Love Story in PERMATA

this is not a love stories that can be seen in movies,its not a fantasy that i write for the sake of fun in blogging,it is not some "Hindustan" movies that can be watch n "berangan" for it.This is a story of a true love. The "love" at the very 1st sight n not to be too harsh,it is a very romantic but islamic love stories that i ever read.......

read this,n then think about ourself.how do we handle ourself? its not something that i want to tell everybody that we all should do like he do.every person have their own way,but my messege is the islamic way of living is the perfect for us to search for perfection. not some "nafsu buas" that control our "iman" but vice versa......it's not that i'm telling to say that i'm the perfect guy that live in the way of islamic life,but at least i'm trying to do my best to be "insanul-Kamil"-the perfect muslim.

the story about the search of a mystical things call love.....

Sunday, February 19, 2006
Nina: Our Story
By: Rafique Adi Putra bin Mohd Nasir

CHAPTER I: THE PRELUDE
CHAPTER II: THE ORIENTATION PROGRAM
CHAPTER III: THE FIRST FEW DAYS
CHAPTER IV: THE SMILE
CHAPTER V: INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER VI: CONTEMPLATION
CHAPTER VII: THE MOVE
CHAPTER VIII: FACE TO FACE
CHAPTER IX: THE SIGN
CHAPTER X: A YEAR AND TEN MONTHS LATER


CHAPTER I: THE PRELUDE

On one cold evening, I contemplated upon my life. I reflected on what had I done in the past, good and bad, and pondered upon what I wished for my future - the direction where should I lead my precious life to. It was not too long after that when I picked up a pen and started to write down my thoughts in a diary.

"The Qualities of My Ideal Soulmate", a topic suddenly emerged in my mind. Well, I was a 23-year-old bachelor, just graduated from university and would soon have a career, so I guessed there was no better time to think about it. In the past, I had been somewhat conservative about my choice of ideal mate - good muslimah, shy, quite and sweet to look at. But, I felt like I was not honest enough with what I wanted. Therefore, without thinking too much, I wrote down whatever first flashed in my mind. I believed those flashes of thought were the most sincere. I wrote:

1. Iman & Islam
2. Has good heart
3. Physically attractive
4. Has good mind & independent
5. Family comes first
6. Can carry a long conversation with me

A vision crossed in my mind. My future ideal mate - religious, strong believer and has personal relationship with Allah. Yet she has good qualities of modern women. Smart and independent. She is easy to talk to and can sit with me for hours chatting. She may have her own career, yet her husband, kids and family are priority. She is family-oriented and loves children. She loves me for who I am and accepts my deficiencies. She is physically attractive although not necessarily miss universe standard. She is somewhat 'manja'. She corrects me if I am wrong and reminds me what I forget. She supported me in my endeavors, in jihad, in good and in adversity. But most importantly, she is half of me. She complements me as a person, filling all empty holes in me.

Who is she? When and where will I meet her? All these questions kept circulating in my mind.

"Akankah seseorang, yang kuimpikan kan hadir, raut halus menyelimuti jantungku.."

Never I thought at the time, that I was going to meet my dream girl soon. Indeed, life is full of surprises!!

And here is my story...


CHAPTER II: THE ORIENTATION PROGRAM

April 1st 2004.

As a new executive of an oil and gas multinational company, I was required to attend an Orientation Program for two weeks at the company's training center called PERMATA. There was a mixed feeling and thoughts in me about the program as I did not know what to expect initially. All I knew, the program was to be attended by other new executives from the company subsidiaries all over the country. For the next two weeks, we were to listen to various talks and do different activities, from morning until early night. We would eat and sleep at its hostel, not too bad as it was rated three-star.

The first activity was as usual, the ice-breaking session. Every participant was asked to sketch his or her own face. The facilitator then collected all of the sketches and distributed them back to the participants. Each person received a sketch of other participant's face. We were required to find the owner of the sketch on our hand. After finding the person, we were to ask the person's name and some background information. Then, we were to introduced the person to the whole group. Among the participants, two third were men and the rest were women. There were about 30 people all together. I thought, there was my chance to make 29 new friends!

