The Rule of Four

Bought this book at Kinokuniya for RM74.90 (hardcovers). I hope it is better than Da Vinci Code because I have not yet any books written by the authors. Btw ,it is their first book.

Who runs this place?

My special thanks to Penawan-the Trengganu born Beta-Blogger who lives in London for giving me the book entitled as above.The sub-title of the book is "The Anatomy of Britain in the 21st Century".The author is Mr Anthony Sampson.

To-day, I just read the Preface so I could not give any comments,but it provokes my mind Who Runs Malaysia?

Hadith 40 etc

This book by Imam nawawi is staring at me everyday!

I t promised to finish reading it last year but keep on delaying....

In fact, it is not the only one; the Tafsir by Ibn Kathir and other 10 ten books are sitting on my coffee table. They are all ever ready to be read by me...

But one thing I wish not to neglect is reading at least one 'ain of Qur'an everyday.

The Gods of Management

To-day, I bought another book as above by Charles Handy.So far, I have read a few of his writings and they never failed to educate me in one way or the other.

Watchman

A friend recommended me to read this spy novel by Ian Rankin. I hope to get some fun reading it.It has been a while I have not reading a thriller...

Queen Noor

My wife is now reading memoirs of an unexpected life.

Almost French

Yesterday, I bought as above wriiten by Sarah Turnbull.Hopefully, I could learn something from her experience being in France and being married to a French man. Personally,I love to be a cafe in Paris,especially at Le Deux Maggot in Latin Quarters:-)

21 Laws of Leadership

Management is a big subject.My special interest is project leadership but I am now on the journey to discover more about the leaders and leadership in general. My youngest brother has set up a Yayasan( foundation) called Yayasan Kepimpinan dan Keilmuan Kelantan. I hope to use this vehicle to propagate the science and the art of leadership.

To increase my knowledge, to-day I bought another book called 21 Irrefutable Laws of leadership by James L Garlow.

Prisoner of Azkaban

The movie is coming to KL on 3rd June,2004.Now,I am starting toi read the book.

Can elephants dance?

Yes!If you can get the right people to handle the giants.Now I am reading Who says elephants CaN'T Dance by Louis V. Gerstner,Jr-the former IBM chief.One of my special interest is EXECUTION STRATEGY.Many projects fail not because of planning but they fail during execution phase.

I have not been reading any books for the last two weeks.Every time I pick a book, I just want to go to sleep..

My body and mind must tired due to some work stress.I need a rest..

Books On Business

during the last six months, I have been buying a few management books in order to learn new scope of business as well as to update my knowledge on the subjects that I already know. Below is the list books:

1.Management Consultancy ISBN 0-7494-3653-0
2.Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? ISBN 0-00-717087-4
3.Trout On Strategy ISBN 0-07-143794-0
4.Leading Change ISBN 0-87584-747-1
5.The Little Book of Business Wisdom ISBN 0-471-36979-9
6.The Portable MBA in Project Management-0-47-26899-2
7.Giving Presentation ISBN 0--19-860681-8

I began readin book no 5 and to finish all the above by end of 2004.

It is more than eight months since this blog was updated.I must add something soon:-0

Bought a book entitled Kaum-Kaum Yang Putus by Harun Yahya and Noghts in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks.

Both my wife and me love reading love stories by Nicholas Sparks....

It appears that this year alone I have bought about five books on project management.The latest acquisition is The Portable MBA in Project Management by Eric Verzuh. Thee books,I hope, will enhance my knowledge in PM.

Bought another book on PM as a collection. It is entitled PM by Phil Baguley.

I just completed reading The Age of Unreason. It is fore meaningful foe people aroung my age i.e The Third Age for we can reflect better than the younger ones who have less life experience.

I agree with Charles Handy the author that to change we have to be unreasonable.

