SimplySiti & Me

I do not consider myself one of the fanatic fans of Siti Nurhaliza Taruddin but I do love her exemplary vocal and songs. It all started when I was working in KUB in the same department (LSD) as her lyricst, Hani MJ. At that time, she was not that popular and Hani has been writing lyrics for her songs composed by Adnan Abu Hassan. It was only when her song "Jerat Percintaan" (written by Hani MJ) won Anugerah Juara Lagu 1996, I suddenly became one of her loyal fans! Since then, we, being her colleagues always gave ideas to Hani on the song title or the lyrics. Hani wrote quite a few songs for her earlier albums such as Mahligai Asrama, Antara Waktu dan Usia, Sempadan, Jalanan Berduri, Wajah Kekasih, Rindu Antara Kita, Kedamaian and Salju Kasihnya. Hani MJ just added me as a friend in FB, what a coincidence! After all these years and when I was thinking about her, she found me.

Hani MJ and me at LSD in 1997

I went to see her concert for the Secretaries Week in 2004 at PWTC with my staff at KUB, Azilah, Sue and Is. At that time, she invited Fazley and Saiful Apek and the concert was really worth the money paid. Couldn't remember how much the ticket was but I think it was more than RM200. We had a great time and after the concert, we waited in a long queue to take photograph with her and got her autograph.

This ticket was kept by Is till today

I remembered attending a Mother's Day performance "Kasih Ibu Sepanjang Usia" at Dewan Perdana Felda just to watch Siti and Jamal in May 2004. Their performance were awesome and I remembered Siti sheding her tears when she sang Air Mata Ibu. She later duet with her mum, Bisikan Hati a song by Datin Rafeah Buang. Rosmah was there too and we had no choice but to listen to her singing My Way.

The last I saw her was way back in 2005 when KUB organised a charity show at Singgahsana Petaling Jaya on January, 7 and she was invited to perform. The charity dinner show was in aid of Yayasan Kebajikan Negara. Being a staff of KUB, I had the privilege of meeting her at her room with a few other staff and had the opportunity to chat with her. Of course we did not miss the chance to capture some photos with her.

Siti and Kak Natrah, the organiser

I guess after a while, the interest slowly fade away especially after her marriage and the way she covers herself now. But I still listen to her songs once in a while, buy her latest album and follow her on facebook. Today, I received an update in the facebook that she will be coming to Watson, Pavillion to promote her new cosmetic products, SimplySiti and since it is just next door, I went and bought two of her products and had the chance to say hello and took a photo with her. All the best Siti...

First Half of Ramadhan 1431H

Ramadhan is back and this time round, the situation changes a bit for us. The last four years, we loose a family member when Kakak went to MTS. As we got use with just the four of us, this year Abang left us for IQKL. The time will come when there will be just the two of us berbuka and bersahur!

This year, we continue to perform solat Terawih at Surau Al-Ittihad and we are very fortunate to have Ustaz Uwais Al-Qarni Al-Hafiz (http://uwaisonline.blogspot.com/) as our Imam again this year. Uwais, although just 23 years old, he is an expert in Qiraat and everyday he will teach us different types of Qiraat, some we have never heard before. His recitation of the Quran in different Qiraat amazed us. Since he became our imam terawih since last year, our surau is packed until the last week of Ramadhan.

Since it is just the three of us plus bibik, we had a simple iftar and sahur. We usually buy kueh from PaRam (short form for Rasar Ramadhan - new word which I came across in FB status!) since Abah berbuka with kueh and have rice only after solat maghrib. By then, we are quite full and have not been doing justice to Bibik's cooking! After terawih, the craze for food return and the three of us will have a light supper at Deen's or at Thira's Tomyam for Mustafa Jones' beef burger since OneStepKL is yet to resume business since ramadhan started. For sahur, our standard menu is a combination of either serunding daging, telur dadar, ikan kering, telur masin, sardin, ikan bilis or daging goreng. That has been our menu for more than 15 years now!

