It lay between the sea and dry land, as if caught in a dilemma of going ashore (for good) or back to drifting on the currents of the open sea, which ironically, had the coconut drifted on perhaps, a journey more than a thousand miles from its home soil when it was torn apart from its bond to the tree that had been its family.
For a span of time which the coconut may have lost count, it lives on the very will of Allah s.w.t.: fight the frightening tall waves of sea storms, sleep through the dull dead calm of an open sea, grapple against the invasion of microbes and gargantuan sea creatures as they try to penetrate through the husk onto the kernel and inside of it - it survived, enduring the harshest of condition that it was meant to live through.
But now, it seem lost and at wit's end. Caught between the pull of two desires. One, to lay itself on the soft ground of the shore and grow to be tall and proud. Or, to return to the sea that had made it into a small legend. A hardy being. One, that had stood the test of time.
In all probability, it would return to the sea for a short spell while it search for a more conducive place to lay its roots. Literally. As it does, it will tell its future generations of the tales it had been harrowed upon; the memory of how it survived, shall be passed down via the very genes of its offspring - a tough, resilient coconut.
The same, sadly, cannot be said of my PC. Barely.
ps. Kindly visit Painting Pictures and give comment. If any, it would help yours truly to improve.
It has to happen, sooner or later; inevitable, and yet, certainly a welcome step towards the correct direction. After all, many societies in the past rose from their wild and barbaric ways to become a great civilisation. Through infusion of knowledge from other societies where some are far flung even in the modern mode of transporatation available today, these societies learnt to improvise, adapt and adopt, to become a respected civil society that is more often than not, feared by many. The history of mankind is replete with such stories. The same however, cannot be said for a certain barbarian living in this world of ours today.
"Some people drink deeply from the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle", so said Grant M Bright, a certain leadership and management development expert. If truly so, then Bright must have expressively thought about this certain barbarian, which truly can be a strange thing as the two have never met, and nor is Bright even aware of the latter's very existence - apart from being barbaric, he is also a hermit. For the barbarian though, the truth of the quote may well depict him; having been forced to learn a new set of skills, the barbarian goes about trying figure out how best to adapt and adopt the newly acquired knowledge into his life - he is currently gargling. The success or failure of his forray into this field, will only be evident with the passing of time, or the life of him...the barbarian Aje.
Sometime last week, my friend Manan dragged me to Subang Parade. "It'll do you a world of good!" he said as I tried to keep up with his fast-paced walk. In his eagerness, he forget that his old friend here do have some problems with his left leg, which Aje was not about to cry out. I mean, hey, a Barbarian is supposed to be one tough hombre.
As we parked at the basement of SP, the walk was (thankfully) short. The entrance via SP's IT Centre, and up the escelator, led us straight to a camera shop where I was introduced to 2 gentlemen there by the name of Abas and Edwin. Both, I was told, posses some of the highest skills and technical knowledge in the world of Photography in Malaysia. While Abas rose in status from being a simple Sales Technician to becoming quite a well known name, Edwin is endowed with sharp eyes for beauty and is artistic in his approach. Both, needless to say, are well respected by many photographers. What then, one may be prompted to ask, was Aje doing there?
Well, as it turned out, Manan had enrolled himself into a 2hour basic photography class conducted by Fotobilk, with Abas imparting his knowledge and experience. And though Manan have had 3 or so years of experience in photography, the talk by Abas should not be something to be missed, he said. And since Aje was getting into it as well, Manan dragged him along.
Edwin (l) and Abas (r). In absence of one, Aje regard these two gentlemen as his sifu.
As it promised to be, the class was basic but rather invaluable to anyone new, either as a hobby or for work purpose. Manan, Aje, and the 8 other people there were briefed on the basics of photography and some mechanics of the camera. It was here then that Aje found out that Photography, is both, an Art as it is a Science; we were told that there is even a PhD in photography, which off course, had that Aje's mouth gaping wide. Needless to say, time pass by too fast when one is having fun, leaving Aje in want for more knowledge ( a later story).
Armed with the basic knowledge, Aje found himself taking more and more photographs from a garden in Kota Damansara. Surprisingly, for such a small patch, Aje took more than 500 pictures. One thing though, before Aje finishes off with his story, both Abas and Edwin had advised against cropping pictures as it would lead to a lesser development of skills needed. And true, ever since then, Aje found that certain pictures do need the depth (or width) to convey the message or beauty of the scene. However, due consideration have to be given to space limitation and even upload speed of large uncropped pictures. To his best though, Aje will try not to crop any of the pictures after this date. Now undoubtedly, the question remains in the minds of several (Aje himself included): Has the class done Aje any good?
A barbarian Aje may well be. But to be conceit, and a fool at that? Its best left to others to judge and give fair comment as only in such manner can Aje improve himself; kindly visit From A Small Patch I, II, and III at Pictures-Only, thank you.
