Rantings

Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:37:00 +0000

Dream

About this photo: Last night I had the weirdest dream in my life. Just like any other dreams, I could not recall how did I started dreaming. The only thing I could vividly recalled, I was in Syria.

In my dream, there was a city at war. I was with a few men getting ready to get into the fight. There were explosions, flying bullets, smoke and smell of leaked oil. The sound of artillery echoed through the air.

We were in the back of a building, trying to get across the road and to the next building where the other fighters busy shooting Syrian Army. I did not talk a bit, I do not know any arabic except for few words but I could understand of every word in that small platoon. That did not wonder me in my dream, I was more busy thinking about my life. I cried all the way.

Some of the exchanges in the platoon were more like a plea. They questioned the whereabouts of so-called muslim brothers in this time of war. They asked where is soldiers from Egypt?

I cried my heart out, thinking I will be dead. I could not last for 10 minutes in the battle. I had this thought of bullet piercing my chest. If I died, I prayed to God make it quick.

Then I woke up on my bed. I missed my morning prayer today.

The first thing I do, I thanked God for being so much alive. But what about my Syrian brothers. Do they get to wake up next morning and see their family members still alive. Of course they do not. The least that I could do is to pray for them.

Have them remembered in every prayer. Still I could not figure out why did I dream last night.

Bobo

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 07:24:00 +0000

Bobo

About this photo: a friend of mine.

Who

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Only once I have been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "who are you?"
-Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: in the book Sand and Foam, Gibran also wrote this,

The first thought of God was an angel

the first word of God was a man

I did not bother so much on this, until I noticed. Why did Gibran says the first word of God was a man, if His first thought was an angel? Something to ponder.

Within

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:35:00 +0000

guardare all'interno della cornice.

About this photo: if you noticed.

Norm

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:59:00 +0000

breaking the norm.

About this photo: I saw this two friends on the morning I was going to college. They were heading the same way too. Did not notice in class though.

Novel Snow.

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:04:00 +0000

Pukul 1 pagi waktu tempatan di India, Malaysia sudah 3 setengah. Lampu bilik ditutup supaya timbul perasaan ala-ala fim noir hitam putih sambil makan biskut oreo.

Novel Snow ialah novel tulisan Orhan Pamuk yang kedua saya baca selepas My Name is Red. Novel ini mengambil latar masa awal 90an dan banyak mengungkap persoalan pertembungan identiti antara sekularisme dan Islam dalam watak-watak sekitar cerita.

Perkembangan cerita setakat empat bab sangat perlahan. Pamuk lebih banyak menumpukan kepada perkembangan watak utama novel, Ka yang baru pulang dari German ke Turki selepas dibuang negara. Ka datang ke bandar Kars (kebetulan nama yang disengajakan) untuk melaporkan tentang pilihan raya kecil dan sekaligus kejadian bunuh diri dalam kalangan gadis-gadis muda di situ.

Tapi kedatangan Ka juga ialah untuk mencari Ipek, seorang wanita cantik yang dicintai beliau yang baru bercerai dengan suaminya yang juga rakan mereka di universiti dahulu, Muhtar. Dari perbualan antara Ka dan Muhtar di pejabatnya, saya tahu yang Ka ialah atheist dan Muhtar sudah kembali kepada Islam.

Sehingga awal bab tiga cerita masih lagi mendatar kerana Pamuk begitu teliti melakarkan suasana salji dan sejarah bandar Kars. Pembaca seperti saya langsung tidak tertarik dengan cerita salji yang turun atau air sungai yang beku.

Kemudian pada satu janji temu dengan Ipek di sebuah restoran, ada kejadian bunuh yang berlaku. Seorang pengetua kolej yang melarang perepmpuan pakai tudung masuk kolej ditembak oleh ekstrimis Islam.

Novel ini dalam beberapa reviu dipuji kerana elemen kejutan yang dibawa Pamuk. Pembaca akan diheret beberapa bab dalam rentak yang perlahan kemudian, BANG! macam efek bunyi pistol film noir ada kejutan yang berlaku.

Sememangnya kejutan yang semacam itu dirasakan saya semasa membaca bab tersebut di atas katil di bawah selimut biru, sehingga secara tidak sedar saya keluarkan efek bunyi terkejut, huhh!

Disebabkan saya belum lagi membaca sampai habis novel ini maka reviu ini pun terpaksa dihentikan. Entri ini sebenarnya ialah latihan untuk menulis semula dalam bahasa Melayu.

