Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Salam Aidil Fitri

This week is a busy week for me as I have so many things to clear at work before enjoying my one week off for Raya. Perhaps this is why I easily fall asleep right after breaking the fast. Trying to wake up to go do my night training is another challenge by itself. In addition to some sleepless nights, I feel like a zombie now.

Anyway, Raya is coming shortly and with my busy-ness graph going up to the peak, I’d like to take this opportunity to do a short entry, while I still have a little time to spare.

Here are some tips I can think of, when it comes to Raya season:

Safe Driving

1. Don’t drink and drive Batal puasa wei! Unless if you travel at night, you can drink some water or fruit juice to keep your body hydrated. Your brain need to be sharp to focus on the driving. And for those non-Muslim, no alcohol please. If you end up in an accident, you’ll be causing bigger traffic jam. Jangan cari pasal ye!

2. Buckle up dude! Your wind screen and car may be insured, but your head and skull are definitely not.

3. Don’t rush! It’s okay if a car or two squeezed in or overtake in front of you in a traffic jam. The most is that you will only lose few minutes. But if something bad happens, you’ll lose hours. Let’s leave our ‘competitiveness’ spirit to the real triathlon or running races, not when we are driving on the road. Most of us who are used to driving in big cities with traffic jams, we do not realize we’ve actually turned a bit ’kiasu’ when we drive out of the city. It’s okay to be a bit late. It’s Raya time, not a meeting or an interview appointment, right?

4. Don’t tailgate. Whether you are driving slow or fast, observe the distance between the car in front of you. I had an experience having an accident when the car was moving at a mere 20km/hr. How did it happen? I was following the car in front too close (it was in a traffic jam during Raya) that I did not have enough space to brake when the car in front suddenly hit the car in front of it. So, the three of us ended up at the police station and wasted 3 hours there just to settle the police report.

5. Inspect your car condition. Inflate your tires, and also your spare tire. Make sure you have the jack and know how to change the tire in a case of flat (Google up if you don’t know). Check your brake lights, reverse lights, indicator lights (front and back, and sides) and front lights. Also, make your intentions known to other drivers. Put on indicator lights when changing lane or turning.

6. ABS. ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. If your car has this, nothing much to worry about. But if you have a car without it, don’t jam or lock the brake when you want to do an emergency stop. If you jerk and jam the brake, your tires will be locked and your car will glide on the road uncontrollably. You can’t steer or maneuver to avoid hitting something in front. Instead, what you should do is to “pump” on the brake repeatedly. This will simulate the ABS system. Some info here as a start. Plenty more on the internet, help yourself.

7. Stay focus! Majority of accidents happen when the driver is distracted. If you need to answer to a phone call, please please please.. use the hands-free kit. The best is not to answer any phone call at all, if you can. And another big sinners are those who read/do text messages, i.e. SMS while driving. Aiyooh, ini paling bahaya dol! I sometimes do this too and I will try my best not to do it anymore.

8. Be considerate. Yeah, we know you own expensive cars and pay huge amount of money for your road taxes. But we are all road users for God’s sake! What makes you think you can give high beams to the car in front of you when he/she is overtaking someone else by being on the third lane of the highways? Especially when YOU are the one who is going faster than the speed limit. I hate this kind of selfish people, really really hate them!

9. Oh, if you have a second car that you will leave at home for few days or a week, you can plug-off the negative terminal of the battery so that when you return back from kampung, your car battery won’t be dried up, i.e. battery gets weak. As a substitute for the safety for not having an alarm system activated (when you plug-off the battery), you can use the steering lock or gear lock. This is optional, as new brand cars have good power management system that the car battery won’t go dry (in terms or its energy) even if the car is idle for few weeks.

10. Don’t forget to recite the ‘doa naik kenderaan’, say ‘Bismillah’ and tawakkal. At the end, our lives are at the hands of the Almighty.

Safety at home

1. Leave the minimum amount of fresh food inside your refrigerator. You never know when black-outs will happen. Imagine coming back from kampung and once you enter your house, you get this pungent smell coming from the kitchen and you have the entire refrigerator to clean up.

2. Throw all rubbish from the bin. You don’t want your house to be a breeding ground for flies, do you?

3. Make sure all doors and windows are securely shut and locked. Also make sure all electrical goods are being unplugged. If you have a timer, you may use it to lit up your house during night times while you are away. Also, don't forget to shut the main water pipe line.

4. Do you know that you can make a report to the police station saying that you won’t be at home for Raya? By doing so, you can ask the police officer to make rounds at your housing area during the holidays. Ask your neighbors to do the same, as the more people reported their home vacancy, the higher the chance that the police will do more rounds at your housing area. Please go and ask at the police station nearby you. I got this info while listening to a tazkirah keselamatan during tarawih given by a police inspector in Bangi.

5. Once again, when you lock the doors and gates, recite ‘Bismillah’ and tawakkal, and pray for the safety of our beloved properties.

Let's choose to be safe!