I was wondering who received my sketch. It was not too long after that that someone approached me. She looked like a typical Malays girl - covered, wearing baju kurung, quite tall and thin, fair skin, wearing glasses. She asked me whether the sketch, which she was holding, was mine. I smiled in affirmation, "Yes". I guessed I was not a bad artist!

She asked my name. I told her my name and asked the same question back to her. She replied,"I'm Rahimah".


CHAPTER II: THE FIRST FEW DAYS

The program was a blend of interesting and boring talks and activities. Judging by the program title, it was supposed to "orientate" the new executives so that their vision and mission were inlined with the company's vision and mission. Not very interesting huh? Sometimes, we worked in groups on some activities and presented our work to the whole participants. The group work kind of compensated the other boring activities.

In one of the sessions during the program, Rahimah, the girl I met on the very first day, was giving a presentation on behalf of her group infront of all the participants. Somehow, her public speaking skills stood out from other people. I found this on the very first day of the course as she introduced me to the group during the ice-breaking session. She seemed to be very fluid and confident in her speech and very comfortable standing infront of people. I was more of amazed at her flow of ideas coming out of her mouth than the content itself.

Nonetheless, "Huh! She seemed snobbish and 'action'! Her English 'berhabuk'! I'm sure she was kind of typical 'high maintenance' girl. No way will I be interested in her!". Somehow, there was an evil voice in my mind whispering.

Well, for many years I had never had a resonance frequency with women debaters or public speakers although I knew that I was always the worst public speaker. Maybe I just simply could not submit to the fact that they were better speakers than me. When I stood infront of people, my heart beat accelerated exponentially, all my limbs started to shake, my face turned red and my tounge would be stiff. To see a woman spoke confidently in public was just a humiliation to my manly ego! I have to say that I do not mean to look down on women. It was just my ego. Bad for health huh?!

Anyhow, the first few days, I was never interested and could care less about who was that girl named Rahimah, where she was from, was she still single etc. I just don't care. She was just like any other people that I had just met.

But, what would happen to me in the next few days, was not something I expected to experience, at all.


CHAPTER IV: THE SMILE

Her smile.

Her smile was so memorable. My eyes could not stop from peeping at her face once in a while throughout the course of the program. Well, naughty me! It attracted and many times distracted me from concentrating at the instructor infront.

Sweet, I would say, the best words to describe Nina's smile.

No matter how negative my perception was towards her at that time, I still somehow liked that smile. After all, I did not know anything about her to perceived such negativity. It was all based on my first impression. My mind rationalized.

'Nina' was Rahimah's nickname, which I had just heard about. No other girls in the room had such a unique and beautiful smile, a nice gift from God.

I guessed, the old saying was right,"Dari mata turun ke hati".

There and then, my perception and feeling towards her gradually evolved. It was as if my heart, which was as cold and hard as ice before, was melted to water by ambient heat. I did not know how it managed to slip into my heart. The feeling was so intense, I just couldn't explain it.

Suddenly, "I like this girl!", my heart said.


CHAPTER V: INVESTIGATION

Somehow, it is not very easy for me to feel "attached" to someone. "Like someone" and "attach to someone" can be two different things. I had a long "curing time" after my previous "relationship" failed. So, I did not want to simply accept someone new, whom I did not know much about. But, this new "attachment" I felt within me was so magnetic, it was tough for me to repel it.

I would like to know more about this girl named Rahimah. But, I did not want it to look so obvious that I was interested in her. So, I cunningly and subtlely searched for ways to approach her and get to know about her personality, her background and most importantly if there was that 'spark' somewhere. Indeed, I sensed it.

Every opportunity I had for casual chat with her was grabbed and used to the maximum to dig out as much information as I could about her. Always! My motto was again "cunningly and subtlely". I also utilised help to seek extra information about her status from a few unpaid secret agents cum my orientation friends, whom without, my path towards knowing her could not be as smooth.

My initial perception about her proved to be wrong!

