I Have Just Returned

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I have just come after making eyes meet with my love.

If the women at home call me unwed, just let them be. 

Do not care of what the neighborhood girls say.

My eyes just met that of my love.

A beautiful face, and an enchanting body.

His beautiful face, charming like an idol...

Yes an enchanting body, charming like an idol...

An enchanting body... Charming like an idol...

I have hidden it in the depths of my heart.

I have just made a place in the bottom of his heart.

I have just returned from...

I have just returned after seeing my love.

I have just returned after seeing my love.

Khusraw gives his whole life to you, Nijaam. 

Khusraw gives his life to Nizamuddin in sacrifice.

Where am I the precious lover of his yet?

I have just had him call me his most favorite disciple.

I have just returned after seeing my love.

If the women at home call me unwed, just let them be!

Do not care what the neighborhood girls say!

I have just returned from seeing my love.

Amir Khusraw, Dehli (1253-1325)

This is a poem written by Amir Khusraw about his teacher, Khwaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin from the Chisti mission order. The language of course is Indian Ordu. I also listened to poetry in Arabic, Ordu or Punjabi and I know the languages. I just refused to speak in it even when being approached by Nepal's Indians (Nepalese who speak Hindi) while working at the airport and they said that they know I am a North Indian descent but why I insist on speaking in English... Since I know that they are going to play tricks with me, lol. That explains why Indians or those related to Indian sub-continent such as those affiliated to movements from India perhaps love to be close to me though I can also speak in several other oriental languages because I absorbed "environment" around... I can sing this poem in Hindawi Ordu, hehe...

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Tibetan Muslim: Ornaments of Lhasa

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Perhaps many people are already familiar with Muslim Chinese. We also have Muslim Tibetans. They are closer to Indians but they have Mongoloid face. Their cultural traits are more to Tibetan. So, who says Tibetan are only Buddhists, haha. I used to bow to Buddhist monks and images before especially when I went to temples alone. Nowadays I still respect Buddhist monks and if seeing them I will spontaneously put down my skull-cap and giving them my seat or reserving seat for them if the bus or train is crowded. It's just my old habit and now I am quite careful in my acts as not to violate shariah and creed, haha. 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Hindi Movie : I Hate Luv Storys

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Perhaps when we look physically orthodox, people might judge us as a person who prays all the time and only visiting masjids. Yes, I visit masjids and religious teachers to get blessings but I am not an angel. I am just a human-being and I look at others as human-being too. That is why I always lament my sins. Angels have no sins. They have no choice but only to exercise Lord's commands. I watch movies too and I am not only watching movies from Eastern Asia but also from South Asia. 

I mingle also with ungodly people and also going in and out non-Muslim Chinese restaurants. I walked inside temples and churches talking with people there. I followed second sister to concerts before though I don't like her favorite singers, hehe. I listen to all sort of musics and also asked my ex-colleague about metal musics because I was ignorant about these kind of underground musics before. I also watch theaters and also brought my friends to cultural festivals when I was an undergraduate student. I just become like this because I am struggling to fit myself in the studies and the level which I found is not suitable for me. On the other hand, my paternal relatives mostly aren't observant Muslims as compared to my maternal relatives who are more traditional according to how close they are to their religious community. Some of them would come to the extend that they are Islamic than others due to that they actually take their culture as their religion in case of Malay descents relatives. This also happens everywhere around the world. Like yesterday, my senior Azren also talked to me that her mum didn't believe that the cuisine made by Chinese Muslim in China are halal though the person who prepare the cooking is a Muslim just because he looks Chinese and the cooking looks Chinese and in Malaysia most Chinese people are non-Muslim. I guess maybe Azren is referring to Rasa Halal Oriental program hosted by Farah. We always talk about this problem and stigma in our society. Ignorance about what is culture and what is religion is widespread. 

