Jaipur Jeopardy

It all started as the Bride got home from work feeling hungry. It was also Malaysia vs. Indonesia (2^nd Leg) of the AFF Suzuki Cup Final 2010 that night at 8pm.

Yes. Malaysia loss the match 2-1 but….

WON THE CUP ON 4-2 AGGREGATE!!!!

YEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

WELL DONE MY TIGER CUBS! YOU MAKE ME REALLY PROUD!!!!

Anyway, the Bride decided to have a really early dinner.

We left Alisha with her grandparents and drove for an early dinner date. We didn’t know where to go. The Bride suggested Jaipur Curry House. I was thinking of having mee curry elsewhere but that place was close. So off we went to Jaipur.

Luckily parking was not a problem. As we parked, we saw my favourite barber, Mr. Raja. Apparently he was going to Jaipur as well!

Well what do you know? Two Raja’s that I know wants to go to the same restaurant. (Raja is part of the Bride’s name).

Now that’s what I call ‘Great Raja’s think alike’.

At Jaipur, I wanted to eat mee rojak. So I asked the mamak for a mee rojak.

Mamak, kasi mee rojak satu.

Mee is mee. Rojak is rojak. Which one do you want?

Aik? Like that is it? ok, then give me rojak then.

Wokeh.

Guess what?

He was just pulling my leg. He brought me my mee rojak.

Selamber buat lawak dengan aku. LoL!

 *The Bride checking her FB whilst eating. Makan janganla belek iphone4 tu. Bau kari kang*

As we were eating, another mamak came to give me the bill.

I gave him the oh-my-God-I’m-so-shocked-to-see-a-mamak look and said:

Aiyo! Saya ingat you police mau kasi saman sebab illegal parking.

He shook his head and replied in such a cool lawyerly manner:

Ini saman Jaipur. Lepas makan sini, sana kasi bayar (pointing towards the counter)

I was dumbstruck. 

I seriously wasn’t expecting his comeback to be this great!

Jaipur got me twice today.

Now that’s what I call Jaipur Jeopardy.

Blog adjourned.

Viva Palestina Malaysia: Flashmob: KL Central 26 December 2010

Re-enacting the scenes in Gaza. 

It was the day the The Dark Forces captured KL Central.

Two 'Palestinians' were captured, while others tried to help.

None could get in the way of the deterred and evil forces of the dark side.

In the midst of the action, a terrifying shout to everyone to freeze was heard. 

Everyone froze for a minute. 

Then they were allowed to move in slow motion for half a minute.

Again, they were ordered to freeze for another minute.

Each actor had his / her role.

Each participant had a message.

The message of tyranny vs. oppression.

In reality, this is just a fraction of such cruelty.

In reality, innocent Palestinians are killed not only at train stations but in their own houses, land and country.

The shoutings and screaming in the video what they do after hearing and feeling real horrifying sound of guns and bombs that kills.

Watch the inter"ARREST"ing video here.

More pictures at my Facebook.

Could you feel it?

They face it everyday.

Could you see it?

They live with it everyday.

Not just for a minute. Not in Slow Motion.

But for a Lifetime. A lifetime of pain and suffering.

May Allah be merciful upon them.

One Thousand Four Hundred Dead and the statistic will continue to increase. 

Gaza We Will Not Forget.

Blog adjourned.

Some Finals Observation Of The Tiger Cubs

 *With Dayak and his dad to watch the game*

*Both teams singing their national anthem*

Well, the Finals here refer to the Suzuki AFF Finals between Malaysia and Indonesia. It was played last night and Malaysia managed to win 3-0 over Indonesia. Some news about the match here.

They call themselves Harimau Muda as most of them played in the youth team. Some bloggers call them Tiger Cubs. Cute. But last night, they played like real Tigers! 

Last night, they were Harimau Malaya!

I wrote this piece of Malay poem but somehow it did not get posted on Facebook. So I’ll rewrite it here:

Seranglah dengan semangat Harimau Malaya,

Tetapkanlah Jalur Gemilang di dada kirimu,

Pertahankanlah Tanah Tumpahnya Darahmu ini,

Berjuanglah ke titisan peluh yang terakhir,

Gegarkanlah medan pertempuran,

Dengan laungan kemeriahan kemenangan!

-Majulah Sukan Untuk Negara-

I had the opportunity to go and witness the magnificent match and goals at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. Here are 10 of my personal observations of the finals.

1. When you are cramped up like sardines in a public transport on the way to and from the Stadium, with thousands of supporters and all sorts of smell, and especially if you have two guys beside you who are stuck and facing each other, ANYTHING that they say would be funny.

"Kau jangan cium aku ok?"

"Aku nak terkencing.” “Jangan la kencing sekarang, aku pun basah skali nanti!” Kau rasa panas tak? hehehe"

“Amenda keras tu? hehe hehe...”

“Aku rasa ada orang tengah raba aku la” 

(Actually, at that time, I was checking my wallet and handphone in my pocket and in that process, I may have accidentally touched one of the dude’s butt... )

 *What we had to endure*

*Bertahan demi Malaysia!*

2. When a team is leading by 2 goals, they suddenly become brilliant and you can see their confidence oozes out of their nose as they begin to play magnificent football. Just like Malaysia. Excellent football! Bangga gila aku dengan Tiger Cubs ni!

