Refugee of the world, are we not?

1.
20th June - World Refugee Day.
One of the races that's has been in this country as refugee would be the Myanmar tribes. Vietnamese and Cambodian would also be common faces to Malaysians. Many this are left untold about these people, except the text that are publish on the media locally. The untold truth would remains the untruth to the masses and not really a matter that concern them.
Not unless one day they woke up and find themselves wearing the shoes similar to those of these refugees, on a foreign country, unwelcomed by the locals, literally, struggling to survive, fighting for what they are being denied back home. A struggle that seems endless but nobody seems to care.

2.
At about 7am, after a good breakfast and morning chat from 630am, with a group of buddies I went for a street shooting to day. Though I could not get the one shot that I wanted, I got the secondary shot....and an interesting experience. We heard somebody shouting for help from a distance and after a short while a Vietnamese refuge came out from an alley holding his head, bleeding.Pha Mun Tai, was pulled by a group of Myanmar and forced to surrender his belongings. He lost Rm300, and lotsa blood.

Passers-by were stunned and literally did nothing. Mun Tai then tried to contact his friends but everybody were busy today. We helped Mun Tai by applying whatever emergency rescue steps that we are familair with and a few minutes after the incident we were lucky to have a police car on duty passing by. We stopped the car and the officers called for an ambulance. Immediate treatment was done on location before Mun Tai was taken to a hospital for furter treatment.

Imagine What if we are in his shoes instead?

Pha Mun Tai - A Vietnamese refuge, was walking pass a small alley in Kuala Lumpur when he was pulled by a group of Myanmar refugees and forced to surrender his belongings. Hit with long sticks, he managed to escape. Pha lost Rm300, and lotsa blood.

~ Khairil F. Jamian/ CHAPs, Malaysia

Keep On Moving

<- My two buddies, on the left is A.dli Ghazali (A.G.) and the one behind the iBook is Rahman Roslan (Rahman). When it comes to pursuing one's passion, I think I am blessed to have a group of buddies who support each other regardless what level of achievement every single one of us are at. Regardless which age generation we were born. Yeah we have our disagreement and all but it is part and parcel of the synergy to move forward and onwards. At least between us there is no back-stabbing, denying one's worthiness, taking credits of others' works & contribution.... Humble. Passion. Discipline. Helping each other all the time, all the way. Something that would be quite a mystique in an organization, I would say.

Teotihuacán

Teotihuacán...in Nahuatl it means "The City of Gods...or "Where Men Became Gods". Since I was 12, I have been amazed by the ancient civilization of the Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayas, Incas...the South Americas. One day - on my 3rd month of retirement, after spending the first 2 months in Maghribi - I'll find myself photographing & documenting these marvelous ruins...insyaAllah...a friend of mine, a Peruvian wind-instrument artiste living in KL, promised he'll help me with my intent, he used to be tour guide to Machu Pichu...by that time I could already afford some Leicas in my bags too...insyaAllah.

I can't wait to retire....but not until my kids are able to live on their own.

..enjoy the Teotihuacán - by Noel Gallagher of Oasis, for The X-files Soundtrack.

Cendol and Rojak

Since my childhood days, I have been eating (drinking?) cendol. The best would be to have rojak mee with cendol. Perfect match.....and my kids seems to fancy the idea too. From time to time we'd go out for rojak & cendol but I have to make sure the gravy ofthe rojak is not too spicy for the girls - Naufal is ok with spicy & hot foods.
We tried the famous cendol of Haji Wahab's near our rumah pangsa recently. The kids love it so much and they fondly name the place "kopitiam cendol" ~ because the tables & seats are kopitiam style!

On the last day of the school break, we did the pool all out...after which, the kids were complaining that they are hungry! Their appetites are really amazing...kuat makan siut...and they wanted to go to....Kopitiam Cendol! Ahahaah!

Sadly, it was late in the evening and they have to prepare for school wake up early (today la tu)....so, no Kopitiam Cendol for them....maybe this weekend, insyaAllah...