From: Mohd Adib Noh Date: Fri May 23, 2003 6:24:28 PM Asia/Singapore
To: Subject: [bookcafe] Getting someone to read..
Reply-To: bookcafe@yahoogroups.com

Hi, Most of us are reading a few books in a year but there are quite a number of our friends or relatives or classmates or office mates who never read a book in a year-some even 20 years! What do you think if we make it a personal project for everyone of us to get someone close to us who never read a book a year to start reading at least a book a year to start with? I think it would be a small contribution we all can do for someone who miss all the fun and the benefits of reading.It is good for the country as well... For your info, I have tried this idea and it worked. Below is the reply from a friend that I managed to convert from a non-reader( never read a book for the last 20 years after school) to start reading.I asked him how I did it to him and below is his reply:(After you do it,please report back to the bookcafe mailinglist).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Adib, Thank you for remembering me as the 'awakened' personality or shall I say I was your 'eureka' ! To be frank I never miss out any dailies but to read a book somebody have to literally put a gun at my temple.!! My wife is just the extreme. She will stay right up to midnight to finish the novel. much to my chagrin. I only can say that this is real mad to read until tears begin to drop (I literally saw her sobbing while holding a book) And no sooner than she bought a book she has to return to the same bookshop to buy another one because she finished reading the very book she bought a couple of days back. You know what make me read the book you loaned to me ? I think it is more of the aproach and the assurances that I will definitely find the book interesting not to mention that you keep my ego intact.. I remember your encouraging remarks like 'you will be talking to the author' The fact that you gave me your precious belonging make me feel that I must not waste the opportunity to explore the reason why there is such thing called 'book worm' AND the choice of book is very important to start an interest in reading. The book you lent me Jeffrey Archer - short stories suited me well as a beginner which made me bought another book of similar pattern by the same author.It made me realised that not only it will enrich one's thought but will also expand one's vission. AND later when my wife caught me reading at the hall alone till wee hours of the morning made me 'blushed' If you want to start similar project IMHO you just follow similar path that you have done to me i.e. 1. identify the person - one at a time (some one close to you) 2. give him a good start by giving him the right book - not necessarily you choice 3 monitor him (not to pressure but to hook him on) - the deadline you gave me to complete the book was cleverly executed (remember you extend the deadline once you realised that I was ON with my reading) 4. Be sincere with the person. Share his reservation his excitement and be encouraging. I gauged your sincerity when you gave me you own precious book to kickstart my habit and I was DAMN bloody scared if the book got lost or even mutilated 5. Remember, you are merely trying to share your interest with a person and the person is not obliged to follow you. 6. If you feel justify reward him (remeber you gave me a book as a present during my birthday kenduri ?) Lead by example A leader has a lot to show If it is your project, gentle and persuasive monitoring is required (cann't really remember your reference to a project except if you turn your eye away from it , it will turn naughty. Hey ! apart from that I have the ability to read :)- grin -----

Thanks Asmadi for the book present all the way from Lancaster,England. The book is entitled The Lake District- a place that I visited once during my student days in early 70's. I love to go hiking there again.

To-day is a special day for my son and me. It is a first for both of us
in queing up for a book. We never had this experience before.But this
is a special book-Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. We arrived
at KLCC at 6.06am .I know the exact time because I was watching the
clock. After dropping my son at Isetan, he rushed to the Kinokuniya
Bookshop and I went to park my car. By the time I arrived at the
bookshop, my son was 300m away from the entrance. I approached the
girls who were the lucky few to get the books for free and asked them
what time did they come.They told me that it was about 5:30am! May be
these girls did not sleep at all last night. At about 8am, I took
myself to Asian Flavours for teh tarik and roti canai for a breakfast.
There were not many people round at this hour. So I took a book
entitled The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy to keep me company.While
savouring the crispy roti canai, I smiled to myself-happy that my son
is NOW A READER( albeit a JUNIOR READER,Peter.) .I am happy to note
that he was willing to stand for 2 hrs 40 minutes waiting to buy a
book! IMHO, reading is the gateway to knowledge and knowledge is
power.To-day is one of the milestones in my odyssey to inculcate the
culture of reading to my son. Thanks to Allah swt for opening my son's
mind and heart to reading. Btw, it also saved me about RM 30 from the
book list price.

--Adib,only read the first book.

And to-day, my guru in PM told me to buy another book by Charles Handy. It is entitled The Age of Unreason. I read the other two-The Empty Raid Coat and The Elephant and The Flea.

Thanks Michael for the present of a book on information. I love to receive books as presents .
Similarly, I also love to give books to others.

Believe me, what comes around ,goes around!

A few days ago ,I bought a book entitled The NEW Project Management by Prof Frame. The price is RM 127!

Below is my email to my bookcafe on getting a friend to read:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/berisman

On 18/5/03, I placed an order for Harry Potter and The order of the Phoenix.
This is the 5th book by JK Rowling.

