Mother - His First Love

How does one honour and pay tribute to a mother? A single mother no less. She who takes care of you and your siblings while she herself has to cope with her own loss? An unemployed mother. She has to give up a lot of things to make sure of a future for you.

I am referring to Noor's nephew who got married last fortnight. What made the wedding remarkable and memorable was how his nephew, Afif, paid the highest tribute and homage to his mother.

After the solemnisation ceremony, usually the groom would head for the bride to claim her as his wife by going through the dissolution of ablution. The bride would kiss his hand and received a ring and dowry in exchange. That is the culture and way of things that I had witnessed in countless weddings' solemnisation.

Afif, instead, made a detour and headed straight for his mother, kissed her hands and gave her a hug. He kissed both her cheeks. It was so sudden that not only was his mother was in tears for being so touched, most of us had tears rolling down our cheeks to witness such devotion. Then, he headed for his grandmothers - maternal and paternal. He has no father or grandfathers. Even Afif had tears in his eyes. Finally, he straightened his baju Melayu and headed towards his bride who was sitting demurely on the special dais and claimed her as his lawfully wedded wife. Even the bride had tears in her eyes witnessing her groom paid his respects to his mother first. It was a very touching and moving scene. Unplanned and spontaneous. Full of love and sincerity.

I have three sons. When it is their turn, will I still be the love of their lives? Their first love? I am just happy when they are safe and happy. My prayers are that they will be graced with partners who will be not only their wives but their friends and guide to take them closer to the Creator. Dear Afif, may you be blessed as how you have been blessed by your mother.

Going Home - Back To Reality ;-))

All too soon, a month had passed by. Immediately after the London trip, Ikram prepared to go home to Malaysia. Since his flight was in the afternoon, they took him for a heavy English breakfast. It was sufficient for Ikram until he had his next meal during the flight. They gave him a grand send-off. Everybody was there to see him off at Manchester airport. I guessed even Ikram felt a tad sad and a mixture of feelings.

What Ikram brought with him was a hand luggage. As we usually travel light, as minimal as we could, that bag was a check-in bag. The ladies were so dissatisfied with it that they gave him one of their bags and filled it with as much goodies as they could to comply with the 23kg free luggage allocation. They certainly surprised me!!!!

The brown bag was Ikram's luggage and the green one was theirs ..

What they had bought to fill in the bag ...

What was meant to happen, would happen. Everything happened for a reason. The solo trip helped to prepare Ikram for what had happened. He missed his flight to Kuala Lumpur. There was a delay in Manchester which caused him to arrive late at Heathrow Airport, London. Since the gap between his Manchester flight and KL flight was only one hour, he missed his flight. He kept his cool and went to enquire at the British Airways counter. They realised it was their mistake and made it by giving him a refund ticket to KL with MAS. It was a two hour delay. When he called to tell us about his delayed and changed flight, I was amazed at his cool and calm demeanor. He took it all in stride and I was very proud that the experience there had taught him how to handle his situation calmly.

He finally arrived. We were waiting for him at KLIA to welcome him from his adventure through the generosity of the two ladies who sponsored his stay there. As Sherry said when she saw his photo .. Ikram looked liked a seasoned traveller... ;-))

I was pleasantly shocked and surprised when we opened the extra luggage that Hanee asked Ikram to take along with him. I was touched that they went all out to get the little gifts which meant a lot to us. Especially the chocolates because Ikram said he did not know what to buy. How much to buy with his limited budget. Their generosity made everybody managed to get a taste of Manchester ... ;-))

A whole bagful of surprises !!!!

Dividing what could be divided so that everybody got a taste of Ikram's visit

The simple goodie bags from Manchester ... courtesy of Hanee and Sherry 

Besides the chocolates, shortbread and biscuits, there were some very special momentoes too ... I was just so touched and least expecting it. It was enough to host Ikram for a really amazing and unbelievable holiday but to receive what they had given was a bit overwhelming. How can I ever repay their heart warming welcome of a young man whom they hardly know ... making him so much as one of their own ... SubhanAllah. Alhamdulillah.

Sherry gave Ikram a pair of formal Clarks shoes for his future interviews ...

I had been looking for the paperback version of this final book  - I cried towards the end because both Emma and Harry died ..

I am a tea drinker and these are so much welcomed ... 

I was speechless ... 

Ikram talked about his trip and the many new friends he had made there. Being an easy going person, he got along with them irregardless of age and gender. He had made his own impact on them by being who he is. They hardly know each other. They met as strangers and parted as friends. More than friends. They were like sisters to him. They accepted him and he accepted them. Ikram thought I was crazy to let him go to a stranger's place in a faraway land on his own. I trusted them. I would not want people thought I was taking advantage of them. They offered and invited him. I was glad he decided to go and ventured into the unknown because he became a much informed, knowledgable and better person because of them. He grew up and matured faster because of his experience. He doubted if there would be another visit but for now, he was grateful and thankful for being given the chance of a lifetime. Thank you Hanee and Sherry ... for being you. All I could do was saying thank you the old school way - by sending a card - manually. ;-))

Thank you and yes, one day ... I will accept your invitation and be there.

