The Quran and I

When I am back in PD, I have much time to myself, occupied with watching TV, surfing the net or going out for fun to overcome boredom. I have more time to do some reading. There are a number of books on my shelf not read for lack of time and focus. I recently bought another new book entitled The Quran and I. This is an enjoyable light reading with heavy messages. Not a preaching book on Islam but a semi autobiography by the author, Anas Zubedy, who relates his life and ideas to the teaching in the Quran. Not being a proficient scholar on Islam and the Quran, I found this book is an opening for me and I am learning more about the Quran and compare it to the many rigid beliefs of the Malay Muslims who portray Islam as a rigid, uncompromising and static religion. This approach not only frightened the non-Muslim, it frightens me too, making me question, is Allah that unmerciful? This is so contradicting. I was taught to recite 'Bismillahir rahman.....' everytime we do anything. Isn't Allah is all loving and merciful but why some Muslims make it sound as if Allah is so merciless? There are so many dont's and judgmental 'I am holier than thau' attitude that disgust me. Anyway, I am a staunch Muslim and will practice it as I was taught.

Motherhood

I think Ika is a great mother. Like many mothers, her focus is on her child and Rania is Ika's world, just like Ika, Maz and Izrin to me. Now she understands what motherhood means and one day she will tell Rania (and her other children, I hope) that she would protect her with her own life if need be. I saw how upset she was when Rania refused her milk and her food. She would shed tears of worry - worry that her child would be under-nourished and does't develop accordingly. She is over-reacting actually because Rania has her moments - one moment she rejects milk and food and the next, she would be looking for it. By the way, Rania's 'nak' is not applicable most time. She just turned away when Ika gave her her milk. So mummy Ika gets upset and worries her daughter would go hungry. But Rania knows. She will take her milk and food eventually, especially when she feels hungry. The trick is, Ika has to be patient and not get agitated when Rania rebels against taking her milk and food. Be ready darling Ika, your little daughter will express her needs in her own way. She really has a mind of her own.

Rania takes much of Ika's time. Her huge playpen is almost non-functional. Rania refuses to stay inside even though there is heap of toys. Someone has to be in with her or otherwise she would cry. She loves having her dad with her in the playpen, jumping on him, playing and giggling so deliciously. To her, dad means play and fun and she loves having Justin around. Mummy and Nenek are almost invisible then.

Now that Ika is a stay at home mother (she sacrificed her career) she has more time to train and develop Rania and Rania is one lucky baby for having a devoted mom. Concerned that she might not acquire social skills in relating to other children and people, Ika enrolled her in a play group called gymboree in Bangsar Village. It seems Rania enjoys her session there. My angel grand daughter is a dancer. Any sound of music would bring natural reaction from her, swaying her body as if dancing to the music. Every time she comes into my room, she will point to the CD player for her songs and she would happily swing and shake to the music. She looks absolutely angelic. Ika has been talking about sending Rania to learn Malay classical dance but it's hard to find such class in KL. We hardly hear of classical Malay dance for kids but heard a lot of ballet, dance, Indian classical dance, Chinese dance but where is classical Malay dance? Is it a dead art? Do we have to go to Terengganu or Kelantan to learn it. Isn't anybody interested to promote our own dance culture? I will encourage my grand daughter to pursue this art if she is interested. This is a dying art and we need to revive it. It's part of our identity and we should be proud of it. Anybody knows where we can find a classical Malay dance class in KL and PJ or anywhere near?

Looking forward to go back to PJ to see my Jantung Pisang.

Looking forward for Shasih's visit in July.