I don't really mingle with other orthodox (traditional?) Muslims because I am way more open than them and I am afraid they will be affected with heart-attack if they see how I mingle with ungodly people because these people usually are not scared of me nor looking at me like a freak. We are in the middle of these areas of East and West and we are people in diaspora. This movie I would like to recommend to others who does not like typical Hindu movie. How I was introduced to Hindi movies? Let me tell everyone about how I know Urdu-Hindi and its movies or songs. 

Introduction to Hindi Movies in Malayan Peninsula

During 1950's and 1960's, our state begin to have access with North Indian and Pakistani cinemas. Before that rich people (Arab descents) can watch Arabian movies (very rare) from Syria and from Egypt. Most of the time older people around this times listening to Arabian music. At this time Malaysia is still in the process. My state was included as apart of Malayan Peninsula and later Malaysia through a forced agreement with British in 1948. They forced our royalty and Sultan to sign the treaty with them through legal terms. My lecturer always say, Europeans using legal terms to trick others. I guess this is what they mean but this is our old stories.

This is from the biography of my dad. He was a writer and he wrote also for a Malay newspaper. His Malay language was quite poetic as compared to us who are his kids, hehehe. I am only good in our state language. Diaspora people have to survive in this way where we have to speak languages of people around. Just look at Indians or Bangladeshis in Mamak restaurants. How do they learn Malay language? It is not actually easy if we learn it through classes but these people could quickly speak in our national language and also understand slang and dialects without being provided with classes. I was introduced to Hindi-Urdu movies by my own dad. Though we are of Arab origin but our ancestors did not come directly from Arabia. They came from India and Pakistan before the lines were drawn to divide sub-Indian continent. The line was known as Durand Line and also Radcliffe Line. Radcliffe Line was drawn to separate India from Pakistan and Durand Line was drawn to separate Afghanistan from Pakistan. If we talk about India, we actually refer to pre-independent India and Indian states with sultans. Kedah Sultanate has relationship with Indian Sultanates and they exchanged artisans, architects and also receiving teachers from Indian Sultanates and states particularly from Gujarat since it was a post for Arab soldiers from Pakistan beside those from Arabia. We were also connected with Burma.   

My dad loves many evergreen Hindi movies. He was largely influenced by Indians and his eating style is also like Indian. He takes curry and he loves Mamak restaurant stuffs. As compared to me, I and some of my sisters were largely influenced by Chinese community around us. When he always listen to Hindi songs and movies it also indirectly influence us although we do not actually know about all of these stuffs. Later, when we always listen and watch them through media, we grabbed the language. Dad even sings Hindi songs at our ears when we are going to sleep. If he do it now perhaps I will offend him by asking him why not reciting Quranic verses at my ears? LOL. 

Many actors in Hindi movies and Pakistani movies are also of Arabian descent such as Amir Khan. I could recite all of their names without stop and I know Urdu poems and songs. When Tabligh kids bring me to their lectures, I actually can understand what has been said by the preachers in Urdu without any translation but I just don't tell them I know what has been said. I just can't speak it because I never speak in the language. However, I am familiar with the sounds.  Urm I can speak it if I am forced too and might not be as fluent as when I was a little child.

The difference between peranakan people with native people, we are largely open to foreign atmosphere because of our foreign origin. We don't have to translate everything like in Thailand, Cambodia or Indonesia and that is why we see Malaysia is like today because it is also populated by peranakan people beside 19th century immigrants of British colonial times. British empire favors laissez-faire multiculturalism. People like us live in cities and urban areas disconnected from relatives. Some might move to villages if they encounter problem in cities but after that they will die early because they will experience pressure in the villages, hehehe. When I make friend with Aftab which was my neighbor and also Abdul Baqi from Pakistan, they actually speak to me in Urdu but my dad don't like me to mingle with Abdul Baqi because he does not like the Pashtuns. Only Abdul Baqi is good in Malay and speaks to me in Malay but I also didn't really mingle with that guy. I only played badminton with him. He thinks that he is good-looking and charming to the girls, hahaha. I just went to Friday prayers with them. I don't know why he does not like Pashtuns but its like their habit that Pashtuns being hated by other ethnics of sub-Indian continent. I look everyone as human-being. And yeah I am familiar with Hindu caste system because though we are Muslims we are also included into Hindu caste system as barbarians.

