IKAN DI LAUT ASAM DI DARAT

Bab 1

“Seseorang yang tidak mempunyai sahabat; bagai taman yang tidak berbunga.”
- Pepatah Arab



“Maafkan saya”, kata-kata terpacul keluar dari mulutku, apabila jus oren yang sedang ku minum tertumpah ke tangan Encik Murad, yang duduk disebelahku. Aku menghulurkan tisu ke arahnya, sambil tersenyum malu sambil rasa bersalah.

“Please fasten your seat belt, we are going through some turbulence”
Pengumuman Kapten kapal jelas kedengaran. Inilah pertama kali, aku dan sahabat karibku, Zila, menaiki pesawat KLM – Royal Dutch Airlines. Perjalanan ini tidak di rancang oleh ku. Tapi biasanya perkara yang tidak dirancang oleh kita itu lah yang akan berlaku.

“Kalau pesawat ni terhempas di tengah tengah laut Jawa ni, sekurang kurang nya, saya dengan awak”.
“Hahahahaha! Sehidup semati kita Qis”
“Doa lah yang baik baik sikit”
“Encik Murad, boleh berbahasa Melayu?”
“Panggil saja saya Murad. Saya bekerja di Malaysia lebih kurang 10 tahun, dan selalu juga ke Jakarta, Medan , Bali dan juga Brunei atas urusan kerja. Kalau Qis nak tahu, isteri saya berasal dari Cirebon, Jawa Barat.” Panjang lebar Murad menerangkan pada ku dan Zila.
“Ikan di laut , asam di darat di dalam kuali bertemu juga. Bukan begitu Murad?” balasku.
“Qis, lampu pasang seat belt dah padam, saya nak ke tandas sekejap.” Zila mencelah.
“Ada seorang kenalan saya, berketurunan Cina, Saleha, bertemu jodoh dengan jejaka Jerman. Jejaka Jerman ni, Andre, pada suatu hari teringin untuk berbasikal keliling dunia. Kayuhan dia bermula dari Berlin, merentas Eropah timur, sehingga sampai ke Negara Cina. Di sana dia tinggal bersama sama pendekar shaolin. Andre berminat dengan seni bela diri. Dia sendiri mempunyai tali pinggang hitam Karate. Setelah beberapa lama di Cina, kayuhan diteruskan ke arah selatan, Vietnam, Kemboja, Thailand dan Malaysia. Apabila berehat rehat di rumah kenalan nya di Kuala Lumpur, bertemulah dengan Saleha. Cinta berputik pada pandangan pertama dan setahun kemudian mereka diijabkabulkan.”
“Menarik ! Saya bertemu isteri saya, Ratna, bukan di Jawa atau bukan juga di Lebanon, tanah kelahiran saya. Kami berjumpa di Australia, semasa sama sama menuntut di Perth. Itulah jodoh namanya”.
“Ramai orang beratur tadi Zila” tanya Murad.
“Ramai jugak, mungkin sebab cemas tadi” Zila menjawab sambil tertawa kecil.
“Kalau Murad nak tau, Zila ni telah “memaksa” saya menemani dia ke Jakarta”. Tapi “memaksa” dengan murah hati, kerana suami dia telah membiayai segala keperluan perjalanan. Murah lah rezeki mereka sekeluarga”.
Tersenyum lebar Zila sambil matanya jauh memandang kepulan-kepulan awan yang berarak lalu umpama kapas-kapas lembut yang menghiasi langit biru.
“Nasib baiklah Jef percaya kat awak. Kalau tak, tak berjalan lah saya.”
“Dapatlah saya menjejakkan kaki ke tanah nenek moyang saya”, balas ku.
“Kamu berdua setuju tak dengan saya , kalau saya katakan yang kita di timur ni kaya dengan adat resam dan budaya yang tinggi nilainya. Cuma kekadang kita lupa tentang mutiara-mutiara yang berharga ini.”
“Apa maksud Murad?” jawabku penuh minat.
“Semasa saya masih kecil, saya selalu menghabiskan waktu cuti saya dirumah datuk di Jabal Qasiyun…”
“Jabal Qasiyun di Damaskus?” celah ku spontan. “Tamadun tertua manusia, banyak lokasi bersejarah disitu !” terang ku.
“Memang betul, semasa kecil, saya suka suasana ketenangan di sana dan terutamanya masakan enak nenek yang rasanya masih saya termimpi mimpikan sehingga kini. Datuk saya seorang yang pandai melayan cucu, ada saja cerita cerita nya untuk menghiburkan kami. Antara ceritanya yang saya ingat ialah mengenai seekor burung hud-hud…”
“Bagaimana ceritanya?” Zila tak sabar mendengar.
