Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thank You Facebook

I must thank Facebook for it has brought me together to meet new friends. The new friends were old College mates at Serdang. The husband and wife Zahid Mohammad and Zaimi Mohd Nor were my super duper seniors at the then Serdang Agriculture College before it was transformed into Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and later Univerisity Putra Malaysia.
When I posted the message on FB that I was coming to Amanputra Puchong, Puan Zaimi responded that she was just in the neighbouring Taman Putra Perdana and suggested that we should meet. Later when her husband and me became friends on Facebook, we decided to meet after the Friday Prayers at Putra Perdana Mosque on Friday which was yesterday. This didn't materialize as Zahid couldn't be back for the Fridays prayers as he was out in KL.
Meanwhile I had received a message from another close school friend Tuan Haji Ashaari Amin who had tremendous influence on my life during my school days. He had wanted to come over from Ampang to meet me at Amanputra today. Another SMS came from Zahid suggesting for a breakfast meeting the next which I readily agreed. This is an opportune time for me to introduce Ashaari to Zahid as Ashaari was also an ex Serdang College student.
Ashaari came to Amanputra Puchong exactly at 7.45 AM on his trusted Yamaha Virago. We then proceeded to Putra Perdana to our rendezvous point at a mamak eatery at Putra Perdana at 8.00 AM. Zahid. Zahid came with his wife Zaimi exactly on time. He must be a stickler to punctuality, a rare habit among Malaysians. After a brief introduction we proceeded in seperate cars to another eatery in Bukit Puchong, a short drive away where we were told East Coast dishes are available. Zahid mentioned of the availability of pulut kuning which seemed to be his favourite.
While on the way, Ashaari mentioned that this Zahid has the exact semblance of another Zahid that he had known while studying at Lousiana State University in the US. His only doubt was that the Zahid that he knew wasn't as fair skinned as this Zahid. Somehow I was confident that this is the same Zahid and told Ashaari so. So when we reached the eatery, Ashaari immediately confirmed with Zahid by telling Zahid about the time they were in LSU. Yes it was the same Zahid.
It seemed Zahid had been transformed into a fair skinned guy by a freak accident not very different from what happened to Michael Jackson, a fire accident. The only difference is that Zahid was torched by a fire while he was tinkering with the engine of his Volkswagon whereas Michael had his while he was on stage. Since I am dark skinned too, Zahid jokingly offered to replicate the same treatment by fire on me which I of course declined.
The food at the eatery was of course very sumptuous but what was more sumptuous was the discussion that was going on between Zahid and Ashaari. Both of them were in the wellness industry. To learn more about what they are doing please visit http://www.grandsun.com.tw and http://www.mi-biotech.com or just click here and here for Zahid's and Ashaari's company respectively. Of particular note is Ashaari's involvement in early breast cancer detection which could save the life of many as by the time a lump is detected in your breast, it is already too late.
Hearing these people talk was definitely enriching to me in terms of knowledge and economic prospect. Now I know progesterone used to delay menopause in elderly ladies is produced from the lowly itchy keladi (yam) and activated carbon requires coconut shells as raw materials and certain species of bamboo are better raw materials than coconut shells.
Now don't you want to be the raw material suppliers?
Now I am toying with the idea of jumping into the business bandwagon with the so many opportunities available.

9 comments:

zaitgha said...

Pak,

I also said many thanks to FB coz i met my std 4 good friend the last year i was in KB in Facebook.....how nice to see you with friends...

Pak Zawi said...

zaitgha,
There are many good sides to FB. Just that we need not be too obsessed with it to the extent of neglecting our duty.
There is still ample time for me to meet up some long lost friends. Maybe a trip to Serdang for MAHA will provide an opportune time for such a meeting.

Adib Noh said...

Salam Pak Zawi,
Apa khabar?lama kita takjumpa...
For your info,Zahid is my super duper senior at SDAR and Ashaari is my cousin's husband.The world is indeed very small-making it smaller by the Facebook;-)

Pak Zawi said...

Pak Adib,
Waalaikummussalam.
What a small world indeed! It seems we are among the same circle of friends.
Now you can reconnect with Zahid.

YieBody said...

Tks Zawi for the nice words.
One thing I really could not forget what Zahid did for me. I got married and after 3 days I was off, alone, for study. Only after 2 years 7 months and 7 days did my wife joined me in the States.
I didn’t know how Zahid knew about my case as above. The first thing Zahid did was to 'force' me to ascend the dais with my just-arrived wife together with the couple occasioned then for marriage. I think the couple that time was Rahim Shahid and Nazimah?. Anyway, I disappeared for my life with my heart beating like a horse after a race.
The humble thing now is that: I know Rahim and Nazimah had separated (which is very sad) and for the last 36 years and 11 months or so, the bond between Ashaari and Aliyah is still going ever stronger! Praised be to Him!

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Salam, Abang Zawi! I love it that you keep in frequent contact with old friends. I am trying to encourage my parents to do the same. At the very least, it would get them off my back! I love the photo of the gathering of friends. My brother went to UPM Serdang, as did most of my veterinarian friends in Malaysia.

Pak Zawi said...

Yiebody,
You should be a sport and go through the wedding so as not to deprive Aliyah of the opportunity to be a Queen for a day.
Hope you didn't miss the comment by Mohd Adib who is ur wife's cousin. I did a post on my meeting with him in KB.
Any breakup in marriage is a sad thing especially when there are children involved but sometimes divorces are still necessary as marriage can also be hell for certain couples.
Hope to see you again mate.

Pak Zawi said...

Ee Lynn,
We have a buddy system during our student days in Kolej Pertanian Malaya which seems to transcend all boundaries of race, religion or state where you came from. The minute we begin our study at the then College we will be randomly assigned a group number. Throughout the year we will stick to the same group of 10 guys to do most activities related to our studies. A new group will be formed for the subsequent years and thus you have become groupmates to about 27 other people throught the 3 years course. For this reason alone we are very close to each other. The bonding extends to the rest of the students as cooperation is the most important virtue and emphasized among us.
I doubt that this practice was continued after the College was elevated to a University and your brother may not benefit from it unless he was enrolled during the College days.
Please bear with your parents as they must be loving you so much that they want you to be their baby as long as they live.

Anonymous said...

You were agriculture officer in Kelantan and pencen? I think you must be the person name Zawi some people talk in politcs group. Maybe wrong person I am not sure. This man live in Kelantan, Pasir Mas not KL.