Synopsis

Now enough with the introduction. This movie is mainly about two characters just like other typical Hindi movies. One is Jay Dhingra played by Imran Khan. This guy is actually the nephew of Amir Khan. Another one is Simran played by Sonam Kapoor. Jay works in a Film company as an assistant director. He does not like his job because the producer or perhaps the director of the film love to produce romance movies like always in India. He feels the movies are typical and boring.

Jay met a girl at a cinema when he was ordered by his boss to watch some movies to get ideas on new romance films. He just forced to go there and he does not interested in all of those romance movies. The girl happened to be Simran who will be his future senior in the office. Both of this characters contrast each other. Jay hates love story and he believes not in love. He is also a playboy. In the beginning he talks with Simran, he thinks that Simran is not so interesting as she is obsessed with romance and love. Simran also thinks that Jay is too loud and bolt. Soon, they become best friends despite of differences.

Simran close bond with Jay brings problems in her love live with her dream fiance, Raj. She later feels that Raj is too perfect. He silently falls in love with Jay as his characteristic is quite cheerful and crazy. She tries to confess her feeling to Jay but after doing so, Jay explains that he never thought of Simran in that way. They are just friends. Simran was so heartbroken and she feels embarrassed of herself. She moves from Mumbai to New Zealand for further shooting of a film and its premiere. She does not tell Jay about her shifting. 

Sooner or later, Jay finds that Simran's absence in his life upsets him. He realizes that he has also fallen in love with Simran. The the song bin tere (without you) being played, hahaha. He goes to New Zealand and plans a romantic dinner asking Simran to meet him. He admits that he loves her but this time, he was rejected by Simran, hahahahaha. I laughed at this scene with my little sister when we watched this in Astro Hindi channel. Simran says that she does not want to hurt her fiance feeling after giving him another chance. Jay was brokenhearted and disappointed. He had lost Simran to Raj who he always think as pathetic, hehehe.

However, Jay's friends and his mum persuade him not to give up on Simran. Jay tries to make Simran jealous by paying Giselle (Bruna Abdullah) to act as his girlfriend. Then, he realizes that manipulating Simran feeling is only hurting her even more. In the same time, Raj proposes Simran and she accepts it. Later, she realizes that she does not love Raj. He tells him the truth. She goes to movie premiere hoping to see Jay there but Jay already trying to leave to United States as he has given up all hopes on Simran.

Raj was scolded by his mum at the airport. His mum says: "I gave birth to a son, not a girl to cry over girl like this! Go and get her if you are a man!!!" So, mum actually encourages him to return back to the cinema at the premiere. He meets Simran there. They both express their true feeling to each other. It is a happy ending unlike in Tamil (South Indian) movies, haha.    

About the Movie

I think it is only for me to relax. Some of the dialogue are actually quite dirty and talking about sex. I don't really feel or think anything misleading because I also talked about this with friends during undergraduate. My colleague and hostel mate also talk about masturbating when they take shower. Sorry girls, if you feel shy please dont read this part but it's already written, hahaha. This is just a fact. I also know what girls in girls hostel doing because they also talked to me. People would never ever expect that kids from Northern part of Kedah state are quite vulgar. I was born in Central Kedah and we usually speaking high-level and polite speech as compared to villagers who speak in vulgar languages. I love the part when they say: "Idhar udhar ki baate wagera wagera..." (walking here and there talking whatever... whatever) and also the song which sounds like koi humme pyaare karo koi jaane saare baate... ahaakkk... basically it means for the one that we love, we'll say/do anything to make him/her turn to you, lolllll.....