“Pada zaman dahulu, di Baghdad , ada seorang saudagar yang kaya raya. Dia berniaga tekstil dan rempah ratus dari timur jauh di Baghdad. Apabila dia berniaga ke timur jauh, dia membawa pula buah buahan kering, kemenyan arab, minyak zaitun dari timur tengah untuk dijual disana. Saudagar ini walaupun kaya raya tapi tidak mempunyai anak isteri, tetapi dia mempunyai seekor burung hud-hud yang diperolehinya di benua Hindi, yang amat disayanginya. Walaupun ramai dari kalangan sahabatnya yang mahu membeli burung hud-hud itu, tetapi saudagar itu tidak mahu berpisah dengan burung tersebut. Pada suatu hari, saudagar itu akan membawa kabilah perniagaanya ke benua Hindi. Dia pun bertanya kepada burung hud-hud kesayanganya, “Aku akan ke benua Hindi, oleh kerana engkau berasal dari sana , ada apa-apa pesanan yang ingin engkau sampaikan wahai hud-hud?”
“Wahai Tuan ku yang budiman, bolehkah engkau melepaskan aku, aku ingin terbang bebas merentasi langit biru sebagai mana burung burung yang lain.” “Wahai hud-hud, aku mohon maaf kerana aku tidak dapat menunaikan permintaan mu itu, aku terlalu menyayangimu untuk melepaskan kau pergi.” “Jika begitu, sampaikan lah salam ku kepada saudara saudaraku di benua Hindi. Apabila Tuan tiba disana, pergi lah ke hutan belantara di wilayah Sind dan jerit lah sekuat kuat hati Tuan dan beritahu saudara saudaraku yang aku sihat dan cukup makan dan minum walaupun aku berada didalam sangkar yang amat cantik yang terbuat daripada emas.”
“Baiklah wahai hud-hud akan ku tunaikan permintaan mu itu.”
Apabila saudagar itu tiba di benua Hindi, dia pun menunaikan permintaan burung hud-hud kesayang beliau. Selesai dia melaungkan berita hud-hud kepada saudara saudara hud-hud tersebut, maka terjatuhlah seekor hud-hud yang sedang bertenggek diatas pohon yang tinggi, keatas tanah. Saudagar itu berasa bersalah kerana pada pandangannya, dia telah menyebabkan kematian salah seorang saudara hud-hud kepunyaannya.
Apabila dia kembali ke Baghdad, saudagar itu pun menceritakan apa yang telah berlaku kepada burung hud-hud kesayangannya. Selesai dia bercerita, hud-hud kesayangannya pun jatuh rebah didalam sangkarnya. Remuk redam hati saudagar itu melihat kematian hud-hud kesayangannya. Dia pun mengeluarkan hud-hud dari dalam sangkarnya dan meletakkannya di sebelah tingkap. Bulu-bulu halus hud-hud bergerak-gerak ditiup bayu lembut. Tiba-tiba, hud-hud tersebut membuka matanya dan terus terbang tidak kembali lagi.”
“Wah, cerita lah lagi” Zila menyampuk.
“Beautiful. Layers of lessons in life, told as an attention grabbing story,” simpul ku.
“Saya pasti orang orang Melayu pun mempunyai cerita-cerita sendiri yang diturunkan melalui lisan dari satu generasi ke generasi yang lain.”
“Betul tu, tapi saya sendiri ingat-ingat lupa. Lagipun sekarang ni, sumber hiburan banyak. Drama dan filem yang bersifat kontemporari banyak terdapat di pasaran,” Zila memberi pendapat.
Pramugari datang ke tempat kami untuk memberi makanan “halal muslim food” yang telah ku pesan melalui internet. Ada puding jagung dengan cranberry sos dan salad dan tahu bersama sos kacang. Menu utamanya pula adalah mee goreng bersama kari ayam.
“Pedas lah mee ni Zila,” aku mengadu. Aku lihat Zila makan dengan penuh selera. Zila memang suka pedas. Dia keturunan Minang.
“Ye lah, saya tahu awak kan selera Mediterranean Qis. Pasta, Pizza, Cous-cous, harira tu semua makanan awakkan?”
Aku tertawa kecil. Zila memang sering kali menjadi tetamu untuk merasa masakan-masakan ku. Di rumah ku ada berderet buku masakan Jamie Oliver dan buku buku masakan Mediterranean yang ada juga dihadiahkan oleh ibuku semasa dia ke London bersama dengan dua orang adikku, Nurul dan Muhammad. Aku ada juga menyimpan fail yang terkandung helaian helaian resipi yang ku muat turun dari internet. “Website” kegemaran ku adalah www.allrecipes.com.
