I have a confession to make.
Some years ago, I brought home RM600 worth of sparklers and fireworks. My mother didn’t ask me where I got them from and I didn’t tell her. She repeatedly said I was “burning money” for buying and lighting up the fireworks. That money could have put to good use elsewhere.
That was the year we beat the other houses in the area in an unofficial fireworks competition. It started close to midnight on the eve of Syawal and was based on who could shoot the highest or the loudest. We kept our “secret weapon” for last. We let our neighbours have all the fun — they had teased and taunted us with their fireworks.
At the stroke of midnight, our fireworks lit the skies. We gave our neighbours, and a passing patrol car, some two minutes of spectacular fireworks display. No, we didn’t get into trouble with the authorities. They didn’t even alight from their car. They probably saw that the fireworks were lit under adult supervision. We didn’t think they were going to drag all of us to the police station that night. It was already past midnight; in fact, it was Syawal morning.
A year before that, I brought home firecrackers, the ones the Chinese would burn at the stroke of midnight on Chinese New Year. I remember Mak scolding us twice; the first was because we lit it close to midnight and that the racket disturbed our neighbours and then the morning after when she saw the front lawn blanketed by a sea of red paper. We had to clean the lawn before she allowed us to sit at the dining table for breakfast on the first day of Raya.
But, I must tell you that we were good kids. We still have our fingers intact. There was little or no MacGyver in us. We never attempted to make our own bamboo or pipe cannons. In fact, we had never seen one in our lives. We would stick to the original thing, with no intentions of modifying it.
Whenever Mak is on her reminiscing mode, she would regale my niece and nephew with stories of her playing with “meriam buloh” during her growing up years in Batu Pahat. Yes, they made their own cannons and bombs. She would describe in detail the hissing sound when calcium carbide is added to water and the sound it made when it was lit. “Boleh dengar kampong sebelah. Tak ada pulak yang putus jari atau mati (even the neighbouring village can hear it. And, no one lost their fingers or their lives),” she would say.
I asked around, but no one really knows when fireworks became a tradition in Malay households. I remember playing with sparklers when I was small. And, Mak never failed to use the mishap that left a scar on my body while playing with sparklers as an example of how dangerous it was to play with them.
I read that fireworks were invented during the Tang Dynasty in 7th century China and were used in many festivities. The Chinese originally believed that the fireworks could expel evil spirits and bring about luck and happiness.
It eventually spread to other cultures and societies. But, it is during Ramadan and Hari Raya — not Chinese New Year where fireworks are part of the tradition — that we read about incidents relating to fireworks.
So, Mak was relieved when she read in the newspapers last week of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s warning to parents who buy or allow their children to play with firecrackers.
She no longer has to worry about the grandchildren playing with fireworks.
Khalid had said there is “a strong, solid law” and that police “will enforce it to the fullest”. Under Section 8 of the Explosives Act 1957, anyone convicted can be imprisoned for up to seven years, fined RM10,000 or both. The law also empowers the police “to enter or board and search any house, premises or other buildings or place, or any vehicle, vessel or aircraft specified in the warrant and to search all persons found therein and thereon”.
Even parents who were found buying their children these firecrackers would be arrested, Khalid said. The police authorised only the POP-POP firecrackers and a specific type of sparklers for the Malaysian market.
Many other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland, France and Chile, have enforced fireworks laws. In fact, fireworks are illegal in Ireland and Chile, and only certain types can be sold to the public in Australia. For the other countries, for the most part, citizens need to be 18 to buy fireworks. In some countries, the fireworks are for sale only on certain days.
Even China has banned fireworks in some of its cities, not for safety reason like but more due to the dire smog problem they are facing there.
We will have to wait and see if this Raya will be a little quieter or less jubilant. Despite Khalid’s warning, I could still hear the deafening Thunderclaps outside the balcony of my brother’s apartment in Putrajaya over the weekend.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Fasting brings the faithful closer to God
It is already the 11th day of Ramadan. Soon, we will see people rushing to do their Raya shopping although shopping complexes have been putting shoppers in a festive mood since the start of the fasting month. Huge (and to a certain extent, ugly) decorations are hung from the high ceilings; the banners and bunting are on the walls and Raya songs are aired.
