Anyway the skill untuk memasak in the UK is that you have a baju memasak.  Javard has this one damn cool baju memasak which has all these abstract paintings.  This is a classic coz the paintings are made with a dash of minyak stain (from attempting to goreng sotong goreng tepung.  Mental note - squid contains lotsa liquid), a dash of kunyit here and there (from the daily ayam goreng cook-outs), a dash of rempah kari and kurma and also the various tomato sauces.  So memang my baju masak is like horror gila and it even smells like French fries (makanan ruji rakyat Malaysia yang pemalas). Anyway by the time dah habis masak, you are all ready to berbuka.  Pukul 4 dah boleh makan..then get ready for Tarawaikh dekat Senate building.  Guess what by 5.30 dah habis sembahyang tarawikh.  Memang kenangan habis ah.  Ape bende lagi you nak buat from 5.30 ke atas!!!!! Masa nilah Javard akan pasang lagu Halaman Asmara, Ziana & Awie and sedih mengenangkan keluarga.  Since its cuti,  we would hang out at each others house lepak and minum sampai pukul 5-6 pagi, memang tak produktif habis ah. You see there was no maple to go to.  Then tidur.  And the tidur part was bad too….bila dah nak subuh, cepat2 nak tidur.  Inilah namanya remaja yang tak bagus…that includes all of you fellow Kent-mates.

Berapa lama awak di luar negeri…ooohhh sepuluh hariiiii

One other unforgettable Ramadhan experience was three years ago.  Javard was selected to attend this workshop conference in Vienna and I was like yee haa tak peduli apa dah and just said I’m coming baby.  By the way, Vienna tak ada Gondola…that’s Venice.  How so many people can get easily confused.  Anyway Javard tak tengok pun schedule rupa-rupanya it fell in Bulan puasa.  But I did not care, first thing was that I was excited as it is to just go to Vienna sebab Javard tak pernah pergi.  And then I told the people there boleh tak Javard transit kat London for a few days, dia orang kata okay, apalaga memang happy gila ah.  Tapi sedih sebab masa tu Javard tak feel raya langsung.  In the last ten days of puasa, Javard was in Europe.  And then kelakar bila balik Malaysia ada iklan TV3, Adibah Noor bawah teksi and tanya this guy, berapa lama awak di luar negeri…ooohhh sepuluh hariiiii…I really felt it.  Hahahhaha.

Vienna was great sebab dapat berbuka awal.  The best part was that Javard berpuasa throughout the whole ten days walaupun dugaan dia macam nak rak.  Even atas flight pun Javard berpuasa.  That was tough but thanks to the stewardess yang notify me each time waktu. Sure dia ingat…baguslah manusia beriman ni.  Hee hee,…boleh buat calon suami. Masa Javard attend the conference I saw a few Muslim scholars who were like makan gila-gila terang-terangan.  Dia orang cakap musafir.  I know you can always use that as an excuse but malam dekat Bar sambil minum minuman haram, I don’t think any musafir is allowed to do that.  One of them( a fellow Muslim) even asked me …seriously like you fast for every day of Ramadhan .  I said…Yeah.  There was that surprise look on his face.  Masa lunch time semua akan masuk restaurant, Javard akan duduk depan dia orang tapi tak menjamah apa pun.  One would have pork panggang and the other might have spaghetti ala pork.  It was quite sad to see some peole reacting that way.  But there were a lot of people who came to me and said that they respect me for holding strong to my faith and believe in whatever challenges.  I felt bad, I had to go to the bar and mingle with others tapi Javard masih jaga pemakanan dan ibadah Javard.

Going to London was great right after that tapi javard punyelah kepenatan yang teramat.  Inilah dugaan yang paling hebat kerana first time dalam sejarah hidup Javard yang Javard actually pikir whether I should bukak puasa or not.  Memang setan banyak bergelumang di bumi London.  Mentally I was down.  Mima was there at that time and she could see how depressing it was.  Nak tahu kenapa penat?  SHOPPING nye pasal coz I had to rush.  Pukul 9 sampai pukul 1 tengah hari still kat Bond Street tak masuk pun Oxford Street lagi.  Gile tak. Then I was too tired, kaki sakit, nak stop minum pun tak boleh.  Man I was pissed.  I swear waktu tu, I could have just grabbed any kebab. …oh those Taza Kebab at Bayswater…..grrrrrrr….