Cheering in a stadium is extremely fun and stress reliever!

 Especially when your team is winning!

3. Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku is a very strong statement. Especially so if it is printed on your Malaysian football jersey at the back of your flag on your left breast. 

Semangat siut!!!

4. It is so much fun to watch your team score a goal from zero opportunity. It is even more entertaining when you get to see people from above using the bubble gun and blowing bubbles all over the stadium. Comel dan kelakar ok! haha.

5. The Cubs are now all grownups. They don’t fall easily, very steady, disciplined and strong! Gone are the days when Malaysian footballers could last only 30 minutes of a game and were too tired to play thereafter. Gone were the days when a slight push and Malaysian players roll and roll and roll until the dressing room. This is the era of some seriously tough Young Tigers! (or cubs... Cubs can be strong too right?)

6. A small group of idiots with no blood common sense exist especially amongst the Malaysian supporters who threw firecrackers, lit red flare and used laser beam to blind the enemy. Stupid! You could have costs us the whole game. Should the referee decides to cancel the game, by default, we automatically lose 3-0. You want that to happen? 

Stupid Stupid Stupid!

7. Those with red flares light them up in stadiums and have no idea what to do with it. Some just stand there with red light from his hand. Some start to do a rave party. Some suggested that he threw the flare to the front. The person who suggested such shit is a bloody shithead and deserves to have the flare stuck into his nose to fry his brain.

8. To smuggle a small bottle of mineral water (for wudhu’ or to go to the bathroom or drink) is soo easy when you have the Jalur Gemilang to wrap around it. 

9. Food everywhere outside the stadium but be careful! I got diarrhoea this morning. Alhamdulillah once the bad food is flushed out, I was fine already.

10. I think Malaysia can score a few more in Indonesia and win the Finals!

*Beautiful Indonesean girls making the boys go crazzy...*

 Blog adjourned.

The Role Of Money In Islamic Banking And Finance (2010) 1 CLJ (Sya) liii

Alhamdulillah.

All praises belong to Him and to Him alone I worship and will forever be in gratitude.

I once posted an excerpt from my assignment here. Actually, after the exams, I amended the bits and pieces of the article and sent it to Common Law Journal for publication. Alhamdulillah, they reviewed it and agreed to publish it in their Common Law Journal (Syariah Reports) in the July –September 2010 issue.

 *My complimentary copy of the Journal*

*The Role Of Money In Islamic Banking And Finance (2010) 1 CLJ (Sya) liii.*

-Abstract-

Jzk particularly to the Bride for her endless support and ideas; my dad for being who he is, sharing his thoughts and ideas, proof reading the drafts, commenting, correcting my English and my atrocious grammatical error; my Shariah Rules In Financial Transaction lecturer - Prof Zainal Azam for giving the assignment in the first place and duiding me with the proper scope and perspective; Y. Bhg. Dato' Syed Ahmad Idid (former High Court Judge and former KLRCA Director and Muhammad Yusuf bin Tajul Azwa for helping me proof read my drafts and for your comments. I couldn't have done it without all of your help!

Your names were submitted in my final draft to CLJ tapi depa tak publish la pulak paragraph tu! 

So sorry!

Jzk also to all the well wishes from those who have read it and for your comments on Facebook.
My sincerest hope that this article could give the elementary scope of money from the Islamic perspective and could help develop Islamic Finance in any way that He deems it fit iA. Well, that was the intention when I started the assignment and actions are judged by the intention right?? :)

I don’t know how to put the article here in this blog as it is quite long. But if you would want to read it, just leave me your email address and iA I’ll email it to you.  You can also email me at adam.alhabshi@gmail.com. Feel free to comment on it if you have read it.

I have some other topics to write about as well but that will be my personal mission after my exams iA. I also have to begin drafting the Young Muslims Project’s constitution. I resume back in service on 3^rd January 2011 iA.

Wow! I seem to have my plates full for the next couple of weeks. Bila nak rest ni? 
Not now certainly. I have three more papers to go. Back to slides now.

Wish me luck!

Blog adjourned.

(P/s: “iA” is the short form for “Insha Allah”. “Jzk” is the short form for “Jazakumullahu Khair” which means may Allah reward you with much goodness. Jzk is encouraged to be used when you want to thank someone. Instead of saying the normal “thank you”, we should say Jazakumullahu Khair as it is a form of du’a or a prayer that Allah reward the other person for his or her goodness to you. Isn’t Islamic akhlaq so beautiful?)

Busy Busy Busy

I have my Managing Islamic Financial Institutions paper tomorrow. It is an interesting subject on leadership except that I find it so challenging to memorise the structured form of something very subjective. It is like trying to make a snowman from gas. 

The lecturer's slides are very interesting. He likes to put in quotes, proverbs and would usually end his lecture with a story. A lot of lecturers like to end their class with interesting stories. Most of the time, the class would be interested with the stories more than the lecture itself.

As I was revising the slides on Corporate governance, I found the quotation on the first slide very interesting.