Pesawat penuh untuk penerbangan ini. Malah pegawai KLM semasa di KLIA tadi mengatakan mereka telah terlebih menjual 21 tiket untuk penerbangan ini. Jakarta masih lagi tetap menjadi destinasi utama. Peristiwa pengeboman hotel Ritz Carlton dan JW Marriot tidak langsung menakutkan pelancong pelancong yang ingin ke kota utama pintu masuk ke Indonesia. Ramai juga penumpang dari Malaysia didalam penerbangan kali ini. Tahun ini , tahun melawat Indonesia. Indonesia telah di nobatkan sebagai syurga untuk membeli belah dan melancong, kerana destinasi-destinasinya yang berbagai, yang mampu memenuhi selera dan minat para pengunjung. Malah tadi aku berjumpa dengan Amin berserta dengan keluarganya dan pekerja restorannya semasa di ruang menunggu. Ramai juga penumpang dari Eropah dan selebihnya rakyat Indonesia yang mungkin bercuti ke kampung halaman masing masing.
“What is your opinion on the Jakarta bombings?” tanya Murad yang mengejutkanku dari lamunan ku.
“Well, everybody is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. That’s a basic human right. However I do not quite agree with the mutilation of one’s own self in the name of Jihad for Islam. That is suicide. Rasulullah s.a.w. did not teach that to us. First and foremost Islam is a religion of love, peace and tolerance,” jawabku.
“In fact in one of the battles between the muslims and the musyrikin, Sayyidina Ali was in a one to one combat with a well known musyrikin warrior who was much taller and bigger than he was. The musyrikin fell to the ground after a long sword fight with Sayyidina Ali. He spat at Sayyidina Ali. Sayyidina Ali could have just finished him there and then. But he did not. He turned away from the musyrikin. The musyrikin embraced Islam soon after that,” Zila memberi pendapatnya.
“When Sayyidina Ali was asked why he did that. His answer was simple, when he fought against the musyrikin it was for Allah, but when the musyrikin spat at him, if he had killed him then, it might be from his anger,” aku menyambung cerita Zila.
Murad diam membisu seribu bahasa. Matanya yang biru bak air laut, merenung jauh ke depan. Dari riak wajahnya, ku pasti mindanya jauh menerawang mengimbas jutaan kenangan silam. Sesekali tangannya mengusap usap janggutnya yang tebal yang dijaga rapi.
“Ramai daripada ahli keluarga saya yang berpendapat bahawa mengebom diri sendiri itu adalah jihad. Pernah ke kita mendalami kepedihan hati mereka apabila melihat saudara sendiri di tembak, dibunuh tanpa rasa belas kasihan? Kemaafan susah di beri. Kemaafan tiada lagi didalam kamus hidup,” Murad menarik nafas panjang.
“Rasulullah s.a.w dan para sahabat pernah melalui zaman yang serupa. Para sahabat yang terdahulu, disiksa, di bunuh dengan begitu kejam kerana mereka menyebut dua kalimah syahadah. Sayyidina Bilal, diseksa dengan begitu kejam tetapi beliau masih menyebut “Ahad ! Ahad !” – Hanya Allah,Tuhan Yang Satu,” balas ku.
“Berkat kesabaran Rasulullah s.a.w dan juga keikhlasan para sahabat, akhirnya tamadun Islam dapat menguasai tiga perempat dunia. Walhal pada masa itu Eropah dalam zaman kegelapan,” Zila menambah.
“Para sahabat yang gugur, tidak mati sia-sia. Mereka merupakan para syuhada yang hidup umpama di kebun kebun syurga. Titisan keringat dan darah mereka umpama azimat yang memberi semangat kepada para sahabat yang hidup untuk meneruskan perjuangan menaikkan syiar Islam, meninggikan kalimah syahadah dan kecintaan dan kesetiaan kepada Rasulullah s.a.w. Baginda Rasul terakhir, dan kita adalah ummatnya,” tiba-tiba Murad mengakhiri kebisuannya.
“Please fasten your seat belt. We are going to begin our descend soon”
“Dah nak sampai kita,” kata Zila, sambil tangannya menghulurkan gula-gula kepada ku dan juga Murad.

