Monday, September 16, 2013

Cerita Merdeka & Hari Malaysia

This is a story about honesty. About friendships. About life in Malaysia and how blessed I am to be a Malaysian. I love my country in all her flaws and imperfections, but it is perfect for me.

Story #1: The lost and return

On Merdeka day, I lost my purse at The Mines, most probably at the baby changing room because I was in a hurry to go to the toilet. After changing Khadeeja and strapping her to the stroller, my husband showed up and I hurriedly asked him to 'look after stuffs' and went off to the toilet.

Us happily posing at The Mines before the missing purse incident

Yes, yes, I know. This is my second time losing my purse. Perhaps because I'm not working now (hence hardly paying out of my own purse!), I have become careless when it comes to looking after this one possession which used to be so precious to me.

Then again, there's the tedious process of replacing all my bank cards, my student card and most importantly my identification card and Khadeeja's. Darn. Nowadays citizens who lost their Mykad have to pay penalty of RM100 for each time they lost their Mykad. I've lost mine for the second time, so that means I have to pay RM200. Plus Khadeeja's Mykid. So that's RM300+ just to get a new Mykad and Mykid. That's excluding my driving license (RM20, plus I have to take photos for the new license), my bank cards (RM12 each to get new ATM cards), and… what with the new semester coming up next week. Serve me right for being careless!

Right away, I blocked my ATM cards and credit cards. So it was just a matter of making a police report so I could proceed to JPN to get new Mykad. Everything revolved around Mykad. My bank cards could only be issued once I have Mykad. I could only pay my semester fee once I have my credit card. Can you see the link here? Pfft.

So today, as I hurriedly got ready to go out to make a police report, my phone (thank God I didn't keep it in my purse!) rang. It was Khayla's teacher. I answered the call and breathlessly told her I was in a hurry so could I return her call later? She quickly cut me and said, 'No, no. I'm not talking about Khayla. I just want to ask whether you've lost your purse at The Mines yesterday? Because a Malay guy called me up and said he found your purse and wants to return it to you.'

I was elated! So this evening, we met up at Putrajaya and the guy came with his family (wife and two young sons). He gave me the purse with everything intact. According to him, he saw the purse at the changing table, and was in a dilemma whether to leave it there (thinking that maybe we would realise it missing and come back to the room again), or to keep it safe. He finally opted for the second decision as he noticed the purse contained Mykad and Mykid, which would be dangerous should it fall in the wrong hands. He also tried calling all the numbers he could find in the purse (the membership cards, not so helpful unfortunately), and finally found a receipt from Khayla's school, which is how he ended up calling u Khayla's teacher.

We strongly insisted to give duit raya to their sons (which they strongly refused but somehow we won). They did not expect us to give them anything for their honesty.

Terima kasih En Mohd Faizal, kerana masih lagi meyakinkan kami bahawa rakyat Malaysia masih ada yang jujur dan amanah :)

Khadeeja with the returned purse, in front of Masjid Putrajaya

Story #2: Lunch date with Mr & Mrs Chen

It's been more than a year ago since we last met at the hospital where I was being treated for severe dehydration due to morning sickness. My dear friend, Jen was also pregnant and suffering from morning sickness but she came nonetheless, the two of us miserable with our pregnancy state. Hehe.

Fast-forward a year later, she has arranged for a lunch date together, to meet each other's little ones who were responsible for our sorry state back then :p Khadeeja and Wei Ying were born only 3 days apart but they were so different in terms of size! Khadeeja were the more petite one, weighing only 6kg+ because she can't keep still and forever moving around, while Wei Ying is a healthy 9kg 8 months old.

We had our lunch date at Lazis restaurant in Mont' Kiara. In a Middle East restaurant, a Chinese couple and a Malay couple sat together having lunch and catching up on each other's news. Later, our kids played together and laughed with each other:

Jen carrying Khadeeja, yours truly carrying Wei Ying (even tho WY heavier, but less tiring than carrying a hyperactive Khadeeja!)

Khadeeja sayang Wei Ying who also chuckled in delight

Khayla and Wei Jiun running all over the restaurant, copying each other's antics!

At the end of the lunch date, Wei Jiun asked his mom whether he could follow Khayla in our car. Hahaha! The innocence of a small boy…

We may be different in skin colour, race, culture and religion but we agree that our kids are lovely and the nasi briyani (which was their treat this time!) was simply delicious!

Story #3: Meeting My University Best Friend

A couple of weeks ago my best friend was in KL so I decided to spend the day with her, doing girly stuffs which I had not done for a long, long time!

We had lunch, then shopped (me for my baby's stuff, she for a lot of people in her family including herself!) and finally ended up in i-City, camwhoring like crazy:

Camwhoring at the mamak

Camwhoring at i-City with Khadeeja

Konon-konon nak buat simbol 'love' tapi tak jadi!

Advance Christmas postcard shoot, kata Agatha

Over delicious tea at SACC Mall, we discussed about how her marriage to a Catholic guy will shape her kids' life (whether they will be baptised and raised as Anglican Christian in their mother's faith, or her husband's). Later at the hotel (she begged us to stay over since her room is really huge!), she offered a place for us to pray, but we declined out of respect even though there is a sign showing the qiblat direction in the room.

There is no such things as taboo, because we respect each other's religion, and we understand where our similarity in faith meets, and where it ends.

Dear Allah,

Thank you for making me a Malaysian, for giving me the opportunity to meet multi-racial friends, for surrounding me with honest people, and for the peace and little pleasures that we more often than not, taken for granted.

Alhamdulillah. May the common things among us precede our differences, and our differences complement rather than be a source of dispute among us.