Moscow

When was the last time a Russian leader said that their great country will 'destroy and destroy'?.

Destroy and destroy.

All the best to my fellow Malaysians in Moscow. Hang in there, be safe.

This photo up here, this is the Moscow that I want to remember.

28 June 2008.
I followed the Moskva, down to Gorky Park.
Nikon D40 + AF-S Nikkor 55-200 VR + Adobe Lightroom + From Russia with love.

Paris

26 janvier 2010.
The Louvre.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + I.M. Pei

Berlin

3 Februar 2010.
Reichstag, Berlin.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Almost world capital.

Aku tuanku di Medan Tuanku
Misterius suasana di banglo Loke Yew
Di sana sini ukhwah dicanang
Ukhwah diamal? Boleh dibincang?

Jeans ketat dilondeh malu
Dang Wangi terbaring terlena
Setia menunggu, tak pernah cemburu
Odeon masih banyak ceritanya

Halanya satu, tapi terpisah
Perihal-perihal Munsyi Abdullah
Di kanan baru di kiri resah
Di kiri perlu di kanan pernah

Gerai sup roti bengali
Doraisamy masih berdansa
Tangan erat memegang janji
Anak muda bakal kecewa

Aku tuanku di Medan Tuanku
Begitu juga kamu tuan dirimu

It's okay. It always is.

This is me

Thanks Ben.

1 October 2009.
Doraisamy.
Benjamin Ujang James Gumbang + Nikon D40 kit + The reverse rule of thirds.

Köln

6 Februar 2010.
Kölner Dom.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Die beiden Türme am Rhein.

The Pope's Revenge

When the sun shines on the Fernsehturm's tiled stainless steel dome, the reflection usually appears in the form of a cross. This effect was neither predicted nor desired by the planners. As a jibe against the atheist foundations of the Communist government, and the ongoing suppression of church institutions in East Germany, Berliners immediately named the luminous cross "Rache des Papstes", or "Pope's Revenge"

3 Februar 2010.
Berlin Jewish Museum. Lindenstraße.
Nikon D40 + AF-S Nikkor 55-200 VR + Adobe Lightroom + a giant disco ball in a party city.

And a Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, "We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it." The Man said, "I want to have good sight." The vulture replied, "You shall have mine." The Man said, "I want to be strong." The jaguar said, "You shall be strong like me." Then the Man said, "I long to know the secrets of the earth." The serpent replied, "I will show them to you." And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, "Now the Man knows much, he'll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid." The deer said, "The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop." But the owl replied, "No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give.'"

Apocalypto. 2006.

Yum

19 Mac 2010.
Datuk Keramat.
Panasonic Lumix FS42 + Adobe Lightroom + Roti telur kuah dhal.

If I ever get married, I just one two kids so there won't be a middle child.

I feel you Vincent.

Our schools. A repost

What I want is to create young men who have pure heart and pure body who willing to work hard for upcoming future no matter what. I don't want young men who passed all the exams with high scores and become honor students. I don't want them to be walking textbooks. What I want is them to be young men whose personalities are honest, loyal, have pure pattern and pure mind and I won't feel any grieve if you tell me that a student can't read or write, can't calculate and has no knowledge of mathmatic at all. Only if I know that he was in my school and could compare the differences between a gentlemen and a feminine. At this school I want the meaning of studying is to change young men to good citizens and won't let all the knowledges crush their personalities. And I want the education to be enjoyful for the students, so in their futures they would think back that they had fun when they were in this school. I don't want my school to be compared to other schools which have difference purposes. If I had wanted a normal school, i would have built a day school, not a boarding one."

- King Vajiravudh on The Vajiravudh College, Bangkok.

A vigorous and intelligent race of young men who will be in touch with modern progress but not out of touch with old traditions; who will be liberally educated but not educated out of sympathy with their own families and people; who will be manly and not effeminate, strong-minded but not strong willed, acknowledging a duty to others instead of being a law unto themselves and who will be fit to do something in the world instead of settling down into fops, spendthrifts or drones.

- R.J Willkinson on The Malay College, Kuala Kangsar.

Same difference, no?

*

"A vigorous and intelligent race of young men who will be in touch with modern progress but not out of touch with old traditions..." I find it saddening, as things rot and writhe away with time. preservation no longer a matter, change seen as the only mean, foundations not laid but only the facade is prioritised. are we powerless in this turmoil?

Muhklis Izam.

Mukhlis.

I'm okay with change and all, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So someone wants to bring change to the Malay College, change it with respect to our foundation and our values. Rauhi Mohd Isa came in thinking that he's Dolores Umbridge. He doesn't appreciate the college, he doesn't respect the people in it. You come in to a new place, regardless of stature, you, in a new place, you adapt. Learn to adapt and accept that certain things are there for a reason, bukan sebab budak-budak ni ikut tradisi kolot.

Have he ever sat down with the enlightened boys and discuss why things happen, why are people doing this and that. Oh, and I hope the boys doesn't come up with 'sebab dari form 1 kitorang tengok form 5 kitorang buat' as an answer.

A CEO of Ford can't possibly hope to survive in Benz if he just toss the German's everything and adopt his old regime.

It makes me wish that our school have a constitution. Change what you must to move with the times, but don't go against the constitution.

