Reflections

I love having a day or two off midweek. It really feels like a breath of fresh air; and then get back into the thick of things. The most recent was last Wednesday: Nuzul Quran.

The day commemorates the fact that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace unto him) in the month of Ramadhan. I have also read somewhere that it was on the night of 17th Ramadhan that the Quran was read in its entirety to the Prophet after all the revelations (which took about 23 years) were complete.

AHS and I drove down to Melaka, to do the needful to his family members and friends there, since we will celebrate Eid in Ampang as well as Kuantan. We started from home at about 9.45 a.m. It was a cooperative morning: the sun shone quite gently, and the traffic was terrific. I drove part of the way: from the Seremban R&R to the Simpang Ampat toll gates. I cannot find my way around in Melaka, despite the number of times being there; except around the Equatorial Hotel. Once the obligatory visits were made, AHS left me at Merdeka Parade, while he went off for some other errands. I had brought a book with me (a book on Dato' Onn Jaafar! entitled Imbasan Peristiwa-peristiwa Sebelum Kemerdekaan Malaya) as I had planned not to buy anything, but to find a bench and read the book. I ended up buying a blouse and a pair of shoes.

While I was browsing, looking for a suitable place to read my book, a lady who had set up a stall in the foyer called on to me to do reflexology. Now reflexology is my weakness. It ranks the same as facials and spas. Without much persuasion, I sat down on the chair and enjoyed the pain.



Every time I grimaced from the pain when pressure was put on some parts of my feet, the lady explained the 'problem' I had with the part of the body equivalent to the point being massaged on my feet . But it was a good session. It wasn't public holiday in Melaka; so the whole place was quite deserted. She charged me RM30.00 for a 40-minute session. That was a steal!


I then ventured into Parkson, and there I found, in a corner, a whole row of plastic armchairs. I plonked myself into one, which was comfortable enough, and read my book. The author is Mohamed bin Adib. The author's relationship with Dato' on is quite interesting. Adib, his father, was Dato' Onn Jaafar's nephew. Now upon Adib's father's death, Dato' Onn married his mother (Dato' Onn's sister-in-law). Tun Hussein Onn was Dato' Onn's eldest son by his second wife.


Soon, AHS phoned to say that he would pick me up in about 10 minutes. I then walked the short distance to where he had dropped me off earlier, and waited for him in the shade of a palm tree. Across the road in front of me was a massive shopping complex, on Dataran Pahlawan -- a real eyesore, in my opinion. There are just shop after shop and more shops, no different from the last one.

While I was standing there, I saw an elderly man walking briskly to the kerb not three feet away from where I was standing. He turned to wait for a couple of ladies, one around 50 while the other, around 70 years old. The younger of the two ladies arrived first at where he was, the other lady took more effort to shuffle along. He spoke briefly to the 50-ish old lady, and left. The lady stood waiting for the 70-ish old lady to reach there, spoke briefly to her, and crossed the road. The older lady tried to step off the pavement, trying to cross the road, but her judgment told her not to -- those machines are going too fast, my feet are too weary. The 50-ish lady was already across the road, waiting.

Suddenly there came two ladies in their late twenties, who stepped off the kerb, crossing the road. However, one of them noticed the old lady, turned and (I could hear her) said, "Nak jalan? Nak seberang?", grabbed hold of the old lady's hand and brought her across safely. How my heart warmed for one person, and how it broke because of the other.

I hope I would not be treated badly, especially in my old days by my own family. I also prayed that I would be patient with the elderly.