NOT A BOY, NOT YET A MAN......

Well, as you ( the 2 or 3 regular readers of this space) might have presumed, I am going to write about Abang. Its a given. Everytime he came home for holiday, the story about him would  soon emerge here...After all, this blog is dedicated to them, Abang and Adik. ( feeble excuse really.....reality check: #1. I dont have anything interesting to write about . #2. I want to get Miss Auditor off my back...aiyaa, why do you have to check in here ever so regularly? and pressing me to update! I regret telling you about this blog...)

see, he had a cheeky smile on...

Anyway, Abang was home for just one week...and all of us couldnt get enough of him. This time around he arrived looking very relax, not tired or anxious as before. Looks like he's got used to long bus rides, Alhamdulillah.He said he slept all the way and ate well  at one of the stops, so he did not arrive famished as on previous bus journeys . He could even teased Mama upon seeing how excited Mama was when he arrived on our doorstep. Eyes twinkling,he quipped "Relax Ma..."

  We saw many changes in him indeed, not least the physical side. In the above pic, he stood on a step lower than Mama so that Mama could hug and kiss him comfortably.( As a matter of fact, my tall nieces/nephews/females cousins are all subjected to this kind of treatment from me when they want to bade farewell to me....)(hehe,sounds familiar kan cik auditor?)

And Abang has pimples now!! And kind of proud of them, much to my bewilderment...And he kept showing his biceps (haha)  and demonstrated to Adik what kind of exercises he does everyday to gain that. I wish Abang would grow a beard soon!!

Physical aspect asides, we are happy to notice that Abang's confidence level has raised quite a few notches up. Previously, only the three (or four if you count  the snotty cat in) of us are privy to his silly antics,even sillier jokes and ridiculous behaviour. Outsiders will only see a quiet, gentlemanly Mama's boy. He used to get tongue-tied when speaking to people and often reduced to silence when he couldnt find a proper answer to any questions.

Not anymore!!

Soon as he arrived, as usual Abah asked him to call Mak Tok, Ummi and other elders in our close-knitted family. Surprise, surprise!! We didnt need to coach him anymore! He asked the right questions, gave the right responses to enquiries....leaving Abah and Mama looking at each other with raised eye-brows and broad smiles....

The next agenda was  a visit to Tok Ayah Wahab's. Again, when we arrived, he needed no prompt from us to go directly to Tok Ayah. He even managed to ignore Aqim The Favourite Cousin !! Tok Ayah was as usual, sitting on his recliner. After the customary salaam and all, he proceeded to massage Tok Ayah's legs. We were like, WOW!!   When Tok Ayah asked him to recite a surah, he readily did it, attracting Mak and her children who were creating a ruckus in the living room to come gather and listened in.

Up until today Tok Ayah still talking about how good was Abang's recitation and keep saying Alhamdulillah. He even said that amongst his many grandkids, Abang and Abang Abdullah Zahid have the best voices. Hahaha...Yes,(soon-to-be-a-dentist) Abdullah Zahid has lovely voice indeed, having competed and won in many musabaqahs and nasheed in his school and college days. But the same cannot be said about Abang...He does recite beautifully, but good voice is not one of his attributes. Tok Ayah seems to forget that Hassan has a very good voice too.

When we next visit Tok Ayah Mustafa, the performance was repeated and got even better. When Tok Ayah asked him to recite, he asked Tok Ayah in what tarannum Tok Ayah wanted him to recite!! Adik went, "fuyyo, terernye Abang.....show off!!"

All in all, we were suitably impressed with Abang's more mature attitude.....

Then  came the Trengganu trip to visit Mama's siblings. First stop at Ummi's then to Cik Nini's and Ayah Ji's for he has just got a long-awaited son. The first one is in Jerteh and the latter in Kuala Trengganu and Kubang Bujuk. And what do we have in between? Yes, miles and miles  of inviting white sandy beach. 

And I got my boy again........