Then Javard berjalan sampai pukul 4 pergi ke Mawar restaurant and when I saw fellow Malaysians, sedih sangat rasa berbuka puasa di perantauan sorang2 sebab kawan Javard semua tak habis kerja lagi.  Kurma dan sirap di kota London dipenuhi dengan rasa sebak dan sayu sesangat.  I remembered going to Satay House to eat like melantak gegile bila my friends semua dah habis kerja.  Anyway can you believe it I actually when to a Ramadhan Buffet in London dekat Holiday Villa for 12 pounds.  Gile best makan nasi ayam.

In between sempat jugalah Javard lari ke Kota Paris untuk menjenguk kawan Javard.  Berbuka puasa di this Indian Restaurant halal, sedap sangat and getting to meet great people.  Javard balik ke Malaysia on Raya eve.  Punyelah excited sebab first time Javard balik kampong.  Masa tu jalan ke Heathrow airport jam, my bag was overweight (what else) and the queue was long.  Tetiba aje Javard nampak kat screen TV, Gate Closing.  Tak pernah Javard berlari macam orang gila.  I knew it that if I had missed the flight I was going to miss Raya.  Memang macam orang tak terurus jugak ah Javard waktu tu.  At that point in time, my heart was beating so fast and confirm I will be too stressed out kalau masuk Amazing Race. Macamanalah orang boleh masuk Amazing Race…Gile boleh high blood. I was the last passenger in.  Sampai KLIA pukul 7 malam terus berbuka kat Burger King.  What a way to spend the last day of puasa huh.

Pasar Ramadhan: Remember menyibuk queuing for something I don’t know 

What I looooooove about Ramadhan is also the Pasar Ramadhan, javard ni memang hantu Pasar Ramadhan, tell me theres a good popia and I will drive to Kajang.  Yes I was a fanatic Pasar Ramadhan.  Menyesal tak bersungguh-sungguh gi pasar Ramadhan.  Boleh tak tahun lepas, I would drive from Bangi, pergi Taman tun pasar Ramadhan and then balik Shah Alam.  Gila kan.  I loooove Pasar Ramadhan Taman tun.  They have nice ikan bakar there, cucur udang crunchy and also nice karipap and I use to remember menyibuk queuing for something I don’t know pun.  Tapi sebab nampak queue panjang, Javard beratur aje.  Hahahhahaha…talk about at that time Beriani Gam Putrajaya was still hot.  Yang penat gi Pasar Ramdhan ni bukannya ape but its actually the act of meeting people over people over people.  I swear if I was to run for election I would have gotten votes.  Iyelah… Taman Tun kan Kampung Halaman.  Sekali tu kan mahu nak dekat 30 orang kot Javard jumpa.  I say no kidding okay, and semua kena stop chat bercakap. Yg best terjumpa Farah Idol and she still remembers me and cakap that she still has my komik Archie…hahahhahaha…I voted for u girl.  I also love Pasar Ramadhan Petaling Jaya kat masjid bulat, ada popia berhantu and also the dekat stadium shah alam nye pasar ramadhan.  Tu kalau iman tak kuat boleh boros habis dah.  Javard teringat zaman kerja kat teluk Intan.  Pasar Ramadhan dia pun agak kencang.  Javard ingat sukakan popia Biru Mata Hitamku and they had delicious ikan bakar and mee Mastan ghani.  Punye borong macam nak beli untuk family of six padahal duduk sorang aje.  Tadi Javard call rumah Javard , Javarad tanya sape beli kuih.  Dia org kata Javard taka de tak lah penuh meja ngan kuih-muih dan lauk.  Sniff sniff.  I see my baby Omar has a good potential 2 take over my role.  Ingat Javard bagi dia 3 ringgit, pergi belilah ape2 kat kedai, he came back with 3 ringgit worth of goreng pisang.  Melentur buluh, biar dari rebung.