My colleague during undergraduate time also forced me to watch blue-porn videos a day before Ramadan. I guess when I was in my first year. I don't like it but they already locked the door and many people outside there after we chat among each other. I just stayed there praying in my heart for colleagues. After that I returned to my room and just praying repentance prayer service and not sleeping the whole night flipping myself with my belt. I also prayed for colleague. I didn't offend them because they are already grown up men around 20-21 years old. They also didn't fast. These are the people that I mingled with. I didn't mingle with Tabligh kids or Pusat Islam (Muslim brotherhood) students. These 'religious' kids also categorizing me as ungodly people and I am praying for these ungodly people and also for myself because nobody would ever try to approach them and I just accept them with open hands when they come to me because I know the feeling of being an outcast : ) 

What my little sister thinks? She only looks at the guy's face and dreaming, hahahahaha..... Girls.... I think people may watch this movie them selves. Just relax and find one with English translation. If no English translation, don't worry cause they also use a huge amount of English words, haha. This is one way on peranakan people entertaining themselves and the type of movies that they watch. Malay people also watch these because they mingle with us and marrying our people besides other North Indian ethnics of non-Arab origin also watch these. It's their culture, haha.  

Sealed  with prayers of mercy, peace and love, amin!

Why racial background is always according to spoken language or attire?

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Last Week's Experience

Last week while waiting for Friday sermon, I had greeted a Muslim Chinese brother, an undergraduate or just English language student at the language center but I had forgotten to speak in English. His name is something like Yeong Yeong but I don't normally ask people's personal name in the beginning except their surname but he told me his name so be it, haha. I just cynically tell him I am a Chinese, why I can't speak my own language? Hehehehe... Then he seems like at lost to see a non-Chinese face speaking in Chinese. He said that he thought I was a Malay. It was not weird in China or even in Thailand where non-Han ethnics speaking in Mandarin Chinese but why making that face here? Well, this is not my first time being looked like some kind of alien from Mars because our compatriots whether of Chinese descent or Malays also looked at me like that.

The Issue

I just feel weird because our spoken language does not really reflect our identity. I hate people calling me a Malay simply because I speak in Malay, pelet Kedah piao lagi. We are not Malays although many of us refused to be known differently from Malays. That's their problem but for me why should I lie????! I am aware about my origin since I began to check them with paternal elders. We speak in Malay because it is our state's national language. Our state had earlier exist in the form of kingdom and sultanate before our country (Malaysia) exist because it only exist after British gathered all of the states in the peninsula into a federal entity and giving them independence. 

It's just the same like Hui Chinese in China who does not like to be known as Han but we are different in term that both Malays and us are Muslim, the same religion. Sometimes error happens in identification during British occupation because the concept of nation-state of British was also exercised in the state's administration. I think people should acknowledge us as Arabs of North Indian sub-continent descent or Malayan Arabs in contrast to Arabs from Middle East and we are also non-Indian. I feel offended when the term Jawi Peranakan is used to also include us as Indians. We use Arabic script in all of our writings while Muslim Indians in Malaysia have their own vernacular religious studies classes. We preserve many of Arabic pronunciation though we are not fluent in Arabic anymore. Most of all, those Arabic speaking people in Middle East were not pure Arabs in majority but some of them are Kurdish, Roman descent, Assyrians, Levants (only if they admit that they are wild Arabs) and etc.

There are many Arabs associated to prophet Muhammad s.a.w family who were expelled to Iran, Turkey and India due to the war before the establishment of Umayyad caliphate. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and Baba Abdul Qadir were among them whose family moved to Persian empire provinces. Our people or community never really mingle with natives though our ancestors spreading the message of prophethood because of some differences but it is different today because many youngsters began to abandon their identity. This does not mean that we are bunch of boastful idiots who wanted to show off if we talk about this but it is just the matter of identity. We could see what happen if we do not take care about our identity or trying to abandon it. Example is myself where I feel so low and began to turn away to others' tradition (Buddhism) but I am lucky enough that He brought me back to the path. 