THE STORY OF MUSHKIL GUSHA

ONCE upon a time, not a thousand miles from here, there lived a poor old wood-cutter, who was a widower, and his little daughter. He used to go every day into the mountains to cut firewood which he brought home and tied into bundles. Then he used to have breakfast and walk into the nearest town, where he would sell his wood and rest for a time before returning home.

One day, when he got home very late, the girl said to him: ‘Father, I sometimes wish that we would have some nicer food, and more and different kinds of things to eat.’

‘Very well, my child,’ said the old man, ‘tomorrow I shall get up much earlier than I usually do. I shall go further into the mountains where there is more wood, and I shall bring back a much larger quantity than usual. I will get home earlier and I will be able to bundle the wood sooner, and I will go into town and sell it so that we can have more money and I shall bring you back all kinds of nice things to eat.’

The next morning the wood-cutter rose before dawn and went into the mountains. He worked very hard cutting wood and trimming it and made it into a huge bundle which he carried on his back to his little house.

When he got home, it was still very early. He put his load of wood down, and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Daughter, Daughter, open the door, for I am hungry and thirsty and I need a meal before I go to market.’

But the door was locked. The wood-cutter was so tired that he lay down and was soon fast asleep beside his bundle. The little girl, having forgotten all about their conversation the night before, was fast asleep in bed. When he woke up a few hours later, the sun was high. The wood-cutter knocked at the door again and again and said, ‘Daughter, Daughter, come quickly; I must have a little food and go to market to sell the wood; for it is already much later than my usual time of starting.’

But, having forgotten all about the conversation the night before, the little girl had meanwhile got up, tidied the house, and gone out for a walk. She had locked the door assuming in her forgetfulness that her father was still in the town.

So the wood-cutter thought to himself, ‘It is now rather late to go into the town. I will therefore return to the mountains and cut another bundle of wood, which I will bring home, and tomorrow I will take a double load to market.’

All that day the old man toiled in the mountains cutting wood and shaping the branches. When he got home with the wood on his shoulders, it was evening.

He put down his burden behind the house, knocked on the door and said, ‘Daughter, Daughter, open the door for I am tired and I have eaten nothing all the day. I have a double bundle of wood which I hope to take to market tomorrow. Tonight I must sleep well so that I will be strong.’

But there was no answer, for the little girl when she came home had felt very sleepy, and had made a meal for herself, and gone to bed. She had been rather worried at first that her father was not at home, but she decided that he must have arranged to stay in the town overnight.

Once again the wood-cutter, finding that he could not get into the house, tired, hungry and thirsty, lay down by his bundles of wood and fell fast asleep. He could not keep awake, although he was fearful for what might have happened to the little girl.

Now the wood-cutter, because he was so cold and hungry and tired, woke up very, very early the next morning: before it was even light.

He sat up, and looked around, but he could not see anything. And then a strange thing happened. The wood-cutter thought he heard a voice saying: ‘Hurry, hurry! Leave your wood and come this way. If you need enough, and you want little enough, you shall have delicious food.’

The wood-cutter stood up and walked in the direction of the voice. And he walked and he walked; but he found nothing.

By now he was colder and hungrier and more tired than ever, and he was lost. He had been full of hope, but that did not seem to have helped him. Now he felt sad, and he wanted to cry. But he realized that crying would not help him either, so he lay down and fell asleep.

Quite soon he woke up again. It was too cold, and he was too hungry, to sleep. So he decided to tell himself, as if in a story, everything that had happened to him since his little daughter had first said that she wanted a different kind of food.

As soon as he had finished his story, he thought he heard another voice, saying, somewhere above him, out of the dawn, ‘Old man, what are you doing sitting there?’

‘I am telling myself my own story,’ said the wood-cutter.

‘And what is that?’ said the voice.

The old man repeated his tale. ‘Very well,’ said the voice. And then the voice told the old wood-cutter to close his eyes and to mount as it were, a step. ‘But I do not see any step,’ said the old man. ‘Never mind, but do as I say,’ said the voice.

The old man did as he was told. As soon as he had closed his eyes he found that he was standing up and as he raised his right foot he felt that there was something like a step under it. He started to ascend what seemed to be a staircase. Suddenly the whole flight of steps started to move, very fast, and the voice said, ‘Do not open your eyes until I tell you to do so.’

In a very short time, the voice told the old man to open his eyes. When he did he found that he was in a place which looked rather like a desert, with the sun beating down on him. He was surrounded by masses and masses of pebbles; pebbles of all colours: red, green, blue and white. But he seemed to be alone. He looked all around him, and could not see anyone, but the voice started to speak again.

‘Take up as many of these stones as you can,’ said the voice, ‘Then close your eyes, and walk down the steps once more.’

The wood-cutter did as he was told, and he found himself, when he opened his eyes again at the voice's bidding, standing before the door of his own house.

He knocked at the door and his little daughter answered it. She asked him where he had been, and he told her, although she could hardly understand what he was saying, it all sounded so confusing.

They went into the house, and the little girl and her father shared the last food which they had, which was a handful of dried dates. When they had finished, the old man thought that he heard the voice speaking to him again, a voice just like the other one which had told him to climb the stairs.

