The Mousedeer and The Crocodile

When I was a child, Mom used to read bedtime stories to me and my elder sister. We love them so much. As we became independent readers, we read them on our own. We kept reading the same old stories – folklores from Malaysia and all countries across the world. One of the most famous folklore story books (and also our favorite) is “Sang Kancil dan Sang Buaya” which translated as “The Mousedeer and The Crocodile”. I was so little that time and easily felt sorry for Kancil. I cursed the crocodile for being so bad; he wants to eat Kancil! Fortunately, Kancil save himself by lying to the crocodile and his carnivore friends.

It has been years since I last read the book. Recently I finally got the chance to meet the childhood friend again. Only this time, I’m no longer an innocent child who read books just for fun. With the knowledge I gained, the experiences I’ve been through; I started to think…crocodile is not evil at all. He was meant to eat meats. God created the river beast that way. The real antagonist is in fact our beloved Kancil. He is a liar. He made himself to look like the victim. He has made me care about him! – as a kid of course. Whoa…what a crime.

Then something crossed my mind; the story is actually a reflection of one of the ugliest behaviors possessed by us; the human beings.

A simple explanation or could I say example that can be taken from me myself is; there was a time when I was driving with Mom and suddenly we got lost in the middle of a busy road in Kuala Lumpur. Feeling exhausted and irritated; I failed to control my emotions – causing them to burst onto the wrong person. Yup, my Mom. I put the fault on her. Of course it was not her mistake; it is me who follow the wrong instructions from our car's GPS. I am not the victim of the situation. I acted like one.

Just like Kancil, we tend to see ourselves as victims of certain situations. Why? For some people, they need attentions, the more the better. While others, they want to stay away from the reality. These kinds of people hold variety of reasons. That is why we are full of hatred; we wronged our parents; we created false statements as in fitnah; we put the faults on others. And to those who didn’t realize it yet; they posted on the wall of their Facebook so they could get more supporters who would feel sorry for them; be with them.

No. It has gone too far. There’s too much exaggeration for a simple thing. Why don’t we come to our senses and attend more to other people’s feelings instead of ours. Sometimes we are the predators, not them. We just have to accept the truth.


P/S: Maybe we should listen and learn from the famous song by Akon; "Sorry Blame It On Me"

TV Trends

During the previous semester break, my big sister came home and kept chit chatting about this funny reality TV show and a singing award or something like that which me and Mom don’t quite understand – we didn’t watch them! Well, Mom did have seen one of the shows but not entirely (she let the cat watched it and she continued her daily home-cleaning job).

In Malaysia, TV obsession is almost as huge as smart phones addiction. Most families here love to have more choices of channels on their television screen – that’s why ASTRO is well-recognized by everyone. However my family is not into television so much, so Mom has never installed ASTRO in our home. Since I was a kid, we as a family only watch TV shows during certain times and on certain channels. Mom only watches TV when she has nothing to do which is really rare, and when there’s a good TV show on air, while Daddy simply watches football matches and some other sports. My sis…she’s unpredictable. She can watch just about anything. I love to watch anime – that has been dubbed into Malay and Chinese (when I was younger), English shows and superheroes cartoons, and sometimes channels that aired Japanese TV series.

Most of my schoolmates didn’t believe me when I told them we have no ASTRO set at home; even the teachers thought I was making jokes. Until now, it’s still weird for my friends to know I’m not an ASTRO customer. Mom taught us to read more; I think it’s normal when you have an excellent educator as your mother. We are not prohibited from watching TV but there’s a limit. 

As we grow up we know how to choose what we want to watch wisely. When my friends talk about a Malay drama series inspired from some POP genre novels, I just go “what?” because obviously I don’t watch that kind of TV show. I don’t need to watch to know the ending. Most Malay movies and TV series aren’t watch-worthy, no offense. I’m not saying all of them but MOST of them. 

I am indeed picky on what I should read and watch as the saying goes; the things you love (hobbies and interests) define the way you think. 

P/s: Actually I just happened to watch Futurama animation and one of the episodes suddenly lighten up my thinking bulb to write about this story. I really like some of the words the characters are saying and I quoted these for you (and again, no offense): 

“But that’s not why people watch TV ! Clever things make people feel stupid, & unexpected things make them feel scared. 

See? TV audience don’t want anything original. They wanna see the same thing they’ve seen thousands times before. “

 – Fry (Futurama Season 1) –

Hahaa, well said. See you in the next post!

The Ugly Truth of Today's Youth

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un

Just a few weeks ago Malaysian citizens were being shocked by the news regarding to the decease of Allahyarham Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. Mom was the first one to tell me on that very night, as her friends called her in tears. It was devastating for us – we adore him too much. We never have the chance to see him and now he’s gone, back to where he belongs, to the Creator. Mom recited yaasin on that night and later after Subuh prayer I decided to recite one too; for our great leader who has ended his journey and jihad in this temporary world. It is a sad sad day for almost all Malaysians except for some of my friends who I might say quiet ignorant when it comes to serious issues. It’s not that I want to reveal their weaknesses but this is the ugly truth of nowadays youth.

Most of my classmates from secondary school and Diploma are very open-minded on sharing thoughts about politics, current issues and religions. We read and do quite good research as we debated each other’s opinions. And I thought Bachelor degree should be more fun! Man, I was wrong. Almost everyone is unaware of anything. They only care about assignments, TV shows, internet, celebrities, gadgets and “please, no politics talk but we support government” kind of attitude. And they say the F words a lot. I once thought university is full of intelligent people!

Guys, we hold the handbook to guide the future generations. How come you know Maharaja Lawak’s winner but never heard of Ahmad Ammar? You talk about iPhone 6 but ignore MH17? I don’t want to live in this planet anymore. Seriously. When I told a friend about TGNA’s death, she just replied that she wanted to go out to watch movie to ease her boredom. She hates politics and I knew about it but this is not politic talks; we just lost one of a kind religious leader. Every typical Muslims would be terribly sad to know this news, even the non-Muslims.

Youths nowadays need to wake up from their awfully long sleep and open the window to understand the real world, witness every single thing that is currently happening. We are not little children anymore. The world is not as dirty as you expected; took off your glasses and clean the dirt on it. If needed, remove the lenses too and change them with a new one – which enables you to see from different angles.