Those who has not tried Haji Wahab's Cendol shoud give it a try.
The taste is superb, the quality is consistent.

Priorities-2

1.
This would be my second day with the kids on their mid-year school break. With the present condition I am in, I could not afford (Rm, time & energy factors lumped together) taking them for proper holiday so I have to ask them what they'd like to do for the day and try to meet their expectations as much as possible.

At their age - 6 & 3 - it is quite easy to satisfy their expectation. Even though it is easy,I have started educating them to appreciate what they have and what poorer others don't have - NOT what richer others have and they think they also MUST have - too much of that at the Zoo previously: sikap tamak haloba & lupa daratan. Al-maklumlah....ramai sangat orang kampung masuk bandaraya sampai lupa diri nak berlagak mcm modern-urban-being - makan pun kena tempat ada kelas & berair-conditioned, padahal masa time tak berapa ada pangkat dulu sikit punyer ngeri ke bila kawan ajak pi makan kat level 4 Suria pun....sanggup cross jalan berpanas makan kat tempat murah, frequent by orang yg tak perpangkat (ataupun yg berpangkat tapi tak pernah lupa daratan!)....nak buat camana, time tadek pangkat dulu stylo tapi sengkek cover baek punyer - style kena jaga beb, sengkek kena cover!!

Anyway, back to that value I tried to coach my kids - I realized, it's working, Alhamdulillah...today on our way back from KLCC the kids decided to have roti canai as lunch (nothing wrong with that,as far as I am concerned....), when Neena spotted a signboard of Wangsa Walk:

Neena: Ayah! Look, ada Sushi King (logo)
Me: Mana.....ohooo yes yes,pandai Neena.
Neena: Ayah, Neena nak makan Sushi King?
Me: Eh! Tadi Neena kata nak makan roti canai kan?
Naufal: Ha ah laa Neena, kita makan roti canai laa, Sushi King mahal la.
Me:*Giggling* OK, kalau nak makan Sushi King kita tunggu Mama ada sekali (Mama had to go to office today after almost 10 days working from home) ok Neena?
Alisya: Kita tunggu Mama ada sekali la, Mama tak ada tak best la pergi Sushi King.
Me: Ha'ah...nanti Mama ada kan, dia boleh blanjer kita kan kakak?
Alisya: Ishhh..Ayah ni kan....Mama mana ada duit lagi...
Me: Ehh...Mama tak ada duit duit ke Kakak?(Trying to sound surprised)
Alisya: *Giggling* Ehh....Mama ada duit laaa, dia simpan dalam kocek seluar dia laa...apalaa Ayah ni....heheheh!!
Me: So, Neena, camana ni...nak makan apa?
Neena: Neena nak makan roti canai saje lah....
Me: Ok...kita makan roti canai...
Naufal: Naufal nak roti canai dgn kuah dal & pedas (this dude kuat makan pedas considering he's only 6)
Neena: Neena nak kuah dal sahaja...
Me: OK ok...let's go...

Though they know Sushi King quite well, they also know it's not something that we could do everyday - expensive to a certain extend, to my kind of income at least. Once a month only we'd allow them McD, KFC and Sushi King....


2.
....and today it's A&W's "turn" as far as "allowed amount of fast food per month" is concerned.
After spending almost 2 hours at the playground, the kids has emptied the plain water I packed in the 1L Sigg Bottle. So I took them to A&W for a treat - Strawberry smoothies for the girls, Mango+Banana smoothies for Naufal, & "slurm" (root beer float) for the dad!
After waiting for 10 minutes - no smoothies were in sight. My slurm is half emptied by the kids already. Then the counter-lady came & said strawberry is out of stock so can they change to mango +banana instead,I asked the kids and they gave the thumbs up.
10 more minutes - slurm not even half an inch left in the mug - still no sign....intervention was imminent laaa kan?
Called the crew leader & the counter girl, ask them to settle it immediately. The counter girl then came to our table and explained that they're a bit late and apologized and asked if I'd want to cancel the order.
I told her that if it's any adult's that put up the order, I don't mind at all but it's MY KIDS, MY KIDS and they are thirsty...the counter girl promised 6 minutes and sent the kids a cup of cold chocs. OK, fine. Thank you.

