Love overcome all obstacles?

Love , does it overcomes all obstacles?

By : Siti Aishah Kamarul Azman ( PET 130020 )

It is a very interesting topic to ponder on, especially as we were studying the movie - Sepet ( 2005 ) . When it comes to love in movie, the first thing in mind would the infamous hanging-by-the-wood-plank scene from Titanic or maybe a scene from a recent Nicholas Sparks adapted book movie. Nope, this love will not be that kind of love, but instead it is a simple gesture of affection from one person to another person. Why make it difficult? We love our mother and father, we love our siblings, our friends, our teachers and the list goes on and on.

In the movie Sepet, it revolves around a connection between two random people connected by a mutual feeling of love. Yes, it does involves the high school kind of love but what makes it so special is how Yasmin Ahmad set characters from two different personality, a different social class and other differences but yet they are still bounded by this feeling of love. The question is why? How can a modern yet traditional Malay young lady be attracted to this young Chinese man who loves poetry? The contradiction of characters itself is strong , but yet the pure-ness of the connection is so beautiful it beats the classic Romeo and Juliet anytime.

For example, in a scene where the duo first laid eyes on each other at the market you could clearly see the attraction radiated between Jason and Orked . How the entire universe seem to stop at halt to witness this particular event between two young naïve youth.  The following events that follow the development of relationship shows despite the obvious differences in race they managed to overlook the matter and develop a relationship based on trust and pure love. Multiple scenes successfully portrayed this relationship development, the scene where both Jason and Orked ran through the rain holding hands with a red plastic bag covering their heads, the scene where they met at a fast food restaurant and discussed on various topics and the scene where they sat in front of Orked’s house while being watched by her family members ( Dad, Mom and Kak Som )

During an in-class class discussion on the topic, we have come out with an agreeable formula of what does it takes to have 'love' . Here it is ,

Love = sacrifice + maturity + courage for change + able to overlook differences ( race, religion , wealth etc ) + trust

But again, in order to have all that and create a connection within two person you ought to have TRUST. I mean, without having that trust, you won't be able to create that first touch point and there will not be any consequence action without placing a strong trust into the relationship. Trust is about being able to look beyond physical, cultural and socially constructed differences, Trust is about being able to tolerate and accept the different background of people. Trust is about giving a part of yourself to another person.

I believe , this is what Yasmin Ahmad is trying to show us from here movie. You need to be able to look beyond your bubble, try to understand the differences and embrace the uniqueness of every human kind. Orked and Jason are two young lads, who managed to look beyond their differences and form a beautiful connection all because of they put their trust to the other person.

Trust is what we lack of in the current Malaysian context. We are often not being able to look beyond race, religion and social class. We often fear of accepting what are not the norms of our society. Instead, we create this bubble where we create the acceptable behavior and expect the future generations to follow suit.

Another scene that relates to love and trust in the society is when Orked’s mother defended the relationship ( between Orked and Jason ) when Orked’s dad commented how he disagree on the inter-racial relationship. In my point of view, such action shows how she put trust in Jason despite coming from a different background and how she believe in the love between the duo.

Going back to the topic, does love overcome all obstacles ? Well, trust leads to love and love leads to world peace. I'm not saying that love is the only solution for a better nation but its part and parcel of it. Just look at the Jason and Orked whom managed to embrace the differences and provide a different perspective of how we perceive others.

I do believe that if we Malaysians are able to trust one another, we will be able to overcome the racial tension that's getting worse by each day. I do believe that if we Malaysians are able to put aside our differences, we are able to be a stronger nation. And thus, love may be able to help us in overcoming obstacles.

**Edited on : 17th November 2015 

Movie reference :


Sepet ( 2005 )

Go not to the temple by Rabindranath Tagore

"Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God,

First fill your own house with the fragrance of Love.

Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God,

First remove the darkness of sin from your heart.

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer,

First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen.

Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees,

First bend down to lift someone who is down trodden.

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins,

First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you."

