Contengan Jalanan

Salam Semua.

Salam Ramadhan Mubarak to all. I found a novel that is really inspiring me to go further, do much better in this Ramadhan. The novel is Contengan Jalanan by Hlovate. The author's abilities to convey meaningful thoughts and interesting stories of 'our people' are well-known. 

The novel consists of two parts, the first is the story of Fend and the second part is from K-Square. I only managed to finished Fend's story and it was an amazing experience reading it. The story started with Fend's life, a band - a passion in drawing - freelancing, pretty much the urban style of people nowadays.

However, someone kind of giving him the random thought of  'The man that decided to change on the twelfth hour dies on the eleventh '. Fend kept thinking of this and asked his fellas around. Then, one day, his cousin,Chad who stayed in Texas, invited him to a trip to Australia. During Ramadhan. Backpacking. At first, Fend had no idea what Chad was planning until they arrived at Kingsford International Airport, Sydney.

The same idea as club - hopping, Chad suggested to do 'masjid-hopping'. They will sleep, make ibadah. eat and learn from masjid to masjid. This is where the beautiful story starts. Their adventure in Australia for a week during Ramadhan was very inspiring and felt meaningful. The life of Muslims there to be compared with us here. They spend every ticking seconds trying to do as much as good deeds as possible. 

What Hlovate tried to convey here, our community had some sort of loss the 'Ramadhan spirit'. People busied themselves preparing for Eid Fitr, neglecting Ramadhan. I must agree with this statement, my friends. So, let us try this Ramadhan, to lift up the Ramadhan spirit among us. And, to help us out, there is a checklist called Mutabaah Amal. Where we can target amal ibadah especially during this holy month. It can be downloaded from the net, just try to search for it.  : )

credit to Minda Syabab

I meant to post this entry earlier so that you guys can read the novel before Ramadhan starts in order to experience the same feelings as mine. It's never too late though. Go and read it! May this Ramadhan brings a new meaning to us. (-_-)v

notabuku : thanks a lot to Zara for helping to buy this book at PBAKL. I even got the bookmark from Hlovate! Yay!

Safe Haven

Salam Semua.

Another novel from Nicholas Sparks. It was published quite a while ago but I only found it in the store recently. When it comes to Nicholas Sparks (NS) it always involved someone's spouse already passed away, a new couple met each other, they went through thick and thin together and live happily ever after or not. To me, the idea of NS is everyone has their own destiny in true love, everybody got a chance and how you appreciate them is more important.

Safe Haven is a story that kept you asking what really happened to Katie that made her start a new life in Southport, why she always looked behind her back and why she can't let her guard down especially if someone wants to get to know her better. And boy, turning over a new leaf wasn't as easy as it sounds. However, Katie had a privilege of having Jo the neighbor + her new best friend. With Jo she shares her stories, her past, her real self. Then comes her knight in shining armor, Alex and his kids. With them, she learn to trust again, to be herself again and she learn how to be happy. 

Soon, Alex and Jo learned about the mystery of Katie's past. She was a victim of domestic abuse. What's more frightening she had no one to turn to as her abuser is a police officer. A detective at heart but with an alcoholic problem, he tracked Katie down to Southport. Their encounter is quite messy and gruesome you might wanna read those yourselves.

Reading the novel made me realize that you can't hide forever, the fear will always be there and it takes lots of courage to get up and fight it. Katie regained her courage through her new friends and loves. It is a good thing I reckoned. Let us change our perspective on how we see the world, embrace the loves around us!

 

hi everyone~

It's been a while right? Things have been happening a lot for the past few weeks and for sure I'll treasure those moments and keep it secured tight in my heart. Other than that, I hope my friends are doing fine since we rarely contact each other due to my schedule. Back during my training, a lot of things came to my mind and those things made me felt less secured. However, I believe that we can be stronger with the presence of our loved ones. No need to say much, smiles and hugs will do!