Kagum

Have we ever wondered why people seem to achieve many things in life successfully? What qualities do they have that make them where they are now? While looking from the bottom-up, our achievements are really modest, nothing near them.

I happened to discuss one recently, with the other half. A lecturer, who is a full fledged professor, a mechatronic engineer by profession, is an awe to all his students. What is it that makes him so special and a shooting star in his department? He has no problems with his colleagues. Yet, most would entrust him with roles that demands higher moral responsibility. He loves teaching and doing research, and accepting administrative job is not something that he wants. But he accepts reluctantly.

He is as calm as flowing stream, consistently sangfroid when facing adversities. Most importantly, he does not complaint while planning away on how to overcome the problem.

One quality for sure is he is a sensible workaholic. He works diligently, shorten his lunch time, breaks only for a sip of water or coffee when he needs a break, before resuming his job. His focusing power is tremendous. Distractions do not sway him off his path of determination. He is a tough disciplinarian in his own. Let me go briefly on his working hours.

He wakes up early at 3 am everyday to start work. By nine am, he is at the office already. At five, he would stop all work, and heads home. He will break for a short nap if he feels tired. If not, he will play with his children, and helping his wife out in the kitchen preparing for dinner. He is a family man too.

Though a workaholic, he still insist on going to the KLCC every weekend. It’s a ritual. He would bring along his children and wife to spend time with them. Not that he has an exhaustive list of shopping to do or a shopaholic by any measure, but he is just being appreciative of the awe inspiring engineering might of the twin tower. Such is the expression of love when one is passionate about the meticulous subject of engineering. Learning and teaching the subject is cliché in showing interest. But, by just stopping and staring in admiration is so simple yet fulfilling for him.

Dedication does not stop there only. Never once did he ever raises his voice to students. Never once did he ever condemns lassitude students. Instead, words of encouragement are offered for he knows that each individual has got his or her own troubles to deal with. Like himself, education never comes easy when money is a big issue. Thrifty livelihood that nearly succumb him during his student days in Japan taught him a lot on understanding his students. Students can careen to one side, but it is the sturdy keel and mast that kept them afloat fending against unforgiving storms of education. That brought them to this stage, where the survived fetus will head for real challenges in the world. Teachers provide the wind to stabilize it and guide it to where the treasures will be.

Yet, even in a prime institution, so called teachers  failed to attend to such sublime pedagogue. Probably it is unheard of to them. Most if not all, will show abominable ethics of a sycophant. Poignant.

But today, this man is no more walking this earth. While we may mourn his loss, the accomplishments and his fine attitude in life is exemplary. He appreciates his every blessings gotten over a short period of time he has on this earth to those around him - his wife, daughter, son, parents, his professors and not forgetting his students - by reciprocating in thankfulness.

May Allah SWT be pleased with you, sir. Even if I have never known you before.

Crimes

As Salam..

The crime index has reduced by 15% last year. Street crime index, on the other hand reduced by a staggering 38%. Those figures look nice on papers. It is promising and full of hope. Lets hope that it is a reflecton of a candour and ernest effort to reduce crime in Malaysia. 

What has been reported in the newpaper lately is quite worrying. Mad folks splashing acid, underground folks trying to lure new members into their clandestine movements via social networks, conmen on the prowl, drug mules among Malaysians. The list, especially new crime unheard of in the past is getting exhaustive. It is worrying, although the statistic is giving a light of hope.

Criminals are always devising their tactics. They seem never to run out of ideas. Their methodologies are in a state of flux. Could it be that the victims are more gullible? Victims seems to fall prey easily to these vampires. Ever wonder why there are still victims being sexually abused by the bomohs? It seems impossible to fall prey, as news on crimes revealing their modus operandis are always being uncovered in the newpapers. Do the victims even read newpapers?

Being precautionary is not trying to frighten everyone and keeping ourselves out from the street. Even being at home can be dangerous as in the following email that I received today. These intruders dare to disrupt the peaceful sanctity of our own abode.

Kejadian 2, 3 hari lepas. Kegiatan samun di sekitar SP. Lelaki 20an (2 org) meny...amar sebagai staff TNB dgn berjeket TNB, membawa file dan dokumen TNB. Lelaki berkenaan cukup pandai berbahasa dan cuba mencari jalan utk memasuki halaman rumah mangsa dgn beralasan seperti utk memeriksa meter letrik dan sebagainya. Setelah berada di halaman rumah mangsa, lelaki berkenaan akan mencari jln utk memasuki kedlm rumah mangsa seperti menyuruh mangsa mengambil bil TNB, IC dan sebagainya (supaya mangsa masuk ke dlm rumah).

Setelah mangsa berada di dalam rumah, itu adalah kesempatan mereka bertindak ganas. Mangsa target mereka adalah wanita surirumah sepenuh masa. Aktiviti mereka adalah di siang hari sewaktu kebanyakan orang keluar kerja. Sama sama lah berwaspada dan spread this news.