He has always loves sand. Everything else would cease to matter when he got his hands in the sand.

full concentration.....

 As for the little fashionista, she was more concerned  with her shawl.....Nowadays she spends a few more minutes more than usual in front of the mirror wrapping the shawl whenever we are going out. Now on the beach the wind was threatening to undo it ........

 Abah took a 40 winks...or maybe 100 is more accurate as I could hear a snore.

 Oh, what a relieve now that  I dont need to be right there under the sun anymore.....Ten years ago I would be sitting cross-leg covered with sand and drenched in perspiration
playing with you two...and mostly to make sure that Adik stayed out of water. Adik is always attracted to water as Abang is to sand.

                                    PEACE OUT.....

THE HEAT IS ON..... pt 2

Mama and heat are just not meant to be together...that explains why am I here again, filling the void as May is nearing its end. As usual, I'm not very good at giving titles to my entries,so just let me repeat the title for  last year's entry on the very same subject matter....Do not complain or I promise never to write again!! You better take heed as its not everyday you could read a blog entry from a clever cat like me...

Daily harvest from Mama's vege beds

May started out very-very hot, with no rain at all. Mama's enthusiasm for the kitchen garden died with all the crops. Alhamdulillah though, the effort was not at all futile, the family got to taste all the veges from the few harvests before the heat sets on.

 After a couple of weeks of hot spell, the rain came for a few days,  giving us much needed  respite....and Subhanallah, it was so refreshing. We could all really taste the barakah in that.....the air became cooler, new shoots sprouting everywhere and flowers started blooming. 

Brunfelsia blooms...(mama's garbage enzyme does help too)

Now, the heat is back on again to test the patience and to see how grateful some of us are over the other blessing showered upon us everyday by HIM. InsyaAllah it wont be long anymore before the next rain come...

Mama is a bit better this year. ( compared to last year that is...I'm sure my advice did play quite a role in this...). Yes, she still stay away as much as possible from the hot kitchen, but at least she did something quite useful. As for staying away from the kitchen, it was not a bad thing either. First and foremost, unlike me, she really doesnt need to eat three square meals a day....well, I dont have to spell it out clearly why it is so, do I? 

And Abah was not around most of time, away as external examiner in other university for those sitting for professional exams and aspiring to be doctors. And when he was back home, he was busy entertaining external examiners that came to HUSM.

As for Adik, now that she is a teenager ( and very conscious of that fact!) is forever watching what she eats...I'm quite sure Mama's behavior is affecting her's. Mak Tok is  always asking her to eat more rice...and Mama is always saying good eating habit must start early. I dont really  understand all these talk about basic metabolic rate, calorie requirement  and what nots that Mama has been explaining to Adik. So, I better not go into that. I dont need to  anyway, being  an individual with an ideal weight...hahaha..I can see Mama is green with envy over this statement!!!

Oh yes, I was saying about Mama doing something useful earlier and I almost forget about it...dont blame me! Its easy to forget because its not everyday Mama does useful things.  

The heat would keep her in the bedroom, forcing her brain to work  a bit , tap-typing away Malay translation of a book on Etiquette For Teachers And Students for madrasahs use. It was Ayah Chik Razif who gave her the chore seeing that Mama has so much free time and living her life like a madam tai-tai.( albeit not a wealthy one) He is supposed to do that but re- delegated the work to Mama. It is not that easy as the book was originally written in Urdu and then translated to English causing some original connotations to be lost somewhere . And the fact that it is dotted here and there with the Holy Verses and Ahadith that need accurate translation. Ayah Chik is always  a phone call away to guide as he has got lots of experience, having translated the Fadhai'l A'amal series when he served at Sri Petaling Madrasah few years back.

Exercise wise, unlike last year,she has been good this year. Reason, she found a "ladies only" gym. So there she goes twice weekly for a couple of hours doing cardio and strength training in air-conditioned studio. So, no excessive sweating or heat stroke or whatever excuses of last year's. Those strength training has proven good as I personally saw Mama clearing and digging up the vegetables beds with no complain whatsoever!! My Mama is no longer a lembek lady..yeay!! 

