Too many times in life you hear and adhere to people (or yourself) telling you to be something you are not. To be more this and less that. To lighten up.
However well their intention might be, it gives the (false yet strong) impression that you are not (good) enough.
I had seen the pictures a thousand times — those Stonehenges. Never had I seen them Nor would have I, had it not for my friend’s insistence.
They say the stones came as far as the northern Scotland. We were in the South of England. To travel all the way — why, how? Continue reading
Hard to digest that it has been more than eight years since I started accompanying the Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi, TBP) in its journey. Each year, I set aside time to visit our* libraries. For me, personally, those visits are crucial. They serve as a reminder of why I am doing all these.
[English]
Tak terasa, sudah delapan tahun lebih saya mengiringi Taman Bacaan Pelangi bertumbuh. Setiap tahun, saya selalu menyempatkan diri untuk mengunjungi perpustakaan kami*. Bagi saya pribadi, kunjungan-kunjungan tersebut penting. Mereka mengingatkan saya kembali kenapa saya melakukan semua ini.
Laut senantiasa menawarkan obrolan menarik.
Untuk kesekian kali, aku duduk bersamamu. Untuk kesekian kalinya pula aku merasa, ah, jarak pertemuan kita selalu terlalu besar. Terlalu jarang kita bertemu. Rindu yang membasahi mata dan menggetarkan jiwa selalu melanda tiap kita jumpa. Baru terasa saat kembali kita bersentuhan. Continue reading
A talk I gave towards the end of my first six month course in the Beshara School, UK.
“You must love”
A beautiful poem by Hazreti Uftade.You have to come soon to the Real
You have to find His wise ones
If you truly cannot find them
With all your soul and with all your heart,
You must love.Those who have loved have found them
Their souls have reached the Real (God)
Their faith has become whole
With all your soul and with all your heart,
You must love.Always trace out their tracks
Listen to their beautiful discourse
If you say you would like to see their faces
With all your soul and with all your heart,
You must loveThis dervish, this unhappy Uftade,
Has become a beggar on the road of God
May God fulfil his desire
With all your soul and with all your heart,
You must love.
It seems that is what I came here for. To love.
Continue reading
A trip to Taman Bacaan Pelangi libraries is always a heart-warming one, with occasional unexpected twist and turns. The recent trip was by no means an exception.
Joining the then-upcoming trip to open a new library in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, last August, was an instant yes from my heart. Even before I was offered to come.
Continue reading
Perhaps it is a habit I started during my stay in Sevilla, Spain. There were very few mosques for me to sit and be quiet. So I opted for Catholic churches instead. They grew in me.
There is something about Catholic churches that I cannot really pinpoint. I love sitting in (most) Catholic churches for a quiet dialogue, or simply for quietude. I love lighting the candles in the churches. Whenever I go places, I make an effort to stop by its local worship places, be it mosques, temples, or, yes, Catholic churches.
That was also the case when I went to Singapore recently. I think we have a thing going on—St. Andrew’s Cathedral and I. Mind you, St. Andrew is a patron saint in Scotland, and also happens to be one of my favourite beautiful towns there.
An article from a recent interview. Interesting headline. I wonder whether that’s what is about — a pursuit of happiness. The writer might have a good point there. Thank you, The Jakarta Post.
Time. What an odd thing, if we can call it a thing at all. It gives us a convenient frame of thought. A familiar boundary within which we move with what is acceptable to our mind. We often believe we don’t have enough of it.
That’s true. And at the same time, not really.
Continue reading
chipping in 