The Chinese cemetery at Batu Gantung is turning green and so is the race course area and the hills are much greener now after the spell of hot weather we had a few weeks ago. How predictable nature is in making sure that all is well accordingly in the cycle of life and its is most reassuring to me that somethings remain in accordance the laws of nature. The Penang Hill is slowly being used and abused by those tah can afford to do so in the need to confirm of the wealth and status for all the rest to witness and wondering who or what kind of people has the audacity to clear the hillsides for their creature comfort. It is a sad feeling to bear witness to the slow balding of the hillsides where patches of cleared forest can be seen like scabs upon the skin. The skies are littered with white clouds rising from behind the hills that stretches from one end of my vision to the other and the bright blue sky was like a curtain behind in the background. Morning has broken and I watered the plants and fed the pigeons on the neighbor's roof, they were waiting for me as soon as I stepped out of the apartment.
The thrid day of Eid Mubarak three days had passed after the fasting month of Ramadan and I posted on fb, " Now that Ramadan has passed, and the pandemic has forced you to stay home, what have you learned about youself?" Threw some cloths into the washer and did the dishes, fed the cat and continued reading, "A Tale For The Time Being," by Ruth Ozeki. It is a gem of a novel that brings back memories of my three years spent in Sendai, Japan and having spent two years as a Zen student at the Green Gulch Zen Community in Marin County, California. It is a novel I would gladly recommend to anyone who has the desire to understand Japan and its culture and traditions, her ups and down and Japan is still one of my favorite places among all the places i Have had the privilege of residing in my gone by days. The spirit of Bushido and that of Zen practice, the master pieces of Hokusai and Utamaro, the Old temples and the Bullet trains and the Sakura blooms in spring, they all were etched into my mind as a special treat for me and my family. The story included places I had lived in as we were located in the Miyagi Prefecture and the life of the people described are as real as I had experienced them. Reading this novel is like revisiting the places that I had visited while living in Sendai.
As part of the scenario in the story depicts the writer's life in the United States, Sunnyvale in California and the Pacific Northwest, I can relate with them as I had lived in both the areas and am familiar with the life and conditions personally having lived in the San Francisco Bay area for ten years and the Aleutian Chain area of Alaska for two years. Hence as I am reading the book I am being transported in time by memories of these places and the experiences I had being there.
Sunnyvale (/ˈsʌniveɪl, vəl/) is a city located in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 140,095.
Sunnyvale is the 7th most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the major cities comprising Silicon Valley. It is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north, Moffett Federal Airfield to the northwest, Mountain View to the northwest, Los Altos to the southwest, Cupertino to the south, and Santa Clara to the east. It lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101.
On this 3rd day post Ramadan the country is on partial lockdown due to the pandemic and so there is very little travelling as it used to be where city folks would migrate to their home villages better in Malay as Balik Kampung to visit their family and friends they had left behind to seek their fortune in the big cities. In a way it is a blessing indisguise as there is less fuel waste on the highways and fewer accidents, less garbage thrown out of car windows along the highways and most importantly less wastage on food. To the Muslim Malays Eid Mubarak is like Christmas or Thanksgiving where familes get together and exchange to strengthen their family bonds or as known in the Islamic way as Silatulrahim, the renewal of kinship with one another. This year only the diehard visit their friends and families in the same locality risking being fined for breaking the pandemic curfew.
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