We see our school as a metaphor of the world, why not teach a bit on real-ish laws. Back in our time we got the unity and patriotic formula done just right. You know how things are now kan?

Kids are lazy and underachieving not because there's not enough classes, not enough work. Kids ran away from school to the life outside not because they are evil, mischievous and rotten. See what King Vajiravudh said: I want the education to be enjoyful for the students, so in their futures they would think back that they had fun when they were in this school. Yes, fun is not a dirty word in education. Fun should be a part of education.

Often kids are told to go here and there to listen this and that talks about the changing world, scary words such as globalisation, world without borders, new media, the global village. How employers nowadays are looking for a different type of characters to fill the workforce. Impressive effort yes, but is the people in The Malay College themselves adhere to this sort of things, I'm sure they are aware of?

Give some soul back to the school. Budak Koleq don't like to be pushed around. They are a group of confident, idealistic young man that believes that the world is their oyster, that they can bake their cake, have it and eat it all among their peers. Don't put a leash on that, don't say anything is too big, too impossible, or that they are too young. Let them be, learn or fail, the classroom isn't the only place that they are learning.

So Mukhlis, that's my two cent (pick a currency). If I should give a yes or no answer to your question, I would say yes. Yes because you read on this simple cut and paste article and saw the same thing I did. Yes because you commented on it. Nothing is lost when there's still people who cares.

Thank you.

The khatib at my taman's masjid today talked about how important it is the role of the leader. So yes, I guess in this passion driven comment I put a lot of blame on the Headmaster, Mr. Rauhi. I still stand firm with my opinion to this date.

For the betterment of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

La Petit Train Jeune

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

27 janvier 2010.
Somewhere up the Pyrenees.
Nikon D40 kit + The red and the yellow of Catalonia and the white snow of God.

I've got a good mind to throw it all away.

Mak

Ramadan 1430.
Shah Alam.
Minolta X700 + Minolta MD 50/1.7 + Fuji Velvia 100 + Azmi Mohamad, the photographer.

Ability & Opportunity

The train chugged slowly up the hill as it usually does, as it always does. He remember how back when he was but a child, clueless, curious and careless, roaming on what was the world, how eager he was waiting for the bright yellow train to pass.

It was somewhat magical, these steel leviathan, loud and mighty, he thought. Who are those people in it so strange and so alien, their eyes piercing deep into the skin and flesh of his Cerdanya in that moment so brief.

The always pass, they never stop.

Where do they come from, he asked his father on that one morning when he followed his father along the path to the far side of the farm. Nowhere, my son. Nowhere. The old man would say. They are on a trip from nowhere to nowhere along nowhere. That is what it ever is, that is what it ever will be.

So, are we nowhere father?

No, we are here in Plenty Cerdanya.

He looked at his father.

Now don't you worry about those train, those people. They are no one.

No one?

Yes. No one from nowhere.

He frowned, for his father never ever gave straight answers. Always a puzzle, always something deep and philosophical. Sometimes he would stay up all night trying to see the meaning behind his father's words. Occasionally he wonders if his father simply said those nonsense to make up for his simple education, for what he lacked in formal education, he makes it up with his unwavering pride. Nonetheless, everytime that thought came to his head, he would be found that morning, hugging his dad just before breakfast with teary eyes and lips uttering endless sorries.

It's okay my son. It's always okay. He never had to say why.

That evening, the father went out of the house and dragged his cart to a place not far from where the rails are, and sat there, waiting. As the yellow train chugged down the hill, he looked and saw in the train. Himself and his son.

As the train again disappeared behind the hills of his land that he loved, he cried.

Janvier 2010.
French Cerdagne, Pyrenees.
Pre-LSI Lomo LC-A + Fuji Sensia 200 + C41 chemistry + Ability is of little account without opportunity, said Napoleon.

Bayang-Bayang

Waktu berjalan ke barat di waktu pagi hari matahari mengikutiku di belakang
Aku berjalan mengikuti bayang-bayangku sendiri yang memanjang di depan
Aku dan matahari tidak bertengkar tentang siapa di antara kami yang telah menciptakan bayang-bayang
Aku dan bayang-bayang tidak bertengkar tentang siapa di antara kami yang harus berjalan di depan

Berjalan ke Barat Waktu Tengahari, Sapardi Djoko Damono.

Janvier 2010.
Gare du Nord, Paris.
Pre-LSI Lomo LC-A + Fuji Sensia 200 + C41 chemistry + The intense, low hanging winter sun.

48

Dia mengamati sebujur tubuh yang terbaring itu.

Divine

Janvier 2010.
Notre Dame de Paris.
Pre-LSI Lomo LC-A + Fuji Sensia 200 + C41 chemistry + Pardon My French.

The Ramones Museum Berlin

Sometimes I feel like screaming
Sometimes I feel I just can't win
Sometimes I feelin' my soul is as restless as the wind
Maybe I was born to die in Berlin

3 Februar 2010.
Krausnickstraße 23.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Johnny Ramone.

Andalucia

A Spanish king's futile effort to outdo La Alhambra. This Renaissance palace was never finished.

30 enero 2010.
Granada.
Nikon D40 kit + Adobe Lightroom + Carlo V's scar on the face of La Alhambra.