Malam Raya - Day 4 Cuti Raya

Malam Raya 5, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

It is almost here. Last minute shopping was done, but unfortunately my Dad took up smoking again during Ramadhan. His bronchitis is back and he started to cough badly in the last couple of nights. The night before, he needed nebulisers at the local clinic. I decided to get him checked out at UMMC this morning. Thought of putting him on short-term steroids. Then we found out that his blood pressure was sky high.

We put in down to his diet and the fact that he stayed up most nights for prayers during Ramadhan. He needed to chill and most importantly, give smoking up. He may not be able to drive with us to Penang on Monday. He may have to catch a lift from my sister.

On the way back from UMMC, we drove past Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The road leading to it was well empty, but oh my God! Were we wrong? The entrance to Chow Kit was gridlocked. Mostly by foreigners. I bet the locals have done their shopping and has already legged to their respective kampongs. We had to skip our plan to stop and have a look.

Initially apprehensive

Irfan soon warmed upIdlan getting groovyLater, I brought the kids to visit their Grand Dad, where we had to stay an extra couple of hours due to haevy rain. The rain was severe enough that apparently there were reports on another landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa. It was close to Iftar by the time we reached home.

A lot of chores needed doing that night. After clearing and cleening, it was time to treat the boys with some fireworks and sparklers. They stayed up until almost 11pm. Initially Idlan and Irfan were intimidated by the sparklers, but later they warmed up. Grand Ma done all her cooking during the day. The rest of the troops spend the evening decorating and preparing the main tables, cookies and all. I was really tired by midnight, hence can only punch in this entry the day after. Happy Hari Raya.

More Updates in my PhotoBlog

I have been encouraged by the positive feedback I am getting so far on my photoblog at harisphotoblog.com. I have added on another tab or segment called 'theme'. This is basically a project-based series of photographs conforming to a theme. The theme will be added from time to time, and the one I am building up to at the moment is concerning the Eid. The Eid 2009 theme menu in the site can be accessed here.

As you can see, it is further divided into four to five sub-segments and over the next week or so, there will be separate slideshows on each of the segments. So please check them out. If you have not visited the photoblog please do so. I trust you will see that the photos will be decently presented, and please enjoy them Should you wish to use them for any purpose, please drop me a line. I am more than happy to accommodate your requests. Happy Puasa - or the coming few days and 'puasa enam' at least.

Lat at KLCC

Lat at KLCC, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman. Taken on my Nokia E71 mobile.

It has been a long week for me personally, with Anita's birthday, on calls, work and all. Unfortunately, I still have to do the rounds tomorrow morning. I thought, I'd better get it over and done with and look forward for my Hari Raya break. I will be off work from next Wednesday. We will be traveling to Penang on the second day of Raya and will be staying there for three nights.

Since the children has been asleep during the day, we decided to eat out tonight. We went to KLCC to do some shopping as well. The central foyer this year was very well decorated I thought. There is a model of Malay kampung with caricatures from the Malaysian famous cartoonist, Dato' Lat. Malaysia is not really liberal in the sense that, nobody really dare to make fun of the politicians without the fear of getting a knock on the door from the powers that be

Lat however is somebody unique. He lampoons Dr Mahathir on a regular basis and gets away with it. Why? Because you can tell the innocence and the truth of his thoughts in his drawings. They are often funny, but at the same time hits home. When I was growing up, my Dad has collection of his comic in our living room and I often browse through hem I guess I learned much about Malaysian politics through his work, something that the current crop of young leaders could do with as well. If you have the time, be sure to give a Suria KLCC a visit. It will be worth your time should you be able to tolerate the crowd. By the way, I didn't see that many people wearing masks there tonight either.