Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A walk in English Summer

This summer has been sober
It is like all season without sunshine
Could not rely on the forecast either
Rain drops hit on me when it says 'Today will be fine'

One morning the sun finally smile
Warm breeze passed by to kiss
Alas! Summer is here after quite a while
Everybody is out with style...bliss!

Out comes the mini shorts and flip-flops
Sun glasses, singlets and skirts
Then you'll see walking bodies with no tops
Sunbathing or playing squirts

Would you mind walking with me to Regents Park?
I want to feed the ducks, pigeons and the beautiful white swan
It is still long before dark
Plenty of time to have some fun 

Come on...let me take you to the wide green field
Can you see the squirrels on the dancing trees?
This is where I come to get the sored heart healed
Feel the wind, smell the acacia scent...hmmm peace


 Down the other end is the English garden
Tall and round water fountain greets the entrance
Pink roses, purple lavenders, yellow iris, coreopsis golden
In winter when everything is white or grey, you'll miss their presence



Myself, my friend Azy and my sister, Nora at The English Garden in Regents Park London
                                

Monday, July 23, 2012

Ramadhan Perantau

Kota London di United Kingdom adalah antara pusat pembelajaran yang mempunyai ramai pelajar Malaysia. Dalam kegembiraan menyambut Ramadhan bersama rakan seperjuangan, terselit juga kerinduan kepada suasana dan keluarga di tanahair. Bagi saya secara peribadi, apabila teringat kepada suami yang berada jauh terasa ingin untuk menempah tiket penerbangan pulang. Dari minggu ke minggu hasrat tersebut tertangguh apabila semakin banyak tugasan yang mustahil diselesaikan dalam masa terdekat. Maka, dipujuk hati supaya redha  dengan menjalani ibadah puasa di perantauan. Walaupun ada kalanya dilanda perasaan  tertekan yang bercampur baur, saya tetap yakin bahawa usaha yang konsisten akan membuahkan hasil kejayaan. Bak kata cikgu matematik tambahan semasa menuntut di MRSM Pengkalan Chepa (MRSM PC) dahulu “Takkan karbon menjadi intan tanpa tekanan”. Rakan-rakan kelas Farabi MRSM PC tahun 1996 pasti mengingati pujangga tersebut.  
Tersenyum saya sendirian apabila teringat pada seloroh seorang pegawai atasan di pejabat, Cik Kadariah, sebelum bertolak melanjutkan pelajaran disini 20 bulan yang lalu,  katanya “Awak pergi London  tahun ni, alamatnya 3 tahunlah puasa musim summer cik adik oi. Tak sempat nak habis berbuka dah nak sambung sahur!” Benar sungguh...jika di tanahair yang terletak di garisan tengah khatulistiwa, kita sudah terbiasa subuhnya pukul 6 pagi, berbuka lingkungan jam 7 malam dan menjelang 10 malam bolehlah berehat menikmati moreh setelah selesai solat tarawih.  Tetapi di London pada musim panas tahun ini, subuhnya jam 3 pagi dan maghribnya 9 malam, malah tarawihnya selesai jam 12 tengah malam! Jika ingin berehat sebentar dan bangun semula untuk bertahajjud serta bersahur, besar kemungkinan tidak terjaga langsung apatah lagi jika seharian penat mengerah tenaga dan fikiran. Sebaliknya, jika ingin terus berjaga sehingga subuh, besar pula kemungkinan terlewat bangun untuk menghadiri kuliah.  Bagi sebilangan pelajar pasca siswazah yang sedang giat menjalani kajian (seperti eksperimen makmal dan kutipan data yang masanya tidak menentu), terasa haru-biru juga dibuatnya.  Ditambah pula tahun ini sukan olimpik  berpusat di London,  merata-rata poster di semua stesen bas dan tren memaparkan saranan ‘Dear Londoners, you are advised to start your journey before 0700hours to get ahead of the Olympic games”.  Maka rutin di sepanjang Ramadhan perlu lebih berdisiplin; walaupun berpuasa 18 jam dan hanya sempat tidur dua atau tiga jam sahaja, perjalanan ke kuliah dan tugasan kajian perlu bermula seawal pagi untuk mengelakkan kesesakkan dan gangguan kenderaan awam. Walau penat mana sekali pun kami tidak mahu menggunakan alasan kerana berpuasa produktiviti berkurang dan tugasan tidak dapat disiapkan. Panji ‘Islam is the true way of life’ dan ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ harus sentiasa didokong supaya tidak mudah diperlekehkan.  Inilah masanya mempraktikan pepatah orang tua - Alah bisa tegal biasa,  hendak seribu daya tak hendak seribu dalih.