The voice said, ‘Although you may not know it yet, you have been saved by Mushkil Gusha. Remember that Mushkil Gusha is always here. Make sure that every Thursday night you eat some dates and give some to any needy person, and tell the story of Mushkil Gusha. Or give a gift in the name of Mushkil Gusha to someone who will help the needy. Make sure that the story of Mushkil Gusha is never, never forgotten. If you do this, and if this is done by those to whom you tell the story, the people who are in real need will always find their way.’

The wood-cutter put all the stones which he had brought back from the desert in a corner of his little house. They looked very much like ordinary stones, and he did not know what to do with them.

The next day he took his two enormous bundles of wood to the market, and sold them easily for a high price. When he got home he took his daughter all sort of delicious kinds of food, which she had never tasted before. And when they had eaten it, the old wood-cutter said, ‘Now I am going to tell you the whole story of Mushkil Gusha. Mushkil Gusha is the remover of all difficulties. Our difficulties have been removed through Mushkil Gusha and we must always remember it.’

For nearly a week after that the old man carried on as usual. He went into the mountains, brought back wood, had a meal, took the wood to market and sold it. He always found a buyer without difficulty.

Now the next Thursday came, and, as it is the way of men, the wood-cutter forgot to repeat the tale of Mushkil Gusha.

Late that evening, in the house of the wood-cutter's neighbours, the fire had gone out. The neighbours had nothing with which to re-light the fire, and they went to the house of the wood-cutter. They said, ‘Neighbour, neighbour, please give us a light from those wonderful lamps of yours which we see shining through the window.’

‘What lamps?’ said the wood-cutter.

‘Come outside,’ said the neighbours, ‘and see what we mean.’

So the wood-cutter went outside and then he saw, sure enough, all kinds of brilliant lights shining through the window from the inside.

He went back to the house, and saw that the light was streaming from the pile of pebbles which he had put in the corner. But the rays of light were cold, and it was not possible to use them to light a fire. So he went out to the neighbours and said, ‘Neighbours, I am sorry, but I have no fire.’ And he banged the door in their faces. They were annoyed and confused, and went back to their house, muttering. They leave our story here.

The wood-cutter and his daughter quickly covered up the brilliant lights with every piece of cloth they could find, for fear that anyone would see what a treasure they had. The next morning, when they uncovered the stones, they discovered that they were precious, luminous gems.

They took the jewels, one by one, to neighbouring towns, where they sold them for a huge price. Now the wood-cutter decided to build for himself and for his daughter a wonderful palace. They chose a site just opposite the castle of the king of their country. In a very short time a marvellous building had come into being.

Now that particular king had a beautiful daughter, and one day when she got up in the morning, she saw a sort of fairy-tale castle just opposite her father's and she was amazed. She asked her servants, ‘Who has built this castle? What right have these people to do such a thing so near to our home?’

The servants went away and made enquiries and they came back and told the story, as far as they could collect it, to the princess.

The princess called for the little daughter of the wood-cutter, for she was angry with her, but when the two girls met and talked they soon became fast friends. They started to meet every day and went to swim and play in the stream which had been made for the princess by her father. A few days after they first met, the princess took off a beautiful and valuable necklace and hung it up on a tree just beside the stream. She forgot to take it down when she came out of the water, and when she got home she thought it must have been lost.

The princess thought a little and then decided that the daughter of the wood-cutter had stolen her necklace. So she told her father, and he had the wood-cutter arrested; he confiscated the castle and declared forfeit everything that the wood-cutter had. The old man was thrown into prison, and the daughter was put into an orphanage.

As it was the custom in that country, after a period of time the wood-cutter was taken from the dungeon and put in the public square, chained to a post, with a sign around his neck. On the sign was written ‘This is what happens to those who steal from Kings.’

At first people gathered around him, and jeered and threw things at him. He was most unhappy.

But quite soon, as is the way of men, everyone became used to the sight of the old man sitting there by his post, and took very little notice of him. Sometimes people threw him scraps of food, sometimes they did not.

One day he overheard somebody saying that it was Thursday afternoon. Suddenly, the thought came into his mind that it would soon be the evening of Mushkil Gusha, the remover of all difficulties, and that he had forgotten to commemorate him for so many days. No sooner had this thought come into his head, than a charitable man, passing by, threw him a tiny coin. The wood-cutter called out: ‘Generous friend, you have given me money, which is of no use to me. If, however, your kindness could extend to buying one or two dates and coming and sitting and eating them with me, I would be eternally grateful to you.’