I am now half way into a small book of 82 pages. The title is called Time in The Life of the Muslim by Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi and published by Islamic Inc,Cairo.

I strongly recommend to all my fellow muslims to read this book. It is about time ;hence it is about life that many of us wasted away every second and yet we ask Allah to give us a longer life.

Isn't it a mockery to ask for more and yet we are throwing it away all the time?
Would you give money to someone whom you have given but keep it spending it wastefully?
You know the answer before you finish reading the question.

To-day I 'discovered' BIG Bookshop at Ampang Park,KL and found a few good hard covers books sold at deep discounted prices. These books are marked down because they are "oldies" as compared to new arrivals but they are still good. If my wife were to buy a book,then I know it is good value for money.

Last week I bought a magazine called Writers Digest. What motivated me to spend RM 30 for the magazine is about its special articles on writing. It tells about the lives of writers, and HOW TO GET INSPIRED, HOW TO GET INVOLVED AND HOW TO GET STARTED writing!
I love writing but I am not there yet.

Now, I am trying to get into the flow of writing...
My favourite author Nicholas Sparks advised: Read, Research and wRite!
-another 3R I have to abide by if I want to be writer. It is a long way to go for me ; but I know how to get there.

When I left my bookcafe meeting this afternoon,there were three persons including yours truly.I hoe to see more more attending the gahtering next time. Anyway, we discussed a few things and Tim will report later.

One project I suggest is to get another friend/office-mate/relative who never read a book a year to read a book this year.This is an interesting challenge.

My bookcafe egroup will be having our second gathering next Wednesday14/5/03. It is a public holiday due to Maulid Rasul( Prophet Muhamad's birthday). InsyaAllah, I will be there even though there are only two of us.

I look forward to see as many people as possible.

I am happy to note that my youngest son is reading novels. Thanks to the government efforts introducing English literature in schools and to his peers for telling my son that they read this and that book.

I am still struggling to inculcate the culture of reading to my other sons:-(

At night, I read management books, and in the morning I read religous books.

Now, I have problem when to read novels and the like?
May be after zuhur prayer just to make me easier to have after siesta;-)

I never buy any book that costs more than RM 200, but to-day I just did. It is actually for my new business as the " new flea" on the block. It contains the success stories of project leaders and managers. I hope to use some of the stories in my lectures or discourse.

I like it because I believe story telling is a powerful medium to deliver a message- be it moral or management ideas or lessons.

My thanks to TimKwan for moderating my bookcafe egroup.

Yesterday, I took my son to British Council Library. I like the setting,especially with the cafe' bar inside the library but I observe not many books to borrow:-(

Borrowed a colletion of short stories-Elementals by A.S Byatt.

Kunikoniya bookshop is promoting Literature this month. I have got three vouchers worth RM 30!
Now, what books I must buy?
Btw, I have at least ten more books that I bought but have yet to read!

Yesterday, I bought a book that I was looking for months. It will cost me around USD80 if I were to buy and fedex to KL from USA. But I was lucky to have to pay only RM 127 for the book at Kunikoniya. Lesson learnt: Just wait for a few months, then you can save a few hundreds bucks.if you can't wait, just buy-which I do many times!

It is entitled : Building Project Management Competency

Now, I have two PM books to read this month(April ,2003). Another one is Radical Project Management!

Yesterday,just finish browsing surah al-Rahman.
Now, I continue reading The Elephant and the Flea, but I broke my own rule never to read the last chapter before I even finish the book.
My friend who recommended the book told that the last chapter was very sad.I agree with him that it is very sad for mankind.

If you are reading this and wish to know,please do not ask me. Just go and read the book.

Just finish writing a speech for a senior government officer to deliver during the opening of a seminar conducted by my company.Wheww! I prefer to go jogging than writing speeches....

Now, let me do some reading on Tafsir Fizillil Quran.

Too busy with my xproject course that I have neglected my reading.

On the way to buy bread for my son to-day, I dropped by at Kunikoniya Bookshop and bought The Elephant and the Flea.

At KB airport last night, I bought a booklet on Tarikat and Tasauf. It is a short note on the meaning of tarikat. Many talk about it, but as always only a few really understand it. I am still reading to understand it...

Bought another book-The Mindgame by Yong May. She also wrote The Flame Tree. The book cost me RM 9.90!