Yes, there are still many things to be done before Syawal arrives. The Hari Raya cards need to be mailed; hopefully, it will reach the recipients on time. Despite the advent of technology, there are still people who mail greeting cards to friends and family members. Those with email addresses will be sent e-Hari Raya cards, of course.
On top of that, text messages will be sent on the eve of Syawal, which will see the telecommunication companies earning millions of ringgit. Have we ever gotten a text message greeting from the companies? What we do get is a reminder to spend more through their special Syawal promotions.
There are cookies and cakes to be baked (or bought) and the menu for the first of Syawal to be planned ahead.
Travel plans are made to ensure that more houses are visited when we balik kampung. These could easily be done earlier as we would already know the date for the first day of Syawal. We need no longer wait for the announcement by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, who appears on television twice a year (the first to announce the first day of Ramadan and then the date for the first day of Syawal). The announcements are made after the sighting of the new moon. Now that the mode of calculating or rukyah is used to determine the two dates, the sighting of the moon has become a formality. In fact, the announcement now does not say whether or not the new moon is sighted.
But we wouldn’t want to miss the adrenaline rush of doing things the last minute, do we?
In our excitement to prepare for Syawal, we tend to forget it is the last 10 days of Ramadan that are very important. They are actually considered the Nights of Power. It was a practice of the Prophet to spend the last 10 days and nights of Ramadan in the mosque.
I know of some Malaysians who would undertake the umrah on these last 10 days to enable them to be in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah; never mind that the umrah packages are most expensive during this period.
Lailatul Qadr, one of the holiest and most blessed nights where the reward of worship is better than the worship of a thousand months or equivalent to a person’s lifetime, falls on one of these 10 nights.
Some say it is in the last 10 days while there are those who say it is in the final seven. The Sunnis generally consider Lailatul Qadr to fall on either the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th day of Ramadan, while the Shias consider it to be either the 19th, 21st or 23rd.
However, due to the uncertainty of the exact date, we are recommended to observe all the nights.
Each of us differs in what Ramadan means. Growing up, I looked forward to Ramadan; not because of the abundance of food on the table but the fact that everyone in the family would sit together at the dining table. Either my mother would cook all the food or my father would go to our usual makcik selling kuih to get whatever the children want.
The concept of Bazaar Ramadan or RM100++ Ramadan buffets was unheard of back then. Then, we would perform the Maghrib prayers. After dinner, my father would then leave for the surau for terawih. And terawih prayers can be the most humbling experience.
We may all hold senior positions in our respective companies but standing in a congregation at the mosque, our titles serve no purpose in God's house of worship. We are “brothers” and “sisters”, irrespective of colour and creed. Fasting, in general, is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind us of the suffering of those less fortunate.
Let’s not lose sight of this.
Yes, there are still many things to be done before Syawal arrives. The Hari Raya cards need to be mailed; hopefully, it will reach the recipients on time. Despite the advent of technology, there are still people who mail greeting cards to friends and family members. Those with email addresses will be sent e-Hari Raya cards, of course.
On top of that, text messages will be sent on the eve of Syawal, which will see the telecommunication companies earning millions of ringgit. Have we ever gotten a text message greeting from the companies? What we do get is a reminder to spend more through their special Syawal promotions.
There are cookies and cakes to be baked (or bought) and the menu for the first of Syawal to be planned ahead.
Travel plans are made to ensure that more houses are visited when we balik kampung. These could easily be done earlier as we would already know the date for the first day of Syawal. We need no longer wait for the announcement by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, who appears on television twice a year (the first to announce the first day of Ramadan and then the date for the first day of Syawal). The announcements are made after the sighting of the new moon. Now that the mode of calculating or rukyah is used to determine the two dates, the sighting of the moon has become a formality. In fact, the announcement now does not say whether or not the new moon is sighted.
But we wouldn’t want to miss the adrenaline rush of doing things the last minute, do we?
In our excitement to prepare for Syawal, we tend to forget it is the last 10 days of Ramadan that are very important. They are actually considered the Nights of Power. It was a practice of the Prophet to spend the last 10 days and nights of Ramadan in the mosque.
I know of some Malaysians who would undertake the umrah on these last 10 days to enable them to be in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah; never mind that the umrah packages are most expensive during this period.
