SOUL SCRIBBLES

Kian Berlabuh Tirai Ramadhan …          Lambaian Syawal Kini Di Nanti … Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk memohon keampunan di atas segala perbuatan dan percakapan saya samada di dalam keadaan sedar atau tidak. Jua, di halalkan segala makan dan minum. Sesungguhnya, yang baik itu datangnya dari Allah SWT dan segala keburukan, kesalahan dan kesilapan itu datangnya dari diri saya sendiri.  Semoga kita dapat perkukuhkan ikatan silaratul rahim yang sedia ada, insya’Allah. Tulus Ikhlas Fauziah Ismail

I was in cab on the way home from terawih on the eve of Ramadan when I saw fireworks lighting up the sky near the apartments where I live. They do start early this year, I told my usual cab driver. “ Tak lama lagi nanti kita baca berita ada yang accident main mercun ni ,” Hasanudin said. He was not far from wrong. Today, a day short of a week into the fasting month, I read that a four-year-old kid lost his fingers when the “A-Boom” fireworks he was playing with exploded in his left hand. No one really knew what happened. Only the boy can tell. He may have thrown the lighted fireworks too late or he may have tampered with the fireworks and it blew up on him. The irony is we only read about these mishaps during the fasting month and well into Syawal too. Yes, only during these times; hardly ever during Chinese New Year although fireworks are big during their celebrations. I played with fireworks when I was growing up and I have had a few mishaps myself. The first incident was...

I never had a “pret a porter” Baju Kurung Telok Belanga or Baju Kurung Chekak Musang. Most, if not all, my Baju Kurung, even those for school, were tailor made. The in-seams are hand-sewn. Only the hems are machined together. The sarong? I was taught by my mother to tie my own sarong, even the sarong I wore to school. I can sew my own Baju Kurung but I would let my mother finished up the neckline. I hadn’t mastered the tulang belut technique. I tried learning from my grandmother and my mother but they gave up on me. They find it difficult to teach a left hander how to do the tulang belut. As time evolves, so have the Baju Kurung Telok Belanga and Baju Kurung Chekak Musang. Today, both baju styles come in a variety of interesting - and colourful - designs, including batik, and other materials. The baju on the rack in departmental stores and boutiques are mostly without the pesak (gusset or insert, as in the seam of a garment, for added strength) and kekek (godet, a triangular pie...