To-date , I lent three books to my friends:
Al-Khushok(TSO)
Realities of Faith(DWO)
Speeches(MHH)

I hope they will read the books and reap benefits as much or better than I did.

Another interesting book that I forget is Speeches for An Inquiring Mind by Imtiaz Ahmad. InsyaAllah, I will reprint this book and distribute them for free.

When I was in Makkah and Madinah, I bought the following books:
1. The Right Way-by Ibn Taimiyah
2. Madinah -Kelebihan dan Sejarah by Abdul basit Ab Rahman
3. Shahih Qudsi Hadiths by Magdy Fathi El-Sayed
4. The Kaabah is the Centre of the World
5. Time in the Life of The Muslim-by Dr Yusuf al- Qaradawi
6. Al-Quran-The Miracle of the Miracles- by Ahmed Deedat
7. The Seekers of Truth
8 The Ideal Muslim-by Dr Muhamad ali al-Hashimi
9.Selected Quranic Verses
10.Don't be Sad-by al-Qarnee

Now, I am reading two books at the same time viz: The mind of CEO and Unleasing Ideavirus.

A few days ago, I bought four "old" management books:
1. The Mind of CEO
2.Plain Talk by a maverick CEO
3. Bill Gates speaks..
4. Unleashing ideavirus

Now, I am half way through Jack Welch Leadership book. Hope to finish it by end of this year.
By the way, I will be away for about 44 days, from 11.1.2003 till end of Feb.,2003.

Happy reading to all.

Just completed reading The Summons. Nice drama but the ending is not interesting at all.Just my personal view.

Every time I am overseas, I will buy some books as souvenirs. And this time around, I did it again even though I have more books than I can read in the next six months. Bangkok is not my favourite city, but I have to be there to attend a regional dialogue organised by Global Water Partnership, UNDP,MRB. The trip is all paid for by the organisers.

I love free trip....anyway, we went there not for our personal gains.

Books bought:
1-Summons- John Grisham( my favourite author)
2-Teams and Teams Building-Phil Baguley
And was given a book for free entitled Solstice by David Hewson.

No more buying books this year for me.
I hope not to buy any more books this year.

I took more than a month to finish reading The Hungry Spirit. It is good for the mind as well as the spirit. The book expounds on the meaning of capitalism and beyond!

To-day, I have gone 'hungry' on books. Bought four books at Kinokuniya:
1.The Balanced Scorecard
2.Six Sigma
3.Life of Pi
4.Everything's Eventual.

That should enough for the rest of the year 2002.

Reading this book called The Naked Truth will accelerate me into buying my dream iBook;-)

Mus has loaned me a book called The Naked Truth. It is about mac users!It looks interesting.I hope to read it over the weekend.

MPH bookshops is my one of my favourites other than Kunikoniya. I am glad to hear that a Malaysian owned company has gained control of the bookshops retail business. Now, it is up to Malaysians to take it higher.My only request is that the new owner include more Malay books...

One of my favourite books is Five Equations that Changed the World. I lent it to a friend a year ago. Now ,it is back on my bookshelf.

After lunch with Dr Y, we went to Specilaist Bookshop.The book on Islam and Secularism is stiill out of stock.Posted remotely from avantblog.

These few days I am reading PMNetwork magazine.

Just bought a book by Syed Naguib al-Attas-Islam and Secularism.

To-day I am going to buy a few books to give to my friends when we have dinner at Shah Alam.

During a lunch to-day, I gave Dr Y a book entitled The Natural Way .After that Peter took me to Kinokuniya to look at some British books on British humour at its best.I was informed by him that Americans love to laugh at others but Brits prefer to laugh at themselves. How about Malaysias? Semua boleh;-)

For the record, I just completed reading The Pilgrimage.It is a spiritual journey by the author.IMHO, I like Alchemist better but I also learnt a few thing here about the processes one had to undergo in learning about oneself.

Next two months, I will be reading Project Management books and notes in preparation for my prgofessional exam PMP.

Last Saturday, I released three books to my friends. Please visit my bookshelf:
http://berisman.bookcrossing.com

Yesterday, I visited Mischief Bookshop at Ampang Plaza and bought a book A Malaysian Journey written by Rehman Rashid. After that I visited Julia at IWK and loaned her a book on Project Management.