Masuk hari ini sudah lima belas kali ke web Jalan Telawi dan baca tentang tuntutan sastra indipenden yang tak skema dan jauh dari DBP. Hal ini tentulah sangat menyulitkan kerana tak siapa yang tahu bagaimana nak menentukan aras skema sastra?

Adakah perlu menulis dalam zine maka secara automatik karya menjadi tidak skema dan keluar dari bau DBP? Walaupun saya sendiri anak didik DBP tapi gaya satra DBP kadang-kadang terlalu rigid.

Pohon masuk GLKN, tapi selepas baca syarat karya tak ubah macam DBP juga.

Lima keping oreo, meja berhabuk dengan sisa biskut. Esok pagi bersihkan kalau ingat.
Puisi selepas setahun hiatus,

Tentang Tuhan

Dia yang selalu ada dan

menunggu

Meski kau pejamkan mata

dan tutupkan pintu.

With

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:22:00 +0000

vieni via con me.

About this photo: We are going to have sports day event in college. One thing for sure, I will not take part in the event as athlete, snapping photos for sure.

But I lost a kilo today. 50kg is okay I guess.

I think most of you knew I sleep with my camera. This koala bear, he joins the bed too. Every night, he never get out of that bed actually.

Tamat

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:25:00 +0000

Perang sudah tamat kita jadi buta warna, lihat kulit manusia semuanya sama saja- Malique.

About this photo: Google translate this if you do not know Malay.

Dio.

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:36:00 +0000

Dio, prendere questa sensazione di distanza. tenere a mio agio.

About this photo: google translate this if you do not know Italian.

Lens

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Accessory lens.

About this photo: I wear glasses only on two occasions, during lecture class and when I am with my camera.

Ingorgo

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:16:00 +0000

ingorgo stradale

Missed

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:13:00 +0000

of things we missed.

About this photo: Truth be told, I do not know how to caption this photo. Not that I run out of Gibran's (I can not fit his into every photo no matter how much I want to) but this photo deserves its own.

I had a light dinner with few friends and somehow suddenly we were in the middle conversation on ghost stories. Do not know who started the topic but it just went on and on. I did not listen much, but the story about the elevator that stops at level 2 and nobody was there gave me goosebumps.

So I came back home scrolling through pages of photo websites and saw a portfolio of one photographer, he shoots water droplets. and that is all that he shoots. he made amazing water sculptures though (as the name of his series implies).

I decided to make one of my own, I rarely play with fast shutters as I shoot in aperture mode all the time for street. So I had the set up done. I went to the kitchen and place a black bowl under a pipe. My first try was in the bathroom, but the bowl would not fit under the pipe.

Drawing is about meditation, photography is reaction- Ansel Adam.

I set my shutter speed and it took me 8 shots to get the water droplet at the right moment. It was really a matter of reaction.

Thus it made me think, of that 7 out of 8 shots that I missed. In that fraction of a second, we would have missed a lot of other things in life too. Some things that we never pay attention much, and suddenly I miss Malaysia. crap.

Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:39:00 +0000

I would walk with all those who walk. I would not stand still to watch the procession passing by -Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: This photo is not like any other, the first part being this photo had been thrown into my hard-drive folder. To begin with, here is how I store my photos. Dahlia holds a humble 8GB storage memory card. Most of the time I shoot in jpeg format, that will fit for 3-5 thousand photos.

Until recently I shoot with RAW format, so 8GB can hold for 300+ photos in a single memory card. But that is not the problem. I shoot less nowadays, last time I shot only 98 photos.

When the storage capacity in the memory card is less than 4GB, I transferred all photos into my hard-drive. There it is, most of the photos in my hard-drive are doomed to be forgotten, because I rarely plugged it into my computer.

This photo here is actually quite a few weeks old. I can not quite remember when did I shoot this. So how did I stumble this photo?

Thanks to a street photographer, Laurent Roch (here) he is an amazing photographer. He shoots in black and white, mostly but there few colored photos that caught my eyes. I just love the color tone.

Ever since I fell in love with his color tone, I began sliding things around looking for the same tone as Roch's. Today, I got this photo and began sliding things once again and after an hour I finally got the tone, it did not match exactly but came quite close.

Because living in India reminds you of the 70s.

Sharp

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:40:00 +0000

They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve
-Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: assignments oh how I love you like oreo.

Uttered

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

I am kind word uttered and repeated by voice of nature.
-Song of the flower, Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: I have finished translating a few of Gibran's poems and parables. Last night I did Song of the flower in A tear and a smile. I have asked Dr Victor Pogadev (here) to review my translation and he said it will take time for him, which I have no objection since he is a busy man. Anyhow here it is,

Nyanyian bunga.