Berita terselit____________________

BANDAR PUTERI JAYA – Seorang suri rumah terpaksa bergelut dengan dua penjenayah apabila mereka menyamar sebagai pekerja Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) untuk membuat pemeriksaan dan penukaran meter yang dikatakan akan diselaraskan ke semua rumah dalam kejadian kira-kira 10 pagi Selasa lalu.

Mangsa, Siti Aishah Murad, 41, dibelasah dengan teruk selain dipijak di bahagian dada dan dicekik oleh dua lelaki sebelum melarikan dua rantai dan gelang emas yang membawa kerugian hampir RM10,000.

Menurutnya, ketika itu dia bersama anak lelaki, Mohamad Nazim Mohd Zubir, 9, baru sahaja masuk ke dalam rumah sebaik selesai kerja menyapu halaman.

“Sebaik keluar dari tandas, saya ternampak seorang lelaki memberi salam dengan memakai pakaian seragam TNB meminta kebenaran masuk ke rumah untuk memeriksa meter.

“Setelah memberi kebenaran untuk masuk ke dalam, lelaki berkenaan meninggalkan motosikalnya di luar rumah dan menyuruh saya membawa bil elektrik serta kad pengenalan untuk diperiksa,” katanya.

Siti Aishah berkata, sebaik sahaja keluar semula dengan membawa dokumen yang diminta, datang pula seorang lagi lelaki dengan memakai baju T berwarna kelabu.

“Pekerja TNB ini kemudian menjelaskan bahawa rakannya akan membuat penukaran meter pada sebelah petang sebaik sahaja selesai pemeriksaan,” katanya.

Menurutnya, secara tiba-tiba, kedua-dua lelaki berkenaan mengheretnya ke dalam rumah dan memijak dada, mencekik leher dengan kuat dan menyepak bahu kiri dan kanan.

Katanya, pergelutan itu bagaimanapun disedari Nazim yang berada di bahagian dapur.

“Saya meminta Nazim melarikan diri dan menyuruhnya meminta bantuan jiran.

“Mungkin disebabkan takut, kedua-duanya melarikan diri apabila melihat saya tidak bermaya. Namun, ketika itu saya boleh mengejar mereka sehingga ke jalan raya,” katanya.

Siti Aishah berkata, jiran hanya menyedari kejadian sebaik sahaja diberitahu anaknya namun, tidak sempat membantu kerana kedua-dua lelaki itu sudah melarikan diri menggunakan motosikal.

Menurutnya, dia mengalami trauma akibat kejadian itu dan sudah membuat pemeriksaan kesihatan di Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim Sungai Petani.

“Saya menasihatkan kepada orang ramai supaya berhati-hati dengan individu tidak dikenali,” katanya.

Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Muda, Asisten Komisioner Hashim Ali ketika dihubungi mengesahkan ada menerima laporan mengenai kejadian itu.

Anyway, just make sure that nothing is taken for granted. We are human, and human are fallible. Triple check if we are unsure of our second check. This is the 21st century where technology is advanced. So do crimes.

God Bless Malaysia.

What's in a name?

Do we still remember the time when we were in school? For most of us, it was a time when everything was challenging and interesting at the same time. These challenges that came our way makes life enriching. Those challenges, ends us in different plateforms. We can win envy and vaunted by our friends and school for achieving success. We can also be despised and taunted for a failed attempt. Name calling and unusual epithet will stick with us. It will be a point of reference, years later when we meet an old school friend in the most unusual places, just to confirm that we are really that person whom he or she has a historical records stashed somewhere in the dusty archives of his or her mind.

Hey, do you remember Vicki the Specky?  What about Fatty Bob? What about the teachers pet, Liam? Some where or another, each of the person in that class were tagged to remind us of them of the things they did, or love to do or just plain peculiar to that person.

Name calling just not end there and then. If you look into our own parliament, animal references are often made to a parliamentarian who depicts similar traits from the animal kingdom. As a reminder, those (the name callers) are the very people who were chosen to represent the rakyat. They are adults for goodness sake. Shouldn’t adults be better than kids? I recalled a statement from an old teacher of mine. "Behave like an adult if you want to be treated like an adult". I guess, those were the days when adults can be good examples.

What urged us to name calling another person? It can be funny at times. But the victim may not be happy to hear it, especially if it was the result of other people's angst.  If the name calling is a vaunting one, it will be left at that, probably be made as one's motivating factor.

It is degrading to be called in a lowly manner.  Some people may say, "so that he knows the type of person he is". Aha, that's the reply from an employee or subordinate when you point out the unnecessary name calling.   It could be true to a certain point. It depends again on how the other person will react to it. Positive thinking person would take it in stride, and adjust accordingly for the better. A short fused person may retaliate, and the initiator  could have his days numbered.

This brings up another topic, it may or may not be related to the ramblings above. How do we tell a person that there is some habit of him or her that is not favorable? The thing is, it is not personal, and more of other colleagues are having similar problems with him or her. There are quiet small talks on the ground behind this colleague's back. It isn't nice that way, to be involved in office politics. But, really, someone need to inform him or her . Offending or not, at least it is out of the system, and we all do not have to endure this guilty conscience again - though it may feel good. We need to save ourselves from committing sins! Sins from name calling!