Update: Thanks to my niece, Hanis, I have uploaded the pictures at Picasa web with the link as follow and slideshow below it:
In the days of old, most people do not have to worry about lightning strikes simply because they have little or no electrical wares. And since most houses have tall trees around them acting as lightning rods, people lived in relative calm during thunderstorms. Unless, off course, if they happened to be out in the open field when it happen, or high up on a branch of a tall tree. Oh, and another; those tall trees around their house, do sometimes attract lightning. And when that happen, chances are the tree or part of it, might come crashing down on the house. Still, this is rather remote.
Living presently and in the city, one's daily life can be severely affected during thunderstorms. Like last Monday afternoon.
It has been the norm for me to pull out the Internet Modem's connection whenever I suspect or know of a coming thunderstorm. And I seriously thought I did, and thus went down to read papers with Emak and not worrying about the PC itself as most electrical appliance are quite safe with the main switch of each house shutting down automatically when there is a sudden electrical surge. Rare, but when it does happen, it would then lead to a blackout. But hey, the temporary darkness is better than having all the appliance burnt to crisp.
Lying on the sofa with a Harkah in hand, a sharp crack of lightning whizzed inside the living room, followed by an extra loud thunder which literally rocked the smaller items in the house, and had me jumping up in shock. It may have been in my mind only, for had it not, then surely I would have been burnt to cinders. Still, at the precise moment just before the crack, I saw a flash crossing my lower legs. The Malays would call it 'kilat', as it definitely was not a 'petir'. And neither was it 'The Kilat', a band that rose to fame in the early '70s for winning the 'Juara Kugiran' competition on RTM1.
Anyway, after saying zikr, I later went up soon as the weather permitted, and tried to go online as usual. But woe me, I soon found that the crack I heard was real as was the strike. My faithful modem which had been serving me for almost 3years now, refused to come to life; it, was struck by lightning! Well, power surge via the telephony line actually. Still, it left me dumb struck for 2days.
Looking back, I am off course thankful that it was just the modem. But, it made me wonder: Could not we have a more safer appliance like days of old?
I remember my arwah grandmother had a gramophone which had thick needles that can sew through the tough hides of an ox. Off course, I am exaggerating on that last part, but the point is, it was safe to play even during thunderstorm as it was not electrically operated, rather, hand-cranked. I imagine, many would be suffering stiff shoulders each morning having to crank their modem and PC the previous night just to stay online. As much as I would like to come online anytime irrespective of the weather, alas, I do not think it is a good idea.
Its quite a pity that I have yet to take a picture of the gramophone, which sadly, only the shell remains now. Perhaps, the picture below would have to do for now.
Don't know how it hit me. Perhaps, moving around in the bushes of the forest surrounding the lake, a female mosquito or two, thought I was bringing their saviour and sucked up my precious blood. To them, its a case of life or death. To me, it was a case of lowering my blood pressure. Literally! Well, the LBP, that is, as the doctor said to me when I went to the clinic for the fever that somehow is still lingering. Now, whether its the rain that has been falling incessantly every afternoon, or the mosquito bites that got to me, I have no idea as yet. But one thing for certain, they left me in a state of 'kemaruk'.
Except for meal times, I have been sleeping the fever off the whole of last Saturday and Sunday. And during the meal times, I have been eating a whole lot more than my normal diet! Even today, I'm still feeling sleepy all day long and have been eating more than I should. Talking of which, I have, for the past 3 days, been craving for a good 'ayam kampung', but the nearest around is in Ulu Subang Jaya, which the restaurant in my opinion serves the best 'Ayam Kampung' around. But since I am in no condition to even drive, it will have to wait till tomorrow or the day after. Well, the wait will perhaps serve to whet my appetite better when I do 'tapau' the food there. And though that may very well be, I'm afraid MB, my friend, will have to wait for another photo-shoot session before I can meet his expectations. Simple reasons being, while fidgetting around with Picassa, I accidentally deleted the entire folder containing the pictures taken using the Canon. Woe me. But, that ought not be a big problem.
The other night when I was with our bro MS - back on a short break - he was teaching me about the big picture in photography. Sheesh! And here I was, taking up a long lost interest (30 odd years long), and finding it a totally different picture than when I learnt and thought than. And the only real reason for doing so, was my frustration at not being able to take close-ups of pictures at events which I had covered, either with LKKPP or webtv8. Thus, when MB commented using 'artistic outlet', believe me, that came quite as a shocker and realisation as well, as all I wanted to do initially was take pictures especially at events. But no sooner after that, I found the interest to take pictures of the natural world, without any thought about them being 'artistic' at all. Guess, I now have to refocus my thoughts accordingly. As MS mentioned, I now have to think objetively. Points, well taken. Thank you MB and MS, for you honest opinions.