Lailatul Qadr, one of the holiest and most blessed nights where the reward of worship is better than the worship of a thousand months or equivalent to a person’s lifetime, falls on one of these 10 nights.
Some say it is in the last 10 days while there are those who say it is in the final seven. The Sunnis generally consider Lailatul Qadr to fall on either the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th day of Ramadan, while the Shias consider it to be either the 19th, 21st or 23rd.
However, due to the uncertainty of the exact date, we are recommended to observe all the nights.
Each of us differs in what Ramadan means. Growing up, I looked forward to Ramadan; not because of the abundance of food on the table but the fact that everyone in the family would sit together at the dining table. Either my mother would cook all the food or my father would go to our usual makcik selling kuih to get whatever the children want.
The concept of Bazaar Ramadan or RM100++ Ramadan buffets was unheard of back then. Then, we would perform the Maghrib prayers. After dinner, my father would then leave for the surau for terawih. And terawih prayers can be the most humbling experience.
We may all hold senior positions in our respective companies but standing in a congregation at the mosque, our titles serve no purpose in God's house of worship. We are “brothers” and “sisters”, irrespective of colour and creed. Fasting, in general, is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind us of the suffering of those less fortunate.
Let’s not lose sight of this.
Friday, June 3, 2016
The joy of blogging
I went to a gathering of blogging and Facebook friends in Bukit Jelutong last week. I was invited to the gathering, hosted by a well-known ceramics designer, by a friend who is back from London for some work and some down time in Malaysia.
The London friend was in fact the guest of honour at the gathering. I’ve met one or two of the bloggers invited to the gathering while the others were relatively new to me; I know them by name, having read their blogs and also their comments on the London friend’s FB page.
The gathering was held at the ceramics designer’s showroom. The driver dropped us (the London friend and I) at the wrong showroom. “Why don’t you give her (the ceramic designer) a call and ask her for directions to the store?” I asked the London friend. “I don’t have her number,” she said. “Then how do you communicate?” I asked. “Through Facebook,” she said.
In fact, she told me she had never met the ceramic designer before this.
Yes, I believe we all started like that; knowing each other by name at first (even then, some bloggers write anonymously, using pseudonyms), reading and writing comments on each other’s posts and over the years, making physical contacts.
“We started interacting with each other on the topic of cats,” the London friend said of the time she and the ceramic designer first hooked up on the blog.
That’s one of the benefits of blogging. In fact, that is the best part about blogging. You can have friends from all over the world, be they Malaysians who have set up home elsewhere or foreigners who have read and liked your blog posts.
The London friend told me she was in Istanbul, Turkey, prior to Kuala Lumpur and had stayed with another blogger friend there. “I met her for the first time during the trip. She had been asking for me to visit and since I was on transit there, I decided to stay with her,” she said.
Blogs started in the late 1990s as the Internet introduced web publishing tools that could be used by non-technical users. Blogging was, back then, a social networking service as visitors to the blogs could leave comments and could even message each other. As at February 2011, Wikipedia said there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.
I started as an anonymous blogger in 2006. Over the years, the number of my blogging friends has risen. I have doctors as blogging friends as they followed posts I wrote on a cancer-stricken friend and later, on a friend who had lapsed into a week-long coma due to a brain infection.
I also count politicians as blogging friends who found my blog a reprieve from their dog-eat-dog world as I blogged on everyday life.
I attended just one bloggers’ gathering sometime back but over the years, I have been in touch with some of them through other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Blogging has many other benefits, too. It can improve one’s writing skills as there will be some kind soul on the worldwide web who would leave comments on your grammar and writing style.
You’ll get free advice from readers when they think you need them. There are some bloggers who have made their sites money-making machines.
But over the years, I noticed that some of my friends have slowed down on their writing while others are no longer blogging.
In fact, some marketing gurus have said that blogging is dead. Well, my London friend did try to rally some dormant bloggers to revive their blogs in May last year. I must say it started off quite well but the enthusiasm wavered along the way. I participated in that blog revival initiative. I had since made private my old blog and started a new one but had since posted only 24 times, with the last one in January this year.
