anas zubedy: I love grocery shopping ...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

I love grocery shopping ...

This blogpost is now featured in the book, The Quran and I :)

7 comments:

SIGNBOARD said...: "I love grocery shopping" brought tears with it coz its a real-life experience which i could relate too.
Poverty is relative but the fact that our parents were struggling to make ends meet never crossed our mind then. The ignorance is so painful now.

Tq for da wonderful narrative bro. Salam Ramadhan.; August 29, 2009 4:13 PM
AmoiG said...: i suppose, when we were a child, we can take so many, coz we dont really understand it. To escape from it all, i would spend the whole day playing with friends, leave the house in the morning and only come back during maghrib. i too went through similar experience and yes, yr stories does bring a lot of childhood memories. Those hardship experiences mould us what we are today.; August 29, 2009 6:05 PM
AmoiG said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; August 29, 2009 6:13 PM
Edward Saminathan said...: Dear Bro Anas,

The problem with a lot of people in life is when they reach a certain successful stage in life; they forget their past. It is encouraging to know that there are still humans with their feets firm on the ground they walk..

May you have a blessed Ramadhan..

Cheers,
Edward; August 29, 2009 7:08 PM
PahNur said...: "It is not what life has to offer you, it's what you bring into it".

I know how it feels not to have money too. I know how it feels not to have anyone bail you out when you're at the bottom of the pit. That's when you will know who your real family and friends are. But when you hit the bottom, you know that there is nowhere else to go, except upwards from thereon. Once you're on your way up, you will go all the way, knowing that you will do your very best, not to end up back at the bottom of the pit, because you and only you will know, how lonely it is down there.

A very heartwarming piece. Thank you for sharing, Anas...; August 30, 2009 12:55 AM
Jahamy said...: Anas,

movingly shared from the heart. ou sked: "Do you understand what I am talking about? Does it make sense to you?"

Yes. It does. I recall distributing rice packets, soap and toothpaste as a kid to some of my very, very poor relatives who lived literally on the sea off Jelutong. The foul smell along the wooden bridge to go to their "houses: itself can put you off unless you were crying all the way through trying to figure out what actually is God trying to say with all these?

Money is a real problem among the poor. It is because it represents food, necessities, responsibilities, failure and success. Every time I think of a poor relative of mine who was considered as hopeless because he was not able to provide enough on his salary (he swept roads, it makes me cry to this day. I know that he tried as hard as he possibly knew then...he could relate to me and we used to talk a lot together. His patience and "acceptance" of being considered useless by all and sundry and yet trying hard to provide makes my heart pound even to this day. Imagine doing all you can and still being unappreciated?

As a kid I disliked hari raya because it seemed to make the have-nots more conscious of what they do not have. In a way, to this day, I hardly celebrate hari-raya. Too much bad memories from childhood seeing so many poor people and beggars on hari raya day in Penang.

Anas, maybe the lessons were for us. We can only do what we can and hope that Allah lessens the pain of other around us...and that He does not place a burden greater than what we can bear.

salam.; August 30, 2009 5:04 PM
HoongLing said...: Anas,

As a joyful person, the last time I had tears in my eyes was when parents of An Qi (the recipient of part of my liver) said thank you and they, too, cried.

My tears can't hold long and when reading your article, tears just can't stop rolling to the surprise of my aunt who was cooking buka puasa food for me.

I now understand when you said "Money is not the most important" when I related to you that was a problem with my parents and eventually affected my relationships.

Your article, really talking about yourself from the heart, has taught me to appreciate every sen I have. I will, from now on, appreciate every single sen I have and the every ringgit which so gratefully fall on me. I was a good spender till a point where I must spend on properties and investments to prevent money from flowing to bad use. I think the next time I spend, I will be back to this blog post to remind myself.

THANK YOU, bro. You have taught me a lot of things even though it is just a blog post now.

Selamat berpuasa and have a meaningful Ramadhan.; August 30, 2009 6:25 PM