To-day I bought two books on Gibran Khalil Gibran.(Times Bookshop) Also bought a book for a friend entitled Islam The Natural Way by Abdul Wahid Hamid.(The Specialist Bookshop).

Just finished reading Inside Organisation by Charles Handy. It is an eye opener for me to see many organisation as small as family to MNCs in a new light.

Now, I am reading Pilgrimage by paulo Coelho.It is about life ....
At the same time, I am reading Inside Organisation.

Yesterday I registered five books at bookcrossing.com

To-day I borrowed a book entitled Inside Organisation by Charles Handy from Dr Yeoh. At the same time I also loan my book entitled Empty Raincoat to LKE.

Two new books are being added to-day to my book collection:-
1. Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho
2.Hungry Spirit( given by Peter Wood as a present.

Note: Yahya donated a book entitled On Writing for my book project. TQ

8/6/2002 8:13:08 PM
Dear friends/sdara,

I am planning to launch a book project. The risk of failure is quite high but I am willing to take the risk. This idea comes from a similar project launched by the people at : http://www.bookcrossing.org It is about promoting the culture of reading. Considering our Malaysian habit, the chance of its success is low. The original idea was to get a few books and leave them at public places for people to take and read and 
THEN they pass on to their friends and so on. My modified model of the project is to get a few books and give out to a few friends to read. After the readers read the books, they will check into my website: 
http://www.communityzero.com/bookcafe  ( an online forum and bulletin board) and post their comments there. After that the readers will identify the next potential readers to read the book and repeat the same 
process again. The project can fail in many ways: the potential readers don't read the books or they don't pass the books after reading them. My only monitoring system is through their feedback at the mentioned 
website.If they don't give feedback,then I am lost...

For the moment, I am going solo on this project. If it works, then I will extend invitationS to all of you to donate books for the project. In the event anyone of you dare to take the risk to join me in this project,you are 
most welcome !
 
I  intend to launch this project at my Palmx Annual Dinner  ON 24TH aUGUST,2002 with at least five books.The next five will be at SDARA Egroup Annual Dinner - making it ten books for this year as a trial. 
May I have your suggestions on the books that I should buy and distribute for free.Please give as many suggestionS as possible.

Just finished reading a book entitled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Below are some lessons/notes that I derived from reading this interesting book:
1.Travelling is a journey of self discovery.
2,Treasure is where your heart is.
3.We do not live in the past nor in the future, but we live in the present.
4.The tradition is sacred- break at your risks!
5.The desert never change - only the sand dunes changes with the prevailing winds.
6.Some do not wish or dare to pursue their dreams because of their fear of losing what they already have and if they were to achieve their dreams, there is nothing more to dream. So they keep dreaming and do sit on their dreams.
7.To achieve your dreams, you need to stay focus and be willing to sacrifice even your life and losing loved ones.
8.Listen to your heart...
9.You will be tested along the joourney to your dreams.Each test will make you stronger for the next hurdle to achieve your dream.
10The omens are there to guide you provided your eyes and your ears are open.
11. In in a grain of sand,one can learn and discover many things if we dare to explore.
Points that I do not understand:
1. The meaning of the Soul of the World
2. Everthing is one.

On 14/6/2002 I bought A book entitled Empty Raincoat written by Charles Handy. He talked about a few paradox in our life ...

Last weekend, I met my friend and asked him to recommend me a few books on Islam. He suggested that I look for books related to Syaik Abdul Qadir Jailani.And I bought a copy of Secret of the Secrets.

After having lunch with Tan Sri Omar, he took me a Page One at Kunikuniya Bookshop and showed a few big size books on bridge. Btw, we love structural engineering especially beautiful skyscrappers and bridges.One thing I learnt from this wise man is that the beauty of the bridge is not only measured from exterior dimensions but also how good the designer is in managing the interplay of forces, moments, shears and torsions in the structures.

ON the way back I book entitled Bridge by Judith Dupree' that cost me RM 118.90

Went to MPH Midvalley. bought a book -a collection of short stories. To read A Doll House to be discussed at the coming MPH RG on 24/05.2002.

To-day I received an email from a dear friend who thanked me for instigating him to read. Now, he reads into the early hours of the morning.Before this, he never read a book in a year! That made my day.

During the KL International Book Fair, I bought three books:
Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer, How To Be Good by Nick Hornby and The River at the Centre of the World by Simon Winchester.