Rahimah was not snobbish, 'action' or 'high maintenance' kind of girl! Infact, she was a sweet, sometimes shy and polite 'modern kampung' girl from Jiboi, Negeri Sembilan. Even to mention the name of her kampung can make a person very humble! No offense, hehehe.

Studying Petroleum Engineering in one of the top universities in Australia, she could not help but to carry herself as a confident and talented young woman. I really liked that. She proved to the world, I guessed, that Muslim women were not oppressed and deprived of opportunity. She received a first class honors in her study, the best student in the course with the highest achievement in many years and even received a full scholarship from her university to pursue a post-graduate study. Her parents must be very proud. I am.

Every new information leads to new discoveries...


CHAPTER VI: COMTEMPLATION

The thing about this new development of my inner feeling, it did not take me a long time to make a decision to pursue it further. I did make istikharah and asked Allah for guidance whether i should pursue it.

My experience on the final year in USA reminisced. There was an American girl that I had known and befriend with closely for about a year and half. I liked her but I had never told her until a few days before I was about to leave USA for good. It was too late. I kind of regreted it a bit. But i accepted it as a good experience in life. And maybe we were just too different in many ways - faith especially. I knew back then, the feeling was not really as pure. I myself could not believe that out of many good muslim women out there, she was the one I chose. The inner voice rejected, but there is that "other voice" which said yes.

Nevertheless, that experience had taught me a very invaluable lesson.

"Never wait until the last minute to tell someone that you love her".

So this time, I did not think twice and I did not hesitate. Although I could not call it a 'love' yet. But, I thought I better tell her what I had been feeling in the past two weeks. Even if I were to be rejected, I would not regret to the same degree as if I did not tell her at all. Thus, I made a firm decision.

"This is the day. Today I will tell Rahimah that I like to know her more", I wrote in my diary in the early morning of April 14th, 2004 - the last day of our orientation program.


CHAPTER VII: THE FIRST MOVE

On a small piece of paper, I wrote:

Dear Rahimah,
You have a really sweet smile,
You've made my stay in PERMATA worthwhile,

I wish I could buy more time to talk to you and know about you more.

Sincerely,
Rafique Adi Putra bin Mohd Nasir
012-3010848

The paper was folded nicely and I slipped it into her file before she and everyone else came into the room.

The first session of the morning started. There she sat on a chair at not-too-far distance infront of me. I patiently watched her as she opened her file. She saw the paper. She seemed slightly intrigued at the unknown piece of paper she found laying in her file. She carefully unfolded it and read the content. Tick! Tick! Tick! I felt like everything was just frozen and quiet as I waited to see her reaction. I could hear my heart beating in nervousness.

Surprisingly, not too much emotion was shown on her face! I saw her slowly folded the paper back, put it nicely in her file. And since then, for the entire morning she did not turn her face to the back!

Maybe because she knew that I was sitting behind her somewhere. Maybe she was shocked. Maybe she was just too shy.

Maybe.


CHAPTER VIII: FACE-TO-FACE

Would she say 'yes' or would she say 'no'?

The whole morning until afternoon, I could not concentrate on what the program facilitator was delivering. It was the last day of the program anyway. I kept on guessing what would be her reaction and what would be her thought about it.

At lunchtime, I braved myself to face her. I asked, "Rahimah, do you have some time? I would like to talk to you maybe for about 20 minutes?".

That was my first communication with her after she read my "proposal" note.

She said,"OK". intrigued, her face, but calm.

We went to an open space lounge area and sat perpendicular to each other on a different single sofas.

"So..?", I asked her.

She replied,"So..?". Then, we both laughed a bit.

Well, both of us were not sure where to start. But as I was the one who invited her to meet, I guessed I was the one who should start first.

I calmed myself down and started by asking about her reaction to the note that I gave her that morning. I guess that note had sparked so many other questions in her mind. In return to my first questions, she asked me several other questions like when did I start liking her, why her, what was in her that attracted me and others. Each question I tried to answer it as honest as possible and I liked to be frank.

