The habit of reading has a profound effect on me.  Constantly indulging in reading over a period
of 50 years has widened my horizon, expanded my mind and changes my life - for the better.

A recent read, on the Internet, on a short article written by Professor AC Grayling, University of
London, brightens my life. Inter-alia he wrote:

"I would wish people to live without superstition, to govern their lives with reason, and to conduct
their relationships on reflective principles about what we owe one another as fellow voyagers
through the human predicament - with kindness and generosity whenever possible, and justice
always. None of this requires religion.  Indeed, once this detritus of our ignorant past has been
cleared away, we might see more clearly the nature of good, and pursue it aright at last."

That exposition, to me, is the serendipity.

Last week-end, my wife went down south, to Muar, some 300 km from our place to attend
a relative's wedding. She went with her sister and brother-in-law.  Weddings are a great
opportunity to meet again long distant relatives and catch-up with the latest happenings within the clan.
One sad news is the fact that one of the relatives, my wife's uncle, who is 80+, is now bed-ridden - and need to be taken care of.  I view this with distress, invalids who become a burden to those of their relatives, dependent
on others' constant help for their physical needs.
Hence, there is a greater resolve to do whatever I need to do, for the upkeep of my health, to continually
doing physical exercises, well balanced-diet, and intellectual nourishment with lots of reading.  I definitely
do not want to be a burden to others by being an invalid when I am old.

I went for my usual  walk/jog this morning but I felt a little sad and disturbed even.  The still morning air is
marred by the loud sound of mega amplifiers of the big mosque about 200 meters from the lakeside.
The usual loud sound from the mosque for the call to prayer - the azan - is OK, quite acceptable as
its duration is around 5 minutes. But if the same loud sound continues in the form of a religious lecture,
after the prayer proper, for up to an hour ( fortunately this happens only occasionally) - then I feel
that we, people indulging in Tai Chi, aerobics, walk/jog at the lakeside become captive audience
and suffer considerable discomfiture and loss of concentration in performing our exercises.
I do hope the religious authorities are more considerate and tone down the volume of the speakers -
or better still, confine the lecture sound to inside the mosque only, as the religious lecture audience
are all inside the mosque, and hence no necessity to broadcast it loudly to the outer environment.
Must we suffer in silence just because there are religious people who are inconsiderate?

I was looking through my photo albums, and of old, old albums.  It was a trip down memory lane.
One gets nostalgic to see old, old faces now gone forever.  But  what is even more interesting is
the realization of the transformation, very visible, in the appearance of the people in the photos.
I noticed a stark contrast in the photos that began in the 1970s till now.  Almost 95 percent of the
females are wearing the headscarves - all their hair covered, whereas the photos before 1970,
the women folk were as pretty as women should be, with a variety of hairstyles and smiling cheerfully.
No headscarves, or tudung.  They appear, in fact, sparkling!  The recent photos of fully covered
females appear dull, monotonous and to me, very sad.  Maybe I'm naive or a male chauvinist,
but somehow, I feel cheated, short-changed.  I'm of the opinion that a piece of cloth does not
a Muslim make.

I must acknowledge that my enjoyment and indulgence of my activities above is possible as a result
of the sacrifice and contribution of my wife.  She's 10 younger than I am and she is preoccupied
with taking care of the grandchildren - children of my two sons who are working parents.
My eldest son, Shahfrin, has three children: Haziq, (11 year old boy), Soraya and Safiah (9 year old
twin girls);  The youngest son, Reza, has three children: Azraei (4 yr old boy), Aqif (2 yr old boy),
and Atifa ( 3 month old girl).  They placed their children in our house when they go to work at 7 am,
collecting them at 7 pm when they returned from work. Their houses are just a few km from our place.
The three elder children are able to fend for themselves, but the younger ones need a lot of attention.
We love them very much and dote on them.  I gave my wife a helping hand whenever I'm free.
In this context, I am reminded of the words of George Bernard Shaw:

"This is the true joy in life - that being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one.
That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments, grievances, complaining
that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.  I am of the opinion that my life belongs
to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privelege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.  For the harder I work, the more I live.  I rejoice
in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me.  It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got
to hold up for the moment.  I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on
to future generations.  Service is the rent we pay for the privelege of living on this earth."

After my usual morning walk/jog of 4 to 5 km, I'll continue my exercise routine in my room with barbells,
dumbells - includes neck twists, waists bends, sit-ups, floor-press and finally the yoga inverted pose before
taking my bath.  What a good feeling - one feels invigorated and energised to start the day with plenty of
fruits for breakfast.

In the evenings, between 3 pm to 5 pm, I'll be playing table-tennis (ping-pong) with my regular playing
partners at the Kelab Warga Emas (the Veterans Club).  The game of ping-pong is very exciting, one
needs focus, concentration, speed and agility.  I'm lucky to have regular playing partners who are all
equally enthusiastic.  Two hours of enjoyment in the morning, two hours of enjoyment in the evening - I savour every moment - and to me, that's happiness!

As a retiree and a pensioner, my wife and I are living at subsistence level.  The small pension that I receive
every month is below poverty level but somehow we manage OK. There are redeeming features though -
for when you are old - your wants and needs are few.  Also, there is no more house payment, car payment
and children's education to pay for.  The small pension is sufficient for our food, gas and electricity.  For
medical treatment, the government hospitals provide free service to pensioners and their wives.  What more
do the souls want?  And we have this piece of wisdom:

                            "Life is easier to take than you'd think; all that is necessary
                              is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable,
                              and bear the intolerable."

                               Kathleen Norris, American author (1880 - 1960)

Once,  a few years ago, in the British Council library, I read an interesting article in a British newspaper.
A British couple went to a Middle East country for a vacation.  Accompanying them were their two
teen age daughters.  They had to cut short their holiday and quickly returned to England. Whilst holidaying
there, their two daughters, having long-flowing hair, were harassed by the youths there, and a few came
close and touched their hair.  The father, frightened for the safety of his daughters, wrote a protest letter
to the ambassador of  that country.
My take on the phenomena (overly excited males at the sight of females without headcover): it's a natural
male DNA functioning.  Deprived males, those living in a closed society where all the females are covered,
will be disorientated and lose control of themselves when suddenly exposed to female beauty. They are
sexually over-stimulated. I believe I would behave similarly if I'm in a similar environment.
The moral of the above sad scenario is that it's a great injustice to the male population when all females
covered themselves.  It is a most natural behaviour for healthy males to ogle at pretty girls. It's their
adrenalin rush!  Imagine a scenario where all the flowers are covered, all the bees will wither and die!
So, to all the girls out there, be rightly proud of your beauty and go ahead flaunt your sexiness - you'll
delight the boys.  After all, that's what males and females are for, to delight each other.

Reading is another passion.  All kinds of subjects interest me: biography, history, travels, philosophy,
religion, sports, health etc.  The local library is my source of reading fare.  I have been a member of
libraries ever since my school days.  During my voracious reading period some twenty years ago,
I was a member of three libraries simultaneously: the USIS library, the British Council library and
the Perpustakaan Awam Selangor.  Now I'm a member of only one library - the Shah Alam library -
borrowing three books every three weeks.
I was hooked to the habit of reading (about 60 years ago) after reading  "The Diary of Anne Frank"
a 14-year old Jewish girl hiding in an attic in Amsterdam to escape from persecution of the Jews
from Hitler's pogroms.  She and her family were finally caught and died in a concentration camp.
Hitler succeeded in snuffing the life of this Jewish girl but she lives forever through her very detailed
diary.  Ever since reading her diary, I too, keep a detailed daily diary till this day.