Now I have more books that I could read in the next six months;-)

A new addition to my bookself:-
A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Spark.

I have been busy and had dificulties to access this blogger website lately.
Just to update on my books:
15th Feb.,2002- Bought Visitors by Anita Bookner for my wife.
26th March,2002- Bought Project Management by Gary R Heerkens

Now, I am reading the second book mentioned above.

To-day I just got my March 2002 Readers Digest. It has many interesting articles worth reading...

For the record, I have just finished reading The Welch Ways and The Power of Simplicity. Both are great books and I recommend to any one in management should read the books.

Next on my list to read is Project Management for Dummies! It is better to read books like this tha pretending of having the knowledge but in actual fact we donot have the knowledge;-)

My fiction novels have to wait for at least another one or two months to go.

Dr Musa Fatullah Harun reminded my surau jemaah this morning about the culture of reading. He qouted the Surah Iqra'-the importance of reading in understanding Islam.

In the last few days I bought two books to read during the CNY. These books are about management.The first is The Welch Ways- 24 lessons from the World's greatest CEO and the other is the The Power of Simplicity by Jack Trout. He is famous for his books on marketing.

I am pleased to get hold of A Beautiful Mind at our local MPH MidValley for RM 33.90 as compared to the Airport at RM 43.00! I also bought Project Management for Dummies at the cost of RM 68.60. I will try to read later book first and the novel later.

To-day is the last day of January,2002. I have not finished reading World Class- I hope to do it over the weekend.

Encik Kissman,

Kenang Kenangan Hidup is the life story of Hamka, the famous Indonesian
ulama. He started the story from the time he was born until Sukarno's era.
Reading it has given me a glimse of Indonesian political history as well as
his auto biography-specially his role in the fight of Independence and his
spiritual upbringing.

Sungai Mengalir Lesu is a novelet by our famous author A Samad Said . The
story was about a community of poor and unfortunate community who lived by
the river during the Japanese occupation in Singapore. It told the hardship
of common people during the war. The story was not that extra-ordinary but A
Samad Said's command of Malay language is very good.

---Adib

From: "kissmanbucit"
Reply-To: bookcafe@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 13:08:45 -0000
To: bookcafe@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bookcafe] RE: Adib's Books Read in 2001


En.Adib,

Could u write a little bit about 'kenang kenag hidup' and 'sg.
mengalir lesu'

thanks
kissman che lah

> Books Bought in 2001
> -------------------------
> Ice Station
> Anil's Ghost
> Chocolat
> Brethren
> Disclosure
> On Writing
> Kenang Kengan Hidup
> Tenggelamnya Kapal
> My Little iMac Book
> The Bookstore
> Tasauf Moden
> The Painted House
> The Code Book
> Enigma The Novel
> Simplicity-Elaine St James
> Sungai Mengalir Lesu
> Frederick Forsyte Stories
> Power Book
> --------------------------------


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Now I am reading the book World Class by Dr Rosabeth Moss Kanter. She was elaborating on three C:concept,competence and connections!

To-night I was at the surau and introduced to a on on Panduan Fardu Ain.

This afternoon I visited Jacklyn Chong at her office. She was very kind to loan me her book The Poisonwood Bible. I plan to read it by end of this month.
17.1.2002

Last night my cousin Nasir Zihni gave me a book from Mecca entitled The Creation of the Universe by Haron Yahya. To-day I bought a management book by Dr Rosabeth Moss Kanter entitled World Class so that I may understand better the effects of globalisation on my business. I also hope to write a short note to my fellow friends in water industry.

Last night my cousin Nasir Zihni gave me a book from Mecca entitled The Creation of the Universe by Haron Yahya. To-day I bought a management book by Dr Rosabeth Moss Kanter entitled World Class so that I may understand better the effects of globalisation on my business. I also hope to write a short note to my fellow friends in water industry.

Last night my cousin Nasir Zihni gave me a book from Mecca entitled The Creation of the Universe by Haron Yahya. To-day I bought a management book by Dr Rosabeth Moss Kanter entitled World Class so that I may understand better the effects of globalisation on my business. I also hope to write a short note to my fellow friends in water industry.

At last I finished reading the Painted House!

I am reading The Painted House again.Not very interesting really.....now getting fed up and started reading the Code Book.