I don't know how many people like us who turned to others' path. I checked about converts to Christianity from Islam for example just to be away from comfort zone for a moment and the result I found one for example John Avaterranean/Muhammad Shukri Effandi who was baptized as a Christian because he was not aware about his family background which also includes his family religious background. He wrote a book titled a Muslim who became a Christian. The translation of this book is online so everybody could access it and check it our selves, click here to read.   

Urm, about the persatuan Syed hazzab something which comes out in the news paper I don't know from which state and I am not interested to join any organization. I am not apart of them because we are from Kedah state and we are of Gujarat Arab ancestry. Our custom apart of it is to hide our title and we never put any title in front of our names so people could not differentiate us from others. We do not associate ourselves to religion in front of people but our elders were actually very conservative and orthodox. We behave just like natives and we are very proud of our state. We love our sultan and other compatriots regardless whether they are Malay, Siamese, Chinese or etc. It's to the extend that we never really acknowledge Perlis as a different state because we only recognize it as our sultan's land. The same thing to Penang Island.

We love Kedah Malay language and we write in the language but nowadays I feel more comfortable with English and Chinese if I am not speaking in Kedah Malay (differently from Malaysian Malay based from Johor-Riau Malay). We always feel angry when people who are not from Kedah trying to speak in the language without first learning it and showing it in the national medias because it ruins our national language and mocking our state's cultural traits as to portray how patriotic we are to our beloved state. We are the descents of 17th century Arab travelers and our paternal line were from Gujarat: Ahmedabad and Surat of India. These places were the posts of Arab soldiers and some Muslim Arabs from Sindh province of Multan kingdom in today's Pakistan were also expelled there to Gujarat after Muslim civil war before they dispersed more to southern part which is Malayan Peninsula, Lower Myanmar, South Thai and Sumatera in further India. Gujarat was also the center of da'awat for Ismai'ili Shi'a Muslims of Musta'ali branch after Yemen and Fatimid Egypt. This tradition of da'awat was already exercised by our people regardless madzhab or side since before the existence of Tablighi Jama'at movement from Deoband.

Diary about Relatives

We post this not to boast na'udzubillah but just a matter of fact so that people around don't simply judge people because of their spoken language or just because they wear Baju Melayu or Chongsum. To my maternal relatives if you happen to stumble by here but you feel like recognize who is this Abdullah, stop judging my mum and dad because you know no sh*t about our life or our paternal ancestry as we were not religious in appearance but you still slander us just because maternal grandma loves us and close to us. She was close to us because we always return to the village visiting and staying with her while they rarely see her though they lived close to her. We lived in the capital and taking the pain to see relatives in the midst of pressuring life.

We don't want any money from late grandparents or anyone. As for me I even never use my dad's position to get government job when he was a contract government servant. My dad was a lowly reporter whom my cousin brother used to hurt my feeling when he said to me don't be a reporter like my dad. I was a 13 years old boy and that makes me feel alone in Perlis while studying in the madrasah. Among the reason I slowly became bitter toward Islam and its adherents is because of relatives. I began to find friends in Thai Buddhist temples due to that cousin brother was a supporter of a political party associated with Muslim brotherhood and I was just a little child. At least dad works and getting his salary with dignity for 20 years before being a government contract worker for government only to be sacked with humiliation. He does not smuggle rice from Thailand. He was our bread-winner and our hero though not religious. We are not cheap people and we have dignity! Now I am proving it by rejecting any scholarship or assistance from government. I don't take any zakat (tithe) for Ibnu Sabeel and only depending on the Lord because I know that it will be rejected without any reply and Allah made my heart feel heavy to apply any help from human anymore. I don't take sadaqah (donation) from people unless if they mention it as present or I'll dump them all or giving them to others.