I was not like Paris Hilton in simple life

I also remembered tahun lepas, bila first time Javard mula berbuka puasa dengan students javard.  Masa tu baru mengenali hati budi masing-masing.  Memanjang melepak lepas tarawikh kat Faris and even Hassan Cafe.  Tapi antara yang paling best iyelah bila Javard dioanggap seorang pensyarah yang kejam sebab buat kelas waktu berbuka puasa.  hahaha i really thought i was evil tapi apa nak buat…kehendak universiti.  Tapi that was the best memories of berbuka ngan semua student first year.  Javard ingat suruh bebudak bawak makanan utk berbuka and kita semua makan sekali and then sambung sekejap aje kelas.  Punyelah meriah dalam dewan kuliah, pelbagai jenis juadah dibawak oleh over 150 students.  Yang best tu the non-muslim students pun excited bawak kuih masing-masing.  memang best…kenangan terindah. it was the best of malaysians lah waktu tu. Siap students mintak buat lagi aje lepas ni….hahahahahha.  kelakar.  Best jugak berbuka kat UKM.  There were a few places we went dengan bebudak exam lagi so we kept it to a minimum.  Tapi paling best puasa is puasa syawal ngan Emma where we got only puasa empat or puasa lima…hahahahaha…tulah salah mengitung hari lagi…

Pengalaman puasa in the making

Now javard berpuasa di Australia pulak.  Well actually Australia negara paling lambat start puasa.  It starts on Monday…boleh tak.  Hahahha. Ada yang dah nak gi Tarawikh dah Sabtu lepas tetapi last minute anak bulan tak nampak.  Dekat Australia…it will be a new pengalaman puasa in the making.  Javard bersyukur sebab tak adelah berbuka pukul 9 malam as stated earlier.  Sini imsak pukul 4 and berbuka pukul 5.45 cam tu…so harap-harap Javard dapat menghayati bulan Ramadhan ni sepenuhnya.

Sorry to bore you guys with all these stories but I thought that I just wanted to share some of the kenangan bulan Ramadhan with you guys. Sebenarnya ada banyak lagi.  Dengan zaman sekolah melepak jadi kutu tembok sahur dengan dok gile berbuka dengan Ramadhan buffet….Banyak sangat kalau nak di tulis.   Pengalaman puasa Javard ada yang manis,  ade yang sayu,  ade melencong…hahah..just wanna wish you guys Selamat menyambut bulan ramadhan dan Selamat Berpuasa.

Javard ingat penat sangat preparation nak puasa tahun lepas.  End of September, Javard ada International Conference besar kat Marriott, Javard organizer, berapa malam tidur hotel (not complaining there)…balik terus gi BTN….dahlah dengan tak sempat relaks, pas tu gi BTN where I did flying fox , mandi kolah(yes people…and I was not like Paris Hilton in simple life)… I did jungle trekking …javard masuk hutan…macam nak mampos ngan berbukitnya ngan licinnya sebab hujan…hanya Tuhan lebih tahu…I survived though.  Balik terus puasa….tak ke penat. 

MEMORIES OF RAMADHAN

(This article is an updated version of my I know what I did last Ramdahans written two years ago) 

I have written an article two years back about my memories of ramadhan and now I thought id give a fresher perspective. I can sense that nobody would read this article and this is an article syok sendiri…but it is just nice for me to document all these in my life.  Javard rasa dalam setahun tu kan, Javard paling excited habis waktu bulan Ramadhan.  I tell you the adrenalin rush, the whole puasa environment…its just indescribable.  Javard mengaku Javard perlukan banyak lagi room for improvement bab tarawikh, but the puasa part …Alhamdulilah.