LIST OF BOOKS BOUGHT IN 2001:
-Refer to Bookshelf

On second count, I discovered that for the year 2001, I have bought 18 books. I gave away 2 books as presents, and managed to read 12 books only. Another four books to read early next year.

Now, I am on chapter 3 of Sungai Mengalir Lesu, a novel wriiten by A Samad Said. He really knows how to use the language that made him Tokoh Sastera. Saya akur kehebatan Pak Samad! If we want to be successful in our work,one of the things is that we must be well versed with the tools of the trade.

cerita kedai kopi #81-[19/12/2001]
 
 
 
 
 

Remembering Ramadhan...

Again, I bade farewell to Ramadhan al-Mubarak. Thanks to Allah swt for His mercy that I was  able to fast in the holy month of Ramadhan 1422.I hope and pray that I will once again meet the next Ramadhan,1423. As a muslim, I fast during the day-lights and I do not have many stories to tell from my conversations while having coffee or tea. Occasionally, I did have some time after our teraweh prayers to sit down with my fellow neighbours at our 'surau' (minor mosque) and we chatted after the prayers over a cup of tea and some cakes before we go home. I think it was a time well spent to talk and to get to know my neighbours closer. Our urban life-style does not allow much interaction between neighbours-many of us hardly know our next door neighbours especially in big cities like KL. Most of the time,we just say hello as and when we meet them on our way to office or back home-that is all. By being at the mosque during Ramadhan, it allowed more time for most people to meet and get to know one another. Truly, this is one of the many benefits of going to pray at the mosque.

Now, I am back home with sweet and sad memories of 'balik kampung'(return to one's village). I was happy to meet my mother,brother,sister,relatives and friends.I was happy and even nostalgic to be 'home' where I was born,to see the school that I first learnt the alphabets and simple multiplication tables and to meet familiar faces that I grew up as a child. I was happy to eat 'moreh'(drinks and light foods) after teraweh prayers at the same surau that I prayed and played truant when I was a kid. It also reminded me of my late father who used to lead the teraweh prayers. Quietly, I told myself how lucky I am.

Most of the places in my kampung have changed over the years but a few remain as they were someforty years ago.On the other hand, I was equally sad because only a few of my elders are round-many had died over the years. I am no more a young man, and soon will have to take the place of my elders. During one 'asar prayer, I was the only makmum-for many young people have left the kampung. That is the cycle of life. A few of my relatives are gravely sick;even my fifty-two  year old uncle is still paralysed due to a recent stroke and my cousin is suffering from cancer. One of my classmates that I met at a kenduri at my uncle's house looks like a 60 year old man. My kids got a shock looking at him when he told us that he got eight children and already a grandfather.By the way, he is only 49 years old-same age as me. He is a father who supports his family using his 'tulang empat kerat'.(physical efforts).The hard life he had undergone was reflected on his wrinkled and worn out face. Again, I whispered to myself how lucky I am.

Balik kampung is an annual ritual for urban population who hailed from kampung. It is at least oncea year affair that many of us do. I believe not less than a million do it without fail every festive season and I think it is a good practice that we must maintain despite its negative effects like road accidents. I beg to differ with a local TV commentator who said that balik kampung is 'budaya lapuk'( obsolete culture). To be modern we do not have to drop our religious and cultural values and practice. Japan is a living example. In fact, I agree with with Dr Siddiq Fathil in his monograph produced by IKD that modern Malays need even more religious and cultural values to ride the New Millennium. I am afraid that our society will get lost on the road  for modernisation and globalisation if we start discarding our good religious and cultural values and practices.