Now, as for my putting up the pictures in my blogs, it was also initially meant for the events. After covering many events without still cameras at hand, it was getting bloody frustrating. And when there was - my brother's Olympus compact camera - it was not sufficient. Then my itchy fingers put up pictures captured by the Canon, only to find I was sorely missing certain things - the skills needed! That, is a big 'Boyo!' Oh well...that's Aje for you.
Don't matter, a fighter never quits...they just get knocked out! Hehe...nah. InsyAllah, I intend to pursue this. InsyAllah, I will be better. And when I do, year from now, I can look back at these earlier pictures and laugh out loud. By the way, as it is, I am beginning to. Especially with the picture of the Toman. No, not because its well taken, but I found out that many regular visitors to the lake have never been able to even glimpse at it.
With the folder gone, I may down but certainly far from out.
I'm beginning to feel like the village fool, I am. Not for any reason, but it suddenly dawned on me that its a rather stupid thing to be putting up the pictures I've been taking. Its like, I'm the only one who knows how to take a pretty picture or two. That, and the fact that its as though cameras are a real novelty when almost any Tom would have one. Some, even have two! And that does not include those expensive accessories they tot around with them, making Aje look like a bigger fool. But sigh...if I can't be Someone's fool (that is with a capital 'S', mind you), than at least I can be the camera's. And when you think about those fools who were fooling around with the people's money somewhere in Shah Alam, I'm not so bad after all.
I read somewhere but can't be sure where (now I'm not only a fool, but senile as well!), one of the Chief Executive Officers of a water supply company earns something like RM400,000 plus per month. I mean, that's like wow!
Had not the PR Selangor State Government's initiative to bring back the water supply under its control, the people could have been fooled further as there were plans (prior to March 2008) to increase the water tariff in the state, citing rising expenditure cost. Huh? OK, perhaps the CEO and the management team is asking for more perks which by the way, the monthly pay quoted above is not inclusive of any (perks). Its good that PR won. Otherwise, the CEO and his company, instead of providing service to the people of Selangor, were leeching them dry. Literally! Hmm...talking about leeching.
2 days ago, I went for a traditional medicine treatment in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. The treatment, quite similar to leeching (for medical purposes), and can be found within the annals of Islamic history. In trying to find a hadith for this, I instead found this blog here which some may find useful for them. This one and only entry in the blog, is dated May 2008, and it may be wiser for one to call the number there if one is interested.
Anyway, in wanting to rid of a childhood problem that has persisted, I was recommended to this 'AKUBEKAM' here. Nice set-up they have there, but I think I may need to go to another of their centre as I am not too comfortable with one of their consultants.
Now, I have had 2 'bekam' (blood letting or cupping) treatments before. One, was by a Chinese medicine man in Malacca but who has since migrated to Germany. The other, was by an elderly Malay gentleman in Ampang who was reputed to have been a Jungle Scout for our Army Commando units. And now with this latest, I found out that each have their own techniques as well as apparatus to treat patients. The recent treatment, despite the consultant mentioned, was far more pleasant than the previous two. And though I am feeling much better now, it was not so soon after the treatment.
After having drained a fair amount of blood from my body, I found myself woozy and soon as I got back home, took a nap. But upon waking up, I suddenly found I had a ravishing appetite that had me consuming more than double than my daily diet. Now that, is another thing which may prevent me from going for a follow-up treatment, as close friends may testify, for my physique, I really do not eat much at all! Unless, off course, the food is too good to be left alone by itself. But I guess, that pretty much is the same for almost everyone.
Back to the 'bekam', I am, trying my level best, to convince my Emak to follow suit to treat her rashes as well as her high blood pressure which of late, seem to affect her more often than before. Think I may have succeeded as she has agreed to go sometime next week. But knowing her, she may just pull out at the last minute. Sigh.
Lastly, as befitting the title of this entry, I do hope the song below bring smiles to listeners. Which reminds me, I do find the need to visit Pok Ku, and to listen to his collection of Eva Cassidy, a recording artiste I have been fortunate to listen to with courtesy of Pok Ku himself, off course.
I promised myself not to touch on political matter in this blog, and as best I can, I will live up to it. However, certain things need to be mentioned, but mentioned as a passing statement only.
Hidden in a corner of Kota Damansara, lies a park that may grow into a gem of a large garden, but only if the authorities concerned look well after it, and not let themselves be distracted with any financial gain this parcel of land may be offered for in the future. Though named 'Taman Rimba (something)', the 'rimba' part is slowly fading away already.