Javard start puasa masa umur 9 tahun, darjah tiga.  Terus complete satu bulan.  Masa tu rasa bangga pun ada especially bile anak jiran yang darjah lima pun tak dapat full.  A bit riak at that time, but I was just a kid.  Alhamdulilah, semenjak Darjah Tiga tu sampai sekarang javard dapat berpuasa penuh.  Alhamdulilah…syukur kerana Allah memberi Javard kekuatan untuk mengharungi bulan mulia ini.

"Jangan Cakap Macam Tu…We Are Still Small…" 

Antara Ramadhan yang paling sedih is in 1983 when Arwah Bapak Javard memanggil kami sekeluarga untuk duduk berkumpul.  Di ketika itu Javard hanya berusia lapan tahun and adik Javard hanyalah tiga tahun aje.  Masa tu bulan puasa, kami duduk di ruang tamu and Arwah Bapak Javard cakap yang beliau sakit dan tak lama lagi beliau akan meninggalkan kami.  Arwah bapak Javard mengidap barah.  I was only eight at that time, tapi that moment still shines through my head as though it happened yesterday.  Javard ingat yang all I could do was menangis, menangis dan menangis.  Itu aje yang boleh Javard lakukan.   Everyone cried at that time.  We were just sad.  I remembered Kakak Javard kata "Jangan cakap macam tu Bapak.  We are all still small.  Siapa nak jaga kami." Tapi Tuhan itu maha kuasa.  Allah lebih menyayangi Arwah Bapak Javard.  There was that sepuluh malam terakhir puasa yang Javard tak akan lupakan.  I was only eight but me, kakak and Arwah Bapak experienced something that night, seolah Tuhan memberikan petanda bahawa Arwah bapak akan meninggalkan kami buat selama-lamanya.  Sebulan selepas itu, Arwah Bapak menghembuskan nafas beliau yang terakhir.  Javard ingat sebab tanggal 17 Ogos itu, Javard dan kakak Javard tengah menonton Battle Star Gallactica di televisyen when a phone call came and Kakak Javard just cried and cried and Javard only followed suit.  Adik javard pun menangis but he did not understand since he was only three.  Arwah Bapak dikebumikan di Alor Setar.  I will never forget this period because this is a turning point in my life.  Just imagine tiadanya seorang Bapak untuk Javard hulurkan tangan memohon kemaafan, tiadanya kasih seorang Bapak membelai kami.  Since then Javard sering di ingatkan bahawa I was the man of the house.  Ramai yang datang mengatakan kepada Javard untuk menjaga Mama dan ahli keluarga Javard.  Something I value of until today. 

"Kesianny janda tu…baru aje laki dia meninggal, anak pun kecik-kecik lagi…… dah rumah dia pulak terbakar…kesian". 

Teringat masa Darjah Tiga dulu javard berpuasa , dalam hari ke belas-belas berpuasa dulu, rumah neigbour Javard terbakar.  Gila baban punye terbakar okay.  Masa tu ramai yang ingat rumah Javard terbakar sebab the story lagi menyayat hati kot for penggosip-penggossip setaman.  I could hear the remarks …"kesianny janda tu…baru aje laki dia meninggal, anak pun kecik-kecik lagi….dah rumah dia pulak terbakar…kesian".  Better story line kan ? But it was not my house.  It was rumah Uncle Hassan and Aunty Bedah.  Waktu tu petang pukul 5 lebih and Mama Javard patut ambik Javard balik sekolah tapi depan rumah Javard ada pili bomba and the fire brigade menghalang pagar rumah Javard and mak Javard tak leh nak keluar ambik Javard.  Rumah Javard kat Taman Tun, Sekolah Javard kat Sek Ren Keb Damansara Utama.  In kids age, those are faaaarrrrrrr okay.  Javard tunggu mama javard , mama javard tak datang sampai nak dekat 45 minit, and then Javard menangis teresak-esak and started walking home.  I could have sworn if I was wise at that time, I could have been the inventor of mobile phones.  Javard ingat Javard balik jalan kaki sambil menangis teresak-esak, teresak-esak…teresak-esak…hey I was just a kid…I was like kenapalah mama aku buat macam ni?…dia tak sayang aku ke? dahlah aku first time puasa.  Then Javard jalan ¾ jalan , dah sampai kawasan Pinggir Zaaba terselisih kereta Mama Javard, I was sooooooooo happy masa tu….and very anggggrrrrryyy…but verrrryyyy happpppppyyyyy…and masa tu mama Javard told what happened to Rumah Aunty Bedah.  I could not really get mad but could not wait to tell my friends in school that there was a burning house next to mine.  Masa tu bila cikgu bagi tajuk karangan or subjek Berita, kebakaran yang pernah saya lihat, I aced it people… though I never saw the house.  Masa balik tu tinggal like 20 minit aje kot nak bukak puasa, I remembered how I wanted to bukak puasa but my family took me masuk bilik air cond suruh sabaq….masa bukak puasa tu I drank like nobodys business…hello it was bloooody far okay.