-- Rabindranath Tagore 

I came across this poem from the late Yasmin Ahmad's blog ( yasminthestoryteller ) while I was reading through her posts. As I read through each lines, it struck me of how we often forget the simple things in life - being humble. and forgiving others. We talk about being a good person everyday, we envision to achieve our 'life purpose' as we grow older in life but along the way, we also build up ego, pride and end up classifying ourselves into different classes and levels. It saddens me how few people discriminates others based on what ( race, social class, wealth ) they are  instead of recognizing the potential and abilities. 

There's too much that can be ponder upon when you talk about forgiveness. From this 5 stanzas alone, Tagore managed to remind me the importance of being humble , and to forgive everyone including yourself. Forgiving others are somewhat easy because all you need to do is to understand and communicate with the other person.However, to forgive yourself is not that easy especially if you have your ego standing on the way. 

In the end, remember this - people make mistakes all the time , its always important to forgive them on the mistakes because that is how they have learned new things about themselves. 

Escaping the city

I saw this one post on Facebook that says

" I eat rice everyday and I say -lah in everything. I'm a Malaysian! "

Well, personally I don't eat rice everyday but I couldn't deny the fact that I said -lah in my almost every conversation. Sometimes even in text messages! So yeah, I would say that I'm a proud Malaysian :) Anyway...

Selamat Hari Malaysia, my fellow Malaysians! 

So, how did you spend your one day holiday? 

Initially, we planned to have a JJCM ( Jalan Jalan Cari Makan @ Food Hunt ) in Melaka with the other fellow Projek Kalsom's clans. That and because I always told Akhfar how I want to visit Melaka again since I can't  remember when was the last time I went there. He just can't understand my fascination towards some old buildings and historical museum. I guess he prefer the craze for him and him only heh.However, due to the crazy haze that caused schools in Melaka, NS and KL shut down yesterday we decided to cancel the plan tsk tsk. 

Anyway, this morning after a very groggy super unattractive morning phone call from him I managed to wake up, showered and get dressed decently cause apparently he told me he had planned for something special. 

First stop, One City Mall @ Subang. Another craze of mine is I loooovvvveeee heights while he is afraid of heights. Oh the irony! To be honest , I never really mentioned this to him but he knows what the girl wants and hehe here we are. It was our first time there and to be honest the mall seems to be very unfinished despite the craze it had caused for the past few months. I dont know, I can still feel the feeling of a newly open building plus, most of the shops and offices are still empty. However, I do love the interior feeling of it, the concept of an open space mall where everything is ventilated naturally I guess? ( Tho it caused him to complain along the way saying why there's no aircond in a mall? pfft ) 

The open space concept of the mall 

( Source : Google ) 

So we went up, to the most top floor - Skypark. Imagine the picture above, but you're looking down while walking on a thick tempered glass. Yup. I didn't have any picture tho but feel free to google it yourself. I couldn't say much on the place, let just say we were there at 1pm-ish while the sun was right above our pretty little head and the haze, let's not start on the haze. I love the decor tho,I can imagine how romantic it would be to have a dinner for two on the Skypark overlooking a half bald mountain due to the greediness of some people   the nearby neighboring city overlooking a beautiful sunset just to set in the romantic feels. 

After wandering about the place, there was nothing else to do. The only recognizable F&B are Starbucks so we decide to skip that. He randomly suggested we go to Fraser Hill. I'm like whatt?? Isn't it far far away in the land of no-one knows? But after some consolidation we found ourselves to be en route to Fraser Hill. lol. 

Arrived there around 3pm, we could arrived earlier tho but due to several pit stops it took us longer.It was our first time there as well, so no one knows what to expect except from the little information I managed to read while on the way there. As were driving uphill, you could feel how the temperature drops down and the air feel fresher.Halfway along the journey we turned off the air-cond and enjoyed the fresh air instead. 

As you get into the little town of Fraser Hill, you will see the famous clock tower. From the pictures I saw I expected it to be huge and something fancy but in real life it is just this super cute stone tomb in the middle if the road covered with little green leaves. 