The other man went and bought a few dates. And they sat and ate them together. When they had finished, the wood-cutter told the other man the story of Mushkil Gusha. ‘I think you must be mad,’ said the generous man. But he was a kindly person who himself had many difficulties. When he arrived home after this incident, he found that all his problems had disappeared. And that made him start to think a great deal about Mushkil Gusha. But he leaves our story here.

The very next morning the princess went back to her bathing-place. As she was about to go into the water, she saw what looked like her necklace down at the bottom of the stream. As she was going to dive in to try to get it back, she happened to sneeze. Her head went up, and she saw that what she had thought was the necklace was only its reflection in the water. It was hanging on the bough of the tree where she had left it such a long time before. Taking the necklace down, the princess ran excitedly to her father and told him what had happened. The King gave orders for the wood-cutter to be released and given a public apology. The little girl was brought back from the orphanage, and everyone lived happily ever after.

These are some of the incidents in the story of Mushkil Gusha. It is a very long tale and it is never ended. It has many forms. Some of them are even not called the story of Mushkil Gusha at all, so people do not recognise it. But it is because of Mushkil Gusha that his story, in whatever form, is remembered by somebody, somewhere in the world, day and night, wherever there are people. As his story had always been recited, so it will always continue to be told.

Will you repeat the story of Mushkil Gusha on Thursday nights, and help the work of Mushkil Gusha?



* * *



A hand and a foot do not clap together.



Proverb.





Idries Shah: CARAVAN OF DREAMS, The Octagon Press, London 1968

Self made Millionaires Advise

[from Yahoo - finance] - food for thought.
When you think “millionaire,” what image comes to mind? For many of us, it’s a flashy Wall Street banker type who flies a private jet, collects cars and lives the kind of decadent lifestyle that would make Donald Trump proud.

But many modern millionaires live in middle-class neighborhoods, work full-time and shop in discount stores like the rest of us. What motivates them isn’t material possessions but the choices that money can bring: “For the rich, it’s not about getting more stuff. It’s about having the freedom to make almost any decision you want,” says T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Wealth means you can send your child to any school or quit a job you don’t like.

According to the Spectrem Wealth Study, an annual survey of America’s wealthy, there are more people living the good life than ever before—the number of millionaires nearly doubled in the last decade. And the rich are getting richer. To make it onto the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, a mere billionaire no longer makes the cut. This year you needed a net worth of at least $1.3 billion.


If more people are getting richer than ever, why shouldn’t you be one of them? Here, five people who have at least a million dollars in liquid assets share the secrets that helped them get there.


1. Set your sights on where you’re going

Twenty years ago, Jeff Harris hardly seemed on the road to wealth. He was a college dropout who struggled to support his wife, DeAnn, and three kids, working as a grocery store clerk and at a junkyard where he melted scrap metal alongside convicts. “At times we were so broke that we washed our clothes in the bathtub because we couldn’t afford the Laundromat.” Now he’s a 49-year-old investment advisor and multimillionaire in York, South Carolina.

There was one big reason Jeff pulled ahead of the pack: He always knew he’d be rich. The reality is that 80 percent of Americans worth at least $5 million grew up in middle-class or lesser households, just like Jeff.

Wanting to be wealthy is a crucial first step. Says Eker, “The biggest obstacle to wealth is fear. People are afraid to think big, but if you think small, you’ll only achieve small things.”



It all started for Jeff when he met a stockbroker at a Christmas party. “Talking to him, it felt like discovering fire,” he says. “I started reading books about investing during my breaks at the grocery store, and I began putting $25 a month in a mutual fund.” Next he taught a class at a local community college on investing. His students became his first clients, which led to his investment practice. “There were lots of struggles,” says Jeff, “but what got me through it was believing with all my heart that I would succeed.”

2. Educate yourself

When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high-tech job—but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”

One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz I knew to explain things to me.”



He and his wife started applying the lessons: They made a point to live below their means. They never bought on impulse, always negotiated better deals (on their cars, cable bills, furniture) and stayed in their home long after they could afford a more expensive one. They also put 20 percent of their annual salary into investments.

Within ten years, they were millionaires, and people were coming to Steve for advice. “Someone would say, ‘I need to refinance my house—what should I do?’ A lot of times, I wouldn’t know the answer, but I’d go find it and learn something in the process,” he says.

In 2003, Steve quit his job to become part owner of a company that holds personal finance seminars for employees of corporations like Wal-Mart. He also started going to real estate investment seminars, and it’s paid off: He now owns $30 million worth of investment properties, including apartment complexes, a shopping mall and a quarry.

“I was an engineer who never thought this life was possible, but all it truly takes is a little self-education,” says Steve. “You can do anything once you understand the basics.”