When you keep saying you are busy,

Then you are never free.

When you keep saying you have no time,

Then you will never have time.

When you keep saying that you will do it tomorrow,

Then your tomorrow will never come.

(I would have included this line Tomorrow is the end of today! if I had came up with the above poem myself. 

Speaking of exams, I bought a couple of blue PaperMate Kilometrico pens for my exams earlier this year. I tagged one particular pen and wanted to use that single pen for all of my CIFP exams. I managed to use it for 10 papers. Just now, whilst attempting one of my Takaful and Actuarial Practices paper, it ran out of ink.  Yes! Accomplishment!

Good job boy!

Anyway, better get back to my slides now.

Blog adjourned.

Exam Shazzam!

Exams this semester is super duper tough. I am so glad that the assignments given this semester had a lot to do with the exams so it was like killing and torturing 6 subjects with 6 assignments. But seriously, the subjects are a really really tough to me. 

Risk Management and Takaful & Actuarial Practices are the two toughest ones. The calculations and philosophy that entails it literally tortured a number of my brain cells. Then comes Managing Islamic Financial Institution where it is so general that you don't know head or tail what to understand and where to begin memorizing.

I can't wait to finish my exams, enjoy a few days of holiday with my family and get back in full throttle to work next year!

Well, got to get back studying how to calculate the number of people expected to die or fall ill in a year to know how much premium should be charged to a takaful participant.

My lecturer said in class that the only difference between and Actuary and a Mafia Head is that an Actuary can only tell HOW MANY people are going to die in a year but a Mafia Head can tell WHO is going to die.

I hope I can remember the substance of his lecture and not only his jokes for the exams!

Blog adjourned.

*I call this the act of balancing knowledge at the tip of your nose. Fingers are too common!*

Wisdom, Courage And A Dentist...

*Where I had my tooth pulled out**

Yes.

If you have been following my Facebook status, I had just pulled out my top right wisdom tooth yesterday. About a year ago, (30^th July 2009 to be specific) I plugged out my top left wisdom tooth. Both were growing off tangent and have resulted in a rapid gnawing of my inner mouth since they first grew out of my gum some 10 years ago.

Nasty rascals those two were.

Not only were they growing off tangent and gnawing my inner mouth, they were so hard to reach that both were full of cavities. Whenever I took anything sweet, I’d feel some pang of electric shock in my mouth. It will linger for about one whole minute!!!

My dentist in ss2 said that it was nothing and it must be because I have sensitive teeth.

*The Equipment... actually she just used something that looks like a screwdriver to plug my tooth out. Nothing fancy*

But when the electric shocks were unbearable, I went to see my cousin, who is a dental surgeon specialist at General Hospital. One look and she told me that both of my upper wisdom teeth were a goner. She was honest. She decided to pull one out that day (30^th July 2009). She was also very gentle, professional and gave me a lot of encouragement.

After which I was just busy (and afraid actually) to go and see her for the other one. Then I found the courage I needed two days ago when I couldn’t even chew my food caused my inner lips were swollen. One phone call followed by an appointment and she did it again. Alhamdulillah I’ve got my two rascals out of my mouth. No trouble at all. There was operation or stitches required, much to my appreciation.

*Me trying to relax as I waited for the ubat kebas to kick in*

Now I’d get people telling me that I am no longer wise because after having two of the top ones pulled out, I have only one developed wisdom tooth and another one who is too shy to come out of my gum on my lower jaw.

I tell them that I kept both of those two wisdom teeth as my wisdom reference. They are safely in two separate clinic bags in my treasure box. Anyone who claims wisdom tooth is benchmark to wisdom should put the number of wisdom teeth he has in his resume. I'd love to see that happen.

I also believe that the myth that everyone is afraid to see a dentist until no other resort could be used is quite accurate. Almost everyone is afraid to go and see a dentist. The sound of their ears piercing drills and the tiny vibration it creates when it touches our teeth can send shivers down our spine. You get so scared that they just might drill your tongue or get the wrong tooth. I hate it when they have to clean the hole in your decayed tooth in order to put a filling. Ngilu gila!

My dad told me that when he was younger, his mother brought him to see a registered teeth expert. These are people who had been working for a long time with a dentist that they are allowed to pull people’s teeth as at that time, there were insufficient dentist. After his mother had her tooth pulled out, my very young dad was placed on the seat. The moment he saw the dentist with his syringe, he flipped and ran out of the clinic. His mother caught him but he was so scared that his mother just brought him home. He said his tooth became better after that scary incident.

I guess it was just mind over matter. If you don’t mind (or too afraid to mind) than it doesn’t matter! Haha! Takut sampai hilang sakit!!!

A dentist who treated Tun Dr. Mahathir, (Malaysia’s 4^th Prime Minister) shook his hand after all was done. She found his hand to be extremely cold. She asked him why his hand was so cold. He whispered softly to her:

“takuuuuuuuuut”….

Even a doctor himself is afraid of a dentist.

Come what may, my cousin is the best Dentist ever!

Gentle, Professional, Kind and does a clean job.

I hope I would never have to visit her ever again.

Blog adjourned.