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Visa Guidelines is back

Alhamdulillah, I got married to a lovely lady by the name of Sarah and we're enjoying our new phase in life since that momentous day.

And yeah, I graduated from the University of Nottingham and thus, escaping from the evil clutches of my medical school. woot2! probably needs a post on this as well but yeah, maybe later.

at the bottom of this blog, there is an article on visa guidelines for medical students graduated from UK medical schools under MARA scholarship who are planning to work as an FY1 doctor in the UK.

After all, it was my visa guidelines which i made 5 years ago that helped me to get to know a lot of people and for some, have now become my close friends. And it helped a lot of other people as well. So I hope that this guideline would ease your efforts a bit. Visa application is always confusing.

Scroll down to the bottom for the guideline

Saturday, October 04, 2008

empty

I once told my friend that as we grow older, our raya celebration gets less fun. I don't know about others, but this reality seems to hold true for me.

Everytime I went back to my father's kampung in Melaka, I would usually be elated to meet up with my cousins. Nowadays, it's not as exciting as it used to be. I guess I'm older now and being the second eldest grandchild has its own drawbacks. Most of my cousins are much younger than I am and thus, it's not so easy for me to mingle with them. Many years ago, we would stay up late at night to watch raya dedication programmes on tv, sleep together in the living room and play bunga api almost every night in the first week of Syawal (Yup! Bunga api, not mercun since it's dangerous though I played it several times before). I miss the old days.

Back then, I would taste every kuih raya in each house that I went to. I told myself that I need to sample at least one each. I'm glad that some things never changed. I still enjoy nibbling kuih raya but not all of course; just my favourite - semperit. I would try the semperit in each house that I went to in hope of finding the best one. And so far, no one can beat my Opah Yang's semperit. They're delish!

photo by resipidiana

Sometimes, I think it's funny when I am unable to have long conversations with my relatives. It's even funnier when I found out that my aunts and uncles have the same problem talking to members of their kin whom they have not met for a long time. I guess it runs in the family. Haha. Whenever we have visitors, I constantly had to ask my family members who on earth these people are. After all, they only come by once in a year and sometimes once in a blue moon, seriously.

It's lamentable. Nonetheless, my little brother Irfan reminded me of the felicities of celebrating Aidilfitri. His frivolous giggles and ecstatic attitude made me realize that we should enjoy it while we can. Although we might only have small chats with our relatives and we might only visit them once in a year, at least we're doing it. These small things in life - they're actually the fundamentals that make us wholesome.

We should treasure the time that we have now because we never know when our last will be. And there's high chance that this will be the last raya celebration for most KMB students before flying off next year.

"zendagi migzara..cherish the moments.."
An sms I received from my good friend, Wan Muhamad Zulhilmi a.k.a Chong.

These people - friends and family; they're the ones who remind us that we're not empty. And my Aidilfitri celebration, surprisingly it wasn't as empty as I thought it would be...

11 reviews:

  1. this post is quite metaphorical. hope you understand what i'm trying to convey especially on the empty part. do let me know if you ever experience these scenarios too...

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  2. well, you know, i don't really hate raya, its just i seem to have this feeling that yes, raya do seem to have lost its touch ever since we got older.

    but then again, maybe because it's like what you said. time has change, and things are not what it used to be.we used to have uncles which were single, who would spend a lot of time with us whenever we went back, but now that they're married it feels awkward somehow. and to know that my other cousins are close with my grandparents and the rest of the family kinda makes me feel envy a bit because yela, we live so far off in jb that the only time we go back there is for raya and kenduris.

    and yes i do that too adlan. the constant asking of "siapa yang datang tadi tu ek.." whenever i see someone familiar but feel distraught of not being able to recall the name. maybe i'll come around to actually remembering, who knows.

    and yeah, so maybe im not responding to the word "empty" here, but i might as well comment on your raya aite?

    oh and fancy you also having a younger brother by the name Irfan! i know fana has one too (:

    Selamat hari raya adlan!
    perhaps it is going to be our last raya here..

