A New Addition to the Abdul Mutalib Clan...

Woke up late this afternoon and looked down from my bedroom window and there was my cousin brother sitting all by himself reading his News and stepping into my son's room... was my son doing what is his normal routine, stay up all night and sleep late into the day while it is hot and hectic outside. I got ready to take a trip to Balik Pulau, on the other side of the Penang Island to visit my niece Suhana who just had delivered a baby boy on the night of the Thaipusam at the Penang General Hospital. This is where the Kavadis passes by and the traffic was madness, my niece almost had her child in the car. To think that I had just walked  by the hospital earlier in the day taking pictures of the festival honoring Lord Muruga .

I took a slow drive and stopped at a few laces to let the camera do its thing so there is some sequence to my trip, the padi firelds of Balik Pulau has never ceases to capture my attention to it scenic beauty, more so because it is located on the opposite edge of the island across from Georgetown, the hectic city. 

Penang has it all one might say in terms of sights and scenes but no so for long I feel, as one can see that the hills are being chopped up to prepare for some fancy condominium or private residence; what money cannot buy. So it is still fortunate that Penang has these fields where the birds can also seek refuge...can we go organic??

It would be short of a miracle if all these rice field owners could come to an agreement and with the support of the state government to declare this whole are a totally chemical free zone and invest into organic farming. Nah! It would be too tall an order for even  a single farmer to take on organic farming it is just not fiscally friendly.

My niece, Gina's daughter, my late elder brother would have been one happy man if he were around today but such is...and hes has one more grandchild and this time a boy! Mohammad Aqil bin Ishak was born on the night of the Tahipusam what a time to pick to enter into this life! How auspicious! But then being a Muslim by birth the significance is non applicable to him or his future perhaps but he almost popped out into this world on route due to the traffic jam....Hindus everywhere!

The father had passed out on the floor in the bedroom, exhausted from the ordeal  and I sat and chat with my niece a little bit about aking care of her body after delivery, to stay warm all the time even if it feels uncomfortable at times. And the child sleeps in a serene slumber like a little Buddha.

I am happy for my niece and her family as they have and will keep surviving the challenges of this life through their simple faith in Allah and their strong will to survive as a family. A measure of the woman's strength is when she is delivers a child into this world. The pains of labor is beyond imagination for man . I was present by my late wife when she delivered both Karim and Marissa and the experience left me in awe and solemn respect for my wife in particular and all mothers in general..

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Hail to the new born child! ...Allah -hu- Akhbar!! God is indeed Great! For a new life has been set unto this world, his future is written yet unknown. May he finds himself, his true nature and his purpose in this scheme of life in the here and hereafter.