Insha Allah I will return to the path and my responsibility but I will never associate myself to government or any political movement just like Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. There is a significance why I choose his school of jurisprudence and not adhering to our Yemenite order school of jurisprudence, which is Shafi'ie school. I respect Imam Shafi'ie but I know more about Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and how he has to face torments from leaders who were not fearful to Allah.

Concluding

This is also about the history of minority ethnics in Malaysian state. Anything in the post about what I feel is just my opinion and what I personally feel... Everybody including Malays, Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Tamils have the right to have some pride in themselves but why we can't and were demanded to stay with dual identity? If we talk about these, people would assume that we are trying to boast about ourselves. Our ancestors had also involved in defending the Kedah state for the sultan and people and preventing northern region from being absorbed by Siamese empire before the arrival of British. Mentions about this is also in researchers notes like the late Wan Saghir's researches but its just that we don't feel it is important to tell people. I just feel weird...

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Indian Natural Remedies : Turmeric

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

 Fresh turmeric

I would dedicate some of posts for Indian natural remedies. I actually love Indian herbs and it is because they are low in cost and can easily be found in our country since our climate is almost the same to Southern India. Most of all I don't have to waste money for chemical stuffs which is not really good. I just wanted to record some benefits of turmeric. It is a kind of herb which the God has created for the benefit of human-being and His creatures. 

I always avoid many kind of meats except for chicken and that is only if I do not involved in the slaughtering process. It happens since I was a young kid. I would rather fast than eating meat including fish. When I saw mum slaughtered dead fishes, I felt nauseated looking at blood. When I saw my late grandpa slaughtered a chicken, I did not take the chicken meat and just giving it to others after it was grilled. I guess there also lies a wisdom by the God that I did not take any medical course. I had also been offered a course by public service commission just after undergoing the National Service program to be a pharmacist but I refused to go there and just remain in isolation. Many people had also criticized me for that, lol. So, when I was a kid I took veggies more and that sure affected my growth. I look like a retarded guy while I am already 25 years old and my hair turned to be red because of the lack of nutrients, hahaha.  

 

Turmeric trees

In South East Asia, we sometimes take herbs as our side dishes beside of rice. Rice is of course our staple food here as we would at least have it twice a day. Last time I would enjoy having rice with herbs and vegetables even without any meat. We can't afford to buy mutton, beef, chicken, and etc for daily food. When I was 13 years old, I began to avoid beef too. I was introduced to turmeric by parents. We are not Indian and turmeric sounds like Indian for me. After I had fresh turmeric with rice, my tongue would turn to be yellow. I don't know how to tell turmeric taste but I love the taste, haha.

Turmeric actually is good to heal sinusitis. Last few weeks I did not know what to do when my face had grown pimples and it was so painful. One reason for pimples perhaps is pressure and polluted environment. My room is also dusty and sometimes I had no time to clean it up like I was in my previous hostel during first degree time. I used to polish up the floor of my room in previous hostel for my roommate, brother Zaidi to perform prayer services in the room. I insisted him to be my imam for most of prayer services in the room and it still remain shining when I visited a friend who coincidentally live in the same room last month. I had took bath early in the morning like half an hour before Fajr prayer service with water mixed with turmeric powder. It heals also itches and rashes at skin. Glory be to the God, He is indeed Wise in His creations because the effects took place very quickly!!! 

Although it is an Indian prescribed herb, but it is still created by the God. I heard that Hindu fellows had also used turmeric for purification and concentration in tasks purpose. I was not really sure about that but I had done this since long before I heard about their medical system called Ayurveda. Perhaps there are some similarity in customs that we received from around. In countries like Myanmar or Thailand, people sometimes mixed up turmeric with rice powder beads and put the paste at their face as the effect of the color from turmeric would not too obvious. Indian ladies usually put merely turmeric at their face to heal pimples and those Hindu or Sikh girls who are about to get marry will also purify themselves with turmeric water before wedding ceremony took place.     