Bercerita tentang seorang sahabat saya, Azy, tentang pengalaman beliau bersahur Ramadhan pertama sambil bertugas sebagai sukarelawan pegawai keselamatan di Stadium Akuatik Olimpik, yang bertempat di Olympic Park, Stradford. Sudahlah bertugas di kawasan terbuka, unifom pula tidak cukup untuk menahan angin malam dan dingin hujan. “Bestnyer kalau dapat teh tarik panas segelas” bisik hati. Menurut beliau, dalam situasi begitu terasa sangat terharu apabila tiba waktu bersahur di mana  ahli sukarelawan non-Muslim yang datang dari berbagai negara menyapa dengan senyuman dan ramah mesra “Tomorrow is Ramadhan right…Are you going to be fasting? Anyway, there is food at the canteen for you”. Tiba-tiba hati berbunga-bunga dengan layanan baik yang diberi.  Walaupun juadah bersahur sangatlah berbeza dari kebiasaan juadah di Malaysia, iaitu sandwich, kentang lenyek, pasta dan buah; tetapi semangat untuk berpuasa diteruskan juga. Di saat inilah perbezaan budaya dan cara hidup di tempat orang menjadi cabaran untuk terus berdiri dan meneruskan kehidupan. Selain itu, hal ini secara tidak langsung menginsafkan diri beliau tentang keperitan hidup orang yang berkerja sebagai pegawai keselamatan, langsung bersyukur dengan kelebihan yang dimiliki dan ingin terus bekeja keras untuk terus maju.
Kemesraan dan kehormatan yang ditunjukkan oleh orang  tempatan terhadap penganut Islam yang berpuasa sangat baik. Hal ini juga dirasai oleh Amirrah, yang mengambil peluang bekerja sambilan sempena cuti musim panas. Kata Amirrah, majikan dan rakan-rakan sekerja beliau amat perihatin dengan keselesaan dan hak pekerja muslim yang memerlukan waktu dan ruang untuk menunaikan solat. Pengalaman beginilah yang memberi keterbukaan minda dalam bersosial tanpa mengira batas kepercayaan agama.
Solat tarawih berjemaah di kota London tidak kurang juga meriahnya walaupun di negara orang putih. Terdapat banyak masjid yang diimami ahli tahfiz, MasyaAllah. Pengalaman menunaikan solat tarawih dengan jemaah muslim tempatan yang berbagai bangsa di masjid utama London iaitu Regents Park Mosque amatlah berharga. Lunaknya bacaan imam yang mana witirnya diiringi doa yang boleh menitiskan airmata sesiapa sahaja yang mendengar membuatkan hati ini terasa amat kerdil di bumi Allah swt. Indahnya ayatMu, besarnya rahmatMu…sesungguhnya bumi ini milikMU maka tidak terasing kalimahMu dimana jua hambaMu berada. Tiba-tiba teringat kepada arwah datuk, nenek, bapa mertua dan sahabat handai yang telah dijemput illahi (semoga roh mereka tenang dialam baqa’). Pabila terasa rindu dengan suasana tarawih di tanahair, para pelajar dan rakyat Malaysia amnya bolehlah menyertai surau ibu pejabat Education Malaysia bertempat di Bayswater atau dewan restoran milik Pak Awi di Paddington yang dikelola oleh Kelab UMNO London. Disini dapat dilihat permata-permata dikalangan pelajar Malaysia yang sedang digilap. Rupa-rupanya ramai yang menghafal Al-Quran dan berbakat ustaz bertauliah, Alhamdulillah. Bagi rakan pelajar yang berjauhan, tidak dapatlah mereka menyertai moreh sepuas hati kerana perlu mengejar bas atau tren yang kebanyakkan perkhidmatannya tamat jam 12 tengah malam. Kalau tidak, terpaksalah menginap di rumah rakan-rakan yang berdekatan.
Maka kesimpulannya, menempuh Ramadhan di peratuan ada juga indahnya. Sememangnya tidak dinafikan adanya  terasa rindu, sedih, sayu dan macam-macam perasaan. Namun, perlulah ia diatasi dengan bijak supaya tidak menggangu tujuan asal berada di luar negara iaitu untuk membawa pulang ilmu dan pengalaman.
Sebagai penutup kata, kami ingin mengucapkan:

