Falling

I was the last (together with my youngest son) in the family to get infected with virus since the last few days. I'm getting better now and was left with some bad cough; took pain killers before for my back. So yesterday, I excused myself from Friday prayers so that I don't spread the disease. But instead of resting, we received a phone call from our youngest son that he fell down the stairs in UniKL-MFI (around 12.30 noon) and he could not properly stand. He was sent to An-Nur Hospital by one of the staff (thank you). We waited for the update from the staff and later he called and said that our son had a fracture in the navicular bone. After receiving the call, we rushed off to fetch him at his room. We were already planning to fetch him before that for the weekend but now he will have the whole week stay at home before a follow-up set up at the nearest hospital in Seremban.

On meeting him, we asked him what had happened. He said he was carrying a box of folders (don't know how heavy) down the stairs but somehow he had not placed his foot on the steps and fell forward around five to eight flight of steps downwards. Luckily, the box he was carrying cushioned his fall for otherwise the injury might be worse (thankful that did not happen). I will be dishonest if I say I'm not feeling sore for the whole matter but I accept this as fate. The hospital bill itself costs more than RM500 (for the X-ray, backslab and medication) and later had to fork out around RM400 for a wheelchair, bought after arriving in Seremban (I do need to find a job after all these extra expenses).

I do really pity him after all the injuries he had to go through (see this post and this post). One thing I do admire about him is his patience and cheerfulness despite all these injuries. Here is a photo of him arriving home.

and here is today's photo in his room when we bought him lunch (bought from RM3 stall).

Trip to Putrajaya and Watermelon Still

Have paused my posting much due to we had viral fever in the house (even had one earlier draft post has yet to be uploaded). Initially my sons (eldest and third) and my other half was having flu and fever and I was somehow spared from it. They took medication and are still having residual symptoms. At the time, we were planning to go to Putrajaya to accompany our son for an interview on Monday. Booked ourselves a room at Everly Hotel, the hotel that brought us memories of the late Prof. Twareque Ali. My other half and I still remembered rushing off to the hotel when we heard of his departure. Nothing much has changed since then (I think). On trying to find a place to stay, I also found out that Putrajaya Pullman Hotel had already closed in 2019. Memories there too.

We went to Everly on Sunday afternoon (five of us but only three of us stayed at the hotel). Here are some photos.

While we were there, my third son took us to Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque and thereafter to Alamanda to get some dinner.

My son's interview was on Monday morning and once his interview is over, we went back to Seremban. By this time, I develop some viral fever symptoms, particularly attacking joints and my back. Hence I rested most of this week.

Finally, I am still following the gen0cide in Ghazza despite my 'silence'. Occasionally I shared horrifying news in the social media. In any case, most people are aware of what is going on, even if some wished to ignore it (and of course this includes the colonialists). May Allah grant justice for the oppressed.

Doa Selamat Event of Safe Trip for Hajj

Last Friday, we picked up our youngest son from UniKL-MFI so that he can join us for an event on Sunday. Given that he does not have friends of the same age at his work place, the weekend will be better spent with us.

The event on Sunday was for Majlis Doa Selamat for my sister and her husband to go for Hajj in the coming week. In a way, this is also like a family Eid gathering (even though that Shawwal had ended just a few days earlier). I was happy to be able to see my brothers and sisters as well as their families and relatives. Here are some photos.

I was a bit down (some things do not quite go our way recently) and was a bit unwell as well at the time and did not strike too much conversation. Nevertheless was happy to see everyone. There were some discussions on some projects for which I'm pretty open to the idea. In any case, for my sister and brother-in-law, I wish them a safe trip to and fro to the Holy Land and may Allah ease their way there and grant them a mabrur Hajj.

That One Internationalization Attempt

Recently I publicise a post in my Malay blog and also reactivating my social media posts. Somehow, I can't help feeling 'dirty' doing it, making me guilty of being perceived as an attention seeker. The intentional dynamics can change very quickly from hoping to educate others to something that pushes one's ego. I would like to keep that under control.

The post mentioned above was intended to be a 'review' of the book "Reduction, Emergence & Levels of Reality" for which one of its authors, Lamberto Rondoni had several times been to UPM. The post became more of my attempt to understand the ideas of what the authors wrote on, rather than being a review. As the title of the book suggests, it focuses on the themes of reductionism and emergence (behaving like opposites); reductionism is perhaps familiar to the way physicists think but emergence is somewhat nebulous and the book expounds on where this arises. Any good student of science will benefit on reading this book since it gives an idea of how science is patched up between the different areas. An important lesson here is that it is not enough to work on an idea in science without knowing how it fits into a bigger scheme of the larger body of knowledge. This is why I told my students that it is not enough to do some calculations without understanding their implications in other parts of the science that one wants to build.

