Kautsar Abd Rahman

Summer is blisteringly hot. Extremely hot. I was slowly melting in the bus.

I realized that I don’t actually have a functional summer wardrobe. Besides few shirts, I have only got loads of awesome t-shirt which of course, must be worn with cardigan!! And I just had to try on my leather vintage shoes.

AAHH! It was hot hot hot!!  Cardigan and leather shoes are the summer no-no.

Anyway, a really,really cute guy was promoting this Human Rights magazine outside the library. He asked if I am interested in Human Rights stuff and if I study Human Rights Law. I answered yes. Yes to anything you say, cik abang.

No, I didn’t study Human Rights law. But I did study Public International Law – and that’s almost like Human Rights Law. A very,very BIG almost. I started talking about how his magazine concept would be truly beneficial for my country. And how I want to fight for Human Rights awareness in Malaysia. Well, this I do. But it was said with an extra fervour. Just in case he missed the hint.

The magazine is called New Internationalist. It is basically non-political magazine that strives to bring to public eye the dimension and scope of whatever issue they focus on each month. It’s actually pretty cool. For example, one of the month, they were focusing on world population – and had great and influential thinkers to write for them. Whether it should be sustained for the growth of industry and economy sector or should it be restricted – because our earth cannot support it. They usually get someone from the government to contribute in their issues to explain public policy and how the state see it. Then, they would contrast it with opinions from different school of thoughts and also general information regarding the issue. I think it’s a great way to really get into the depth of something – you have one whole issue covering one single conflict or interest – and by great thinkers!

And they have got lots of other interesting issues. Islamic power in Europe, for example. Another on deportation. And he was telling me about past issues and future issues.

I asked him if he is one of the editors.

He said, laughingly (so cute!!!), “Well, one day I wish I could be. I mean, Trotsky once wrote in the magazine, and clearly I am not exactly the level of anywhere near Trotsky..do you know Trotsky?”

“Trotsky? Yeah, sure I do.” *stare unblinkingly at him*

The magazine is pretty damn smart to put him up to promote. I don’t think anyone minded getting stopped by him at the entrance of the library and waste precious reading time just to talk to him.

Anyway, HI SAM CIK ABANG~ he is nowhere as cute as you, of course!! If you sell the magazine, I would buy ALL of it straight away, no question asked.

Most successful promoter for anything to me >.<

Alright, back to work. The weather has gone lovely now. Bright but not sunny and breeze blowing.

I pray that Allah gives me His Rahmat for this last paper of mine. Amin.

I need to lose weight and gain momentum.

The Kings’ College London’s Maughn Library

I was in the toilet when an announcement came out :

THERE HAS BEEN A FIRE REPORTED IN THE BUILDING, PLEASE EVACUATE.

THERE HAS BEEN A FIRE REPORTED IN THE BUILDING, PLEASE EVACUATE.

PLEASE EVACUATE BY THE NEAREST EXIT.

I was stunned. I went out and realized no one had moved at all!! I went into my study room and people were looking dumbfounded.

IS THIS REAL, OR WHAT? Are they holding stupid fire evacuation practice during exam period??

A woman started shouting for us to hurry up.

IT’S REAL!!!

I quickly went down the stairs, out the grand main entrance of Maughn library – only to realize how silly I am.

I should have taken my coat!!! And my wallet!! And my exam notes!!!

I have no idea how long we were going to be stuck out there, and it was COLD.

The evacuation team shooed us away from the building to the fire safety assembly point – The Knights’ Templer Pub.

To which a girl said : Is this a conspiracy to get profit?

People started smoking and have lunch and some beers but I was stuck. With no money, no Oyster card to escape and ALL MY NOTES IN THERE!!!

AHHH!! IF THERE IS FIRE, I DON’T CARE I WANT MY NOTES!!

I considered begging the security guard to rescue my notes. My exam!! In two days time!!!

Okay, it wasn’t that bad. The building – and look how pretty it is up there – was not burnt to the ground. A disappointment to some whom I overheard earlier :

Hey, I think we should stand here – it has the best view of the building if its going down.

Haha! But we were allowed in after half an hour, right before the rain poured.

Sigh. What a drama on..

FAKHIRAH’S BIRTHDAY!!!! WHEEE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FEERA!!!

Me and birthday girl, Feera, at Cambridge

Somehow the birthdays of my favourite sisters have this mysterious strike of unfortunate event attached to it! Like, 25th Feb, on Fahimah’s (Feera’s older sister) birthday. Sigh.