A Weekend Treat To London

After the Edinburgh and a football game in Old Trafford, the ladies presented him with a ticket to London for a weekend before Ikram was due to fly back to Malaysia. They had arranged for him to stay with Bobby, a Malaysian friend of theirs who had moved to London when he got a job there. Ikram had to download an apps for his ticket. It was an e-ticket and was activated when boarded the train to London. It was a weekend of really walking around London and taking in the sights of London from morning until the last tube back to Bobby's rented room. Even though Bobby had moved there two years ago, he had not really ventured around London as he was caught up with his busy schedule. Ikram was a good excuse to act as tourists in London. They took loads of photos but I could only share those where their full faces were not in them.

One of the mosques in London

The London Bridge facing the Big Ben ...

The Eye of London ...

Olympic Stadium which is taken over by Westham Football Club 

London at night ...

And especially for his mother, a fan of Harry Porter and who filled their minds with the series of Harry Porter's books ...

Harry Porter's souvenirs ...  Ikram knew I would adore these ..

A Wish Realised - Old Trafford

Posing at the iconic statue of Old Trafford

GLORY GLORY MANCHESTER UNITED !!!!!

Never in his wildest dream that he would be standing outside the stadium of his favourite team - Manchester United aka Old Trafford. The bonus was to watch a game in it. As Aqil, one of the ladies' friends, had a season pass and he was occupied on the day of the match, the ticket was passed to Ikram. He took it willingly and eagerly even though he had to go alone ... Europe League match - Manchester United vs St. Etienne. He was among the thousands of supporters, cheering as one and basking in the stadium's aura. It was an unbelievable, fantastic, the peak of his visit ...  the stadium was only a few minutes walk from the Ismahan"s house. How convenient. He cheered along with the rest of the crowd when ManU scored three goals against St. Etienne's one. What a euphoric experience!!!

There were police on horses on duty outside the stadium

The fans came in red ....

Watching the game as one - no race, religion or status barrier - united

Ikram said it was quite orderly getting into the stadium 

Besides Old Trafford (Ikram was a ManU fan since his school days) they also took him around to visit eight other stadiums. He also visited  :-
1. Anfield Stadium    -  Liverpool
2. Etihad Stadium      -- Manchester City
3. Goodieson Park Stadium  -  Averton Club, Liverpool
4. Emirates Stadium   -  Arsenal
5. Wembley Stadium  -  National Stadium
6. Stamford Beach Stadium   -  Chelsea
7. White Hart Lane Stadium  -  Tottenham
8. Olympic Stadium  -  Westham

He was a football fan. He enjoyed and played the game albeit for fun. He played physically and virtually. He was still basking in the excitement and elation of being one with the fans of Manchester United. Who knows this could very well the subsequent of many more games to be watched ....

Edinburgh From Ikram's Eyes ...

The ladies gave Ikram a solo day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland (pronounced without the "gh" and slur the "r"). They bought him a three hour train ticket to Edinburgh (return trip) so that he learned to be independent. Since they were working and the kids had school, they did not want Ikram to be cooped up in the house. Ikram was game to try and he was told to visit the old town and new town of Edinburgh. Ikram had a marathon walk for the whole day. ( He left with an 8:30am train to Edinburgh and return on the 6:00pm train to Manchester.) He enjoyed it even though alone (since he was used to go everywhere alone). It was a safe place and it was something new. Edinburgh was much colder and his feet ached from all the walking. It was such an incredible experience. Here I shared some of the photos from his eye view ... I thoroughly enjoyed the photos and it was as if I was there. The places were so familiar if one used to read novels by English writers ...

The mosque

What did he have for his lunch? He was supposed to try out the famous fish & chips there but the shops that he found were closed. So, he ate rice and chicken curry which cost him ten pounds. It was a portion enough for two people! But due to all the walk he did and he was hungry, he did justice to the food! He proclaimed it was nice and finished off the whole lot of it! :-(0)

When he was due to return to Manchester, there were some complications with his return ticket that it was upgraded to first class train courtesy of the random act of kindness by the conductor ... how British they were :-))

The train company kept their word ...

First class coach came with some refreshments ... ;-))

What an experience. Incredible and unbelievable. What happened prepared him for what was going to happen on his departure day .... 

If we have busking by musicians and singers on the streets of KL and other tourists' spots ... Edinburgh has a busking bagpipe player ... how quaint ... ;-))