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.

I-City, U-turn

Well, as with all things in life, it would never 100% perfect. One hope that these inadequacy when pointed out were taken in stride. But I doubt if any of the people running the i-City attraction do read this blog. But I sure hope those planning to give it visit does, so as to better inform them on what to expect.

First of all, be prepare for a hike. Unless you were super early, or you were actually a VIP, during a crowded night, there would be some walking and climbing involved. Unfortunately at some of area, there were no railings or even proper steps. Some of the climb can be stee and should it rained, could be slippery. Maybe proper set of steps were needed towards the open car park area during peak times. So, if you were with children, or the elderly, take extra caution. Also imagine the muck you would be stepping into should there be heavy downpour ...... most of the area you would be stepping into were still barren.

The lack of signage was also typical of any of these local attraction. So far, only those around the Tasik Perdana and Sunway Lagoon have maps. Could actually follow. There wer no leaflets, nor clear signage pointing towards any of the attraction. If there rare some, they did a real nice job of hiding them away from us.

The above point were made worst with the lack of staff member to give any meaningful assistance to the visitors. The parking arrangement was best described as haphazard. After paying the RM10 parking fee, there were no instructions to follow, except "Jalan Terus", which ended up in a queue, and worse still, people cutting queue. A set of big sign posts - preferable in bright neon colours to blend in with the attraction - would be welcomed. Failing that, some attendants who knew how to direct traffic would be nice. I ended up confused in the end, finally finding a spot in the middle of a big open space. Luckily I parked near thee trace as those deeper were triple, if not quadruple-parked, plus some clown blocking the entrance. When we exited, we had cars driving from the opposite direction on our lane! And it was a double carriageway.

Talking about attendant, instead of sign posts warning us which area we can enter and what we should not touch, we had rude security guards, whistle in mouth blaring away to keep off list and to stay away from certain area. A sign would be great.

One thing peculiar about 1Malaysia, was the ongoing development. We do not like to maintain stuffs, but love to maintain - after all, most of the lucrative projects were for building not maintaining stuffs. Those were left for non-cronies. Same goes here. As I mentioned earlier, the venue was expending, and they were in the middle of building a monorail system to transport visitors around the park - which I was sure would not have any signposts lat as to where to alight from. They were practically welding the place while the public we're lingering around, complete with cranes and other heavy machinery. God forbid would there be mishap, then we would be entertained with finger-pointing, botch inquiry or two, followed by invitation for MACC to step in to investigate before a Minister or two announce on TV3 that work should be suspended - for a defined period of time of course. the had all day when the place was empty to carry out these works. Why when it was crowded?

I was sure these complaints would have been familiar to the management. I hope steps we're taken to remedy these as trust me, they had an attraction worth harping on about. A bit more management savvy, and they would have a sure win. If they organize the parking and the routing were better thought of, I wouldn't mind paying an extra RM5 of the entrance fee.

Of another mortality

Just after midnight earlier, I received another phone call. This time it was from Institut Jantung Negara where Anita's aunty has been admitted since Monday. she has a history of heart disease and has recently been ill. She was initially admitted into another hospital in Ipoh but due to complications, was transferred here.

She was doing fine until yesterday when her condition took a sudden sharp deterioration. The family gathered yesterday, but she was still fine. Apparently she suffered a stroke, details of which was rather sketchy, and something I would rather not dwell on. She drew her last breath after midnight, and I just returned from IJN where at this very moment, her body was being driven back to Ipoh. My in-laws would be traveling to Ipoh later today, but I don't think that either myself or Anita would. Therefore, in the space of 24 hours we had a couple of family members passing on. Alfatihah.

Of mortality

I just learned that a family member passed away earlier this afternoon. Alfatihah. He was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of last year and by the time the diagnosis was established - in UMMC as he was originally from Kuala Terengganu, it was already too late and all that could be offered was steps to increase his quality of life. He was put on an expensive medication to help curtail the spread of the disease. He had a good 4 months period since taking the drug. He was able to return to Kuala Terengganu to spend the last few weeks of his life, to say his last goodbyes.

This took a turn for the worst a couple of weeks back. He turned jaundice and his children asked him to return to KL. He was admitted the day after and it was established then that the end was approaching. He was started on pain killer. Some fluids were taken off his lungs to ease his breathing. He did not suffer at all in the end.

How appropriate that I heard the news about his passing while I was attending a kenduri arwah, held 40 days after a death of another family member. This lash had relapse of her breath cancer. She was first diagnosed with it back in 1989 at the then University Hospital. She was operated on, following she had radiotherapy. She had almost 20 years of near-normal life. But time caught up with her.

Being an Oncologist, sometimes I disattached myself from the subject of mortality in order to function. But it still effects me if it were to happen on somebody I know personally. That was also the reason why I went to distance not to treat any of my family members - sometime they even accused me of not being helpful. But I guessed that was my coping mechanism .....