Wahida Samsuddin: Personal

Life for granted

I was flipping through the photos in my (old) phone and saw a photo of my grandma I took about two weeks ago. It reminded of me of the thing she said the other day.

Maso kakak umur seminggu, kakak lemas dale besen maso nenek mandi ke kakak. Nenek cepat-cepat gi spital takut de jadi gapo-gapo. Dok de paka tudung gapo, maso tu de paka kain batik, baju sehe skalo jah. Sapa ko hari ni nenek ingat go ni. Mujur Allah bagi selamat.

Ok, my skill of writing a Kelantanese dialect speech (and speaking one) apparently sucks big time ;__;

Basically, every time we were to talk about the old times, she would retell me of the story over and over again. I always find it awkward to react to her story as she was telling it by looking deep into my eyes, as if it was something horrible she could not get over it forever. So I would just keep quite and listen to her and nodded.

But at the same time, I did imagine that I could have died that day and what would happen if I did:

My parents would be sad.
Nenek would be sad and she would never forgive herself.
Nenek would not have the chance to name me (Nurul Wahida - that was Nenek's idea).
My brother, Fuad, will be the eldest in the family. Or not.
Et cetera.

However, I did not die.

I guess her story reminds me that I have escaped death twice. Escaped the second one 11 years later.

Up to the present day I could not unravel the mystery behind these occurrences but one thing I'm sure of, everything happens for a reason. I can't possibly find any word or action equally adequate to say how thankful I am for Allah has given me the third chance to live on His earth. He must have meant serious business here, as a disdained, lowly creation of Him who's still struggling to keep her heart so close to Him, I certainly did not deserve such a chance. And what's more, my flaws and weaknesses sometimes stray me away from Him and made me forget how fortunate of me to be alive today, to still have the time to correct myself and do all the good deeds that He deserve, while the time lasts.

Everyday is a new leaf and time is money. Get up and work towards the betterment. Let's be well-equipped for the Eternity.

May Allah accept.

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, by Wahida Samsuddin

Islam

Gratefulness

I made this poster a year ago for Pak Jamil's Language of Persuasion subject.

This poster has a ridiculous story to be told behind its making: I was having a hard time thinking how would I attract an ant into eating something as I need to capture it doing what it does best. As idiotic as it may sound, I put some rice on a dish because I thought perhaps some ants would circle around the rice and try to lift it...or eat it. In fact, I was relating to some things I learned from matriculation - that white rice has carbs which will be broken down into simple sugar (monosaccharides? sorry rusty chemistry). I mean why wouldn't ants be attracted to sugar? I waited for 2 hours, yet not even an ant came across the dish. I was losing my patience and ranted to my mum about this. She said if she was me, she would have used sugar instead of rice. I was stunned by her statement because I never thought to do so! Realizing what a complete moron I was, I quickly replaced the rice with some drops of sugar, REAL SUGAR, at least, visible to naked eyes. Within 5 minutes later, ants came flooding the area and the photo was successfully captured.

I don't intend to fill this page with another moronic stuffs I did so let's just get to the point: we as human beings shall be grateful for every things in our life, as simple as not to waste food. Food is a rezeki (gifts from Allah The Merciful) to us, thus by any means of wasting them, we are actually showing the act of ungratefulness, as some people out there are dying to get a plate of rice, or even a piece of bread, just to keep them alive for the day. My cousin, a cabin crew, once told me he has seen a mother with her child trying to sell some bananas on an old sampan somewhere in India, sacrificing her life just so she would be able to feed her child a proper meal. While at the shipyard, a group of homeless Indians scavenging their trashes in the ship, found a tin of rotten biscuits and gobble them hungrily.

And then I remember Sanji who would never waste any food because he used to starve to death when he was a child. He used to have a bag full of golds with him that time, but since he was on a island in the vast ocean, he couldn't use those golds to buy a food, and he nearly died of malnutrition.

And then I remember I don't know what will become of me in the hereafter as I'll be questioned upon every pieces of food I've wasted. Allahu a'lam.

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, by Wahida Samsuddin

Awesome

We happy few

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, by Wahida Samsuddin

Life

The oldies' stories

Went to visit my oldies (mum's) last week. Healthy and happy they were. I was so glad to see them in such a shape. I was glad that I still have the chance to talk to them. The smiles on their face, they were priceless. And while I was there, I watched this cerekarama (Malay movie) on TV3, something about a son who despised his mum without knowing the actual story of why his mother abandoned him when he was a child. I didn't really pay any attention to it because it was boring, dull and too usual. Yeah sure, all of us have our own stories, our own secrets, I got that. Then I looked at my grandma and grandpa, a struck of thought hit my head - behind those crinkly, aged faces, what were the stories behind them?

I bet this will be a lengthy one.

So I had this idea to talk to them about their pasts, which I was quite unsure of, as there were bits of stories told by my mum and aunties here and there - they were disorganised and I had a hard time connecting the storyline. We sat around the dining table having our late supper, and I interviewed my grandpa hehe. This happy-go-lucky jii-chan was born on 1940s, thus he got to experience the Japanese and British invasion. He had a sight-disabled mother named Zainab, a sister named Salmah and a step-father. According to him, he experienced a struggling life back then. Both his mother and sister were deceased due to Malaria plague, which was very hard to cure during those years. Though he had a hard life, he still went to school until Standard 6 or so. He became a begger at 16, and after his mother's death, he began to live on his own.

He said he used to walked for miles just to get a job. Along the journey before he found a job, bringing a small pot with him, he fed himself by begging for food from the villagers. He then worked as a labour at a military base, under British reign. The British officials treated him well, because my grandpa was a hard worker. After working for the military, he worked with JKR (Public Works Department), until he retired. He was an active person too. He joined body-building championship, plays, sports, and others.

My grandma on the other hand, had her own story. She had a difficult life too. My late great grandma was a hawker - well, without a stall. She dwelt in the town selling legumes and others. My grandma helped her with that. She was a brilliant student at school. She entered an Islamic school and was able to recite and understood Quran very well, she even taught other students (she is still good at it until now).

Now, this is the interesting part - she married my grandpa without even knowing who he was. My grandpa's uncle was the match-maker. He urged my grandpa, who originated from Kuala Lumpur, to move to Besut, Terengganu to marry my grandma. After some months being persuaded, he decided to finally move there. They got married, but both of them were still struggling to live.

My grandpa told me that he had to do so many jobs to feed his family - washing the dishes, laundry other people's clothes and iron them, rubber-tapping, etc. etc. until he got to work with JKR. My grandma rented a warong and started her own business. Her children helped her at her warong. When my mum was born (she was the third among her seven siblings), the mid-wife opted to adopt my mum, but my grandma strongly refused to do so. She said to me, even how hard her life might be, she would never ever give her children to other people. Though their life was hard, they sent all of their children to school, because they believed education was extremely important.

Seberang Jerteh People, Besut, Terengganu

From left: 1) My grandpa, my grandpa's kins, & my grandma; 2) Me, aunt (6th), my mum, grandma, aunt (5th), & le cousin at my back; 3) Me & my grandma

Listening to their stories made me realised that I was living a far more comfortable life than they were as a child. Alhamdulillah. Even now, there are many more out there who don't even get a chance to go to school, what more to enter a university. They don't even get proper water and food supply, an Internet access, or a house to live in. Masya Allah, at times I valued these for nothing. Thank you for the reminders, grandpa and grandma. Thank you for your willingness to share your life experiences. Such great inspirations. I hope I can be as strong and determined to live as both of you too. Insya Allah.