I almost forgot this story but adik just reminded me just now.  Adik cakap he was telling the story to Omar,Alya and Yasmine on how their Pak Ngah survive puasa with the rumah neighbour terbakar.  Of couse the latest version of the story includes their Pak Ngah struggled through the burning house and saved the mother and child and three little kittens (for Alya and Yasmine)…..thanks Adik for telling the kids those story….ahhhh…My Pak Ngah …the hero…

Terlalu Suci Melihat Baby Yasmine

Speaking of Yasmine, she is a first ramadhan baby.  Javard sayang sangat kat Yasmine ni.  My sister gave birth to her, first Ramadhan two years ago.  .  This baby is just too close to my heart, terlalu jauh perjalanan Baby Yasmine ini and I can still never forget the moment I held her in my arms and laungkan bacaan azan /iqamat..sayu sangat melihat kepingan darah yang masih melekat kat telinga waktu tu….i just cried…terlalu suci melihat Baby Yasmine ketika itu.  Now she thinks she is Tarzan…how fast time flies.  Alya is jealous because Yasmine will always have two birthdays.  One will be celebrated on the first of Ramadhan and the other on the 15th of october.  Gambar atas shows her first, first birthday cake last year

Bila orang semua masa Ramadhan pertama pergi balik berbuka kat rumah, our whole family berbuka kat dalam hospital with my sister and the newborn.  Knowing the citarasa each of my family members.  I actually went to Pizza Hut, Ayamas, KFC and Pasar Ramadhan Bangi just to make sure everyone gets what they want.  Sedih, sayu but very memorable sangat waktu tu

Imsak is at 7 am and berbuka is at 3.45-4.00 pm

Antara Ramadhan yang Javard tak akan lupakan juga is sewaktu Javard di UK.  I thought it was a damn depressing puasa.  Masa ni memang Javard rasa suicide rate tinggi gila sebab cuaca dahlah mendung, semester cuti, hujan renyai-renyai, snow mula turun sikit, semua orang pakai kelabu, perut berkeroncong and homesick kat keluarga punyelah gile babeng.  It was a difficult time tapi the coolest period was definitely the waktu puasa.  During my stay as a student dekat UK, bulan puasa falls in December which clashes with the semester break so memang cuti and campus sunyi habis.  Yang ada pun fellow Malaysians yang dok berlari tengok snow for the first time and attempting to buat snowman but failed miserably.  Susah tau.  The best part is imsak is at 7 am and berbuka is at 3.45-4.00 pm.  Gila best.  Masa ni puasa was like excellent though terkenangkan rakan-rakan di Australia yang terpaksa berbuka pukul 9 malam.  Kesian dia orang dahlah rendang tak boleh lepas kastam kat sana. (when I wrote this I never thought I would end up in Australia…u spoke too soon Javard)

Anyway bulan puasa best sebab tengah cuti.  So javard akan bangun tidur pukul 12.30 or 1 tengahari which if you look outside memang sebijik you ingat dah maghrib .  Anyway Javard akan bangun tidur, then turun pergi freezer, keluar defrostkan ayam.  Lepas tu mandi (just because its cold, does not mean you tak mandi okay) then lepas habis mandi around almost two o’clock barulah turun bawah and potong ayam.  (those were the days of potong ayam) <%