BEHIND THE SCENE

The intention to write a book actually started way back when I was 25 years old, roughly 10 years before the completion of this compilation.

The idea came about after I revisited the compilation that my late grandfather had put together for his children and grandchildren. I recalled seeing him literally typing copies of it on his typewriter when I was kid, one after another. He went through all the trouble to do it just to leave some of words of wisdom and reminders for his loved ones, hoping it would help them become better people.

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The Thoughts of A Wandering Mind – by My Late Grandfather

Inspired by his noble intention, I decided back then that I would like to do the same and leave something behind for my future generations. The intention was renewed when my son Ruzain came into my life in 2008.

However, I never really got it off the grounds. When I felt like it, I would just type out some short paragraphs on the things I wanted to write about. It was all over the place, none of the chapters actually got completed.

Along the way, many things had happened in my life; good and bad, rewarding and challenging. This included a life changing episode that made me the person I am today – I turned to become a totally different person from I was before. This whole episode has a great influence in my writing.

In mid-2015, I decided to give a serious go at it. There were many factors driving me; I had learn much more from the experiences I’ve gained, I got myself into a leadership position, etc. But the main reason I decided to be serious about it, was again, my son Ruzain.

Ruzain is among, if not the greatest gift to me. He introduced a different level of love and brought in new perspectives into my life. He isn’t the typical kid, he is indeed special in so many ways and one of it is, autism. Over the years, he has recorded positive developments and insha Allah one day, he will be able to catch up with the world, or who knows, he might even overtake it.

I realized I would not be able to transfer down the life lessons I’ve acquired to him in the near future. He would need more time to be ready. At the same time, the future is uncertain; I will never know whether I will still be alive to teach him all those things once he is ready.

The solution – I had already identified it earlier: to put everything together into a book. That is how it all started or I would say, restarted, giving birth to the compilation – Straight from the Heart: Life Notes of A Reflecting Mind.

Hopefully one day, through the compilation, Ruzain will be able to learn from all the life lessons compiled and also get to know his daddy a bit better.

Then, I thought to myself – I have gone through all the trouble to pen it all down, why not share it with others as well – family, friends, brothers, sisters – to whoever is willing to read it. Perhaps by sharing it out for others to benefit (hopefully), I would be able to ‘save‘ some ‘shares‘ for the hereafter.

After months of writing, reviewing and editing, with the help of my sister in law Roseleen, my protégé Intan as well as my brothers Hafizal (Seroja) and Fadhil (Cimok), finally in early May 2016, on my birthday to be exact, the compilation was completed. This included the necessary registrations with the Malaysian National Library.

To the names mentioned above, I will forever be grateful to all of you for being with me throughout this writing journey of mine.

Anyway, that’s a bit of the background story of how I came about putting together the whole thing.

Hopefully in one way or another, you would be able to benefit, even if it is in the smallest ways from this compilation. Just the thought of it is enough to make me happy.

So, have fun reading!

Learn, unlearn and relearn.