Anyway, back to work for me.

Here’s to everyone out there who’s having exam/submission/assignments! Good Luck!! <3

Photo credit : Jacqueline Banerjee

Gender Recognition Act 2004 -

If you’re a woman but have lived as a man for the past two years, you can apply to be a man under Gender Recognition Act, and you will after the court’s approval become a man.

So, you can legally marry a woman, because the GRA 2004 will treat you, for all purpose, as a man.

But, a woman could never be a father, she/he can only be a female parent to a child.

The court realize the potential mental and psychological impact this may have on a child but it is outweighed by people’s right and autonomy to determine their sex.

*

The court finds it difficult to ascertain the legal fatherhood of a child when a woman cohabits with another man right after separating with her husband. The court would have to determine the date or period of conceiving the baby to conclude who is the real father.

Islam says, a woman has to be legally divorced from her husband and abstain herself from going into another marriage for a period of up to three menstrual cycle to avoid this exact problem.

*

A woman divorced her husband on the basis of unreasonable behavior because he demanded to have his feet tickled every evening. Another woman divorced her husband because he couldn’t fix the toilet door after 8 months of nagging him.

Islam says a woman could not call for divorce against her husband, and it’s justification seems to be that women are naturally emotional and might take drastic action when they are in the moods.

Islam makes human life simple and true to its nature.

Congratulations.

I have accidentally deleted my essay draft on Microsoft Word.

Great!

I missed Cardiff Euro Games, did work through out the weekends, only to click on the box that says :

No, I have saved all the documents I need.

So, Word didn’t give me a second chance. It threw away my Auto-save document. One tiny document.

And then my eyes swiftly glance at the document, and wondered what document did I open recently.

I feel another heart attack coming.

My baby. My essay draft. All that points I brainstormed while listening to Maksin mrvica’s Cubana. All the reading list of journals that I want to include in my essay, and little snippets of points and elaboration which I jot down. And of course, summary of cases which I needed to get my essay done.

Now I have 3 days.

Very Naice.

Before I continue to blog about Hogmanay or other things, I just have to extract something from my mind before I forget the magnificence scale of today.

Today is the third day of school and first day of snow for the week. London, as the headlines has been screaming so far, had been transformed to a snowy capital – all icy roads and hardened snow and slush.

But today, it was a totally new experience for me – to be walking to school in snow. It somehow has this different feeling to it compared to other days when I just walk in the snow. Here I am, busy with schedule and late for school but the soft snow falling down seem to contrast greatly with the urgency of my matter.

I am really terrible at describing this.

It is that moment of great appreciation in life – when you are hurrying to gain your interest in life and then there is this beauty that effortlessly overwhelm the whole of London.  It is just amazing.

I love it so much. I have already put this day as the ‘day to remember’ in my mind. I have, so far, 5 memories that I can vividly remember the scene and recall the exact feelings. If I remember it often enough, I can hopefully remember it for a long,long time.

“Nenek dulu pegi sekolah dalam se-now” Whoohoo!

I even made sure I studied by the window in the library, which overlooks River Thames, the ghostly trees that line the river and boats and shrubs under a blanket of white.

It was dusk when I finished school and the sky was a pale hue of blue and purple when I walked along Manor Gardens. Snow was falling down most,most gently. Not too packed together, just lightly showering the street.

At that moment, I was awestruck by its opulence beauty. I thought it looked like the stars have fallen from the sky, gracing the earth. The purple sky made it as if the world has gone parallel and the sky is right in front of me, bringing the stars to me.  I opened my mouth and a snow drop fell into it – and I could only smile silly to myself for such abundance of nature’s sweet treat. It’s like finally,I am amongst the stars!

This is my favourite snow photo, taken by Hana’ Fedora. Focus your eyes on the tree – it looks as if someone had drawn it on a white piece of paper with charcoal blocks.  She captures the essence of what I feel perfectly with that tree – it is a wonder that I savor and relish whenever I set my eyes upon the world covered in snow.

Ah, the social went alright. Setting was perfect –  a private room in a pub, where it was all wood, rustic and warmth.

The Setting.

There were 15 of us there, a small cozy company, all finding cash machine to get some loose change to donate for our fundraising charity. A very willing group – nice! Although it was still hard to convince them to donate bits for a portrait shot of themselves by me. Sigh. And in the end,I was just happily snapping away pictures for free! There goes my fundraising cash!

