Berba ..the gypsy

I happened to be in London last March and what does one do on a cold Saturday afternoon? Typically i tried to watch a football game.The one on offer then was the Tottenham vs Portsmouth game. I called the booking office and the curt reply was (as expected..)."all tickets sold sir".
Familiar with the mechanics of how to watch a football game in UK, i just gamely trudged on to White Hart Lane.
Yes ...there will always be ticket touts. I bought one for a fraction more of its selling price near kick off time(its value preceding as the kick off nears obviously ha ha...)
What did i remember most of that game? Berbatov's flicks and runs !!!!
Here was a man i felt that can fill Cantona's shoes and lo and behold my joy when Manchester United decided to buy him albeit at a hefty price tag.
Berbatov has yet to stamp its lasting mark in the United's hall of fame but the obvious signs are there.
His best game i have watched so far was against Southampton in the FA cup. It was a display of sheer arrogance, deftness and his control and the way he strutted around is (to borrow a metaphor) like a conductor of a wonderful,sublime orchestra(Manchester United its name).
Was it true that he has Gypsy's blood? I read this somewhere ,maybe that's where he gets his nonchalant way of playing his football and not forgetting his dark brooding look.
Alright Berba the Gypsy roll it on till the season end and your next victim of your arrogant skills be Liverpool,please.Ha.

Remembering Father....

Note: i republish this post that was done last weekend because i just found my late father's photo as i perused my pictures file.......The heavy downpour yesterday has really put a dampener to all Kuchingites i presume.However it didn't stop me for having a full day of activities .
How did i spend my Saturday? Morning was at Hilton attending a farewell to the Indonesian consulate Pak Bambang, a friend that i got to know.
Interesting the way Indonesians conducted their function, not much officialdom with all the usual facilitation.."Datuk2 Datin2", it's more of "Bapak2 dan Ibu2"..hmmm.
After lunch straight off to Stadium Sarawak to watch the Demak league semi final games. Football in a heavy downpour, not surprising the second semi final was abandoned.
After that i went to my Mum's place to attend "makan arwah" of my late father. The occasion is normally with invitation to close relatives, people from a nearby mosque as we recited doas or prayers in remembrance of my late father.
How time flies,he passed away 10 years ago but to us all it was just like yesterday. Our memories of him still lingers on.
He died of lung cancer, i can recalled the pains and sufferings that he endured from the pain that cancer normally inflicted.
His calm and resolute though was admirable strengthened by his strong faith and belief in Allah SWT. He may not leave any notable monuments or great achievements in this world but certainly he left a legacy of how to live a decent life.Admittedly even after 10 years i still cant measure to that.Even to this day i still regretted not spending too much time with him at the initial stage of his suffering from this deadly disease.
As i left my Mum's house yesterday the downpour has not abated and this compounded the melancholy feeling that one had as we tried to give remembrance to our loved one that has passed on.

A real hero....a real man

To friends and family, he's just "Sully." To the rest of the world, Chesley Sullenberger is now a miracle worker with a pilot's license.

The former Air Force fighter pilot remained cool, calm and collected both before and after successfully ditching his US Airways flight into the Hudson River.

"That pilot is a stud," said one police source. "After the crash, he was sitting there in the ferry terminal, wearing his hat, sipping his coffee and acting like nothing happened."

Sullenberger, 57, looks more like Clark Kent than Superman: He's balding, slightly built, with a thin mustache. But he emerged from the slowly sinking fuselage of Flight 1549 as one of Gotham's brightest heroes, able to land engineless airplanes in a single try.

"Brace for impact," he warned the passengers before ditching the plane, a voice of lone calm in the seconds before they crashed.

Sullenberger wasn't done once his plane was down. He undid his safety belt and walked the length of the plane to make sure all the passengers were safely outside, Mayor Bloomberg said.

Once finished, Sullenberger turned around and made a second pass as the plane steadily took on water - and only then did he finally exit.

That's the excerpt i read from the Internet as i sipped my coffee bracing for a wet day with my golf game already cancelled.

Real heartwarming whenever you read once in awhile those silent heroes making the limelight. We have people like this in our Malaysian midst mark my word, COMPETENT in their job, always putting others before oneself and leads an ordinary but a satisfied and happy life.

They can be just firemen, postmen, plumbers or even just bus drivers but you know when you see one..a silent hero who's competent and always take their job very responsibly and a natural leader. Of course in our society it's very hard for us to appreciate such people because they don't hog the limelight like politicians do and they don t have the gift of the gab and a tendency to be melodramatic.

To Sullenburger.... am sure when interviewed you would just say ,"i am just doing my job"

Thank you sir for offering a heartwarming story to read as i braced a very wet week end!!