Abah is especially happy about this as he will have less chores to do at home. To encourage Mama more, he even bought a portable air-cooler and place it in front of the treadmill at home so that Mama could still use it on the days she doesnt go the gym. He 'incidentally' bought it on Mothers' Day...I must use the word 'incidentally' as Abah insists he does not celebrate birthdays,Mothers Day or whatever days. He said,giving gifts are simply sunnahs, thats the only reason he is so fond of giving gifts to Mama... and somehow the gifts are always the practical ones...I wonder why?? And oh ya, Adik got some hand-made chocolates for Mama on that day. Mama ate two of them and she finished the rest..... Practical too, isnt it? Hhemm, like father like daughter...

Anyway...that's all I can think of. Hopefully next month, you'll read Mama's entry and I dont have to write again until the next hot season. Abang is coming home on 4th June for a week, InsyaAllah...Please pray that Mama dont do anything stupid such as eating whatever Abang will eat in that one week and 'undo' the 3kgs she has lost in the gym.

Signing off,

Dr.M. Grey

ADIK...

Adik's name began with the capital A followed by a D, thus makes hers the first in her class roll-call. Somehow, there's no one named Abdullah or Abdul something in her class. Not only that, she seems to be the oldest too, being born in February. Weird, no one was born in January in her class...Well, its not a big class to begin with, being a private school and all.

Anyway, it boils down to Adik becomes the first to own an IC  in her peer group. And  believe you me , THE CARD is a BIG deal for a bunch of  12-year-old....

So, exactly on her birthday, which fell on  a school day, Adik nagged us to take her to the JPN, telling us that her school allows parents to take their children out during school hours for that purpose. Abah said to wait for a few days, until he is free to bring Adik. But, as we know, Abah's free time is about next to never....

To cut the story short, it was Mama who finally braved the rain to go to the JPN during the weekend so as to avoid parking problem and the queues...Its a good thing that the JPN opens on the weekends albeit for the first half of the day only.

It was an interesting day at JPN....first of all, we were allowed to drive through the gate and parked in front of the  Federal Building  itself...the guards being friendly since it was raining cats and dogs I guess, and its Friday anyway, meaning  only a small staff were at work, so there were lots and lots of parking space for the take. The lady who took Adik's picture was even friendlier as in offering to take another shot after noticing that Adik has dimples when she chatted  with Adik. So Adik sat on the chair again and smiled 'deeply' so that the dimples showed, haha!! All in all, Adik ended up with a very nice IC photo, a very far cry from Mama's first black and white ( yes, I'm THAT ancient!)12-year-old  IC photo.

So Adik, you are now officially an adult...as well as a 'baligh' teenager. Thus said, I think there are  a lot of things that are not 'blogable' about you anymore. What with respecting your privacy and more importantly, being a muslim girl, its not proper for you to be too exposed to the world.(as if the world is reading this!!)

And in September you'll be sitting for UPSR which you think is the most important exam ever!! Please forgive us for always trying to play it down when you were so agitated about it. We just want you to take it easy...we do understand how you feel to see all your friends attending tuition classes everywhere and you are not. But, really, you DONT need them. Abang didnt attend any during his time because he didnt want to miss solat with jamaat and look how Allah elevates his status now. He has memorised  10 juzuks of the Holy Qur'an  beautifully in such a short time. 

We do understand though, being ambitious, how frustrated you are over the fact that your school doesnt have aggressive revision program that normal schools carry out to ensure that their kids get all 'A's.  And knowing how private schools like yours do traditionally gets marked down....

  Your school  has never been aggressive in achieving academic excellence , preferring a holistically well developed child instead, which is why we chose it in the first place.