Surrounded by hills filled with natural flora and fauna (it was until mid 2007, a forest reserve), its beauty is now being marred with bungalow lots, of which some are of extravagant size. The job of contructing several of these bungalows within the area, has caused some damages already to the stream that flows down one of the hills and into a small lake.
Perhaps once pristine clear, the lake, was once a stopover for migratory birds which include, I was told, a stock of pink-coloured heron. Ever since clearing of the area began some years back, the herons have stopped coming. A sad affair, as it could mean that whatever bio diversity the birds brought along with them in their journey to escape the harsh winter of their origin, has now been put to a stop. The water in the lake is muddy brown and even have hints of rusty-red colour in it, a probable sign of metal poisoning. And this, in an area that was once designated as one of the few remaining water-catchment areas in Selangor, as I was informed by several people there.
Stepping into the park for the very first time, I naturally felt excited for the possibilities of shots to experiment with and gain some experience. But the park, being young, offers little chance for it. Or perhaps, I need much to learn. Apart from a small playground in a corner of the park, the only other sights that really catches the eye the brownish water of the stream, and a bungalow on the top of the small hill of the park itself. From there however, the view must be astounding.
Walking rather aimlessly in search of angles for my shots, I came to realise that except for the occasional shouts and cry of a child (perhaps in the playground), I was about the only human around. And apart from some beautifully coloured birds and swifts, the whole park is empty.
The moment when solitude sank in, had me thinking: Are parks not meant to provide a break from routine life for people and hence, increase their quality of life? Perhaps though, it was the timing of my venture. Later on the way out, I spoke to the security personnel, and was told that the park is normally visited in the late afternoon. If so, then there is still a future for life here.
I was at a friend's place earlier today, having been invited to view his new camera, a Nikon D90, which cost him more than RM10,000 together with a few accessories like 2 lenses and 2 other gadgets which I hardly know they existed prior to this.
Manan, an old primary schoolmate, has retired from the hustle and bustle of city life. Formerly attached to a bank in KL, he went into construction after grabbing the first Voluntary Separation offer that came his way, and laboured for a decade or so before deciding to call it quits, and is now into photography. For someone whose kids are all grown-up and wife still in middle management somewhere, I guess he can take it easy now. In contrast to him, I have not even started! (The family part is). The funny thing is, while my love for photography began at 12 (abandoned at 14), his started only some 3 years back. Back then in primary school when several friends and I pestered a teacher, Mr Tang, who was also the school's official photographer, to start a photography club, Manan opted out, for then, he thought picture taking is a stupid thing altogether and is only meant for sissies. Guess now, he outgrew that thought.
Anyway, the D90 is his 2nd camera with a Canon EOS 1000D being the first. Seeing the latter seem to have fallen out of favour with him, I managed to get him to lend it to me for a couple of days, just to get a feel of it, and found out that there's a mighty big difference between when I was in primary school and now.
Back then, my friends and I had to learn to use the old Yashica (top-view), which had 2 lenses built into it. We also learnt to develop the negatives into film, a process which is now outdated as the camera mentioned itself. But we had fun, both in the darkroom, as well as the camera, and learnt to appreciate certain shots which the technique I scarcely remember now. And when we entered secondary school, everything we learnt during the few short months with Mr Tang, faded away from memory, and in its stead, new adventures and hobbies discovered....till lately, off course. (Now, I would be lying to say that I've not had a camera in between then and now, but they were nothing fancy and were always the auto-focus kind. Then, there was the cheap RM5 Diana camera which is good only for 50shots or so; once used, it becomes disposable, literally).
Back to the present, the camera I am supposed to return in a couple of days time, well, I had some fun with it just now, experimenting with several shots, and off course, dreaming that I can be a good at it. Below, are 2 of the shots.
In this picture, I tried to create an 'aura' of the subject which is actually a pink rose. Shot against the streetlamp at its back, I was hoping that the colour of the flower would come to life. I failed. Evidently, I needed to use a macro lens to focus on the subject, as well as another which would blur out the background. Both, off course, was not loaned to me as they each cost more than the camera itself. Well, perhaps, in the next life I'll get to use the necessary. Till then, I do think this picture - were the equipment available to me - would look equally great in black and white.
With the light at my back thowing shadows of the plant of the same pink rose above on to wall of the mailbox, this was considerably an easy shot (I think), which perhaps, can be better with more knowledge and experience. The picture however, was cropped to the desired view and enlarged, which makes it rather grainy, or noisy, as I think the term or lingo is.
InsyAllah, tomorrow and the day after, I ought to be able to get more fun from this camera. Only that, I'll feel sad to return it back to Manan.
It lay between the sea and dry land, as if caught in a dilemma of going ashore (for good) or back to drifting on the currents of the open sea, which ironically, had the coconut drifted on perhaps, a journey more than a thousand miles from its home soil when it was torn apart from its bond to the tree that had been its family.