Salam Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin kepada suami tercinta Mohd Nasrul Mohamad Noor, ibu mertua dan kerabat Hj Yusuf serta Mama, Abah, adik-adik dan sanak-saudara yang berada di KL, Kelantan dan Kedah; warga Bahagian Perkhidmatan Farmasi dan BPFK KKM, warga Jabatan Farmasi Hospital Selayang dan rakan taulan.
Norkasihan Ibrahim (Penulis), Pelajar PhD jurusan Farmasi Klinikal, University College London School of Pharmacy

Salam Aidilfitri diucapkan buat keluarga tercinta di Kedah, kaum keluarga, guru-guru dan sahabat handai yang disayangi serta tidak lupa juga kepada penaja, Telekom Malaysia dan Multimedia Universiti. Semoga Ramadhan kali ini memberi keberkatan buat kita semua. Maaf Zahir dan batin dari saya. Doakan kejayaan kami di sini.
Nur Azyyati Ahmad, Pelajar PhD jurusan Sains Komputer, King’s College London

Selamat Hari Raya kepada Mama dan Abah; Abang Tarmizi sekeluarga, Kak Inn sekeluarga, sanak-saudara di Kelantan dan Kuala Lumpur, Mama Ton sekeluarga di Selayang dan penaja, United Engineer of Malaysia (UEM).
Nor Amirrah Ibrahim, Pelajar tahun akhir jurusan Biokimia, King’s College London

Dari kanan: Norkasihan Ibrahim, Nur Azyyati Ahmad dan Nor Amirrah Ibrahim.
Lokasi foto: English Garden di Regents Park, London, UK

Friday, July 20, 2012

From Bus 453 to Purple Lavenders

Run..run..run..uphh! Not fast enough to catch bus number 453. Rattling knees and lazy bum hindered me from running faster. Oh well, it was 0730hrs on the first day of Ramadhan and without proper sahur (I over slept!). There were two missed wake-up call from Zaitul at 0230am. I could have had 45 minutes of sahur if I heard the alarm clock. Such a long explanation - hope that would make a good excuse of failing to speed up for a bus waiting just 250 meters away!  I was never a sprinter, but seriously...it was like a hint to renew the gym membership.

The next bus arrived in less than a minute. I walked up the red double deck and settled down on the very front row facing the big windscreen. A bus ride from Baker Street to St Thomas' Hospital is an approximately 40 minutes journey and passes through several interesting places around London city. First,  the peaceful green scenery of Regents Park, then the 'temptation spots' which are Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus - because memory works better in pictorial and colours,  I can practically remember most of the 50% and 80% sale adverts of the high street brands! Further down the road would be the four black lion statues of Trafalgar Square and finally the busy yet beautiful Westminster Bridge above the River Thames where Big Ben stands tall and London Eye never stops spinning. That was where I stopped to reach the hospital across the road.  

Passing through this route routinely fades away the excitement,  but I never bore walking along the Westminster Bridge. It  reminds me of the lovely evening spent with my husband on the River Thames cruise. Back to that day, I had no clue the hospital located beside the river would be one of my data collection sites.