3. Passion pays off

In 1995, Jill Blashack Strahan and her husband were barely making ends meet. Like so many of us, Jill was eager to discover her purpose, so she splurged on a session with a life coach. “When I told her my goal was to make $30,000 a year, she said I was setting the bar too low. I needed to focus on my passion, not on the paycheck.”

Jill, who lives with her son in Alexandria, Minnesota, owned a gift basket company and earned just $15,000 a year. She noticed when she let potential buyers taste the food items, the baskets sold like crazy. Jill thought, Why not sell the food directly to customers in a fun setting?



With $6,000 in savings, a bank loan and a friend’s investment, Jill started packaging gourmet foods in a backyard shed and selling them at taste-testing parties. It wasn’t easy. “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”

She stuck with it, even after her husband died three years later. “I live by the law of abundance, meaning that even when there are challenges in life, I look for the win-win,” she says.



The positive attitude worked: Jill’s backyard company, Tastefully Simple, is now a direct-sales business, with $120 million in sales last year. And Jill was named one of the top 25 female business owners in North America by Fast Company magazine.

According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.


4. Grow your money

Most of us know the never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. “The fastest way to get out of that pattern is to make extra money for the specific purpose of reinvesting in yourself,” says Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker. In other words, earmark some money for the sole purpose of investing it in a place where it will grow dramatically—like a business or real estate.

There are endless ways to make extra money for investing—you just have to be willing to do the work. “Everyone has a marketable skill,” says Langemeier. “When I started out, I had a tutoring business, seeing clients in the morning before work and on my lunch break.”

A little moonlighting cash really can grow into a million. Twenty-five years ago, Rick Sikorski dreamed of owning a personal training business. “I rented a tiny studio where I charged $15 an hour,” he says. When money started trickling in, he squirreled it away instead of spending it, putting it all back into the business. Rick’s 400-square-foot studio is now Fitness Together, a franchise based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with more than 360 locations worldwide. And he’s worth over $40 million.



When extra money rolls in, it’s easy to think, Now I can buy that new TV. But if you want to get rich, you need to pay yourself first, by putting money where it will work hard for you—whether that’s in your retirement fund, a side business or investments like real estate.

5. No guts, no glory

Last summer, Dave Lindahl footed the bill for 18 relatives at a fancy mansion in the Adirondacks. One night, his dad looked out at the scenery and joked, “I can’t believe we used to call you the black sheep!”

At 29, Dave was broke, living in a small apartment near Boston and wondering what to do after ten years in a local rock band. “I looked around and thought, If I don’t do something, I’ll be stuck here forever.”

He started a landscape company, buying his equipment on credit. When business literally froze over that winter, a banker friend asked if he’d like to renovate a foreclosed home. “I’m a terrible carpenter, but I needed the money, so I went to some free seminars at Home Depot and figured it out as I went,” he says.



After a few more renovations, it occurred to him: Why not buy the homes and sell them for profit? He took a risk and bought his first property. Using the proceeds, he bought another, and another. Twelve years later, he owns apartment buildings, worth $143 million, in eight states.

The Biggest Secret? Stop spending.

Every millionaire we spoke to has one thing in common: Not a single one spends needlessly. Real estate investor Dave Lindahl drives a Ford Explorer and says his middle-class neighbors would be shocked to learn how much he’s worth. Fitness mogul Rick Sikorski can’t fathom why anyone would buy bottled water. Steve Maxwell, the finance teacher, looked at a $1.5 million home but decided to buy one for half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment.”

I PASSED MY CUTE !

CUTE stands for computerised unit trust exam. It is an exam that all potential Unit trust Consultants, have to sit for, before they are able to continue in their pursuits of educating the public about the advantage of unit trust as a tool of increasing one's savings.

The benefits of unit trust are plenty. In this article, we examine how investing in unit trusts can be advantageous to small investors.

Unit trust is an ideal way for small investors to invest for their future. Small investors are people who earn their living engaged in activities not related to the financial arena. They are aware that investing is important for them, but they lack the know-how to make the right decisions. For people who are unable or unwilling to research and analyze investment markets and climates on their own, unit trusts are a good way to invest.

In order to maintain a portfolio of stocks in the share market, a person has to keep himself up-to-date with market information and climate. For many people, this is difficult, time consuming and expensive. By investing through unit trust, they transfer the stress of investing to people who are better equipped to look after their investments. These are the professional fund managers. Investors in unit trust also benefit in other related ways:

Diversification
Most small investors do not have the amount of money to buy a wide range of investments. By investing in unit trust, small investors can own units of a portfolio that comprise many investments. The unit trust investors are protected from volatility through the bigger number and wider range of stocks in the unit trust portfolio.