So Adik, fret not..all 'A's or no 'A's,wouldnt change the way we look at you. We are just happy now that nowadays you are more mindful of your wudhu' and solats, reciting daily surahs and  doing other 'amals more consistently as well as readily attending weekly taa'lim without any fuss.
As for housework, I cant be any happier now. You made up the beds exactly or even better than I do, able to cook simple meals and tidying up the house is almost a second nature to you now. 
Alhamdulillahi llazii bini'matihii tatimmu ssolihaat....

And Adik, we love you soooo much!! 

THE GARDENING MAMA

In continuing  with the effort to eat more healthily and be greener, I started, or rather, expanded our kitchen garden. The garden was already there since day one. Abah and me  planted the basic need of  Malay kitchen supplies the like of galangal,lemongrass, turmeric,pandan, various  kinds of lime,the beautiful edible torch ginger (bunga kantan), curry leaves and chives soon as we moved in. And a variety of ulams that we sow or just grow by themselves.I love the fact that I could just open our back door and cut/dig/pluck whatever amount I need for the dish I was making.

The chives has a special story on its own. I must tell you here lest I forget. It was originally planted by your late grandmother, Nik Noriah Nik Mahmood, loooong ago. When Mak Uda and family had their first home in Dato Keramat, Tok brought a clump from Kota Bharu and planted it there. Mak Uda has since moved to a few houses before settling at their current 3-storey abode in Subang Alam. The chives always moved with her. And I took it from her house (when she was living in USJ I think), because I like chives and because of the memories...Never have I look at  or use the chives without not remembering the woman who had affected my life in BIG ways...I really wish you two could have met her. Oh, now it has bring tears to my eyes....

But, I digress.

So, I consulted Maktok whom as you know, always have vegetables growing around her house. She makes it looks effortless to grow anything, be it veges or flowers. She came over accompanying Tok Ayah  on his scheduled follow-up at the hospital and give me valuable pointers. She said I need raised beds and showed me how to do it. Well, Maktok is 30 years older than me but errr...I am a bit ashamed to admit that she fares a lot better than me at hoeing. It left me breathless after a few swings...(left me wondering how could it be when I could easily work the treadmill for 30 minutes covering 3km quite breezily) So I stopped her and said I would continue later. 

Okay, another confession..I of course, asked our gardener to finish it ...and he thoughtfully made 4 rows of them raised beds. I could only fill 2 of them and asked the Pakcik to fill another two with tapioca as all of us are crazy over tapioca shoots.

Soon, beautiful plants just sprouted and I started calling myself a farmer,hehe... Cool mornings and evenings are now spent sowing seeds and hoeing weeds. 

The red okra that turn white upon steaming,much to my disappointment

The beginning of an angled loofah

Red amaranth that we shared with ulats

The beans that refuse to climb

I made organic pesticide using garlic,chilli , onions and soap and tobacco too...The internet is extremely useful here.You could choose any recipe that works for the pest in your garden.. I tried out quite a few before I hit the right ones. I found many helpful  gardening blogs too and I especially love this one.

 Abah is very helpful and full of support...Adik shows slight interest..hemm..and Abang, when he was home for the holidays enjoys eating all those veges including those he never likes before. He said they are tasty because Mama grows them...biasa lah anak lelaki I,pandai ambik ati!!

Then, I discover  garbage enzyme.

And I am experimenting on it too.

Freshly made...

One month later..

Cant wait to use and see the result...Please pray that it will work and we will soon harvest better produce...

WHEN WORDS DONT COME EASY...

Oh the chubbiness...

...just scanned some old photos and they came pouring in. Abang were 2+ and Adik were 3 months old...I had to bite my own hands on a daily basis to stop myself from biting you two...Seriously, both of you looked good enough I could eat you!!...and oh, the heavenly smell! I SOOO miss that. Abah swears that he could still detect some of those smell on you two even today...I somehow, fail to do that. (Told you, my olfactory system is super efficient especially in detecting bad odour....)

Perhentian Island 2003

To the beach, to the beach...
That was always the theme for our holidays of yesteryears. There were tons of our beach photos...but I just love this one best. We couldnt fish you two out of the water, so, the milk bottle had to go in to 'refuel' Adik....

