Blessed this son...
 

The tosay gang gets a new member last Friday morning. He is a 65 years old man who owns and  drives school bus. Btw, 'tosay' refers to an Indian food which are preferred by the gang members for their weekly morning meeting. It is the opposite of power breakfast normally attended by corporate CEO's. It was started by a 'young' man of 60 years old. He is a retired businessman who after every Friday subuh prayer at my surau will just mentions the 'code word' HIJAU. Hijau refers to a mamak restaurant at Desa Pandan which sells tosay. After the subuh prayer, the gang members will congregate there for their breakfast and talk about the world current world affairs and the the good old days. Curently,we have about ten members and I happen to the youngest in the group; the oldest  being a muallaf who is 80 years old!

Our breakfast starts at 6:45am. At about 7:15am our new member Haji Ahmad joined us. By 7: 30am everybody except him and me have left to attend to our worldly affairs. While I am finishing my tosay, he told me his story..

It happened way back in the year 1990. He was in his early fifties and was driving taxi then. One day, his 20 year-old son asked him out for a teh tarik. When both of them were seated and ordered their teh tarik and roti canai, the son began talking hesistantly...

"Dad, please forgive me for saying this to you. But I think it is time for you to go to surau, dump your drinking and gambling habits." The father was shocked beyond belief on hearing this;what more from his own flesh and blood. At first, he thought his son wanted to tell him that he wants to get married. It would be easier. He was lost for words and just could not say anything at all. That night, he could not sleep....he felt like the sky was falling on him. He cried when he remembered all the bad things that he had done and the worse part was his own son  had requested him to stop his bad habits. From that day onwards, he slowly started changing his life-style for the better.

Old habits die hard. It is not easy to change our life-style, especially those habits that we have been  repeating everyday for the past 25 years. But I took my kopiah off for this Haji Ahmad. At first, he was shy to pray at the surau near his flat because he had not been there since he lives there for more than five years. So, he started going to other surau and masjid. When he keeps his prayers, his band habits fade away as the time goes by...

Three months later after that special  teh tarik session  that changed his life, his blessed son came back from work for a a few days holiday. The son invited both him and his wife for a drive in the KL city. After some shopping and 'makan', his son took him and his wife to Tabung Haji. When all of them were at the counter, his son requested for their identity cards and told them that he is depositing RM 10000 so that both of them can be registered for the next haj session. On hearing this, Haji Ahmad and his wife cried;they could not hold anymore. Their own son saving money so that they could go to Mecca to perform the Haj! Not many sons will do that to their parents.....

To cut the long story short, Haji Ahmad now is a changed man. Now ,he does not drive taxi any more. He now owns five schoolbuses and had travelled all over the world. However, he still drives kids to school when his drivers go on leave. Old habits die hard;-)

During the conversation with me, he cried twice. I consoled him that he was blessed with a good son.

Quietly, I whisper to myself how I wish I have son like that....just in case I go astray.