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow, iman! that's really a long comment. appreciate it really much...;)

    yup, those things happen during raya quite often and it's sad sometimes.

    well, u actually commented about the word "empty" indirectly. i always have a hard time finding the right title for my post and after pondering for some time, the word empty kept recurring in my mind and eventually, i chose it.

    empty here actually means the feeling of insignificant. sometimes, i have this "empty" feeling inside of me whenever i'm in kmb until i realize that i have wonderful friends to remind me that i'm not alone. and when raya's coming i thought that it would not be that joyful or meaningful. in the end, i was proven wrong.

    yup, i kinda heard that u have a lil brother named irfan too.

    selamat hari raya to u too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. sigh dont have me in your friend's list? selamat hari raya anyway maaf zahr and batin. sorry for all my wrongdoings

    ReplyDelete
  5. uhu.. spirit of raya dah pudar dalam diri ku sbnanye dah lama..
    been thinking, i look forward for raya qurban more than raya puasa for the past 2 years kot..
    lagu2 baru cam tak dapat tanding the oldies..
    tp dgr lagu2 lama, jadi boring lak.
    i'm d usual silent boy, so x kenal sedara pon kadang dok diam je..
    huhu..
    sedara yang kenal pon ku senyap je..

    and somehow tgk bunga api pon cam da xda rasa apa..
    miss the mercun though.. hehe.. naughty me, masa kecik2..
    guess i do feel the emptiness too..
    no more duit raya... heh..
    tp dpt gak.. cume sikit aa..
    this time from my bro n sis yg da kerja..
    no more from mom n dad tho.. huhu..
    tp tu pon cam da x look fwd sangat..
    dpt from my auntie pon bole tanye "owh, dapat lagi eh?"

    but one thing that i do celebrate is the kinship kot.
    melawat sedara mara. sebelum ni there's no meaning of that to me.
    pegi hanya nak duit raya n follow mak ayah je..
    dorang dok lama2, ku jadi boring..
    tp skang ku cam suke benda tu..
    terasa ku ada famili besar..
    biarpun tak semua ku kenal.. huhu..
    and a good practice for me to stop being quiet.
    x nak jd senyap sangat dah..

    anyway, ku look fwd sampai dah kerja nnti..
    sbb nnti akan ada makna baru dalam eidul fitri..
    bagi duit raya plak.. haha...

    btw, zendagi migzara bukan cherish the moments, tapi life goes on.. cherish the moments tu ku tambah..

    ReplyDelete
  6. to wan,
    haha, thanks 4 the very long comment! ;)

    yeap, ble g ziarah family members, it gives me a sense of belonging, a good feeling though i don't really know them all.

    a'ah, yg zendagi migzara tu, it's a phrase made popular by the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I searched the phrase on the net when i got ur sms. i intentionally did not put the translation along just to see if there's anyone who want to know about it, but u explained it anyway. huhu

    which makes me wonder, did u read the novel or watched the movie?

    to rashaad,
    selamat hari raya to u too and sorry for everything. i'll msg u later...;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. oic ic...
    hehe..
    read the novel, haven't watched the movie..
    ada x movie dia? sapa ada?
    cam nk tgk je..... huhuhuhu,...

    ReplyDelete
  8. hurm, i don't have the movie but i think other kmbians might have it...;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. well,life is e m p t y though..
    till we fill it with wut we want.
    slagi kemahuan diri xksampaian,
    kte akn snantiase rase ad sumthg yg kosong dlm diri kte.
    empty.lonely.eventhough kte dkelilingi rmai org.
    rmai tman n famly yg setia..
    life is still kosong.
    kalo kte sndirik x fill in da blank n mengisi ruang idup itu.

    huhu.sori aa ak merapik2.
    juz my own thots on da word 'empty'.

    nway.mmg tym raye ble makin tue,makin xbesh.
    xdpt duwet raye.hehe.

    p/s:kuih semprit itu best^^

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  10. yep pisey, that's sort of how i defined empty too...

    i guess it's true, we should always try to listen to our hearts

    and semperit mmg best ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. let not get ourselves in empty mode.
    huhu.
    chill^^

    p/s:rindu nk mkn semprit mak =)

    ReplyDelete