At Last My Brother... This Day is Yours

No one can describe how proud I was of my brother... 6 years my junior... All grown up...
The moment when they announced his name in the hall... I stood up and clapped, and a dozen other lecturers and professors clapped in unison, all wondering who this whizzkid was who got the single standing ovation of the entire convocation...

I smiled...

That was my brother...

The kid I loved to pieces as a teenager...

I was his idol... his mentor... his elder brother...

The young adult I watched grow apart, as he struck his own footsteps in the sands of time, no longer stepping in mine...

It was a painful realisation... A lesson I had to learn... but I knew he had to walk his own path... Choose his own destiny... Where I would only exist as an observer... And so I observed... how this boy became an adult... and how this adult became a man...

And so I clapped, even as the clapping of others ceased... A solitary man in glistening robes... clapping for the man who was his pride and joy... His brother...

Congratulations Ammar.

Comments

Tiesha Chan said…

congrats ammar... ;)

May 1, 2008 at 4:53 PM

Yana Ismail said…

Congratulations Ammar:)huhu

May 1, 2008 at 6:32 PM

azie said…

congratulations!

May 1, 2008 at 8:07 PM

izzati fuad said…

reminds me of the supernatural brothers..so cool together..(been watching it lately..ahaks)

May 4, 2008 at 1:33 AM

Abdullah Mohd Nawi said…

Thanks girls... :)
Ammar is now working in KL in an architect consultant firm in Sri Hartamas. He's working hard there, but also enjoying what he does.. I guess that's what everyone needs to do right? :)

May 4, 2008 at 3:05 AM

My first fast food experience ever

Growing up in the UK in the late 70s and 80s, it was almost impossible to get fast food that was halal. Definitely not like what it is today. Back in the day, we lived in many different places when I was growing up, but I consider Bath to be my where I struck my roots. As a kid you don’t really remember many things that were not within your immediate scope of experience. Everything was taken care of by your parents, and that is something I have go to remember again with my own children. Sometimes I expect them to be aware more of what is going on around them, but when I remember my own childhood, all we knew was we did what our parents told us, moved where they moved, went where they went etc. Anyway, I’m rambling. Back to what I was saying, It was literally impossible to get fast food, and all we could do was just imagine how the burgers would taste. Fries or chips was not too much of an issue because we were able to eat Fish and Chips, especially from Evans in the middle ...

Premature Mid-Life Crisis?

"Sejak bila lu jadi mat rempit beb?" (Translation: Since when did you become a street racer?) Were the first words that blazed onto the screen of my Dopod PDA Phone when I told my cousin that I had bought a bike. I mean...Is it that strange that I happened to work my butt off, save up, and buy one of the meanest most beautiful bikes I ever set my eyes on? I mean...just look at it... Shiny jet black finish, laced with highlights of blazing red, topped with rugged racing streaks... I think I just wiped a tear off my face... No, no, don't get all worked up... I haven't gone off the wall. It's just that with the increase in fuel price, it seems silly to spend RM600 just going to and from work every day... Think about it, that's a month and a half's pay for my maid! Just to get to and from work! So, I figured this would be a good compromise - maybe 2 or 3 days a week going to work by bike, and going to the local stores, local eateries, and even the local mosq...

TESL my TESL...

Every journey has a beginning, and an ending... And thus, my wonderful journey that I embarked on as a lecturer to my first Drama in Education cohort is almost coming to an end... I remember seeing them all, one by one, their faces eager to learn, but shying away in the beginning, all reserved in the small cocoons of their own little worlds... And when they opened up, one by one, I saw in them different, beautiful personalities, each unique in their own way... each finding a place in my affections...and eventually each finding a place in my heart. Yesterday night was a special night that marked the ending of this journey with them, on the one hand a sense of overwhelming pride that I had directly played a part in their journeys as teachers, building the very foundation of our nation, and even more so, as human beings, being the very essence of who they were and what they became... To commemorate this night, I sang for them... A tune that they all knew and loved... A tune that we shared...

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