Everyone of us has a story to tell every time we balik kampung.This year my family and me went home from KL to Bachok by train. We boarded the train(Kenali Expess) at KL Sentral at 7.08am and arrived at Wakaf Baru by 6.45pm. The KTM officer told me that we are 20 minutes late. To me, by Malaysian standard it was a perfect journey in term of time. My ever helpful brother in-law with his Volvo 920 was at the railway station to pick us up and he even got some food and drinks ready so that we can 'buka puasa ' in the car by about 7.02pm. How lucky some people are! Please don't get jealous because last year it was the opposite when no one turned up to pick us up because our train was delayed by 6 hours.(You can read the story entitled The Longest Journey Home at my Travelust,Pergi website-http://www.geocities.com/mohdadib/). Three days later,on the eve of Hari Raya Puasa(15/12/2001) my cousin left KL at about 9 a.m and managed to arrive at his father's house in Bachok, Kelantan at 2a.m the next day-The Hari Raya itself. The road was full with cars and at certain stretches in Pahang and Kelantan the road was under water due to heavy rainfall. In fact, I could safely say that many of us from the east coast were having a wet Hari Raya celebration. Only on the third day of Hari Raya that we can move slowly around even with our car.Kota Bharu was jammed with cars at every round-about and traffic junction. Most of my relatives were busy during the third Hari Raya,so I have to engage a private taxi(privet sapu) operated by Pak Lah who lives 200 metres from my house to send my family to the railway station. His car is a 20 years old Toyota, no air-con, smelly and there was one inch of water in it.On the way he told us how he raised four children by doing part job as driver privet sapu taxi because he was only a school gardener.(Pak Lah retired three years ago). Despite his low income and educational background, he managed to get two of his children to the universities. To me, that is a real achievement! As we endured the uncomfortable ride, I exchanged glances with my kids to ensure that they listen to Pak Lah 's story and telling them how lucky they were as compared to Pak Lah's children.We took The Wau Express from Wakaf Baru railway station at 6:38pm and arrived in KL the next day around 7:30am the next morning -almost on time by KTM standard but the train had to stop just before  Bangsar for almost 45minutes before we could enter the ultra modern KL Sentral Railway Station! Reason- there was a black out at KL Sentral ! Otherwise, my train journey would be almost perfect. That is too good to be true;-)

Despite the heavy rain during the time I was at my kampung, I made an extra effort to visit as many friends and relatives-especially the older and the sick ones.The lessons that I learnt from this short stay at my kampung are really a lot. Some have great spiritual impacts and effects on me. It would be meaningless for me to elaborate because they were of experiencial and personal in nature.If you wish to know more about it, just go home more often, walk around and meet your kampung folks.

Now, we are in Syawal and let's maintain and continue our good deeds and behaviour until the next Ramadhan. And let our balik kampung be our annual pilgrimmage to renew( tajdid) and rejuvenate our religious foundamentals, cultural roots and values.....and pass them on to the next generation, insyaAllah.

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Semasa bercuti raya,aku sempat baca monograph Melayu Baru karangan Siddiq Fadhil.

Now I am reading Wired and FastCompany-Dec,2001. Both cost me RM51!

Email dari Madolah on my writing:

Adib,

Lazimnya seorang yang 'alim tidak akan mendabik dada
di depan khalayak ramai yang dia itu seroang 'alim
atau lebih arif dari orang lain.

Orang yang berilmu tidak akan mendongak dan
menghebahkan kepada duan yang dia itu behat.

Adib,

dari hati yang tulus saya nyatakan hang memang boleh
menulis. Saya masih ingat, semalam ada kawan kita dah
baca apa yang di tulis oleh cikgu Rahim di Mingguan
Malaysia. Seorang penulis biasa nya bermula dari
tulisan yang kecil-kecil.

Setelah dapat pendedahan sedikit demi sedikit, penulis
itu akan menimba ilmu dan akan mengexpress kan nya di
bukut coretan...... seterusnya akan di tulis di dada
akhbar... kemudian, membukukan nya seterusnya aktif
terus didalam penulisan.

Didalam menulis ini saya salute juga Pak PM kita - Dr.
Mahathir. Walaupun beliau sebaok dengan tugas-tuegas
PM, Ketua Negara, Wakil Parlimen dan wakil rakyat,
beliu sempat menulis. Banyak buku-buku telah beliau
tulis. Yang tersohor dan controversi at one time is
his book 'The Malay Delime'. Sekalrang saya rasa,
apart from book on him wrote by other authors, beliau
telah mengeluarkan tidak kurang dari 10 buku on
variuous topic. He is a doctor.

Based on that, I am confident, you as an engineer, one
way will publish your book dan market it. Your cerita
kedai kopi is good. If you compile it, it be a better
seller........ Mungkin hang boleh memberi tajuk
"Memori Seorang Pengembara". Lepas itu hang akan
keluarkan buku "Memori Seorang Jurutera". Lagi
buku-buku berkenaan "Water Management di Malaysia" dan
lain-lain lagi.

Setakat nak carikan publisher/printer tu kami boleh
tolong.

Hang akan dapat royalty.

Semuga berjaya.

salaam
MA