When the smoothies finally arrived - sent by this bloke who'd probably had a bad childhood cuz the word "smile" is probably not in his vocab I bet - none of the mugs had a straw in it!!

As the boy put the mugs on the table, I asked Alisya & Naufal to get the straws - and the blardy bloke did not even realized the kids were doing his job and did not even helped my kids to get the straw at the counter.

Apa lagi...another intervention lah!!

Called the crew leader and asked him - Do you guys actually serve smoothies without straw? Nope! So he was trying to get the straw for me - I told him it's ok, my 6 yr old kids have managed to get it but please tell that boy you employ, next time he's on duty be more sensitive with what he's serving. I have eaten at the KLCC A&W outlet a gazillion times and this is the poorest service I have ever encountered. The only answer from the idiot was - Oh..ye ke...

I would not waste any more time on the crew...my prioritiy is my kids, not asking people to do their job better.
So, I just concentrate on what we have on the table with my kids....

Then we went off - almost lunch hour and Suria would be swarmed with "P" staff,, time to disappear before some hati-busuk people caught me be being happy with my kids!


3.
For the past 2 days, these are what I have been up to with my kids....would not trade this moment for anything else!!

Photos uploading - done much much later. P1 buat hal lagi!

What professionals use to cari makan

The DYMM SPB YDP Agung's assignment went well.
I cannot put up any shots though, ethics & protocols.
It was a privilege to be in a team of real professionals. The cameras above belongs to(from bottom):
1) Peter Lim - professional sports shooter (PeterLim.com)
2) Ian Ahmad - photojournalist for NST
3) Me - thanx to Rafique for the superb 70-200mm Nikkor

Massive thanx to Master Ted Adnan (tedadnan.com) for this assignment.


~ on Symbian mobile device

Priorities

1.
This shot was taken during the LEGO show in KLCC, last Friday.
I observed so many kids & parents in the play zone, when the competition time comes, only registered (competing family are allowed to be in the area) I was allowed in because I was with my DSLR & NatGeo bag perhaps! Ahaha...no laa, I was friendly with the organizer/ MC so it's just natural they would allow me to shoot the event without many questions asked).
One clear thing I realized - those who are in the competition, the parents are more "competitive" that the kids!
I am not saying it's wrong but my whole point is - kids just love to have fun. If winning is part of the deal, they'd be better off doing it naturally & it is good for them to know that to become a winner there must be worthy losers so show respect towards them.

What's the word...haaaa.. KIASU! It's just so apparent in our society already....

"I have been to this country - 3 times...have you?"(...and you think Tronoh is in Saraawak?!)
"We went to Europe for holiday last semester break, next time we are going to Japan lor....where you bring your family for holiday aaa?" (...and your never bring your kids for a swim in Sg Tua?)
"Your camera how much aah? I bough this latest model recently you now, thinking of getting the f2.8 prime lens laa, what do you think better that of get the f1.4 terus?" (Matrix metering pun tak reti nak berlagak superb plak adehh!!!)
"We buy our kids toys from Fisher Price only" (...and you actually don't make the time to play with you kids lah!)

You get what I mean, I guess....

Some may argue - it's natural for people to tell where they have been etc etc - well, maybe partially natural - but excessive comparison and rampant boasting to others that you know cannot afford such things you can do...that's just way too much is it not?

The unfortunate others may have more important priorities than yours and for that matter their disposable income could be very limited to make it possible for them to do stuff that maybe just something that you can do very frequently.

...but some people people just love to compare & boast about themselves regardless of the situation the other person is in....they must always be above others...in every items or topics!

Let them have it their way lah....kan?

(Yang lagi best tu - travel atas nama company - supposed to be on business but focus is on personal leisure instead....heheh..sounds familiar aye?)