A sanctuary..nothing better than the Kuching mosque

Had an opportunity today to perform Maghrib prayers at the old Kuching Mosque in market street. To me this is always a place that we frequented every Friday during our childhood and even as a sanctuary of sorts for us then, doing our revisions in preparation for the SC(now called SPM) exams.
Indeed has a fond memory of that place.
A signboard attracts me as i walked towards the mosque today..... it said that a mosque was established earlier on this site by Datuk Patinggi Ali in 1867. It excites me a bit because i was made to understand that our ancestry goes way back to that famous Malay leader,maybe a myth but i just don't bother to find more facts.
An old wooden mosque i still remembered was there then before it was demolished with a detonator. If i were to recall this must have happened in late 60's for a vivid memory of all awaiting in anticipation for that big bang sound thus telling us all that the mosque would now be only in a demolished heap.
The mosque still retain its tranquility and as i looked around me,i can see a 17 year old me years ago riding a bike to that place , met with good friends as we spend time praying at the accorded times and "study" in the resource room upstairs....
hm mm we all have moved on since then but the mosque still to me is a great sanctuary of sorts and i will hope that the authorities will still retain its surrounding area as a historical heritage and not "pasted' the vicinity with shopping plaza or a parking mall.

An Icon to savour.....

Last night i was fortunate enough to be invited to one of the events of the year(possibly) and you can see the who's who in Kuching was there all trudging in to the new TPK hotel,the Four seasons in their demeanour bow tie suit and their wives tagging along in their evening gowns or kebayas.
It was indeed a glamorous night by any standards and admittedly being someone more comfortable with work overalls, the occasion is a bit off my usual haunts.
Kudos though to the couple being celebrated,not many couples can say they have been happily married for 50 years and of course the man in question is undoubtedly the most well known face in Sarawak.
I was halfway expecting the night to be just like any formal function that sometimes you attended until lo and behold Pehin Seri mentioned at the end of his thank you speech that a special man will be performing that night and he said that his performance will enthrall all.
How true was his words..because the man that was performing was none other than the famous composer and musician ,Idris Sardi.

The younger generation may wonder who was this Idris Sardi but for us growing up when Indonesian movies were very very popular,(remember Romi dan Juli,Si buta dari gua hantu? Just to name a few) will undoubtedly knew who Idris Sardi.

He was the man behind most musical compositions of these movies, eg "Pengantin Remaja"
Back to his performance last night, Pehin Seri was spot on..Idris Sardi's performance was not only mesmerising but world class. We were all swooned by his mastery of the violin, what a genius.
He is indeed an icon of our times and the night was complete for me as i was able to have a quick chat with him and took some photographs.
"Bapa sekarang sudah usia 71 tahun'(read...i am now 71 years old) that's the words i remembered he said.
To bapa Idris Sardi...your mastery of the violin and the captivating way you played your music just reflect the fact that a master is always a master no matter how old he is, thank you for a wonderful evening.

What's eating you,Zorro?

Zorro is a mythical story set in the Mexican "cowboy' era and somehow becomes synonymous with an anguished person's efforts trying to have 2 faces to the world. What's really eating you Zorro? There's no idealistic world for you to save, there's no damsel in distress for you to sweep away!!
The Zorro myth is popular because of its obvious fantasy that you can have a background of rich and nobility(how you arrive to such a position was never told!!) but still have a conscience to save the poor and the trodden.
Hence the Mask.
If indeed the Zorro story is true, one wonders how he can hide his other identity from his wife,family and close friends.
We can imagine Zorro's wife inviting friends and family to a dinner and when asked where's Zorro?
Possibly the reply.."Oh, he's out there in the countryside killing your fellow soldiers who are raiding the villages!!!"
So,what's really eating you Zorro?
Just be yourself and within the midst of ordinariness you can still find greatness and peaceful solace and you know why? You are as what Popeye says,"I yam what i yam".

Rain rain .go away

It has been a real wet weekend. The downpour was continuous for most of the weekend and concern suddenly turns to panic for most Kuchingites as they saw the water rising. This time was reminiscent of the heavy downpour and serious flooding a few years back.
We all knew that the Far East is also termed as the monsoon region when during this time of the year the rains mercilessly takes its toll .
Today i dropped by at our old facilities in town to observe first hand of any impacts due to this heavy rain.
The dry dock water level as i observed seen rising more so due to water pouring in from the nearby vicinity. Certain measures were then taken.
Floods during my childhood days though were a common occurrence. The floods were treated with joy by us all(typical innocence of the young), i still remembered paddling in a boat around our house and swimming and frolicking with glee.
Let's hope then that the rainfall will now subside and any lingering fears of a major flood hitting Kuching will not be a reality...one thing for sure i must have my raincoat ready because you cant just stay home even in this kind of weather.