water - vital element for life

25th May 2006

Ceh! Hari ni tak de air lagi… Woke up late, and as usual, lalat yang kejut bangun tidur… Hahaha… Malu je. Pastu, lalat sini bukan kecik wo. Langau punya geng la… Pastu bising pun mengalahkan alarm clock. Tapi takpe, ade hikmahnye… Oh, it’s the second time our apartment takde air. Last month was the first time, tapi kejap je.

26th May 2006

Too much to tell…

30 hours without supply of water in our home was so dreadful and seemed like ages of drought. Alhamdulillah ade jiran-jiran Melayu, boleh tumpang gak rumah diorang. We went to two houses on the first day, because the first one had had too many visitors so we voluntarily depart.
On the second day, early in the morning we washed ourselves humbly with what is left of the reserved water and went to the bundle store. Each of us bought a cap ‘coz Summer’s Sun really burning hot and intense for a couple of days already. The temperature perhaps reached 30°C or at least 27°C and it’s very dry! Rase macam nak demam pun ade. Tapi badan kejap panas kejap sejuk. Sebab dalam rumah sejuk, the marble floor and the walls still preserve the chilliness of Spring, I guess… And oh! My cough is getting better though the throat pains (it wasn’t painful before this, just very itchy). Hingus pun tak meleleh tapi hidung tersumbat pulak. However, whatever is the sickness, thank you Allah for the breathe of life You’ve given me…

Went to Bakri, a perfume shop and bought a bottle for Isa and another for Kakak. Yeah, Kakak’s getting married 08 07 06 insyaAllah. Musa told me that the house renovation is really cool and beautiful even it’s not yet done, I wonder what happens to the house. And I really wonder what happens too to my messy bedroom I left a month and a half ago. Has anyone tidied it up?
Oh, out of the topic again. So yes, the perfume will be a wedding present from me nsyaAllah. Oh, don’t go babble this to anyone, it’ll be a surprise. None of my siblings do read this, I suppose. So, don’t tell ‘em okay? Deal…

Anyway, finally got home and was very exhausted. We really wish there’s water at home. I forced myself to just lie down while we figure out how to get the tank filled. Nombor telefon ‘jabatan air’ (it’s a personal sector though) dah hilang entah ke mana ----- kat rumah Bapil and there’s no way to get anyone working on a Friday, especially when Urdun’s Independence Day is yesterday. And I don’t know what the Yellow Pages have but Bapil said tak ada the phone number in there. I soon fell halfway asleep.

And I thought – was it (the shortage of water) because that we didn’t realize there were three pasu bunga at our veranda yang tak kena siram for more than one and a half month. I have no idea how could none of us realize they were there. I personally seldom go out to hang washed clothes [the other sisters did it for me, thank you!]. The plants was dry and dying when the Sayyidah Maryam (the owner of the apartment) came and reminded us about them. Uh-oh!!! I was sooooooooooo shocked and embarrassed and rushed to wet the soil…

I woked up with a call from Abg Burn (Bapil’s housemate). He found the phone number. Good gracious how I was really glad and happy and thanked Allah till my eyes wet. Because, yeah, I was feeling really terrible if the situation is really a punishment from Allah… Asked Abg Burn to give the water-business (I really don’t know how to describe them) a call to ask them to fill a full 2 meter cubic tank with JD 14 (i.e. about RM 75 but we really need water!!!). Abg Burn called, but the man said not until tomorrow morning. I didn’t think I have a problem with that. Having the hope that “you will not have to live without water at your home until Monday” was already relieving enough. So I just thanked Allah and decided that we will go somewhere for Asar or Maghrib.

Soon, a portable water-tank passed by our home. Here in Urdun, water are brought to houses in tanks, not by pipes. Why, I wonder, but it’ll be a pretty long dialogue I bet. Kak Maziah and Cik Nurul rushed out and spoke to the man who drove the tank. Man, he speaks really good English, you gotta believe this. Arabs here who speak good English may simply just pop out of anywhere – taxi or water-tanks drivers, store workers, anywhere perhaps, but not everywhere. He said: “JD 15, in two-hours time”. We were about to say “okay” when our neighbour, an Iraqi family, came out and negotiated for us. In just a couple of minutes, we got it: “JD 5! and immediately!” Subhanallah…
I – being someone who just cannot sit still and watch the tank-driver and our neighbour fill in our tank – immediately joined them in the hard-work. Taking a long rubber-pipe up a five-story building not by stairs but from the balcony, memang rasa nak tercabut tangan. But alhamdulillah, soon got the pipe to our tank and water gush out filling our tank. It was not full, the Iraqi doctor told us to just pay JD 4. That’s it. With Allah’s help… MasyaAllah…

BTW, hey, the not-watering-the-plants isn’t a dream okay, it’s real. It’s just really reminding that we shouldn’t be mean to any creation of Allah, especially intentionally.

But… I don’t really see any reason why we should we be punished when we don’t realize the true fact that the plants existed there. Or it’s just a test from Him. Allahu a’lam. There’s always hikmah behind everything, aite? What can I conclude here are only some lessons…
1) we have to train ourselves to be more aware of things around us
2) when facing any kind of tests, remember Allah and pray hard.
3) help others as much as you can, for one day you will need their help; if not in this world, may Allah reward you on The Day you really need His mercy.