Pass an anonymous stick it note on his desk? Email anonymously? Is there anything more subtle  than that?  "ahhh...! Tell it straight to his face!" the dare devil advocates. Gasp! Palms starting to get sweaty, the sensation of the heart beating just gets noticeable. "No way! Are you crazy?" I can hear my self in monologue. Imagine how huge and green he will turn into! His pectoralis will rip through his Langford tee and scare half of the staffs here!

Perhaps, it is better left alone. Just some day, the chance will come and he or she will be told.

Much ado about eggs!

In the last 2 weeks, it has been a busy one. The world was centered onto the royal wedding of Kate and William. In the local front, Malaysians have been passionate about food again. The debate that erupted has been, if the nasi lemak should be banned from the school canteen. When translating from Malay to English, nasi lemak means "fatty rice". It was of no wonder that the ministry of health, headed by a nutritionist itself called for a ban to sell nasi lemak  in school canteens. The belief was that the nasi lemak caused obesity among the school going children in the country.

There are many arguments on the cause of obesity among school children. In fact, here, in Malaysia, we have mixed nutritional problems to handle. The obese ones and the malnourished ones. City kids have always made up the bigger proportion of those being overweight and obese. While village children made up the most proportion of the malnourished group. There was a study that mentioned that obesity too affects the poor. The reason was, the poor has a social condition of food insecurity. Food insecurity leads to the poor to buy anything cheap just "to get something on the table". High energy food rich in carbohydrates is the easiest to obtain. What ever food there are on the table, the whole family will engorge, so to speak, and finish up the food, thinking that the next availability of food on the table will be days away. Without realizing this habit that have developed within them, it became a fuel that cause them to put on weight, with dire effects on their health.

I was on a casual conversation with friends from Palestine and Nigeria. Basically updating on our research works and sharing some thoughts that interest us. A brief break from the usual. One of the topics was eggs. Eggs seems to be ubiquitous around the world. Some of us are having it regularly on a daily basis, that we never think it would be depleted some day. This commodity is so common that in KB itself one can buy eggs at every 100 meters on the main road. Eggs are cheap. It contains adequate number of nutrient to feed an adult. In a community with a nutrient deficiency, the deficient nutrient can be fed to the hen. The eggs laid by the hen will contain more of the deliberately introduced nutrient. Since the taste and colour of the eggs do not change much, it remains acceptable to the community with the deficient nutrient, at the same time, treating their deficiency. Back in his country, adding more iron to bread for iron deficient pregnant mothers did not succeed. The enriched bread tasted different, and the stool that came out was black (due to the iron content in the bread). Naturally, the enriched bread became unacceptable to the target group.

The cholesterol content of an egg is enough to meet the daily RDA for cholesterol in an adult. Despite this fact, there were no conformity in research works to  blame eggs as causing high cholesterol levels in man. It has been a food taboo all this while. Mr Palestine showed us a study that showed an inverse correlation between the consumption of egg and hypercholesterolaemia. Surely, it does not mean that we have given us more allowance to eat more eggs!

Talking about pregnant mothers, we agreed that poor nutrition during pregnancy can lead to later problems to the unborn child. Some of it includes poor IQ levels and even ADHD. Structural problems to the brain too can manifest as a result of poor nutrition. Between taboo and scientific reasoning, it may be true. Diminished folic acid levels in pregnant mothers increases the risk to develop spina bifida in the newborn. This was proven.

One thing leads to the other. Talking on kids with sluggish mentation, Mr Palestine shared that from where he came from, the doctors gave pure omega 3 fatty acid to these kids. As a result, their IQ levels improved and their learning curves steepened. Really, we were fascinated with how food can exert its effect if put into full use. The adage "we are what we eat" seems to hold more truth in itself.

Getting involved in this culinary discussion, I asked if lamb was better than beef. I have came across a claim that mutton was nutritionally better than beef. My well read Palestinian friend said, in a hadith, a Jew lady was preparing lamb for the prophet, as lamb was the prophet's favorite. She purposefully added poison in the lamb to poison the prophet to death. It did not work, although the Prophet did fell sick. It stopped at that. I do not wish to elaborate something I am not familiar with or doubtful and lacked information. Probably, that supported the fact that lamb is good, seeing that it did neutralized the poison laced in the lamb.

Another interesting taboo about eggs. Mr Palestine came across a journal article in the web, talking about taboos of eggs in Nigeria. The author described the increased risk of being a thief if one consumes too much egg. This view was quickly repudiated by both of us. There is no scientific explanation for such claims. Nevertheless, food taboos and its implication to culture do occur in parts of the world. We just have to respect them as part of their culture and not to detest it.

In the end, we conclude that moderation is the key to answer all problems caused by food. Food too must be eaten in varieties and colours. Monotonous consumption on a type of food can reduce the variety of nutrients needed by us and bring about boredom in our eating pattern. As for the obese epidemic, nothing is better than to keep moving and be physically active.