Grumpy Boys

We brought the two boys along for the wedding reception in town. This was initially planned for yesterday evening, but was delayed until this lunchtime due to the road closures. The venue, Dewan Tun Rahah, at Menara Tun Razak off Jalan Bukit Bintang. That was the first time I had been to the hall, a not particularly big one, but nice and intimate.

There were plenty of Consultants from UM present just then, took me a good 20 minutes to go and talk to most of them. Some of them happened to be my patients believe it or not. I was really glad that the hall was full, as the fear was, should the situation yesterday was worst than it was, nobody would want to travel into town. Another worry was the weather, as it started to rain heavily when we arrived.

Unfortunately my boys were really grumpy at the hall, Irfan especially as he was still carrying a sniffle. He did not want to come along initially but since there were nobody left at home to look after him, we had to drag him along, minus his iPad. He was a right strop. I was not able to enjoy much of the food and to calm him down I had to carry him out.

The nice pelamin that they hadSpeech from the hostOne thing about a lunch rather than dinner wedding was how fast the ceremony seemed to go. By the time everything was done as dusted, it was only 2.30pm. If it was dinner, I can imagine it dragging in for a couple more hours. The food was good, catered from Seri Malaysia. The boys has some rice, then went straight for the dessert, some chocolate cakes. Sufficed to say, I was not able to get many snaps.

Intan's Akad

We were apprehensive and were prepared to turn back on the way over yesterday. We were debating the route. Would we take the DUKE? How about MRR2 then LDP? Definitely center of town was a definite no no. Federal Highway might have been risky. So we journeyed from Gombak to Kelana Jaya via Kepong, then Bandar Utama. Traffic was smooth. We reached our destination in under half an hour.

Yesterday was the akad ceremony for my cousin's daughter. It has been planned since the beginning of the year, and the Bersih rally nearly derailed the plan. The initial plan was also to hold the reception on the evening - last night - but since the venue was smack in the middle of town, it was elated to this afternoon. At least the delay was not that bad since some of the family members traveling from far - the groom side was from Kedah - did not have to arrange for an extra day stay. Most of them were planning to return today anyhow, and a delay of a few hours were more better than having to plan to come back on another day.

The waitAn it was officialThe akad went ahead. The only disruption was the caterer getting stuck in a roadblock off Subang and food only arrived after 11 am. The groom party turned up on time, and so was the Ustaz, a young gentleman in his early 30s who was clearly very good, giving nice straight advice to the happy couple, while administering such a smooth ceremony. After the merenjis ceremony - the happy couple being doused with flowers and perfumed water - we settled for lunch.

The happy coupleThe father of the brideMy Dad-in-lawThe customary row of photographersThe return journey was also smooth, and we reached home just before 1pm. Anita did not attend as her mother was having stomach cramps since the evening before. So, we were all looking forward instead for this afternoon reception. The slideshow for the event was ported here.

Update on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 10:55PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

The photo from the slideshow can be downloaded by clicking on the actualy photo when displayed. Follow the onscreen instruction from then on.

Unfounded Fear?

Touted as the next May the 13th, it ended up rather anticlimactic in the end. It was mainly a peaceful march, and to a certain extend, the Police manage to nip the problem at the bud with the lock-down of the capital. There were aggravation of course, but on the whole, emotion were kept in check.

Rather than focusing on the organizers, nor the Opposition's push for change, I want to focus on our boys in Blue, the Police. Forget about their leaders and top brass. Forget about the YouTube videos of them kicking the protectors. Forget about the water cannon, and the gas canisters. On the whole, judging from the first-hand report on twitter and Facebook, they were courteous and were just plainly performing their duties.

At the end of the day, they were only human and given the amount of aggravation they were facing, they may snap. And that applies to the protestors as well. There would be clashes when groups of emotional human beings came together like so. But believe me, the situation could been handled much worst.

Another element that helped was the fact that the group dispersed at 4 pm as agreed by A Samad Said and Agong the other day. This definitely prevented further tension. And the manner of which the protestor left should also be applauded. The Police basically let them go their ways - minus those who were picked up for questioning earlier of course. The photographs of the protestors shaking hands with the Police on their way home warmed my heart. Forget about Kamarudin Mape's on TV3 claiming that they dispersed because they lost their leadership - "hilang punca" was his exact words - it was preplanned.

Why don't we focus on the positives and move forward. The lesson which could be learned here was peaceful demonstration can happen in this country if both the demonstrator and Police were clear of their endgame scenario. There were even glimpse of 1Malaysia at work here with all the races going hand in hand.

The sorry tale here must have been the fighting words of KJ and Ibrahim Ali on the days leading up to 9th July. They sounded as if Ambiga was about to single handedly bring the country down. Maybe they have a thing or two to learn from A Samad Said. And he is not even a Politician.

To the boys in blue who did their job yesterday with responsibility and compassion, I salute you. The plaudits and Datukships would go to your superior we hid behind the mikes and whose only challenge for the day would be how to appear smart in front of the reporters - for which they had failed big time, look at the misinformed IGP's press conference yesterday. The once on the ground were the ones should be applauded. There would be photos. videos and claims of brutality, but to claim that all of you were responsible is just plain irresponsible on our part. You were the ones being provoked and cojoled, and on the whole, you passed the test in flying colours.

Time Will Tell

There was a famous saying that only the victor will be remembered as they were the ones writing the history. One day we would look back to 9th July to learn if it was a wise decision to overreact and lock down the capital city, or was it a necessary action. Certainly the rally has disrupted my plans for the weekends. However, to claim that it would be a loss to me would be selfish. The rally that day might shape the future of the country, and for that, I would rather sacrifice the cancelled meeting and wedding reception.

My wife's cousin, who also happened used to be the Dean of the UM Medical School until recently, was planning the akad and reception for her daughter on the very same day - 9th July. The akad would be in the morning, a private ceremony at his house, while the reception would be smack in the middle of town. That was postponed to Sunday, when hopefully, all the excitement of the rally would have died down. On the Sunday as well, there was a planned symposium at one of the hotel in town, during which I was scheduled to give a brief talk. That was put back to later in the month as well.

In its own way, the Bersih rally has affected my plan for the weekend, and I would be keeping a close look at the twittefeed to catch up on the eye-witness account of the event as they took place. Hopefully, I would be able to as plenty of us were expecting a media black-out. And that would include disruption of the Internet service and possibly the cellular network. If that was the case - the Internet being cut - then it would be safe to assume that something ugly might have happened. And nobody would want that. Here is hoping that no blood would be shed in what was hoped to be a peaceful rally at the start.

S2 First Impressions

The first 24 hours of using an Android device was a mixed bag. There were definitely pluses with Android but the "safer" option of the iOS does have its advantages. Suffice to say that I was not planning to root the device, and since booting it up for the first time, it has yet to crash. In terms of the specs on paper, it was leaps and bounds over the iPhone 4, but speed was not everything.

It was pretty clear that even though the S2 packed a higher resolution camera, the output or at least the ability to produce a better photos was better on the iPhone. This was helped the the range of well-developed apps that the iTunes App Store had to offer. There were comparable camera app such as Instagram or my favourite, Camera+. I was also not able to easily update my blog due to the lack of a SquareSpace app on the Android.

Battery life was also a concerned, as my iPhone can last a whole working say with all the push services switched on. By the time I left the office earlier today, the battery on the S2 was down to about 15%. Maybe it was still early days for the battery, at the beginning of its charge cycle.

In the coming weeks, I would be in a better position to give a more objective opinion on what the platform had to offer. In the meantime, it would be one hell of a journey of discovery ......