My most favourite photo ever

Late Spring 2002. I just loved  the way the neighbours's nasturtium flowed over  to our side of  wooden fence.....

First bus ride

We just got back from Sydney and realised that you two have been on planes, trains , boats and every other single moving vehicle except bus! The perfect opportunity came when the Paediatric Department chose Trengganu as the location of that year's Family Day and a bus was made available for it. Abah followed on his car as  he guessed it correctly that both  of you wanted the car ride on the way back.

The must-do activity in hotel rooms

Jumping on beds....the highly sought-after activity that was totally banned at home. I figured out that most hotels have better, sturdy beds than ours, so I let you two jumps your heart out on them whenever we were in one. Okay, okay...I was a bad mother then, but this uncivilised manner was stopped when  you reach school age though.

Our months-old garden 

The making of a bully....

And it continues....

Abah was always trying to introduce traditional games to you...so when he found an 'upeh pinang' lying on a roadside, he took it home and showed you how to have fun on it...Adik enjoyed the ride (and bossing Abang around,as usual!) so much, and Abang , being Abang, obligingly and lovingly pulled and pulled...until the upeh torn.

The 'colgate' moment...

 I just realised that none of you has ever had 'rongak' days...your milk-teeth would only fall off when the permanent one was already in place ready to take over.Hemm, now does it not prove that I have done a good job taking care of your dental hygiene??  YES!!

Another favourite...

Read-aloud session

Abang began to take over the reading-aloud sessions as soon as he got the grasp on reading...oh, how relieved I was!! Adik couldnt get enough of  it and I couldnt cope...Thanks Abang!

Schools First Day

2004 Adik started at Kid's Excel and Abang started at SRI Al-Qari. Abah and me were not really keen on letting Adik start that early ( we still believe best early education starts at home), but Adik, you were very insistent...partly because you wanted to be like Abang, attending school. We were hoping you would be bored after a couple of months, but no such luck. You loved it to bits and still loves school until this very day.....


Oh for the memories....

ON BEING ENVIROMENTALIST........

So, its already 2011......and the talk of going green is everywhere. Caught some people by surprise too when they were denied the usual  free plastic bags in the stores nationwide on the new years's day itself. Not us though, Alhamdulillah, as we have started carrying our own reusable bags in both cars since last year. And early this year I have started putting some tupperwares too in the carboots for tapau purposes.

I took a green quiz ( yes, I do those kinds of things when I am  bored) and was told I am only fairly green..huhu..compared to these people that is. But to our close relatives and friends who visit our home regularly, I am the Green Woman...
They learn to put  waste in the designated receptacles to avoid listening to my little speeches of biological and non biological waste, bla,bla,bla....
Some do made fun of me over this..but, being utterly a good sport as always (ehem), I took them  all in  stride. 
Just recently, Tok Ayah Pa was hospitalised for heart ischemia and your uncles and aunties all balik kampung and  camped at our place. When they were gone and we tidied up the house, as usual, we discovered the few things  left behind. Adik, as usual,is very good at pointing out which stuff belongs to whom. So, amongst the things we gathered, there was this eerr... a tired-looking, well-used  nursing bra...and Adik guessed the owner. So, we called her and asked, she screamed and we laughed . And then, without missing a beat, she said; 

" Sis, dont bother keeping it , just toss it in your compost heap. That's my contribution towards your green effort". 

HAHA!!

Okay, so I'm not green enough, and will try to improve...but not to the extent of calling myself a greener or greenist... I think it is funny and kind of taking things a bit too far.  I would never bake  egg shells, blend  and feed them to the animals. I would rather just crush and throw them onto my inproper compost heap. ( yes, you gotta crush them, otherwise it'll be ages before they breakdown.) We dont want to consume more energy in the name of recycling, do we? And we definitely dont want to incur more cost in the names of going green. Some people even thought recycling is counter productive. 