2.
Some poor soul's priority can just be something that we take for granted....
Like a comfortable place to sleep at night....

So, any of you would dare go ask this street dweller if she has been to for holiday recently?

(The shot was taken during a night street shooting with buddies - Sy Din & Hazarizal)

3.
So, what's your priority in life?
Is it similar to those Taxi Pakciks (read entry below) who prefer to make more dough rather than being honest in the trade? Well, go ahead...it's your choice!

The Zoo Out There

1.
The weekend was a long one since I don't have to work on Friday so we took the opportunity to take the kids and cousin Ika to the Zoo. I could not recall when was the last time I been there but is was sure a long time ago, I think it was with one or two of my buddies when we got bored at the college hostel one weekend so we decided to visit the monkeys and gave them some Marlboro for their own entertainment - the monkeys were much more bored then we were too I guess! (Owhh..don't do what we did laa ok! We did it out of curiosity and back then Zoo Negara was not really a place where people do trips and all like this recent couple of years lah!)
Anyway, the kids enjoyed the show..... and I "kena pau" by this bird by the name of Kikuro....smart Zoo Keepers, they used RM10 as the benchmark and I have nothing much in my wallet by RM10 being the smallest denominator! So literally, "terbang Rm10" while the other audience plus my wifey & kids laughed and clapped!! Ahahaah! I am just glad the kids enjoyed the trip...I could not complete the whole session cuz it's Friday and I have to go for Friday prayer.

2.
....well well well....
Another surprise other than "terbang RM10" was when a lady kept staring at me and my kids....then called out "Eh kau meh sini kejap" (Samseng siout!!)...it was Ellina Razak (those who knew Anuar & Ellina would know her lah kan) whom I never met except via my buddy Danil in FaceBook & when I was with the band taught by her father - Cikgu Razak Shafie @ JakPie. I forgot to mention to her that I actually was behind the drumset for one of her concert rehearseals - had to play one number from The Bangles for that matter... terpaksa ketuk itu drum cuz I was just warming up the instruments with the bunch on heavymetal/speedmetal numbers when suddenly Cikgu JakPie asked the band to do the rehearsal and the actual official drummer was still not around!

Anyway, I had to make a move to KLCC for prayer so I told my kids to enjoy the rest of the Zoo and off I go....just to discover a story to writer about in this blog...


3.
There were at least 4 taxi drivers waiting at the exit gate of Zoo Negara. One of the pakciks asked me..

P1: Nak pergi mana encik?
T: KLCC, boleh pakcik?
P1: Kalau KLCC, boleh la tapi sekarang ni sibuk la kat situ, kena charge sikit, nak buat apa gi KLCC?
T: (Half smiling & thinking - Aish...tak reti ke hari ni hari Jumaat) Nak sembahyang Jumaat la pakcik.....
P1: Kalau KLCC, Rm30 laa encik
T: (Trying to not ROTFL, packing the DSLR into the bag and still half smiling)
Another Pakcik who was having some peanuts entered the frame...
P2: Nak sembahyang kat WangsaMaju aje laa encik, masjid pun besar, selesa
T: Ohh Masjid baru tu, saya tahu Pakcik, saya duduk WangsaMaju pun...
P2: Haaa...WangsaMaju Rm15 ajer encik
T: (Pergh...aku kayuh basikal tak sempat berpeluh ketiak dah sampai! Now I am really smiling!) Tak per la pakcik, KLCC tak pergi ke?
P2: Sekarang ni jam kat sana, susah nak masuk & keluar nanti.
T: Ohh...tak per la pakcik, terima kasih ye! Assalamua'laikum! (Non replied my salam - ikut kitab Fiqh cara jawab salam, dpt free negative points dah pakcik2 tu semua)
T: (Mumbling - Baik amik cab gi KLIA jer!)