Quick Access to Their Money
Most people want to invest in instruments that allow them to get their money out quickly. Buying an investment that you cannot easily or quickly sell is not good investment, as it poses a risk should you suddenly be in need of cash. Ideally, the investment can be easily sold and cashed within a short period of time.

Unit trust schemes provide this benefit. Under the Guidelines on Unit Trust Funds, whenever an investor wants to cash his units, the unit trust management company must pay the proceeds of repurchasing the units as soon as possible, at most within 10 days of receiving the order to repurchase.

Professional Management
People who invest in unit trusts get the service of professional fund managers. They are trained in this field. Their expertise ensures that the investment decisions they make is structured and follow investment principals. They are unlikely to make rash decisions, which are more likely to happen with people who invest directly in the stock markets. Unit trust schemes enjoy this depth of knowledge and experience that the professionals bring with them. In the long term, the expertise of the professionals help the investor generate above average investment returns.

Investment Exposure
As a small investor, it is some times difficult to buy shares of a particular company. For example, if you have $1000 to invest, you are unable to buy stocks in a company at $5000 per lot. It is also impossible for you to invest in real estate, international securities and corporate bonds that would cost a few hundred thousand, if not millions. Unit trust schemes make all these possible for you. Rather than having to buy the whole chunk, unit trust schemes allow small investors to a small portion according to the amount he has to invest. You can therefore tailor the amount of your investment according to the amount of money you have at your disposal.

Investment Costs
If you buy shares directly from the stock market, you have to pay transaction costs such as broker commissions. Percentage-wise, this is higher than the amount paid by large institutional investors such as the fund managers of unit trusts. Unit trust fund managers invest large amounts. This allows them to get access to institutional rates of return. As a small investor, you have no access to this if you invest direct.

LOVELY DAY TO REMINISCE A LOVELY ORANGE CAKE

Another wonderfully perfect recipe sent by my wonderful friend, Shirley from Perth is the Delicious Almond Orange Cake. It is a Tunisian recipe. And I have got lovely comments from friends when I made this. Try it !

TUNISIAN ORANGE CAKE

Place in 100c oven turn up to 150c & after 20 mins lower oven temp. to 130 c – 110c . Cake takes 55 - 60 mins.


2 ¼ cups almond meal
2 cups C.Sugar
1 ¾ full cup fine stale beadcrumbs – process slightly.
8 eggs Beat with handbeater till very fluffy

Zest of 4 oranges ( finely grated rind - add last )

400 mls oil & butter oil ( Butter 250gr. = 200 mls oil

3 tspns. Baking Powder + pinch salt.



SYRUP ( Don’t overdo pouring of syrup over cake

3 oranges - juice only
Lge. Piece thin orange peel – skin only - no pith
½ full cup C. Sugar
1 med. Pce cinnamon stick


Gently bring to boil & simmer for 4 mins. Sieve into
A jug & later warm up & gently spoon over pricked warm cake.

Serve with whipped cream or crème fraiche. Roasted
& chopped macadamians sprinkled on top.


METHOD FOR CAKE

1. Sift all dry ingred. Into a large bowl & blend with
a wooden spoon.

2 Whisk eggs till fluffy with a hand beater & gradually add in ½ cooled butter oil mixture - gently
blend egg mixture into dry ingred. & add in remainder
of butter oil & fold in & blend well altogether. Add in
the grated orange rind & pour into well buttered - lined
tin & place into 100 c oven turning up the temperature
to 150 c – 130 c After 15 mins. lower the oven temperature to 130 c - 110 c for remainder of time. Cake takes about 50 – 55 mins. Don’t overbake cake !!

DON’T CUT CAKE TILL COLD

What does politics got to do with Lasagna?

I made lasagna, yesterday for my little darling girl, my colleagues and a student of mine - she wanted me to make muffins but making lasagna is easier. Here is the recipe.

LOVELY ! Try it for yourself !

DELICIOUS BEEF LASAGNA
Ingredients

* 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
* 3/4 pound lean ground beef
* 1/2 cup minced onion
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
* 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup water
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* 12 lasagna noodles
* 16 ounces ricotta cheese
* 1 egg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
* 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving

What does politics got to do with Lasagna? Well, Razali must have gotten his inspiration to give us an insight into his political views when he was savouring a plateful of my homemade lasagna ! Betul tak Razali?

THE SECRET - LAW OF ATTRACTION

One of the Best books that I have read - THE SECRET REVEALED .

READ IT ! KEEP IT ! LIVE IT !

It has contributed to my realization about life as a whole.

Thanks RHONDA BYRNE. May your life be as amazing and blissful as you want it to Be !