Aku ialah kata yang diungkapkan dan diulang-ulang oleh suara alam. Aku ialah sebutir bintang yang terjatuh dari layar biru ke atas permaidani hijau. Aku ialah anak perempuan kepada setiap unsur yang dihamilkan musim sejuk, yang dilahirkan oleh musim bunga, dibesarkan dalam dakapan musim panas dan aku tidur dalam buaian musim luruh.

Setiap subuh datang aku bersatu dengan dingin mengumumkan ketibaan cahaya, setiap senja aku bersama burung-burung mengucapkan kepada cahaya selamat jalan pula.

Padang datar terhias dengan warna-warnaku yang indah, dan udara terbau dengan harumanku.

Pada ketika aku tidur, mata-mata sang malam telah menjagaku, dan pada ketika aku bangun terusnya merenung matahari, dia yang satu-satunya memandang tika siang.

Aku meminum embun seperti wain, dan diam mendengar pada siulan burung-burung, lalu menari pada alunan rumput yang berirama.

Aku ialah pemberian dari seorang kekasih, aku ialah jambangan pada hari perkahwinan, aku ialah kenangan pada masa silam yang gembira, aku ialah hadiah terakhir dari yang hidup kepada si mati, aku ialah sebahagiannya suka dan sebahagian dari duka.

Namun aku telah memandang tinggi hanya untuk melihat cahaya, dan tidak sekali tunduk kebawah untuk bayang-bayangku. Ini ialah kebijaksanaan yang manusia harus belajar.

-terjemahan bebas dari Song of the flower, tulisan Khalil Gibran.

Wake

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:01:00 +0000

At dawn, Love will wake me from slumber and take me to the distant field, and at noon will lead me to the shadows of trees, where I will find shelter with the birds from the heat of the sun -Khalil Gibran, in The Broken Wings.

About this photo: Every morning, there will be birds perching at our balcony.

girl

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:03:00 +0000

The girl who bought the balloon.

About this photo: if you noticed, this is the same balloon that appeared on previous photos.

Yet

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:28:00 +0000

I was on Sinai when Jehovah approached Moses,
I saw the Nazarene's miracles at the Jordan,
I was in Medina when Mohammed visited.
Yet here I am, prisoner of bewilderment
-Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: an excerpt from a poem, Song of man, in a book by Gibran, A tear and a smile. I love Gibran like I love oreo, oh how I love oreo.

Evening

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:45:00 +0000

Evening shot.

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Vibe so hot (not a photo)

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Meet my new girlfriend, because Dahlia would not mind.

This is Priscilla Ahn, she is an American singer-songwriter.

Her songs are the kind of that often make you feel you are sitting on wooden bench outside of the coffee shop and in deep contemplation for an idea to write, draw or just think of.

*this song, however is a cover of Benji Hughes'. She did not write this.

oh and did I tell you, she looks pretty much like a girl in my class. Too bad she does not play guitar like Priscilla does, I would have fall for that. Crap! What am I saying?

Get

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:46:00 +0000

If you want to know who your friends are, get yourself a jail sentence -Charles Bukowski

About this photo: I have not seen a rain drop for quite some time now.

Before

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:11:00 +0000

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them -Khalil Gibran.

About this photo: I am sorry, I promised to get a photo on wednesday but after three days of examination, my body just could not resist the temptation for a long sleep.

My examination did not turn out so good. I wonder how my result will be. One thing for sure, cramming especially during the last minute before examination is no good at all.

I should have learnt a lesson from that, I have to start studying for upcoming second semester examination from now.(The funny part was, in the practical examination, when I am doing question at the last station, I got ear worm of Sinatra's Come fly with me! The song just got louder in my head as the bell rang and examination ended)

This photo was taken in Lal Bagh park, and I have a one week long holiday before going back to class again. What am I going to do? Hit the street and shoot some photos, watch some movies. Oh I just watched "Catch me if you can" last week before the examination.

Also, I have started my translation work on Khalil Gibran's into malay.

sorry

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

sorry guys, I could not get you any photo right now as I will be having my examination this monday.

By wednesday, I will be posting photos as usual. wish me luck!

Lead

noreply@blogger.com (Abesa007) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:16:00 +0000

To lead people walk behind them -Lao Tzu.

Rantings

Dream

Bobo

Who

Within

Norm

Novel Snow.

With

Tamat

Dio.

Lens

Ingorgo

Missed

Walk

Sharp

Uttered

Wake

girl

Yet

Evening

More

Vibe so hot (not a photo)

Get

Before

sorry

Lead