Miza decided to abandon the social part of a social party and launch herself into a full mode writing machine. She sat herself at the greeting cards table and wrote A LOT of cards to people around the world who are in prison under political capture or for standing up for their rights.

Miza’s greeting cards.

Basically, Jess, the president, got a map showing the people whom you can write to and brought a newsletter that has all their stories in it. I have written 2 general, inspiring ones while Miza poured her heart out to each letter she wrote! Whatever makes a party for you, Miza.

*coughcough as if there was anything else to do coughcough*

But there were other things going on other than writing cards! There was a henna table, cake sale and a face-painting table – which was rather funny as no one would really want a butterfly or a tiger on their face at this time of the year! Such a waste of talented artist and pretty pots of coloured paints! So, we made the artist paint hands and wrists. And Raivi got her to paint behind his ear. Nothing crazy or anything, but it was good fun

Well, it’s already 10th of December now, so, Happy Universal Human Rights Day, people!  :)

Visit amnesty website and check out the page where you can get info on writing greeting cards to victims or appeal letters to the authorities in any course of action you are interested in or just pick one at random and give a loving support of inspiration.

When you’re cooped up in prison, the word of strangers from the world outside means a million.

www.amnesty.org.uk

What you get when you mix black and red henna.

i look behind the cloak to seek the truth of who you are,

a man in disguise?

i eye with suspicion,

a thought creeps to mind,

a dangerous lingering one,

if you’re from there,

then you would have too.

or at least been part of it, if not,

probably in spirit you would.

we look at one another with narrowed eyes,

cool smile playing on the lips,

taking our gaze away,

each with their own thoughts

forebearing the next hour,

i sat rigid, aware of your kin behind me,

in a pretend play of teacher and student,

we made it through.

There is something about Sam that always make me wonder just how far he can go. Just when I thought I kind of know everything about him, new things pop up to impress me more and make me totally head-over-heels for him-again.

The best thing about him is his passion – for anything that strikes his fancy. From photography, skateboarding, comics to toys, art and drawing to fix-gear bicycles and vintage items, if he’s into something, he makes sure he knows A-Z about it. He’s that kind of guy.

But he’s also (supposedly) shy and introvert. A man with few words but with mighty actions. So having him as a guest speaker for Kings’ College London Photo Society’s Beginners’ Workshop was a big deal. To both of us.

I was in the audience when he held the talk. With his loyal Mac book and an array of lenses and cameras, he was good. I was the one nervous for him. I sat at the edge of the seat, cold sweat in hand and was so focused on him that it slipped my mind to take a picture of him there!! (He was, obviously, slightly disappointed)

He made a presentation on different level of cameras out there, how to experiment with your camera and explore it, the difference of the main function modes : shutter, aperture and manual; the link between ISO, aperture and shutter speed, white balance orientation and few tips on improving yourself. It was light, easy and informative. Oh, of course I am not biased. Everyone thinks so too!

He was even better answering questions, he said it is because he prefers being engaged in a personal conversation than a big, social one. Thus, answering a question enables him to tailor his knowledge to one person and he was just so great at it!

To Shamin, thank you so much for the talk. Even though you said you did it because I already promised the society I would get you to talk, I know it’s actually because you want to take that much step further. And yes, I know you’re happy you did it And I am sooo proud of you!

For photography tutorial and community, check out lensa.co.uk

Sam is the website content moderator there!

Well, well here I am at King’s College London Cafeteria on Strand Campus and it’s not making my stomach happy at all!!   That’s my cafe down there, and I am seated on the top floor, for those who are not eating lunch – and for my case, for those who can’t afford to eat lunch! Arghhh! I am so hungry!! I hunted for food just now and sadly found out I could only afford to buy one prepacked food. Like,chocolate bars or some sad looking cakes sweating in plastic coat. Apple for 60p, a banana 60p (!!), kit kat 60p, water for 80p. I thought well and hard. Should I hydrate myself or shock my system with sugar rush? I’ve got 2 hours class after this, I definitely need the energy. Being very reasonable, I opted to buy Kit Kat. Savior. And like gift from Heaven, I found free water cooler outside the Chapel!

I must say it is rather disturbing for my stomach to hang out in this cafe. The smell of rice curry is more than I can bear. It took a lot of lip biting and muscle straining to walk away from this table with a plate of almost untouched rice curry, abandoned. Or maybe I should just casually sit down there – and just eat! Hehe!

Photo scouted from Google Image, credit to Melissa.