With no proper plan, we drove to the first interesting thing on the signboard we saw - Air Terjun Jerial. What we thought was a short 10 minutes drive from the town turns out to be a good 30 minutes drive along a very small and long winding road. It was not as expected tho, nothing fancy like the 5m Tanah Aina waterfall or the rocky FRIM waterfall that I went before. It looks like er.. Sungai Congkak? There's not even a single waterfall in sight! Lol, maybe there are further inside but we walked halfway caused I was wearing my wedges ( thus, the impromptu hutan trip ) but maybe there's the said waterfall deeper into the jungle. Maybe. 

After like 20 mins of hiking in and out of the little 'jungle' we decide to get back to the town. Off to the long and winding road weee~ Halfway through, we stopped at a small trail just beside the road. I can't remember what its called neither do I have a picture of it. According to a signboard near the entrance the trail takes only 10-30 minutes with abundance of unique flora and fauna along the way. We did went down for a few steps to the point where the lady in wedges couldn't descend any more, from the place where we stopped we could see a small village at the end of the trail. At that point, I feel like taking off my wedges and go on the trail barefooted. The view from the top of the trail was super amazing too and we stood there for a good 30-40 minutes? Just stand there enjoying the view of the opposite Banjaran Titiwangsa and some deep conversations that only both of us could understand. It was quite romantic in some way hehe. 

Even after the hike, the halfway hutan trip it was freezing cold for both of us. To one point, we tried to make a fog out of our breath lol, acah acah oversea. He suggested that we go and find something hot before both if us die from the cold ( irony : Malaysia ) And we did, we found this cute little cafe ( the one and only there I guess ) it's called Mimi Strawberry. Its situated right behind the clock tower so the view was pretty amazing. To be honest, the food was alright so I didn't bother to take any photo of it.We sat there for a good two hours, talking about everything and everything else I mean there's a lot to catch up after a year of being apart hehe. By the time we walked out from the cafe it was almost 7, and the fog was already covering the surrounding. For a short second, it almost brought me back to Namsan Tower back in Korea but this time I have my SO next to me :p 

And..anyway we went back and reached UM at around 9pm. As we drove into the city, the haze greeted us and I wish we were back in Fraser Hill. Soon, we'll come back again. 

That's the end of our short, impromptu yet meaningful trip. Total spending : RM 20! ( excluding toll and petrol , we only spent once at the cafe ) 

Where else could you have a vacation at such price? Totally worth it. 

The fog that covers the area by the time we got back

Next trip, a mission for the waterfall! 

The Agreement I,II,III by Aishah Kazman

The Agreement I

When you took me by the hand,
Look me into my eyes,
And say you loved me,
I know, I'm hooked.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------
The Agreement II

I took a glance at you
While the mayonnaise from your burger dripping
Your messy one day old stubble on your chin
You dark eyes looking at me
That's when I know
This is the man I want to grow old with.

---------------------------------------------------------------
The Agreement III

It was a hot humid night,
It was pizza night ,
Two days after 'Raya',
You sat in your car,
While the air-cond blasting out cold air,

But neither of us are feeling it.

You started talking,
Jumbling,Mumbling,
You're a nervous wreck,
" Cut the chase " I said.

There and then,
You said it out loud,
An agreement for the unknown future,
An everlasting love.

I said yes.
Because I know,
Its worth unknowing.

The Italian Wannabe by Aishah Kazman

The Italian Wannabe

Ciao, 

That's how it first started,

A simple 'Hi' four years back, 

I don't exactly remember why or how, 

But I'm glad it happened. 

Buongiorno, 

A morning routine, 

A simple text message, a reminder, 

Of how I am lucky to have you. 

Mi manchi, 

A random mid-day message,

Sometimes its coincidental, 

It feels special anyway,

Just like the first time. 

Buonanotte, 

Those long hours of night conversation, 

Where we shared our fears and our dreams, 

Sometimes I would ramble nonsense,

But you stayed anyway.

Mi amore, 

I cant express how grateful I am, 

To have you,

More than just a best friend,

More than just a lover.

