery run by this lady called Umi Munah and her sister in law called Umi Fiza. They had just opened and we were their first "clients". The nursery is a tiny little building attached to Umi Munah's mom's house. So, Nek Jah was also around to take care of the girls! Again, an entire family took to caring and loving my little girls!! We are so blessed! I remember one time, I was busy talking to Umi when KakNgah fell and hurt her head. Umi's husband simply scooped her up and ran to his car and drove off to a nearby hospital!! It took me a while to realize what was happening and chase after them! hahaha....

and then we had to move again...to Putrajaya...and our "adventures" with the Indon maids began...thats a whollle story for another time pulak laarrr....

Till today, we try very hard to keep in touch with all the Umis and Maks. At least during HariRaya. I never want the children to forget them..We owe them....

Mumsie, Malaysia and the Thomas Cup

Those who know me would know that I'm no sportswoman...i'm a couch potato kinda woman! hehe...

But i do enjoy watching live sportsgame...i discovered this many moons ago when I used to watch Wimbledon live in..errr...Wimbledon!! Those days when Martina Navratilova and Stefan Edberg...and Michael Chang was at the height of their careers! AAhhh...nothing beats the suspense and adrenaline rush of seeing points scored after a long rally or after a fast, aggressive serve and volley. Yeap...i knew of those cool terms as well!

When I came back to Malaysia, soon after it was the 1992 Thomas Cup. Ahh...I was there for the Semi and I was there for the Finals. And I remember till now the excitement of that day!! Seronok hingga tak terkata, bak kata orang.

Thats why, when Thomas Cup is back here I made sure we get the tickets! And boy...it brought back the reality of the memories! Let me try and tell you what i think of this year's Thomas Cup, and in particular what i think about the Malaysian team...hehe, now you can imagine where this is going kan....Mind you, these are mere thoughts of mine...not meant to mempengaruhi sesiapa, OK.

The quarter finals was DA BOMB! we were on a roll! there was enough suspense to hold us to the end of our seats...i screamed till i had no voice. And the minute Hafiz Hashim buried that Dane, it was like we had won the tournament!! Hafiz, who played like an ass during the group fight with japan was instantly dubbed Zero to Hero...macam lah dia sorang jer yang main that nite! truth was, the Dane lost it. Lucky for Hafiz, he played the crappier game. Kesian dia, whilst everyone was celebrating, I saw his coach scolding him! Looked like he really got an earful then!

The semi finals...ooohhh I was soooo excited! I was at the Stadium early and joined in the songs and chants with thousands other Malaysians!! Spirits were high...so high that it scared the players!! Oh My! they were a miserable lot that nite. All games were lost in straight sets to the Chinese. Paling kesian kat Lee Choong Wei. He could do no right! Apparently, he was thinking too hard that he couldn't be himself! Can arr like that?

I think the supporters worked the hardest that nite. We cheered and cheered but we couldn't get the players to rise to the occassion! Sigghhh...we kalah teruk that nite.

Hafiz didn't even need to play so I suppose he remains a hero...hehehe.

We bought tickets all the way to the Finals so we went to the Stadium today. To see China wins against Indonesia. Well...at least the Indons went down fighting, unlike the Malaysians! One thing about China though...no doubt they are good...they are VERY strong as well...physically and mentally! Imagine the entire Stadium was cheering for the other side...but they seemed to block all those noise and just went on their game like nothing bothers them at all!! Sheer mental health, i tell you!

i stayed on till the prize giving ceremony. It was nice to see that the Malaysians still appreciate our players. We still scream for their names and cheer for them when they went up to get the consolation prizes.

But i wished it was reciprocrated. The players merely gave us half waves and half smiles! Macam terpaksa jer...well, i hope its because diorang rasa segan. Although they kalah, but we still give them face? ya think? Oklah...marilah kita bersangka baik....

tak perlah malaysia...next time we try harder. But apparently we don't have apprentices. so how?

Anyway, bagus jugaklah kita tak menang...kalau tak berabis lak nanti kita kena bagi diorang bonusss....tanah....datukship laaa...and we'll hear no end to it! Seme orang mesti nak claim credit! So, biarlah kita kalah...so that we remain firmly on the ground! hahaha

Boss...

Dulu-dulu Mumsie pernah jadi Boss. Would like to think that I was quite good at it. hehe...Am generally nice but selalu jugak marah-marah, tinggi-tinggi kan suara...but i would like to think that I do what needs to be done under the circumstances. I doubt orang yang I marah tu share this view lah kan...

Then I came to this current workplace about 7 years ago...although on promotion, at that time I was no longer a Boss. Aisehh...tension giler bila kena marah. Tapi i paling tak tahan bila kena sindir!! Masa tu lah I promised myself that if ever I become a Boss again, I would be a much better one than those i was (and some I still am) serving.

As of 1st April baru ni, I was made a Boss to a small bunch of people. The thing is, am discovering that it is VERY difficult to be a nice Boss. I find myself editing my emails allll the time to make sure that my irritations are not made obvious. Baru sebulan jadi Boss, dah sekali dua jugak I tinggikan suara...once I've even slammed down the phone on someone! sigghhhh...I didn't enjoy it. But my patience fell off its boundary at the time. Tapi tak per...so far I would like to think that things are under control. Best of all...at least, insyaALLAH, i will not be a B#**h of a Boss..like some people I know (sadly, the people I'm still answerable to!!).

So, how? How can I be a nice BUT effective Boss?

p.s. would like to welcome back Zue to work next week...be nice, Zue!! hehe...

Its Late

and i can't seem to fall asleep. Something's bothering me but i'd rather not blog about that for fear that it'll make things worst...sigghhhh

i've been thinking about the police-shooting-the-15- year-old saga. My conclusion: salah newspaper - for reporting that the police shot a 15 year old "penjenayah/criminal". If they had stopped at describing him as a 15 year old boy, then maybe the family would not be as upset as they are now.

Ohhh...i don't know...why laaa the boy acted as he did...keluar te-tengah malam..bawak kereta without licence...boys will be boys??

Maybe the police did what they had to do under the circumstances. Maybe they should not have been too trigger happy, though. Whatever, i did not appreciate their Chief getting all defensive the next day, threatening to pull off his men from the streets! WHAT is that all about??

NEITHER can I appreciate the hungry lawyers swarming around the deceased's family macam shark dah 7 hari 7 malam tak makan! WHAT were they thinking when they organized that press conference by the boy's friend who was with him that night?? That's not fair play, if you ask me.

OOhhh...i don't know....what is the world coming to?