So, I say, we do things in moderation, shall we?

We, as a family has agreed to be green in a practical and as natural a way as possible. And talking about natural, nothing can beat this;

meat wrapped in its own omentum, okra fresh from garden and  milk straight from the cow's udder.

In India, we noticed that people are naturally environmentally friendly. In wet markets,no plastic was used at all.Maybe out of poverty...but I saw many  ingenious ways of doing things that we simply dont do here. Wrapping meat in its own omentum( some kind of membrane) is a novelty to me. Though Adik said, she felt geli... 


And look at this bowl....

cleverly made out dried leaves

As they used two layers of them,post-eating, Adik put the outer dry layer on her head as hat!

 

Back home,we have  started using more of the induction cooker since learning that it is the most energy-efficient way to cook. By focusing  heat only on the pan  as it heats up via an electromagnetic field, it is able to cut down cooking time by 1/3.


And we shop nearer to home now to save energy needed to fuel the car and cut down pollution too. It helps a lot that the particular  mall provides oxo-biodegradable plastic bags for those err...green ignoramus.

We try to eat more fresh sardines (ikan selayang ya anak-anak). Apparently, environmentalists all over the world give this humble fish a super green rating due to the fact that  they are very sustainable species and are fished in environmentally friendly ways. Mature sardines  are able to spawn between 6 to 40 times a year, thus making them  able to rebound from overfishing. As a bonus, fresh sardine is rich in antioxidant and omega 3 fatty acid. As for their small soft bones, they are rich in bone-building calcium. Excellent source of vitamin B12 and D  as well as selenium too. And yes, protein of course...

Meanwhile, Abah's take on going green  is by practising more sunnahs in our daily life. Eating with fingers instead of using cutleries save on  water and dishwashing liquid. Ditto by eating together in one large plate . And having a simple meal while at that.  Use miswaak instead of toothbrush...no plastic is used  and totally biodegradable.( which reminds me to put a miswaak in my handbag to be used during ablutions on the go..psst, its one of my 1432H resolutions) And oh! the benefits of using miswaak...it needs an entry of its own. Luckily I found this site, so, go check it out....

And just so you know, Grey, as a member of our family, does her part too in this so-called green effort . How? By doing away with the litter tray and does her 'business' in the backyard... Good on you Grey!!

Caught in action!!

THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE.

We just got back from India after spending more than a week there, in Belgaum, Karnataka to be exact. And it turned out to be an experience of a lifetime for Adik...and a pleasant surprise for me.


I went  expecting the worse...Truth is, I have been to these parts of the world before and eerr...its not quite  my kind of things I would say. I was in fact, quite reluctant to go ...and, Adik, naturally sided with me. ( hehe...I am always a big influence to my kids, good or bad). Abah had to resort to some persuasive methods to make us agreed to go .
And then, Adik said, if we were going, she wanted the Indian train experience....and I dreaded it more!!  I read and read and read on Indian train over the net...And since I have had a preconceived idea about it, my mind played tricks on me and I saw only bad things!!!


So....
We touched down at Bengaluru airport and Adik was excited to find a man holding a board saying, ''Welcome Dr S and family....'' haha!! The airport was as good as ours and when we stepped out, the temperature was a nice 23C.I was like, 'oookay... this is nice'. Then, we hopped on the waiting car and listened to Abah chatting amicably with Mr Tajee. We wondered at how Abah could possibly understood him...Yes, he was speaking English , but we could only decipher less than 30 percent of what he was saying!!


A few minutes into the journey, as we were nearing the Bangalore town proper, we, or rather, I, had the scare of my life!! Needless to say, the rest of the journey was spent with closed eyes and constant prayer!! Driving on Indian roads are certainly not for the frail-hearted!! And oh, sounding horn IS a way of life here and a horn sound  could mean lots of things here...

you are a rude driver if you dont honk.....