So far, we had iftar twice outside, at Tok's house during the first week of Ramadhan and last weekend at Bukit Indah. Every year, we will gather at Tok's house berbuka with her and everybody will bring either home-cooked meal or food from PaRam. The dining table will be full of "lauk-pauk" and "kueh-mueh" till you don't know what you should eat first after the azan! The eating continues till everyone left for solat terawih at the surau next door and will resume once everybody is back from terawih. The left-over food will not go to waste when everybody start to "tapau" for sahur!

Kak Nor, my parents' neighbour has been organising iftar for the past few years for her husband's students and relatives and she will use my parents' house to accomodate the 200 guests. Since Pak Ngah's catering, Pesona Rasa cooked for the iftar, we were all invited for the berbuka. So, we took the opportunity to celebrate Dijah's 3rd birthday which was on 10 August 2010. Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet and bubbly Khadijah Arissa.

Next weekend, the 3rd weekend of Ramadhan, we planned to go back to Kelantan to fetch Dini from MTS and have iftar and terawih at Kuala Krai and Kota Bharu. For the first time, we plan to do our Raya Shopping in KB. You will be amazed that the stuff in KB is so much cheaper than in KL and of course less crowded! We may have iftar in Kuantan during the last weekend of Ramadhan like what we did last year when we had iftar with Pak Long and Mak Long in the open space beside Masjid Negeri. They still sell their signature Royal Pudding and this year, the sale has been very encouraging! Good for them.

So far, the first half of Ramadhan has been good. May this holy month bring us happiness, stengthen our imaan, erase our sins and purify our heart. May Allah swt bestow this favour on all of us, amin.

Laman Nurani...Our Tropical Sanctuary

We have not been doing justice to our garden since our previous maid left us. We have allowed the little area crumble into dilapidated disarray and it was just an uninspiring sight! That was in July 2009 and it has been more than a year now that we have abandoned our “Laman Nurani”. Nenek left us just before the last Ramadhan and we were without maid until end of the year. Thereafter, we were busy with Faiz’s schools’ applications and were travelling back to Kelantan quite often. When the new year began, almost all our weekends have been occupied fetching Faiz and sending him and his laundry back to IQKL.

The last few weeks before Ramadhan, I told myself that I have to overhaul the garden but transforming it back into what it used to be seemed like an impossible task! I just don’t know where to start. The plants have outgrown the pots and some just died because of lack of fertilizers. The wooden bench and garden chair started to rot and algae and moss have occupied the water features. The white shinning pebbles, the pavement and the slabs have changed their colours! The lawn once used to be so green now looks scruffy.

I started flipping back my collection of Laman magazines from Karangkraf since it was first published in 2006! Luckily I never missed any single issue of Laman since then. Just by looking at the lovely gardens featured in the magazines inspire me to make instant changes to our garden and so the journey began.

Last two weeks, I asked Sultan, a Myanmar guy who works around our area maintaining the roadsides to help me with the plants outside the house. Bought a few plants from the nursery and asked him to plant for me. The result was good since he has been helping us maintaining the landscape outside the house with a small fee of course.

Last weekend, we started the major project of transforming the garden within our compound. There are several spots and corners in our garden that made it easier for us to plan what to do first. Sultan and Bibik helped us removed the pots and plants and cleaned the area. We replaced the old and dying plants with new ones. Since majority of the plants are planted in pots of various shapes, sizes, designs and colours, it is easier to move them around and rearranged them to give a fresher look. Of course the big ones are not that easy to shift, they are just too heavy and for some, the roots have gone into the ground! It’s a guarantee that you will get back ache for lifting these big pots!

We made a few trips to Jalan Subang Lama to look for plants and new hardscape to replace the rotten garden furniture. We finally settled for a wooden swing and a small water feature as new additions to our garden. The final touch is when we added some garden accessories here and there just to give some colours to the garden. Although there are still a lot more to be done like replanting the grass, painting the slabs and the old garden furnitures, the little area has now transformed into a secluded haven just for us. Our very own private tropical sanctuary called Laman Nurani.