About 200 meters from the exit gate, a taxi driver (the name is Pakcik Shaharudin) was exhaling his last puff of cigarette and asked me...
PS: Nak pergi mana dik?
T: KLCC pakcik, boleh?
PS Kalau pakcik hantar kat LRT station WangsaMaju boleh? Pakcik pakai meter.....berapa diorang mintak kat dalam tu?
T: (Laughing) OK tu pakcik, LRT station pun ok jer. Diorang mintak RM30 KLCC. WangsaMaju Rm15. Baik saya jalan kaki jer balik condo saya kat WangsaMaju dekat sgt ni!
PS: (Laughing) Memang macam tu la diorang....tak pernah pulak kena, bertekak2 dgn penumpang pasal tambang tapi masih lagi diorang charge mcm tu. Ambik kesempatan dari dulu...

We had a conversation on this & rezeki in general...Pakcik Shaharuddin is the type that would not want to ask for more that what is supposedly the fare his clients supposed to pay - legally - because bila hati dia rasa tak sedap he would not feel the rezeki is a good one for him to give his family.

Rezeki yg sedikit mana pun kalau berkat & halal, will take us far.

He sent me to WangsaMaju LRT Station, taxi meter rate RM5.30. I gave him RM8 and he was so thankful for that amount (Not berlagak laa...my intention was pure, I know he needs the extra RM3 more than I do....I always gave more to any taxi drivers who'd engage in good conversation with me anyway!)


4.
Thank you to Pakcik Shaharudin, I made it in time for Jumaat prayer and meet my buddy, gave my D70s for him to use for his job whil I took his 70-200 f2.8 ultrazoom lens for Agong's assignment on Sunday.

Great lens that Nikkor....tested it on the kids playng in a pool of Lego blocks!

5.
...while busy composing I realized my lecturer was there too so, I greeted him and he was quite surprised to see his BBA student now is a professional photographer...Well not really Sir (I told him) maybe one day...insyaAllah...
He admitted he had many students so he could not recall my name. I told him it is totally OK! Student yg tak ingat cikgu yg tak patut..not the other way around! The lecturer was one of the fiercest & "kedekut markah"...but I tend to like his was of lecturing - we came into the lecture ready to discuss the intended topic - we had to do our readings & research much earlier and those who did not will surely be in a limbo!!

I scored quiet well in his classes but the most important thing was he taught us to think differently.....Allah blesses him!

6.
After a couple more shots I was approached by a dude.....who has been a frequent in a forum and asked me if I am Torque~! He came from JB and he was observing me doing my shots for quite a time before he decided I am Torque and decided to say hi....ahahah...I should have not put on the red tee-shirt lah! The dude asked me why I am not active in the forum anymore. Simple - got other priorities! He's doung well down south I guess because he came up tp KL to get some styuff from another professional photographer. Anyway, it's great to finally meet you Jak!


7.
Friday was sure a long day cuz I went night shooting with Sy Din & Hazarizal....while worrying about the Agong's assignment all the while!

Malam

The second exhibition that I joined for 2009...and the second time I could not be there to witness my own work on display too!

The theme is "Malam" and the chaps showcased their latest works - quality screened & selected by Rahman Roslan.

I was just lucky to get my 2 last minute works approved and exhibited....maybe (with "a wee bit" of hard work & dedication when I hunt for those shots lah!).

For the rest of 2009, the chaps has decided to be more serious that previous time....we are entering the next CHAPTER of our journey...insyaAllah...

Schoolbreak!

Yeeeeehaaaaaa!!!!

Some shots from the early year holiday we had....I wish I can find more time for this activities....MUST!!!
...a mix of cuti2 Mesia, family gathering & community service....so that my kids can learn about community & where they are, so they would not grow up being spoiled brats....like those who assume everybody else is as rich & lucky as they are...or is merely there to serve them!

...but actually, we don't just do those stuff during schoolbreak, weekend also can leh...
...and no need being rich also can do this stuff as long as the intention is clear meh!
Some people damn rich always talk big boast boast also but got no time for own child - not good what?

Ahehhehe! Happy holiday school children & teachers!

No Rules?

This cute t-shirt is one of her favorite....