You're the one. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Italian Wannabe is a one shot writing while I was waiting for a class to start. I was texting him that morning and suddenly realized that despite being a hardcore Italian Motor GP fan, he only taught me these 5 Italian words. Ironic, but that's how we communicate on daily basis. This piece, reminds me of our special way of communicating for almost four years now. Its not perfect and I dont intend to make it perfect, to me all the imperfections reflects back to us as an individual and how we lead our relationship. Its a one shot thing anyway, its something what I would say to him on the spot if I have to. 

A short note on Nora's Visit to ‪#‎OneSeven‬

Last Saturday, we were honored to host Nora Michon,an EP from AIESEC Holland. When I first told my parents about her, my mom was the one who got excited for her arrival. My siblings, the first thing they did was to check location of Holland on the map - Timah said jauhnya kena lompat lompat laut! .

Upon arrival, we took Nora for a short yet super exciting tour around our little village.We showed Nora the Kampung Orang Asli, Dragon Fruit Farm, some local fruits and a short hike in a rubber plantation! Coincidentally,I was terribly sick on the day so as soon as I got home I'm knocked out until midnight and Nora was left alone with my family,poor her.Little did I know, she had a full Incoming Preparation Seminar (IPS) from the family covering from the common culture of the Malays to the history of Natrah - all while I'm asleep! My mom would score 10/10 for EP Servicing smile emoticon 

Day 2, we took Nora to a local 'kenduri' hosted by a friend of my dad.Another encounter with the local food and Malay culture, the host was pretty nice too explaining some of the food to her and welcoming her warmly. Thanks uncle! After the kenduri, we drove around the city center and stopped for some photo spots.Nora kept saying 'hot hot hot' every time we went out from the car for a photo haha.

Around 3 pm, its time to send Nora to Rumah Juara Puchong where she will be spending 6 weeks there.Despite not being involved directly with the department now, I still feel somehow attached to the EPs expecially when it comes to sending them away to the NGO frown emoticon It feels like sending your kids awayyyy 

cry emoticon

To Nora, I wish you all the best for the next 6 weeks.Be strong hun, and if you ever need someone to bring you out you know who to call! And to my family, Umi Abah and the Adiks thank you for helping out, you guys did great! To the NGO's clans, Xia Hui, Ismail , JJ and rest of the team thank you guys for your hard work. I'm proud of you guys!

So any other EPs need a host for the weekend?

** This is a post I copy paste from my FB. Reason why its here is because I would like to preserve this special memories into my blog. More FB posts coming right up! haha 

Projek Kalsom MiniCamp Pendang,Kedah

So its a wrap for Projek Kalsom Mini Camp,Pendang Kedah! The three days camp had been a wonderful journey for me, a whole different experience to my other previous faci experience.Of course,I couldn't stop myself from comparing this to the other AIESEC conferences I've facilitate before.The kids had made me thought of so many things, reflecting on my own life as I was facilitating them.Sometimes, you never knew who would be an inspiration to you.The kids reminds me that despite coming from a difficult background, having so many complicated personal issues you have the chance to change your life.

I was given a session which was Writing! yeay so TESL related. So I did what I do best, teaching in style. It was not easy as expected to be honest, me and my other two co faci tried to thinking of every possible situation that go wrong but still things happen.The activity was about writing based on a situation, of which students are given a situation based on few well known movies and disney characters and they need to write either short story, conversation etc about it. We thought the characters that we have chosen are familiar enough but surprisingly Hermoine, Harry Potter, Captain jack Sparrow and Baymax are not something they are familiar with. So it took a while to explain about the characters itself to them, lucky for us we have the homegroup facis to help. But seriously, a note to self next time check the reality of the students and adapt it to the activity. Abah said we should have used Upin Ipin, Boboboi and other Malay based cartoons which are shown on normal TV instead of the one we watch on HBO. ouch. 

Video 

But anyway, it was a pleasant experience. To finally be able to teach in a real environment which was really different than the one I usually have in class.I know the kids won't be reading this but I do hope whatever I have shared with them will be an inspiration for them to get out from their comfort zone and be a change agent themselves one day.

InsyaAllah if I were given the chance to do this again, I will.Until we meet again Projek Kalsom.

PICTURES HERE

Signing off,

Aishah Kazman aka Ash Ketchum *hugs*