We were taken to dinner at a hotel en route to the guesthouse, which turned out to be a newly and tastefully decorated serviced apartment and we were the first  to use it...As for the dinner, it  was awesome.

post-meal,they always give a bowl of warm water with a piece of lime for hand-washing n some spices combination for breath freshener

fancy pan cone wrapped in edible silver paper

 Adik got fascinated with a pan(sireh) stall in front of the hotel. It was amazing to see everybody including young and hip-looking youngsters just stopped, took a pan, popped it into their mouth and chewed away.

 The two 'servants' in the guesthouse wouldnt even let me put my drinking glass in the sink! By this time, I have started to like it here....And adik said,"Mama, its not bad at all..." in an accusing tone!

high-quality linen with low-low price!!

The next morning, we were taken to Commercial Street where I have to pinch myself to realise that I havent die and go to cotton's heaven!! Not to mention saree's....

Adik choosing materials for her salwar kameez

Evening came and off we went to the ''dreaded'' train station....but lo and behold! It was so clean that people actually sit in the open arena in small groups having a picnic while waiting for their trains. And no offensive smell whatsoever. The train was on time and we soon settled into our AC sleeper carriage. Again I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was so comfortable...Thick fluffy blankets, pillows and crisp white linen were handed in brown packets,freshly laundered. The journey from Bangalore to Belgaum where the university we were heading to located, took 12 hours. Adik said she felt like sleeping in a buai and was lullabied to sleep immediately and drawing the curtain, I soon followed suit. Abah woke us up for Fajr prayer and again I was so relieved to see that the  latrine was actually clean with no foul smell emitting at all. I had actually restrained myself earlier to avoid visiting it. All in all, I would say, Indian train beat ours.


Concerned friends have reminded us not to eat from street vendors and the likes, but we are a bunch of happy people by the time morning came and the sellers came aboard crying "garam chai, idlii,vada,pakora....!!" 

a standard breakfast fare of 1 idlii + 1 vada

 the bowls holding pakoras n sambar made from dried leaves...

We threw caution to the wind and enjoyed our breakfast while feasting our eyes on the views of  the ever changing landscapes.We especially love those fields full of purplish blooms of sugarcane plants.


Around 9 in the morning we reached Belgaum and after disposing our things at the dean's residence, we were chauffeured  to another round of shopping spree. Everything was cheap, cheap, cheap....We even made a suit of a salwar kameez each and the tailor charged us less than RM10 for one suit!!


The next day, Abah started working and as the good Prof left for Malaysia during the night,  we have the house to ourselves. Waited upon by not one but three servants!!(they actually made us uncomfortable with their self-imposed inferior behaviour). Read here.  Adik and Mama took looong walk every morning to burn out those calories from all those lovely foods we consumed. 
 Abah walked to the office too despite having the driver. The campus is nice, with lots of old shady trees and very clean.

 We also walked to the alleys of small shops and bought veges sold at the roadsides.It was like in the old 60s Malay movies. They still use the old scales to weigh stuff.

And of course we did not miss the chance to experience the auto riding.
 

Adik enjoyed the ride, not me though..its too dusty n scary!!

Everyone in the university was very nice to us. The honourable director himself came to see us and took the trouble to make sure our stay was thoroughly enjoyable.He insisted that we took  a guided tour to the historical Goa. 

Inside Goan Museum

@ the Goan beach with Dr Reshma

The two tourist guides were none other than the lovely Dr Vidhya and Dr Reshma. I gained lots of knowledge talking to them.And they spoiled Adik with attention and gifts!!

We are glad we went....Alhamdulillah. We asked from Allah and He made everything easy and nice for us. We were spared from bad experience others have had.

If there is any regret at all, it is due to the fact that Abang couldnt be with us. But never mind Abang, InsyaAllah, you will be travelling the world as a dai'é of Allah very soon.

In his quest to be fair to both of you, all the expenses spent on Adik for any holidays, Abah would put the same amount in Abang's account.
So, at the moment, Adik maybe richer in experience than you Abang....but you are richer in RM!!