Personally, I have found it tedious to blog. You have to sign in and open alternate windows to post text and photographs unlike on Facebook or Instagram where you can literally post the text and photographs with only a click of the button. Furthermore, you can reach a wider audience through your network of friends on the other social media platforms rather than the blogs. More bloggers, political and non-political in nature, are increasingly looking at Facebook and Instagram to post their opinions and updates.
It has, like the blogs, become our online personal diary, too. One friend in Germany, who used to blog, told me she is now on FB and also Instagram to keep her family back home informed of their wellbeing. “If I do not post anything for more than two days, I’ll get phone calls from Malaysia. My parents want to keep track of us and the grandchildren and similarly, my family members have their own accounts where we can track them,” she said.
In whatever form they may be — blogs, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms — they serve the same purpose. They connect us with each other from wherever we may be. Old relationships are renewed and new relationships are made.
And they give us friendship that could possibly last us a lifetime.
The London friend was in fact the guest of honour at the gathering. I’ve met one or two of the bloggers invited to the gathering while the others were relatively new to me; I know them by name, having read their blogs and also their comments on the London friend’s FB page.
The gathering was held at the ceramics designer’s showroom. The driver dropped us (the London friend and I) at the wrong showroom. “Why don’t you give her (the ceramic designer) a call and ask her for directions to the store?” I asked the London friend. “I don’t have her number,” she said. “Then how do you communicate?” I asked. “Through Facebook,” she said.
In fact, she told me she had never met the ceramic designer before this.
Yes, I believe we all started like that; knowing each other by name at first (even then, some bloggers write anonymously, using pseudonyms), reading and writing comments on each other’s posts and over the years, making physical contacts.
“We started interacting with each other on the topic of cats,” the London friend said of the time she and the ceramic designer first hooked up on the blog.
That’s one of the benefits of blogging. In fact, that is the best part about blogging. You can have friends from all over the world, be they Malaysians who have set up home elsewhere or foreigners who have read and liked your blog posts.
The London friend told me she was in Istanbul, Turkey, prior to Kuala Lumpur and had stayed with another blogger friend there. “I met her for the first time during the trip. She had been asking for me to visit and since I was on transit there, I decided to stay with her,” she said.
Blogs started in the late 1990s as the Internet introduced web publishing tools that could be used by non-technical users. Blogging was, back then, a social networking service as visitors to the blogs could leave comments and could even message each other. As at February 2011, Wikipedia said there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.
I started as an anonymous blogger in 2006. Over the years, the number of my blogging friends has risen. I have doctors as blogging friends as they followed posts I wrote on a cancer-stricken friend and later, on a friend who had lapsed into a week-long coma due to a brain infection.
I also count politicians as blogging friends who found my blog a reprieve from their dog-eat-dog world as I blogged on everyday life.
I attended just one bloggers’ gathering sometime back but over the years, I have been in touch with some of them through other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Blogging has many other benefits, too. It can improve one’s writing skills as there will be some kind soul on the worldwide web who would leave comments on your grammar and writing style.
You’ll get free advice from readers when they think you need them. There are some bloggers who have made their sites money-making machines.
But over the years, I noticed that some of my friends have slowed down on their writing while others are no longer blogging.
In fact, some marketing gurus have said that blogging is dead. Well, my London friend did try to rally some dormant bloggers to revive their blogs in May last year. I must say it started off quite well but the enthusiasm wavered along the way. I participated in that blog revival initiative. I had since made private my old blog and started a new one but had since posted only 24 times, with the last one in January this year.
Personally, I have found it tedious to blog. You have to sign in and open alternate windows to post text and photographs unlike on Facebook or Instagram where you can literally post the text and photographs with only a click of the button. Furthermore, you can reach a wider audience through your network of friends on the other social media platforms rather than the blogs. More bloggers, political and non-political in nature, are increasingly looking at Facebook and Instagram to post their opinions and updates.
It has, like the blogs, become our online personal diary, too. One friend in Germany, who used to blog, told me she is now on FB and also Instagram to keep her family back home informed of their wellbeing. “If I do not post anything for more than two days, I’ll get phone calls from Malaysia. My parents want to keep track of us and the grandchildren and similarly, my family members have their own accounts where we can track them,” she said.
In whatever form they may be — blogs, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms — they serve the same purpose. They connect us with each other from wherever we may be. Old relationships are renewed and new relationships are made.
And they give us friendship that could possibly last us a lifetime.
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