I did not know Prof. Rondoni until I was introduced to him during his first visit. Note that his earlier visits are essentially hosted by other members of the institute that I was part of. As usual, I do look up into his research areas just like other visitors to the institute, and to my surprise, he happens to be a theoretical physicist working in the area of statistical mechanics and dynamical systems. He gave several talks at the institute and naturally, I had some conversations with him, perhaps exploring areas where one could collaborate. It was during his later visits, our conversations turned to the possibility of setting up an ICTP-like institute, which had several versions. Finally, we thought of having a centre within the institute, partly to avoid some administrative issues and this was agreed upon from both Malaysian and Italian sides. 

I tried to encourage others to get involved in this collaboration because it takes more than just a few individuals to make it happen. Visits from both sides were made possible under the Erasmus+ programme. Many students had the opportunity to visit Polito then, including two students of mine. One of them had a joint publication with a Polito researcher; see arXiv version here and published version here. I too, had the opportunity to visit Polito during my final days with the institute. 

During the visit, I was desperate to find an area where we (Santo, Syed and me) can work with Prof. Rondoni. It was rather a difficult mix; both Syed and I have interest in geometric ideas while Santo and Prof. Rondoni work on chaos, which tends to be numerical. There is this idea of Nambu brackets which have applications to chaos that we wanted to explore and they can have geometric origins. However, without specific problems being solved and I failed to convince them to pursue this direction. The other problem I suggested is hyperbolic billiards, their symmetries and the quantum versions. There is some interest in this though we did not continue.

I gather that now the centre is no longer being pursued as interests fizzled, which is rather unfortunate. For me, I always consider having a good mix of international researchers and local ones is good for our scientific development. Like the title of Dyson's paper, it is one of the great missed opportunities. We need to learn some lessons from this.

A Month of 'Eid

Since my last post, I have been doing a lot of family matters, mainly 'Eid visits. We were in Kepong before the wedding (the 12th Eid day on Sunday) at the homes of my two sisters-in-law; their husbands are my late eldest and second eldest brothers. No photos unfortunately this time; perhaps this 'Eid is rather more gloomy that the past 'Eids, partly due to personal challenges and also the Ghazzah genocide. We missed the function of my sister-in-law in Saville Residence (married to my third eldest brother) because it was held on the first day of 'Eid and we were occupied with my other half travelling back to Segamat. On Tuesday thereafter, we essentially spent the whole day in Kuala Lumpur for 'Eid visits to the homes of my other half's sister and brother in Taman Keramat and Taman Melawati respectively (no pictures again). Then next, we have the wedding in the Mines mentioned in the last post.

My youngest came back from his MUET exams in UiTM Jasin on Tuesday (a day before Labour day). We were glad he arrived home safely. The next day being public holiday, my in-laws (sisters and brother of my other half) decided to visit us. So my other half decided to prepare some dish while I ordered satay from a local restaurant. There are pictures this time.

Come Saturday, we were in Labu at the invitation of my other half's brother. I did not realise that Labu was just quite close to our place when we took Taman Rimba (or something) route near Ainsdale. Pictures available.

My FB also showed that a year has passed since my other half had her CSF leak surgery (see this post). I am actually worried if the leak recurs particularly she is now experiencing some flu. Yesterday, we went to my brother Nordin's place in Pandan Indah. I regretted that I did not take any photos there since all his sons and daughter were there together with my sister and husband (with their son) who are about to perform Hajj (lucky for them and I pray that everything will go well). During the visit, my nephew asked me if I was still working and I replied in the negative. He was then telling me that in his office, there is a 70-year old person still working. I know that my brother Nordin is still working these days on Islamic GMP training and consultation. I hope I can still work for our livelihood but I have yet to find a suitable opening.

Finally after Pandan Indah visit, we sent our youngest son to his 'new room' in UniKL-MFI. The condition might not be so great but he has now more privacy (the previous room he got, has to be shared with five other students). He was placed in the Lyons block. Hope he will be able to work well with now having more rest (without the need to commute from Seremban). He will be here until August, God willing.