..acts of kindness..

..I am easily moved by little acts of kindness..and I see this small acts everywhere, in various forms..a young mother breastfeeding her infant under the stealth of her tudung whilst waiting for her bus, seated under a shade away from the hot sun.....a mother cat scavenging for food under tables and chairs around the market, for her litter stashed behind some boxes.....pretty damsels flashing me smiles as they pass me by...ahhh...these are acts of kindness that I found hard to ignore...along with readers of my blog who came unsolicited, yet took the time and bother to give me words of encouragement..and doa's .. and banter and jest along with me..yes, it is kindness just humoring an old man..

..and there are those friends that I met on Facebook....people I met in  the cyberspace ...whom, ordinarily, would have bumped my shoulder in the real world and carry on without giving me a second glance...but in that third domain, they took their time to give me the time of day...they are being kind, I know...some crossed the ether world into the real world and continue their act of kindness...

...reciprocally, I try to be kind to everything that I came across with...birds, bees, stray cats, chickens that dirtied the front door with their excrement..and those of unsound mind that mingle with school children at the busstop begging for a dollar to buy food...the missus says I am getting a little strange in my old age...and I say that life is getting shorter by the day...let us just be nice to fellow creatures with whom we share this little part of the earth...

...actually I wanted to say thank you to Elviza of Write Away...and realises that her act of kindness epitomises  all those kind souls I met as a blogger and as a facebooker...thank you all...

..old coots talking..

..this old coot talks to his cats..as he also talks to everything else..little dragons that cross his path..plants and shrubs that grew unattended in his garden...an apple mango tree fruiting in front of his kitchen..he talks to everything, animate or inanimate...but especially to his cats...and one day as he was jogging in front of his home with Ayam, Mokmok and Mekbu's litter of four, Mek Karong,  Oren, Comot and Pakteh, running haphazardly in between his feet, a little girl who was with her mother visiting my neighbour, tugged her mom's kurung and pointed at me...'Look, ma..that old coot is talking to his cats..' ...and I said, yes...they loved jogging with me...and her mother raised her eyebrows...

..I even talk with my wife..and I think it is a good thing among couples..whether young or old..that they talk to each other..more so in their late years..you cannot do much else, but at least you get comfort through talking....as I have been trying to tell my 5th daughter, Ebok who married that Thai youngster...who, two children later, is trying to get herself out...in marriage you tend to get whom you marry..she married a youngster with a running nose and who was still scruffy around the ears..several years into the marriage she found that he is still the youngster  with a running nose..and still scruffy around his ears...boys do not become men within a few years..it takes them decades to mature...if you are lucky...but children these days do not listen much to their parents...for there is nothing new that a parent can tell...

..I even tried to talk with my ex'es..

..and with my children...which soon enough turned into monologues...you try too hard and they clammed up..you don't try at all and they say you are too distant...

..its better talking to the cats...

..papago goes, again..reminiscing..

..on most counts, and anyway you looked at it, I am a government man...I am partial to the government of the day...and I am, also, always, thankful for little mercies that He, in His Greatness, had bestowed upon me....I could have strove harder and, perhaps, reached greater heights economically and intellectually....but I did not..


...without really trying, I have attained some measure of success..in that I am now not lacking on most things and there is that degree of happiness that I found in my late years...thought I could wished  for more, I found myself not wishing for them...I allowed myself to wallow a little in contentment..whilst aspiring to be a better Muslim..setting achievable targets..mainly for this year...the Haj...God willing....


...education wise,  I did not proceed beyond Higher School Certificate...though I have been through many schools, thanks to my civil servant late uncle, who was an MCS officer, the fire to strive for more did not really burn..but schools were all English medium schools....unconsciously, I developed a love for reading and a flair for the language...


being born in 1945, I was there during the fight for independence, the first federal elections, and was around when Tunku was made the first Prime Minister...I have lived through all our Prime Ministers and like to think of myself as someone with a long memory, politically...though I found politics unattractive...at least most politicians are...


..having lived almost half of my life in the city capital and used to its ways, it was with a condescend heart that I returned to Kota Bharu and homestate of Kelantan....only to later found out umno leaners are infidels and that there was no solidarity in Islam...with suraus and mosques painted either green or blue..


..but in the seventies I was very much in love with my first wife to bother about those things..and entered suraus and mosques irregardless of its colour or hues..to me, then as now, there is only one God, Allah..and Mohammad, PBUH, is His Prophet...and inasfar as intermediaries are concerned, whether Tuan Guru, Ustaz or plain Joe, whether Tun, Dato or plain Mamat, I measure them through their actions and words...sincerity is hard to find, but after a time, I learn to detect when it shines through...


..although it is a rare commodity these days, there are those out there with theirs shining like a beacon...to them pakmat bids, 'Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...'