When some of my friend had flu or cold, I would suggest them to find dried turmeric, pound it and mix it with water. Then put it on their nose and drink some pure honey mixed with warm water. I also read the information provided at the packet of turmeric I bought and it says that turmeric powder is an antiseptic agent, not only used for food flavoring and color. It removes odor in food and giving fresh fragrance for food. Malays would also use turmeric powder to marinate meat, chicken and fish before frying them. In Indian cuisine, perhaps they mixed turmeric in their curries or boiling lentils. It only costs me 0.60 cents or 0.80 cents rather than buying chemical stuffs. 

I would suggests sisters who wanted to clean up their face to try turmeric powder and mix it with water. It is very useful and your painful pimples would be dried in few days. When we clean the floor of house, ants, insects and termites would stay away from it. It is also good to plant turmeric in our garden. We can also eat it and it is easy to be grown. I don't know about in Europe but in South East Asia, the climate is just fine. If we are lazy to plant flowers, just plant turmeric trees all over our house to make our compounds looks green and environmental friendly, hahaha.

Turmeric is good to prevent hypertension. Some people would take the juice from turmeric in the size of a thumb and mix it with a tablespoon of honey and a tea spoon of black pepper powder. They drink it twice in the morning and evening. I never try this. I just take a pinch of salt after I clean up myself when waking up from sleep and drink it with plain water. After Fajr prayer service, I usually take a tablespoon of honey mixed with a glass of warm water. Recite the Name of the God and asking Mercy and Blessings, drink.  

I also had read some information saying that turmeric was introduced to Europe in 13th by Arabian traders. It was called as Indian saffron. In Sanskrit it is called as Haridra while its Latin name is Curcuma Longa. Maybe I could use this to find other products made of this herb with the name. I wish it is beneficial for health care of brethren. 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

News from Friend: Tibetan Summer Retreat in Bhutan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

Just saw some pics by a friend, Sherab Palsang who lives in Arunachal Pradesh in Indian eastern region. He is a Tibetan monk in exile which I had known since many years ago. He had many times invited me to visit him at his monastery but I have to finish this studies and lack of mobility. 

He went for Singapore when I was in the first semester doing this post-grad degree but I was occupied so I can't see him. Maybe when I get proper job and stable that I would plan a visit to India and visiting him beside traveling to other parts in India. I hope he at least could come to Penang or Thailand and I would be glad to meet him, having cup of drinks. I had lost his monastery address. I have got some English books to be donated to the monastery library for educational purpose. Some had been donated to mosques and random libraries. People need education to be civilized.

These pics are about summer retreat during Shrawant to Bhadrapad months in conjunction to events in August and September. Thai Theravada Buddhism called it as Warn Khao Pharnsa (Varsha) which begins around the mid of July and ends in the mid of September. Monks would retreat and fasting in their monasteries rather than traveling around. It is to avoid harming little creatures and crops if monks traveling around during the period. Let us see how Vajrayana-Tantra Buddhists performing their varsha or rainy season ceremonies. This is also my first time seeing Tibetan style ceremonies.

 Sakya Rinpoche which is the monastery head in India arrived in Mon Thawing, Bhutan.

 Confession ceremony where monks would confess their errors and ordination ceremony 

Trairattana ceremony

Pattimokka (monastic rules) recitation in the hall in front of Wairocana statue

Laymen devotees at monastery compound

Sadhana mudra ritual where devotees would go around the mandala

Feast where they distribute barley porridge at the monastery head quarter

Sherab graduation day, guess this is more than six or seven years ago since the pic looks old. I think Sherab is at the middle. They look almost the same, hehe. I am proud of you, friend. It's not easy to be ordained

Special thanks to our friend, Sherab Palsang for pics sharing. Sharing is caring. I would visit you and your monastery if condition permits me, someday... You live in such a nice place with fresh air. It is a good place to study :)

Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!

Great Styles.... hahahaa

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!!!

Recently I love to watch Telugu, well Tamil movies too though I don't understand Telugu except for smattering Hindi words in Telugu because some words are commonly used in Urdu, hahahaa.... 

