Sunday, May 11, 2008

Meditation


I can't find the singer to this song and have to make do with this video. Quite a shame, as this song reminds me of a time when I tried to run my own small business in Section 15, Subang Jaya, some many years back. With promises of business support from several quarters, I rented a small office as the promised business would need more people to do sales.

Soon after acquiring some secondhand office furniture, and prior to the promised support, I used the office as a place for meditation, or 'berkhalwat' as Muslims would prefer to call it. There, I read the Noble Al-Quran and meditate the greatness of Allah s.w.t. Off course, I could only do that in between my running around servicing my already existing clients.

Then, the first part of the promise materialised and I took one guy as my sale staff. Can't remember how I met him nor what really transpired, but the guy was down on his luck with a broken marriage and no place to go. With promise of providing me with certain related documents, I took him in and allowed him to use the office as his temporary refuge. No, I was not being kind as he had a need as do I.

After initial training, day by day I gave him pocket money to sustain himself, along with some traveling expenses meant for business purposes. Day by day, he came back empty handed till one day, he asked me for RM50 when just the previous day I had given him the same amount. Worse, his breath reeked of alcohol and he looked rather tipsy - at lunch time! He said he needed the money to entertain a potential client and even dragged me to the meeting place which was a pub! I would not have anything to do with it and just drove off.

The next day, I took back the office keys and chased him out. I promised to give back all his stuff if he can produce the documents he promised. But the guy could not and I never returned his personal stuff. By then, the business promised to me had evaporated when a mutual friend stepped in and promising a big cut to the first guy's pocket. And I by then had reached the tail-end of my funds and returned the office back to the owner. In the end, all parties involved suffered losses as the business could not take off. Then, the Short-Message-System involving web portals were still new and not many corporations wanted to invest advertising or broadcasting using the system. Last I heard, a major GLC bought over the business and absorbed it as a parcel of its services.

Don't mind sharing with you, it took quite a bit of my confidence. Perhaps, though wiser now, I can only look back at that part of my life as takdir. But one thing though, the meditation part was beautiful.

20 comments:

Snowflake said...

Assallamualaikum
In politics - Trust no one
In relationship - Trust yourself
In Life - Never doubt mothers
Through Life and Eternity - Trust only Allah.
(And off course, I know you knew all the above)
Wassallam.

Unknown said...

Its sad that there is such a word as 'experience'. A lot that we learn in life we learn through experience and quite a bit is learnt through bad experience or some would like to call it 'learning experience'. What ever it is, we still do learn, that is for those who want.
You sure do have plenty of interesting experience.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam snowflake,

Thank you for the reminder. InsyAllah, I will remember it :)

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

True, some experience can be bad. I however, do not want to be a bitter person simply because there are some ill characters in this world. They are, as you mentioned in your last line, part of the interesting experiene :)

mOEha Aziz said...

salam shah,

bad or good experiences is a mean of the Lord in order to teach us.. bad is even better.. it'll stuck in our memories and it'll definitely last till the end of time.. it is up to us how to use it. positively or negatively.. :)

p/s: this one doesn't count ye. hehehe loking forward for the tag entry :p

tokasid said...

Salam Shah:

I remember the Director of Asasi sains in 1981 told few of us who met him: Learn from experience bad or good.But if its bad experiences better learn it from others' so you wouldnt make the same one.

But from experience, I know its difficult to learn from someone elses bad experience.Thats my experience.

But do ppl really learn from bad experiences?Not after onnce or twice.maybe after several same bad experiences then they'll learn. There is a hadith that says that Muslim doesn't fall into the same hole twice.

In other words Muslim shouldn't make the same mistake twice or being conned by the same person or group twice.

BUT Muslim Malays are different. Muslim Malays falls from the same trick by the same group for more than two decades.

Only recently some MAlay Muslims decide enough is enough.Or maybe they just found about the hadith.

Ah...the calmimh effects of khalwat by zikr and reading al-Quran karim.

Ydiana said...

Re the tune, quite catchy, and most probably from retro years. I don't play guitar, but I definitely will try it on my piano...

Re your business, a challenging 'experience' will prepare you for a more challenging life...

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Muha,

True, true. Only then can one be called the "wise one' :)

Alah...takleh ke entry ni? Camtu, nanti nanti ye, saya fikirkan tag tu.

cakapaje said...

Waa'alaikumusalam Doc,

Lol! Walaupun lari dari topik, namun tetap ke sasaran...bab Melayu Islam kena tipu tu :)

Berkhalwat memang ada keenakkan nya. Tapi, terpaksa cari tempat yang sunyi dan tidak diganggu...kat rumah takleh langsung! lol! :)

cakapaje said...

Salam ydiana,

Glad you like the tune. Yes, its a 1960's or 70's song. And if I am not mistaken, its originally French. But I don't think it sound as good on piano as this song relies on the semi-plucking of the guitar. On piano, you may have to go staccato, which may not be the same as plucking.

Re: my business - insyAllah, it will prepare me for a better future, thank you :)

jaflam said...

Salam Shah,
Thanks for sharing one of the darkest alley you walk. With the experience you will be able to walk the alley better now.

As long as we keep trying and learning the the chances of success will always be there. All the best mate jump out of that low pressures that have been haunting you for the past few days.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Dato',

InsyAllah, the experience will be for the better. As for the shipmates bailing out of the ship, I guess you know the saying "The captain sinks with the ship", hehe. Thanks Dato'.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

i will never have the guts to start a business my own. maybe i dont have the mind to it. to me its a risky thing to do in life. yes, i have that typical unchinese-like mentality.

Anonymous said...

salam shah,
agony memang bila tengok you tube pakai I V I V. tapi macam agony lagi pengalaman awak shah.
mungkin that makes you a better person, inshaAllah.

Anonymous said...

hi cakapaje

for a pious muslim, gua hiraq seems to be everywhere. meditation and the reciting of the Quran are commendable. The only thing we need to bear is the test of taqdir. you are not alone. Im sure your good intentions would be justified with some future rewards.

cakapaje said...

Salam kerpie,

lol! Bro, not all Chinese are business-minded. Likewise with the Malays and Indians, or any other race. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained :)

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Accia,

Memula bila baca komen tu ingat Accia sebut pasal IV tube, rupanya the you tube! :)

InsyAllah, pengalaman mengajar kita...ada keuntungan di situ. Cuma, self-confidence tu ada susah sikit.

cakapaje said...

Salam shirzad,

While not trying to sound modest, I don't I qualify as a pious Muslim. However, your words about the Gua Hira' is quite true and yes, I do miss being able to meditate as I once did.

Thanks bro :)

Roti Kacang Merah said...

nak download the vid and tiru on my guitar. peningnya tengok, tapi besssst! am gonna take it as a new challenge!

about your biz (mis)adventure... well, it certainly makes you wiser ~ ITU yang paling penting. and that you pertahankan your principles of not getting into that guy's world is ALSO another perkara yang penting.

perhaps, you've lost some bits of material. but at least you've not lost your dignity and self-worth! THAT in itself already makes you an instant winner :-D

cakapaje said...

Salam lyn,

Bila dah terror main lagu tu, you, me and perhaps yadian and snowflake, can sit down and play it together, while abang draw us. But hopefully, janganlah dikartunkan sangat atau dijadikan bahan politik! lol!

Thank you for your kind words :)