SYED HALIM JAMALULLAIL

Someone once said "Some were born with riches; some have riches bestowed upon them; some have to slough for their own riches'.

But what about me? Where do I fit in? No 1? No 2? No 3?

Thoughtfully speaking, I meet all the three categories and I don't meet them. What nonsense you may say? Yes nonsense, I admit. How? Why?

I was born with everything but I had nothing. I never regret. I never curse anything., not even what people term as FATE because I never believe anything as fate. I believe in one thing though, we are our own fate. We create our own destiny and destiny was never being pushed to us especially me. If we care to work not only hard but very, very hard we too can achieve riches; if we don't we can only harvest RAGS, although rags can shrewdly be idiomatically translated from rags to riches by those who have managed to wriggle themselves through to get riches - but I prefer to say to rob riches - by various means, especially the crooked way. This being so shouldn't be a surprise to us as we all know it takes all sort of people to make this world. Some may go even further. They make riches their own gods so much so they may even forget their own beginnings.; but as for me like I said earlier I don't fall in all those categories mentioned above. I only have my own world, the world where Allah has answered most of my prayers.

As a small boy I hailed from Arau, Perlis. I used to have friends like Malai Mutusamy, Ah hui, Ah Hock, Autar Singh, Edens, Pian and Ariff (to name a few). We studied at Sekolah Melayu Kangar, Perlis way back in the late forties. We were good friends. We never quarreled. We never grew suspicious of each other. During breaks we would eat together under the school. I hope and pray they still live. What was so great about our friendship was that we never allowed any evils to be in our way. When I look back at those days I know I know we were then very innocent friends whose minds weren't being poisoned or corrupted by any quarters. I still remember them until today. if they are still alive (others like them) , they must be of my age.

They way we looked at our lives, we never cared whether we were rich or poor; whether we had enough or not but we could all together make good everything that we shared. That spirit of oneness (or togetherness) and spiritually and that is why I for one don't hardly think whether I was born with riches; whether riches was bestowed upon me or whether I had to find my own riches.

As I said earlier that Allah has answered and contented with all that I have, and that happiness and contentment will never be complete if I at times (maybe not all the times) look back at those days with all my friends go hunting birds with my slings in nearby kampungs and bushes. I mentioned that purposely because right now in my old age I still do some hunting , not with a sling but with a true shotgun and to be exact with my Bennely Semi Automatic Shot Gun. I must thank the Government and the Police for kindly allowing me to own such a gun. To Tan Sri Musa bin Hassan, the Director General of Police, I say "Thank you, Sir". may Allah bless and keep you, your excellency.

I hope to write more about myself. Thank you ladies and gentleman.

Sajak CINTA

CINTA

Apakah yang lebih mengasyikkan?
Tertanya-tanya hati sepiku,
Terlebih dari segala-galanya;
Jugakah rindu yang tidak berkesudahan,
Jugakah kesepian yang tidak bersempadanan;
Berhelah-helah segala ingatan,
Berpujuk-pujukan gurindam hati,
Irama yang tidak pernah ada noktah,
Terusik-usik, tercari-cari akan sesuatu;
Apakah itu kasih?
Apakah itu rindu?
Apakah itu kesepian?
Perpisahan dalam kenyataan,
Kenyataan didalam perpisahan,
Aku tercari-cari,
Digamit lagi akan kasih,
Digamit lagi akan rindu,
Digamit lagi akan kesepian;
Terlupa bukan ajak-ajakan,
Teringat tidak pernah ada perenggan;
Yang ada hanya Allah yang tahu,
Seikhlas ratapan,
Sesuci CINTA.

Nukilan,
Syed Halim Jamalullail.


LOVE

Are not the sweet memories of the years past,
Are the obsessions in the bosom of its solitude,
And the blossoms cherish above all, aren't they?
Or, must it be longing, the limitless?
Or, must it be loneliness, the border less?
All of which are tormented by memories,
Of songs from the yearning heart,
And lyrics with their infinities,
To swear my heart with introspection;
Is it love?
Is it longing?
Is it loneliness?
Or, could it be separation in reality,
Or, could it be reality in separation,
And whatever you interpret them,
They are infinities;
Of love,
Of longing,
Of loneliness.

FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIPS - Part 2

Hello!
How are you ladies and gentlemen?
I hope you are well and "not in the well".
Ha! Ha! Ha! Do you know why I laughed and laughed when I mentioned the words 'not in the well?'
What a big surprise and may be "no surprise at all" for some of you when the answer is "not in the well" is written here.
Well! Well! Well! That's what we come to understand what most English students of today do about their English grammar.
Never mind! Never mind! Never mind!
Shall we leave them alone or will their English teacher do something with them!
Well! Well!Well! Again a big surprise. So English speaking people have their own kind of interpretation of relativity and values. They why bother so much about grammar. Grammar to them is not important. What is so important is how people say things. And, may I add. I guess that's what they mean by 'relativity' and 'values'. In Malay, we say "Sudah menjadi tung gang terbalik". (In a mess). Yes, that would be in a mess if that kind of belief has become their flesh and blood.
Sorry (but my English teacher used to tell me that it was no use to say sorry if you have kicked someone down) I have been blurring, blurring my way for so long. Actually what I really wished to tell you is a different matter. The thing is this.
Did you read my first article on "Friends and Friendship"? I hope you have and I do welcome so much your comments and verdict. That way I can improve myself in my writing. Thank you.
Yes! Remember my 'rat' or simply the 'rat'? Please comment.
Poor rat! How, when, where will it find it's friends? Perhaps everywhere and nowhere! To it to find a good friend it must hundred times tried. Just like choosing a good watermelon. It is also remarked that one should not judge a book by its cover. But, whatever argument we put forth, we cant deny that we must have friends. Otherwise we shall be termed as "kera sumbang" (a solitary monkey).
So, without further ado hi set forth his journey to gather as many friends as it could to fulfill its mission. How? Why? He worked very hard to gather as many friends as it could. They had a very important meeting. They decided to find a way or ways to stop the cat from bullying or butchering them. In the meeting one smart rat had an idea how to do it. It said it was very simple. How? Take a change. Fastened a belt to it and tie to the cat's neck. The rest of the rats laughed and laughed.
"What was so funny about my suggestion?"the rat remarked.
" Not funny! Not funny!" The rest of the rats replied.
"So what?"
"The problem is which rat is going to tie the chain to the cat's neck"
"You all are right!"
"So how to do it?"
"We suggest, we vote"
When all the rats heard that they should vote, some protested.
As there was a protest, another smarter rat came out with another smarter answer. He suggested that whoever voted he or she would be given a big piece of cake or perhaps bigger. Hearing that, there was a LURE, everybody agreed. The meeting was on again. The rat, in the meeting, who was the smartest and biggest, was chosen to do the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.
This particular rat which volunteered to do the risky job, was a great believer in the works of 'bomoh'; otherwise he too was too scared to do such a KAMIKAZE.
The most crucial moment came. That rat began his work. He chanted all the love potion, the preventive potion and what other potions that he knew of. The cat which was supposed to be the rat's victim lay idle, with it's eyes closed at a dark corner. The rat thought everything was saved. Putting the talisman given by the 'bomoh' around his neck, he chanted all the 'holy' words of preventions and defense. He gathered all his courage. The right moment came like what we all saw in the James Bond series. He took a very slow walk towards the cat. But, without knowing that the cat had already opened half his eyes, slowly the rat put the chain around the cat's neck. As he was so doing the cat quickly pounced on him - the poor rat. However the cat as it is known worldwide as a very unpredictable animal, did not eat the rat right away. He Instead 'played with it to test the might of the rat. The rat knowing very well of the cat's MIGHT AND POWER was very worried that the cat's absolute power would corrupt the cat absolutely. He lifted his two front legs bowing down and pleading in front of the cat like a slave bowing down in front of his master to ask for his freedom.
Seeing the naive behavior of it's victim, the cat melodiously whispered into the rat's ears.
"My dear friend did you ever hear the law of the jungle?"
"No, sir" replied the rat.
"It's simply states like this: 'Only the strongest and the fittest live". I am indeed very sorry I have to eat you for my dinner. After all, because of globalization as you know the price of the chicken has gone up by almost 100 percent. Don't blame me, my dear. Blame the world without borders if you so desire".
Poor rat, he became the victim of circumstances, so to speak!
Friends, dear friends. Do please remember the Malay proverbs "Kalau kutu tak makan di kepala, dimana lagi dia mau makan?" (literally translated 'If the lice do not feed on the head, where else can they feed?'
OK, my dear friends ladies and gentleman. Please 'BEWARE OF THE AIDES OF MARCH.
Bye! Bye! And thank you.

FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIPS

These two humble words "Friends" and "Friendships" are always on human lips, let alone in their hearts. Whether these human beings can actually comprehend or not what they have uttered remains a big question mark. But since they are full of prejudices and injustices, they seem not to care or bother whether they do really and truthfully understand what "friends" and "friendships" are holistically termed. They prefer to make all sorts of assumptions and accusations on these two terminologies. Some of them may even go further than that. They may put the blame on the wrong usage of the terms like the pots calling the kettles black.

Should anything be raised on their misunderstanding or worse still their ignorance on the true meanings of the two words, they start to show their true colours by coining many excuses and manipulations simply just to throw them away on the faces of their so called friends. Both the parties start to put the blame on each other like the analogy which runs like this: The father puts the blame on his wife; the wife on her cook; her cook on her chauffeur; the chauffeur on the gardener; the gardener on his dog; and the dog on it's friend, the cat. Oh dear. Poor cat!

So what can the poor cat do? Shall it just sit at the corner and do nothing? No! Certainly it will go after a rat or more rats. That is the law of the jungle. Survival of the fittest (shall I add the cunningest?) Only the strongest live! This animal behavior lives in human beings. Even in this present day we have Brutus, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. We often hear people say in You, in You, in you, in ME and us all 'THERE' is BRUTUS. Hence, my friends "BEWARE OF BRUTUS!".

Perhaps Mark Anthony could remain neutral!

However, BEWARE THE AIDES OF MARCH!

O dear! O Dear! The two humble words - FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIPS.

"thou art so humble! How humble thou art could be?"