After watching those movies at least I know few Tamil words and straight away using it with the maccha in the grocery... I had long tried to learn Tamil. But unfortunately I have no opportunity because of time constraint. That silly maccha tries to tackle little sister, hahaha. Last time little sister did gave her number to a Nepalese co-worker when she worked in a restaurant. It was quite scary when that guy keep calling her. Pandai sangat! Girls out there jaga-jaga dengan bhai dai ni semua, nanti dia sudah adik manis sama you orang, susah lah. Siapa susah? You punya abang lah have to save you from being disturbed.

Love your style Prabhas especially when you are in fighting scenes... The scenes in Varsham where you sprayed the gas on those goons with knives is quite awesome... hahaha....

Well also Arjun Sarja... Your movie is always about justice and righteousness. I love your movies. However, rarely see you in Telugu movies. You're always in Tamil movies and you're still cool.... hahaha. You look smart in your police suit who combats corruption, evil ministers, and goons. I admire you for your characters, sir.

  
I also think that your cool styles were undermined when both of you are in singing and dancing scenes. Doesn't suit you people well. I just don't know when Indian movies could cut or at least leave those craps of singing and erotic dancing with these cool heroes???? I know it is a culture there but come on, it's not like we don't have music videos for that. Just my personal opinion. It's not easy to change certain customs in a short period of time.

Urm, I guess I have to avoid watching too much Indian movies especially at the dancing and singing scenes because those nonsense ladies belly showing is not good for memorization of Quran. Fighting and violence is not good too, don't take them as example. Sometimes it might be fun to watch different kind of movies especially when the hero kicks the ass of villains and the villains fly up 50 km above the sky after the kick or maybe the feet of villains crippled and melting like being dipped down into acid once being clutched by heroes' mighty hand, LOL.... I love the sound when villains fall down on metal blocks, it's real... ktunckkkkk.....! Watching these movies is just to relax my messy mind. And those movies are free in the website, thanks to uploaders. You don't know how I appreciate your efforts, hehehehee.

These two guys are among my favorite Southern Indian heroes in movies. Oh yeah, I love watching Jamshed Chetirakat in Tamil and Malayalam movies too. Mostly Jamshed and Arjun will appear in Tamil movies. Prabhas only in Telugu maybe because he is comfortable with Telugu. I will certainly watch all of their movies without looking at the synopsis if I know that they are in scenes. I don't really know recent Hindi movie actors except for those veteran ones like Saif Ali Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Amir Khan, Sonali Bendre, Rani Mukherjee, and etc. Ok, recent ones are like Emran Hashemi, Imran Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Bruna Abdullah, etc. SRK and KKHH sucks... booo... I learn a lot about life from Tamil or Telugu movies. Also from their songs. 

Sometimes Southern Indian movies might be out of mind because these people are crazy but it reflects the facts in this life. This is not to condemn any Indian movies, I love watching them anyway. My history teacher Mr. Gopal also condemned Tamil movies in front of Indian students when I was in form 6 class. Luckily those students did not rioting in the class, hehehe.... They also conducted farewell party before we sat for our STPM (A-Level) and those students who are good in dancing performed Chandramukhi dance and other dances, I can say quite related to their religious activity if you are familiar with devadasis or bonnambalan hall at Semenyih Hindu temple, hehehe. Quite creepy because they imitate the movie without any adaptation or changing in the movements ...(shivering).... 

This is just a guide for me regarding how should I behave when I am in the public. I will be those heroes... lol. These heroes influencing people lives too. I think that I become more influenced by Indian and those in the western part of the world although I speak Chinese or Malay and writing in Chinese. Compared to when I was a kid. Maybe time is changing people preference too, because right now I don't go to school with Indians anymore but living in a Malay majority area. World has so many different things even though humanity is only one but wonder why we have to be racists???? 

May the God forgives our sins. Sealed with prayers for peace, love, and mercy, amin!