I told her about the Qualities of My Ideal Soulmate and how I saw her fitting most of the criteria. That kind of surprised her a bit at how I came to that conclusion as we had just met about two weeks before. I told her I could not explain it but I could feel it.

But, I think the thing that surprised her the most was when I told her, "For me, when I befriend with someone, I am not looking to have a short-term relationship like a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of thing, but more of a long-term partner, you know, getting married!".

I could see as if her eyes were popping out slightly, in surprise. "Was this guy serious?" She might thought this in her mind. That was our first meet, we did not know much about each other and I had mentioned that word "getting married"? I must be insane!

Well, maybe I was a little bit too honest. But, i guessed that showed to her how serious I was about this and I was not just joking. And I think she really liked it.

"I would like to know more about you - your background, family, personality, etc.. God knows if we have 'jodoh' then... :) ", I told her. By this time, she had got used to my straighforwardness.

She accepted my "proposal" for us to get to know each other and "let fate decides for both of us".

I was very happy! Happy! Happy! Our 'meeting' lasted for nearly an hour. Not bad for a start - fitting my sixth criteria, "Can carry a long conversation with me"? Indeed!

I smiled. She smiled.

We departed, "Assalamualaikum". "Waalaikumussalam".


CHAPTER IX: THE SIGN

The course ended. Participants were busy packing their stuff to return to their hometown. Not forgeting, they greeted each other 'good luck' with the new workplace and to keep in touch. We could feel that the sense of friendship building up during the entire two weeks duration of the program.

My parents picked me up later the day (well, i was a broke 'new executive' then). It was so happened that my father parked his car next to Rahimah's brother's car. Her brother came to pick her up as well. Both the parents and brother were waiting at the car.

When thinking about it, was it a coindence? Or was it predestined?

Again, it was so happened that I was walking towards my parents, when Rahimah was also walking towards her brother. We were walking towards the same direction!

There my parents were, waiting for me with smile. I 'salam' them and kiss their hands and introduced to them, Rahimah, a "friend" that I had just known during the orientation. Rahimah 'salam' my parents and kissed their hands. We then departed. I did not realize her 'salam' and kissing my parents hands had a huge impact until my mother asked me about her in the car.

"Who was that girl's?", she asked.

"It was a friend that I had just known during the orientation program." I replied.

"What is her name again?", another question asked.

"Rahimah...", I replied slowly.

"What did she study? Where did she study? Where will she be posting at?". I started to feel odd about the bombardment of questions from my mother about Rahimah. My father was quiet but listening attentively, while driving the car off.

"Petroleum Engineering at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Why?". I asked her back.

"She seemed like a very nice girl. She kissed my hands.", my mom remarked.

She then said something to my surprise,"What else are you waiting for, go and 'tackle' her 'lah'!"

I was not sure how should I react to her question. I was surprised with her recommendation as I had never heard her saying such thing to me before. At the same time, I was very happy as it was sort of a 'sign' of her approval to the new girl that I had just started to accept into my life.

I replied shyly, "Err.. actually, I have 'tackled' her already!", and smiled.

My mother was not very surprised with my answer but she was happy to hear it and laughed.

She commented, "Huh! Advance!!".

My father was giggling slightly as he knew "Ke mana tumpahnya kuah kalau tak ke nasi?". He smiled in pride.

This "approval" was another strong sign for me to believe that "She is the one. She is what I have been looking for. She is my other half".


CHAPTER X: A YEAR AND TEN MONTHS LATER

That day in PERMATA marked a very historic moment of 'our' life.

Now, a year and ten months later, Rahimah and I are no longer strangers nor we are just friends.

We are now husband and wife!

That event a year and ten months ago marked the starting point of our love curve, where x equals to Time and y equals to Love. The curve is exponential and its convergence is to infinity.

I hope the curve will stay that way eternally. Amin.

To my other half, this is a tribute to you.

"I love you". :)

well here are the end of a happy ending story!! and forget to tell,the pic here are the picture of the couple that i get this stories from....:) hensem n cute..:)) hope that i can be n find better than them....!! muhahaha....pray for me guys......adiosa!!!