RS3: The Art of Fixing Curtain

Someone once said 'Learning, is lifetime journey'. Perhaps its true, as each new day brings a new experience and new subjects to be learned. Sometimes though, the subject or matter maybe too minor or perhaps insignificant to one's life, that they are shrugged off without further thought, only to be remembered years later as one's pace of life grow slower. But by then, one may no longer have the ability to learn. Alhamdulillah, I don't think I have reached that stage and pray hard I will not.

Someone also mentioned to me that the best time to learn is by doing it with a subconscious mind. Initially I found that hard to believe. I mean, come on, the only period of subconscious mind I know is when I am asleep. Pray tell then, how can any knowledge worthy of learning be learned when one snore noisier than the actual sound of a log being sawn? I just could not buy it then. However, many many years later I found that my view on the matter have been proven wrong.

Sometime back, a story was circulated in the Internet about the Wonder Boy from Iran who, at the age of 6, became a Hafiz who memorise the entire 114 chapters of the Noble Quran (read here), where many children of that age can barely read or memorise a simple nursery rhyme. When the Iranian Government learned of the boy's story, they purportedly subjected the boy to a series of test. And when the boy passed all the test given, the boy, Mahya Hussein Pur, was announced as a National Treasure of the Republic. The story of how Mahya became a Hafiz at the age of 6 is quite fascinating and I would like share it with my friends here. I have tried googling for the story but could not find it, thus will be writing solely from memory and in hope that it will be corrected by anyone who knows it better.

Before his parents were married, they each made a vow to the the other to become a Hafiz, agreeing to marry each other only after they become one. The story did not give any time frame, but the couple did become a Hafiz and were later married. And about a year later, Mahya was born.

Without a maid to look after her son, Mahya's mother would often bring him to her class where she taught the Quran to University student. Otherwise, she would just leave Mahya at a friends place. When Mayha is in the classroom, the mother would place him in his basket and at the back of the class. This went on for quite sometime till one day, the whole class keep hearing the mother's words being echoed from the back of the class. Upon closer inspection, they found Mahya to be repeating Quranic verses which he must have picked up in earlier classes*. The mother went home and told her husband the story and they both agreed that from that day onwards, she must bring Mahya to her classes everyday. At the same time, they keep reading Quranic verses to him, singing it just as a parent would with a nursery rhyme. And when Mahya was old enough, they sent him to proper reading classes, where upon learning to read and write Arabic text, his memory and understanding of the verses improved further.
*(Children, have been found to have the capacity to learn multiple language during their subconscious years. In many villages in Malaysia, one may find Indians speaking fluently in Tamil, Malay, and at least 1 Chinese dialect. Similarly with some Chinese, and in places like Tanjung Karang, they can even talk in Javanese, something which that half blooded Javanese writer of this blog can't!)


Back home, I've come to learn that when one do something out of sheer love, it develops into an art by itself. And when someone else study one's method of doing things, it becomes a science. Does sound somewhat complicated, I admit. But I guess if there is an example I can give, then it is the art of fixing curtains. But before that, there's this something I have just learned.

It seems, the Sarkas religion is introducing newer and newer things by the day. I picked up the picture below at a cousin's place and was initially shocked looking at it. The shock soon turned to a big laugh when I showed it to those present.
If one were to look closely at the coloured printed material shown on the left of the picture, one might just notice the words "100% Halal". My, my...are there any such thing as 90% or below Halal then? I mean once something is Halal, should it not be plain Halal? After all, does not a 1% lesser Halal automatically demotes a product to non-Halal? But perhaps not to that Ali guy from Melaka. Truly, the Sarkas religion amazes me.

Now, to the curtains...

It has become almost a tradition for most people to decorate their home for an approaching celebration. And one of the most important thing to put up or change, would be the curtains covering the windows of one's house. I have to admit though, changing the curtains is definitely not one of my favourite chores, if you can call it that. Simply, it is something you do only once a year. Off course, the fact that I am not steeplejack to be climbing ladders is a different matter. But anyway...

The process of fixing new curtains would begin with Emak hunting the right fabric and colours to match. Once fully satisfied, she will bring it home and sew the lace or whatever that needs to be sown onto the curtain. Before putting it up, she'll inspect from afar the condition of the curtain railings. After all, some fabrics can be more than a trifle heavy for the railings to hold. If needed, the Wak Kromo of the house would then be asked to put up new railings. That, was exactly what he did some Raya back.

While that Wak Kromo was about to start, Emak went out with Wak's elder brother. Left alone at home, the Wak went about doing the chore he was entrusted with. After having measured the length and drilled the spots to fix the railing, he took the new curtains which Emak had lovingly ironed earlier. Then, he counted the number of rings need for the curtain hooks, making sure there would be more rings needed. When he put up the curtains, he would skip every other ring so that should a ring be broken at a later date due to wear and tear, the sagging hook and curtain can easily be hooked onto the spare. Soon as everything's done, he was feeling proud of himself for having done a good job and went out to have a look from the outside. But something was terribly amiss!

Standing at the garden, he felt something was not right; could he have used the wrong curtain set? Instead of the green colour he should be looking at, he saw nothing but the inside of the house and can see each and every little thing which one ought not see had the curtain been hung. In other words, there were no curtains at all covering the windows! But he definitely remember fixing the railings and hanging the curtain hooks onto the rings. Hmm...definitely a mystery in the making, he thought to himself. Thus, he went back in to investigate and found the curtains was indeed hanging from the railing. The fact that is was flowing long to the floor is not his fault. Perhaps, Emak measured it wrong. So he went out again to the garden to have another look, and still saw no curtains. "Alamak!" Wak thought and feeling the creeps already, "could I have stepped into a Twilligh Zone?"

He went in again and still found the curtain where he thought it should be. Thinking like a Not SureLooks Holmes - that's the opposite of Sherlock Holmes - he soon solved the mystery. "The curtain railings," Wak deduced "ought to be fixed above the top of the window and not below it!".


ps. The subconcious learning method does not apply to sleeping or sleepy politicians.