Weng :: A Long Lost Brother Found
Limited Edition ~ Coretan Perjalanan

Wyndham Hotel

Tanggal malam 28 Disember kami tiba di Wyndham Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia. Lawa hotelnya. Ala five star hotel.

Selesai sahaja mem'parking' kereta di persekitaran hotel yang gelap itu, tiba-tiba suatu bunyi aneh memecah keheningan malam .. "gruk gruk gruk gruk ..", pelik bin ajaib! Bunyi apakah itu? Semakin lama bunyi itu semakin kuat. Beberapa saat kemudian sinar cahaya yang terang benderang menyuluh muka kami. Argh!

Owh, bunyi mobil tua Abli rupa-rupanya. Abli aka Abd-Allah Abdul Karim baru sahaja pulang dari jalan-jalan di downtown. Rindu juga dengan Abli, walhal baru sahaja dia berkunjung ke Purdue lewat beberapa minggu lalu. Lawak-lawak dan slang American with a taste of hip-hop memang tak lekang dari bibir Abli. (^.^)

Usai dari bersalaman dan berpeluk-pelukan *ukhuwwah ye guys, we're not gays* kami berlima dibawa oleh Abli ke bilik hotel, where the rest of the guys were chilling (watching tv - which I highly don't recommend ANYONE to do this here in the US :: lagho + ma'asi .. ehe).

SubhanAllah, penat driving selama 24 jam terus terubat bila lihat wajah sahabat-sahabat yang tercinta. Ikhwatuna Adnan, Hakim, Muizz, Mus'ab, Taufiq, Faiezy dan semua sahabat-sahabat lain yang tak muat nak tersenarai di sini. *tersenyum sendiri bila teringat wajah merka satu persatu* Semua tampak kepancitan. Semua baru balik dari main bola rupanya.

Take five! Rehat-rehat .. sembang-sembang dai'e .. alhamdu lillah, all of them seemed to have enjoyed the muktamar. Usai basuh diri dan solat, dengan perut yang berkeroncong minta diisi .. kami bergerak ke Restaurant Famusa. Haaa .. di sini lah I met my long lost brother, Weng.

Ada apa dengan Weng?

Dalam restoran, di meja yang paling hujung sekali duduk seorang budak lelaki cina. Berseorangan tapi tidak tampak tanda-tanda kesunyian di wajahnya. Umurnya dalam lingkingan 10 tahun.

"Ni hao ma?" soalku. "Fine". Dia kelihatan terkejut sedikit. "Do you speak chinese?", aku tergelak "Haha .. not really, that's the only words I know", aku jawab sambil tersenyum. Weng pun senyum sama.

Aku mengerling ke buku yang ada di tangannya. Ahh, aku kenal buku ni. Aku pun peminat buku tersebut. "Is that Harry Potter you're reading?", "Yup .. uhuh.", dia menjawab sambil mengangguk.

Kami senyum sekali lagi.

"How many times have you read it?" .. (soalan normal untuk para peminat buku, tambah-tambah lagi peminat buku Harry Potter) .. "Twenty."

Isk .. mungkin aku salah tersalah dengar. "How many?" aku ulang suara. "Twenty.", Weng jawab seolah-olah tidak ada langsung satu benda yang pelik di situ. Terus aku berpaling ke sahabat-sahabat lain. "Did you hear that guys? He read it twenty times!" Aku jadi 'excited'.

And that's not all folks! Di sebelah tempat duduk dia ada enam hingga tujuh buku lain. Semua buku-buku tersebut dipinjam dari library. "How often do you go to the library?" I inquired. "Every day", he replied.

SubhanAllah, so this young man, goes to the library each and every day and what more, he reads six to seven books in one single day. This is the culture that is being ingrained by these hardworking Chinese people, subhanAllah. This was how the restaurant owner brought up her child.

And some ignorant people in Malaysia are still complaining and whining why Chinese is dominating the economy. Wake up people! If you keep on dreaming to succeed, but even a single tiny weeny book your not willing to pick up and read, what else buy, than you could keep on dreaming till noon.

Ini bukan soal buku akademia atau bukan akademia. Ini soal sikap kita yang dilanda kemalasan membaca tahap naga! Walau buku jenis apa sekalipun! Sesetengah insan akan berhujah bahawa bukannya dia malas, tetapi dia ni memang bukan jenis orang yang membaca buku. He's not that type of person. Maka di sini saya katakan bahawa orang sebegini adalah bodoh sombong. Hidung mencecah ke langit, tapi fikiran dalam awanan.

It reminded me of the tarbiyyah that my parents gave me. When I was in elementary school, my friends and I used to go to the library each and every week. As usual we'd hide the books that we'd wanna borrow for the next week since there's quota for the number of books that can be borrowed in a week. Cheeky huh? :)

Our inquisition for knowledge was amazing. We'd open Encyclopedias to search about things that was of our interest. At home, lying on bed, I'd be reading until 2 am in the morning. "Faiiizz, tutup lampuu" Mama would occasionally shout from her bedroom. *smile* This was the people that we used to be.

What happened to all those non-academia books that we were suppose to fill our time with? Where did all that thirst for knowledge evaporated? This is a wake up call for everyone. It's time to find our old Weng back. Let's read, and read again, and keep on reading.

Weng, my long lost brother.

-'Ibad Ar-Rahmaan-