Qaseh = Love?

Next week, Ops Qaseh, a large scale operation to rid the four hotspots in Kuala Lumpur of the homeless will start, and the street people we met on June 2 night were well aware of that fact.

Attendance at soup kitchens held throughout the city has dropped, as the needy people worry by coming over to get food, they would get targeted and detained by authorActions such as these were common, said a female member of a soup kitchen team we met.

"Of course, they would not make arrests near where we are giving out food.

"But once these people are out of our sights, the authorities would swoop in and get their prey," she told HIT.

The soup kitchen we attended, kicked off promptly at 915pm and was held at an undisclosed location to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Many of those in need were there about half an hour earlier, and almost everyone knew each other.

The adults chatted while they ate, and the children played happily with each other, a scene reminiscent of "open houses" usually held by the cabinet members to celebrate festivities, but minus the pompous officials who demand their hands be kissed and the cronies wanting to curry favour.

This scene however, would likely not see a repeat next week.

Food for pregnant wife

Some distance away from the main food distribution point we saw a man taking care of a baby, and that piqued our interest.

The man was most obliging to talk to HIT.

He said he was there at the food kitchen with his pregnant wife, and the baby he was taking care was not his, but his friend's.

"Alhamdullillah, my friend has allowed us to share a room with his family in Chow Kit.

"If not for him, I would be sleeping with my wife on the footpath we are currently standing on now," he said.

My friend took pity on me, after seeing both of us sleeping here for several months, and invited us in, he added.

"But most likely not for long, as his landlord is demanding we get out of the rented room," the 38-year old man said.

He said he had also previously rented a room in the are, before losing his job as a mechanic and getting his family thrown out.

It was only in these last few days that he got hired as a security guard, but as payday is still a long way off, at the end of July, he is at a loss on what to do.

Should we get kicked out again, he said, you'll be able to find me here, as the RM15 a day, the rate for a room in Chow Kit, for me is totally out of the question.

"Times are really tough lately as we always have to be on the lookout for the authorities," he told HIT.

If the authorities came and I was not able to get food for my family for the day, then I would be in trouble, he continued.

It was as recently as a few days ago this happened, and my wife who is three months pregnant, was desperately hungry.

I had to do something that I despised most, that is beg for money, but as a husband, I cannot think straight if my wife is crying due to hunger.

By God's will, I collected RM2 and bought some food, and managed to stop her tears, at least for a 
while. 

For my huckleberry friend...

Moon River, wider than a mile,

I'm crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,

wherever you're going I'm going your way. 

Two drifters off to see the world.

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end

waiting 'round the bend,my huckleberry friend,

Moon River and me.

(One shall sing it, not read it)

Not a Paint Job: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Get a Life?

The phrase is widely used. What do you think one means. Pondering on it, here are what I think it means:-
1. Concentrate on own life and not lurk on the lives of others
2. Reflect on own values and not judge the values of others
3. Deflate own ego instead of egos of others

Because we all have different views. Why waste our little time on earth concentrating on being right instead of being righteous. Everyone thinks they are in the right. And Allah knows best and may Allah protect us all from seeing wrong as right. In the time of before the coming of Dajjal (the anti-christ), those who are right are seen wrong and vice-versa. Which side do you want to be in then so that Allah is on your side? What good is the praise of others if Allah is displeased? How bad is the scorn of others if Allah is pleased? No one person is better than the other, no one person is made super human, no human is an angel or a devil and none of those 2 are humans. A blessing is a test, and a test is a blessing. There is no finishing line until you finish.  There is no happy ending until it is The End. Perfection is only deemed for Him. In the end, who are we but humans with a limited time to live.

I like to read about death a lot, an inevitable reckoning for us all. Good deaths and bad deaths, those whom graves had flowers growing 6ft under as if the earth was welcoming them and those whom the kaffan cloth (white cloth to cover the body) were short and not enough although the length was cut more than enough. Those martyrs whom had such wonderful smiles on their faces as though they saw heaven. There is not much time to get a life really - for the hereafter is just around the corner.

Paint Job: Barely Bunny by AHK

Paint Job: Amanda by AHK

Lenses and Mirrors

Can one tell the difference? Especially when "selfie" is now part of the English dictionary. Your lense becomes your mirror. What is more disturbing is that, we don't even need lenses to be engrossed with "ourselfies". As I was talking to a butler in a hotel in Doha, where close to 70 percent of its customers are Qataris, I wonder does one person there bothered to know his name. Do they know he has a 3 year old kid and an English teacher wife back in his homeland to feed. Do they know that he was a teacher himself and now had to change his career path to serve utterly service hungry customers in a land where people are "tested" with the wealth of oil. Now, when was the last time we take pleasure in taking a mental picture of others rather than ourselves? When was the last time we look at a photo of others long and hard and look at their eyes, not at their background of world landmarks, or what people are relishing and whom they are hugging, or what parties they are throwing, or what luxury of life they are enjoying (to sum up, the selfies of others). At which point did we stop looking at what people's eyes are saying. We can tell someone is hungry, cold, tired, sick, lonely, anxious, just by looking at their eyes. Of course that is if we look at the real person, not the person's selfies. On Facebook (aptly named of course)for example, it can be so visually noisy and ironic on how the subject gets drowned by the objects around it. In the end, backdrops matter and the subject which is the living human being becomes the constant prop amidst a dynamic stream of very important backdrops. We end up noticing the good fortunes of others but forgot to notice and truly care about the bad fortunes of some others. And us, oh how have we become so, oh I hate to use this word but yes, narcissistic, in love with our photos, our lives, our desires, our achievements, us, us, us.

Do you know why I think we watch movies? Because that is the only time we are concentrating on others and not ourselves. We cringe over bad manners an actor customer does to an actor waiter. We cry over the Bambi cartoon losing his mother. We even get worried when superman is losing his powers although we know superman will always win at the end of the movie. When was the last time we care about the misfortune of strangers? Those whom fortune and misfortune will not benefit us in any way.

Don't get me wrong, Im very much guilty of selfies too. But still that doesn't warrant me from asking myself and even you, which gives one a better mirror of oneself - your beautiful smile on your camera, or a beautiful smile from someone to you. "Click".