There is a bunch of bloomed lavenders at the sidewalk to the hospital. Some how out of no where, the combination of their purple colour and refreshing smell reminded me of the people I know who have passed away - my grand parents who filled up my childhood memory, my father-in-law a soft-spoken man full of love and a few of my friends whom I learned about thier death through Facebook notifications. No one knows if this would be our last Ramadhan. No one knows if we would still be here until the endmost day of Ramadhan. Death is so certain and very near, yet few of us are aware of its presence.

May I please take you to 1980 something, perhaps 1984 when I was 4 or 5 years old. That year, I realised there is no such thing as the Peter Pan world - children will grow up to become adults and adults to elderly, and the cycle repeats itself as and how God has had it arranged...I was very  upset with my mother for bringing me to this world. It was such a selfish act when I asked  mother  "Mama...if you know that I, one day will die, why did you bring me here? Why did you not let me remain in heaven?" What made me angry most back then was the fact that one day my parent will no longer exist! Many years later, life taught me that death does not come in sequence of age. When I graduated and started a career at the hospital setting, I could not disagree with many others out there who chose health as their outmost precious property. We may be less stable economically or renting a house while others own it or could not afford a private transport while others drive luxury cars or longing for a child while others disowned theirs, desperate for a partner while others are happily married and many more in the 'wish list'. Just imagine, if we have all those but not health...will our 'wish list' remain the same?

I would like to take this opportunity to share this Ramadhan prayer from dearest Datin Fadilah - a person who has many roles in my life. Starting from as my boss, motivator, then ex-boss, then a dear friend, a constant personal preacher and sometimes as a mother too:

"O Allah make us among those who observe fasting during Ramadhan and establish prayers during the nights of Ramadhan out of sincere Faith and hoping for the reward" 

Salam Ramadhan to you my dear readers.  

Monday, July 9, 2012

Inhale the whole wide air

It has been so long time since the last entry. I was caught up in so many events and just had the time to sit and pen down a few words. Well, like anyone cares about it anyway!

Writing to buy time for  my own pleasure, hopefully this can give a little peace of mind. This is month 20 of my PhD course; the stress is getting more intense - uh uh...not friendly at all. I am so stressed up that I wish to run away, eat chocolate cakes, fly a kite on the beach and not think about anything related to working. When you are thinking too much about something (or someone), the world seems to be up side down. I think I am already half way cracking under pressure - just gobbled six chocolate cookies a minute ago, and I still have space for a whole chocolate cake!

My parent had safely flown back home two weeks ago. I should be savouring sadness to be here without them, but I was too occupied to drag the sense of loneliness a little longer. Thanks to my sister, Nora who stayed behind until November. I  have already moved in to a new place, a cosy cute studio in London's city centre. Now, do not fancy a posh looking apartment. Technically, 10 steps from the entrance door is the bed, another 15 steps or so is the kitchenette and take 10 steps forward; that is the bathroom. Nevertheless, it is alright...I am considered lucky to get that much of space within a reasonable rental in the middle of the city. The main advantage is savings on  transportation from monthly commitment of £112 slashed down to £50. Not bad aye. The dreadful side is...it is just walking distance to Oxford Street! Oh my...got to hold my pocket tight!


Now back to academic progress - I had a meeting with my supervisor an hour ago. The meeting was so fruitful that...honestly I think I need a break. There are many ideas to think about and more knowledge to explore (this means many more papers to read!). The meeting today was about understanding the fundamental of a randomised control trial (RCT) in a clinical practice research. The element 'clinical practice' makes an RCT very challenging because there is no Right or Wrong answer to the research design. The subjective component embedded in clinical practice makes me have to be really good in defending the pragmatic approach of the study design. GOSH...writing about this makes me suffocate...Arrgghh!

Anyways...life needs to go on. At this moment, the remaining 16 months seems to be so short of time - I MUST and I HAVE to get this DONE no matter what happen, InsyaAllah.

So, my resolution for the week is...TAKE A BREAK TO CAMBRIDGE! Will be joining Abangchik, Lyn, Nora and Mr Baby Qalif. Wallawei..I hope this coming two days trip will unwind my mind and put together the scattered clouds of ideas.