Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Does honesty pays ?


a couple of days ago, while having our regular nasi lemak at penang village, a close friend was asking me whether it was worth been honest and trustworthy ! naturally i startled in disbelieved with such unexpected question. knowing him way back from our hostel years, he was the honest and naive type (and a bit blurr at times ,.... sorry Mr. N****). back to our dear friend, he must has been disappointed for been left out in the recent promotion exercise - most of his peers have been promoted to a pengarah level by now. he says his only weakness was that he was honest, transparent and doesn't know how to cheat his ketua pengarah (i suppose somebody has to tell him that there is such thing as tipu sunat!).

honest is a word which is hard to describe and can be interpreted in many different ways. you may not realise the act until someone congratulate you for your deed. usually those who appreciate your help and honest act will pay you in kind, be it a simple thank you or something beyond you expectation. just to reflect some of my personal 'unsangkarable' appreciations.

a. a young indonesian man was referred to me in HKL from a private hospital in subang jaya. he sustained severe head injury when he was high on drug and fell from his second floor hotel room. immediate attempt to contact his family members proved futile even with the help of the Indonesian embassy. his dad and mum arrived from Jakarta about 6 weeks latter after his came out from his coma and was able to tell us his house no. honestly i can't bear seeing his parents then with tears glistering in their eyes. for 6 weeks they were damned worried as their son has not contacted them. he was suppose to fly straight to Amsterdam via Changi, but decided to take a detour to kl. and i was really happy and proud to see him improving as the day goes by. when his parents requested that i accompany his son back to Jakarta, i naturally agreed. another big big surprise. yes we actually flew in his dad's private Lear jet ! little did i realize that his dad also own the Jakarta Grand Hyatt (never have i imagine that I'll be sleeping in a presidential suite at the hotel). 3 days in Jakarta, been very well entertained within the circle of the super rich is an experience of a life time. and an another surprise - a small token of USD 10K(that's what his mum said).

b. Puan F****** what admitted in a state of coma at about 3 in the morning. having arrived from heathrow about 5 hours earlier, her husband thought she was still having her jet lag until she started to have uncontrolled seizure. urgent CT scans of the brain done on admission indicated bleeding within a large frontal lobe tumor. all the while her complaint of frontal headache was dismissed as migraine attack. emergency surgery to remove the tumor was done in the wee hour of the morning. Thanks god, she survived. 3 weeks latter someone from the travel agency called. 'En. J***** was very grateful that you save his wife & he insisted that you take a well deserved holiday with you family'. and there we were, an unforgettable fully paid family holiday in mount titlis, Switzerland courtesy of Mr J*****. Thank you Mr J***** and Puan F******. do keep in touch.

c. Tan Sri Dato Seri D**** had a massive bleed in his brain following a fall in a posh hotel in Jalan Sultan Ismail. Apart from mild weakness of his left limbs and mild personality changes, he has indeed shown a remarkable improvement. and without fail, come hari raya, tan sri will deliver a huge 6 feet high hamper to my house, plus the rm 1000 dinner voucher. received a fax from his office on Monday for another informal dinner at his residence in tropicana golf and country club. well this is the second dinner in a year.

d. Dato L** was grateful that i treated his son who fell from the balcony while trying to so sneak his girlfriend into his room. we became close friends since then. and again he love to entertain friends and his close business associates over dinner. that reminds me of another dinner at one world hotel next week (lucky I'll be in langkawi then !). and of course he was rather disappointed that i couldn't attend the official opening of his restaurant in Perth last year.

e. and that reminded me of the other numerous gifts i received over the years ranging from nana ricci silk tie to mont blanc pen.

f. then there was this chap from muar who always bring a half gunny sack of rambutan or mangosteen when ever he came for his follow up visit. and not forgetting Tuengku A** who regularly travel from bandar aceh with buah salak madu sumatera and keropok belinjau (for some reasons, those patients from sumatera put more trust in our doctors than theirs)

g. and of course as usual, bottles of wine and boxes of chocolate from the Scott's whenever they came to see me in the follow up clinic at the southern general. needless to say, the nurses then were the happiest lots as they known invariably they were the lucky one to carry the bottles home.

h. above all, a small crayon painting from irina, a cute 7 year old sabahan girl from tawau touch my heart the most. in her drawing, apart from her parents and two other siblings, she included me as her beloved family member whom she dearestly love. sadly she died a week after i received her drawing. medulloblastoma is always a fatal and aggressive childhood brain tumor. Alfathihah.

well, despite what some people might think, I still believe that honesty and sincerity still pays. you may not get an immediate reward, but insyaallah the reward is always there in the here after.

Friday, April 18, 2008

KLKL



selepas solat jumaat biasanya aku terus saja pulang ke rumah. receptionist aku dah memang maklum aku tak masuk lagi ofis lepas solat jumaat, jadi memang dia tak ambil appointment petang jumaat unless ada real emergency. biasanya lepas solat jumaat aku akan settle semua urusan bank, bayar utility bills, melepak kat favourite coffee shop atau terus pulang ke rumah melayari internet. jadi petang jumaat dapatlah dengar KLKL (kenangan lalu kuala lumpur) yang dikendalikan oleh dj fauziah zakaria @ kak porsh. lagu lagu yang dimainkan memang kelas dan nostalgik, lebih lebih lagi jika dikendalikan oleh dj azizah sulaiman dan fauziah zakaria. for some reasons, the two djs just have the instint for good songs. kak porsh is one dj who will try her best to please her listerners. kadang kadang terasa malulah pulak sebab selalu jugak request lagu. rasanya last week dah request lagu rafeah buang, hari ni request lagi sekali .... ish ish ish. but then, i just love her songs. so lepas dinner dengan the kids tadi di klcc terus ke tower record cari cd rafeah buang (lucky for me as that was the last copy).

petang tadi the kiddo from far away land sms ...'can i use my credit card to get a new nokia e65. they're having sale now. only rm 1500.00'(berapa rubles eh !). seems that the kiddos are upgrading their mobile once in 2 years. yang untungnya the maid ... rasanya si sri wahyuni tu dah ada 3 mobile phone. familiar sangat dengan statement ini ....'kalau abah belikan phone baru, nanti adik/abang bagilah phone yang lama ni ke kak sri' ......

Saturday, April 12, 2008

birthday oh b'day

March and April are always the months to reckon. I suppose life was much easier for us when the kiddos were very much younger - a barbie doll or an ultraman stuff would do the trick. well, time changes ... and one would not be able to pacify a teenage with such birthday gift anymore.


March 18 - adik request for a new 3G mobile. she just lost her new rm 1250.00 nokia(hardly 3 month's old). can't complaint very much - a fairy careless and destructive character at times. request granted - kalau tidak tak tahulah muncung panjang mana !


March 23 - a week prior to the date abang has be posing and playing with my nikon SLR. hinted that he'll be joining the photography club in school. one night he asked whether he could have a D60 or D40x nikon SLR for his special day. well, we reach a compromise, since i hardly use my D80, he's free to use it any time he wish. well, he seems happy but deep inside i could sense that he felt he should also get something solely for himself.



so then this was abang's 16th birthday present.



April 2 - it was nana big day. since the owner is in a far away land, then the pleasure was on us to decide what she deserve for her birthday. adik and abang came out with a brilliant idea. .... we decided that being the eldest, she should get the biggest present, a 40 inch sony plasma tv. well sorry nana for the time being, the rest of us will enjoy your birthday present. be free to ask for it when you're back for your summer holidays. such an excellent idea from adik and abang.