From the Land of Mata Ayer

Alhamdulillah, pertemuan Februari selesai diadakan Sabtu lepas. Tema bulan ini berkisarkan pendidikan dan ilmu. Mungkin agak berat bunyinya tapi sesi book circle ini diakhiri dengan konklusi bahawa semuanya berkait dengan pendidikan. Saudari Farhana berkongsi buku Anak Rantau tulisan A. Fuadi yang mengisahkan Epi seorang budak bandar yang ditinggalkan bapanya di desa agar dapat belajar berdikari . Jiwa muda Epi yang naif pastinya memberont ak kerana perubahan gaya hidup yang ketara juga ketegasan datuknya yang penuh disiplin. Dari situ Epi bertekad untuk mengumpul duit secukupnya agar dia dapat pulang ke bandar semula. Dalam tempoh itu juga Epi belajar tentang kehidupan dan mengenali manusia.  Saudari Aelina pula berkongsi buku Bad Science tulisan Ben Goldacre, seorang epidemiologist dan penulis terkenal di UK. Dalam buku ini, Ben mendedahkan ubat-ubatan yang dipasarkan dengan cara memanipulasi orang awam menggunakan 'dodgy claims'. Perbincangan...

Bismillah, Since last October, I have been coordinating a monthly book circle for women. Suri Membaca is actually an advocating movement to encourage more women to read even after their university years, being a career women or as a housewife.  This movement is started earlier last year in Klang Valley areas by Kak Nurul Suhadah Shuib and team.  Definitely, this is a teamwork effort since it is impossible to run a book circle only by myself. Luckily I met Kak Kamariyah, another booklover staying in Perlis. So we met and discussed about books and also how to run our first book circle in the northern states! 1) It is 'kind of' easy to start a venture, but more challenging to sustain Our first ever book circle was held at Blackwood Arau and we got 7 attendees who shared books of many wonderful genres. Even Maisarah came down all the way from Penang. Since it was the first time we ever gathered, the choleric-melancholic side of me imagined every possible o...

Bismillah, It has been many many months since the last time I posted here, Lots of things happened in between, of course, that's life. Continued my masters studies in Universiti Utara Malaysia at the School of International Studies since last September. Kind of a leap of faith as I went completely opposite from my chemical engineering degree to strategic studies, however I personally found the subjects to be very insightful.  Hopefully I can gather enough motivation to write about that soon insyaAllah. Alhamdulillah, made new friends here in UUM and generally Perlis. Seems that I'll be around Perlis for quite some time before settling down in the future. Lost 4 cats in October (Gemok, Awang, Tomyam & Bunga) most probably due to poisoning, but got a better replacement Alhamdulillah. Coordinated my first ever book circle in Perlis in October last year and this February will be our 5th meetup already, yeay! In short, life progresses rapidly. There are lots of things ...