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to wish every reader a very best of safety during the holiday. My practices during Ramadhan this year is not as good as I first anticipated, and I hope I will live for another Ramadhan next year, insyaAllah.

Thanks again for visiting this blog, I appreciate it very much. I’m happy to read any comments left on this blog too. It makes my little effort to keep on writing, worth it!

Raya picture of 2008

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gambar rayo mano tu (2008)? Coti lamo mano rayo?

Din said...

Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin. Sorry comment di atas tu kawe letok, ssaloh tok letok namo.

Kevin Siah said...

Selamat Hari Raya, Nik! I will truly miss the festive atmosphere in Malaysia :)

EnAikAY said...

Dr. Din,
Tu gambar rayo tahung lepah di Koto Bharu ghumoh parents kawe.
Thanks.

Kev,
Thanks bro.
Don't you have Malaysian Hall or embassy in Perth? Maybe you can still celebrate Raya with other Malaysians there.

jiha-run-for-life said...

bulan nih baju raya kaler ape plak..
SELAMAT HARI RAYA
mintak maaf kalo ade buat salah..
enjoy your 1 week RAYA!!

EnAikAY said...

Selamat Hari Raya Jiha.
Tahun ni I pakai baju raya tahun2 yg lepas je. Masih cantik dan elok.
Ye, sama2lah kita bermaafan kalau ada terpotong sayur time training atau race, kan? hehe.

kookykash said...

go green team! tahun ni warna apa?

selamat hari raya nik. mohon maaf zahir dan batin.

EnAikAY said...

This year, it's gonna be purple team.

Selamat Hari Raya to u too Kash.
Maaf zahir batin.
Kirim salam aidil fitri kat Rais also ya!

Abu Soffian said...

Selamat hari raya Dato'. Maaf zahir dan batin ye!!!

EnAikAY said...

Tan Sri Abu,
Terima kasih. Selamat hari raya utk Tan Sri juga ye!

Naik beskal tu baik2 sikit.. jgn langgar speed limit.

SaifulAzri said...

Selamat hari raya. Maaf zahir batin. Balik kampung mkn rendang byk2..

EnAikAY said...

Bro Sepon,
Selamat Berhari Raya di perantauan!
dan selamat pecahkan rekod di Berlin Marathon!

Ye, saya akan secara suka hati boleh tolong anda makankan rendang banyak2 di sini bagi pihak anda.. biar saya gemok takpe.. hahaha.

iamsyah said...

selamat hari raya Nik? balik KB ko? thanks bagi reminder nih... penting... drive safely and back... see you at gunung nuang!

zulhassan said...

selamat hari raya bro. Perjuangan kita teruskan.

ian yusof said...

nik, tension la nih! By the time I comment something, I am already the 10+ commentator .... (bila lah my office nak accesskan blogspots)

Yup, same goes to you Nik, Selamat Hari Raya & maaf dipinta sekiranya termerapu kata .... drive safely.

p/s - my baju melayu this year will be the baju melayu that I wore for akad nikah .... gulped!

EnAikAY said...

Syah,
Thanks. Selamat Hari Raya to u too.
Ok, see u @ Gunung Nuang lepas raya, insyaAllah.

Bro Zul,
Tenkiu bro. Lu kasi gegar sama itu Putrajaya 70.3 okay!
Selamat Hari Raya.

Ian,
Hehehe. It's fine. Kalau panjang umur, there will be more entries coming on this blog. You'll have your chance to be the first commentator.
Selamat Hari Raya to you to bro. Maaf Zahir Batin.

P/s: Err.. u nak akad nikah sekali lagi ke? hahaha. just kidding.

fajar said...

sob sob sob.

selamat hari raya abe nik
maaf zahir batin

(takleh nk bg ucapan pjg2. thn ni rasa lain mcm je bila raya)

EnAikAY said...

Fajar,
Selamat hari raya utk korang kat sana juga.
Maaf zahir n batin.

(tak perlu ucapan pjg2, i know u very well my dear friend...)

P/s: nnti aku tolong simpankan lemang n ketupan utk kau kat dalam perut aku ye.. hihihi.

Julin Julai said...

selamat hari raya..resume everything after raya..now we only makannnnn

EnAikAY said...

Ye, betul tu Dr Julin.
Time raya kita carboloading tak hengat duniaaaa... yahooooo!!!

Selamat hari raya doc!

pakwan said...

Selamat Hari Raya Nik Fahusnaza...

tolldoll said...

this might be a tad too late as i was internet-less pre and during raya, but selamat hari raya to you as well!

niefeng said...

selamat hari raya bro, balik klate ko tahung ni

[ e v i l g e n i u s ] said...

happy hari raya bro.

- mil cavendish -

EnAikAY said...

Pakwan,
Selamat hari raya. Kau keje kat mana sekarang ni? Lama tak jumpa..

Nadia,
Raya is for the whole Syawal, nothing is too late.. :)

Pesa,
Kawe berayo di Kedoh n Kelate tahung nih. Demo rayo mano? Selamat hari raya.

Mil,
Selamat hari raya bro. Bila nak serang Impian Emas lagi?