Say Hi for Me?

Traffic is bumper to bumper, your car is crawling ever so slowly along Jalan P. Ramlee, air conditioning at full blast, you channel surf the radio stations hoping to hear some decent songs to which you could sing along to but instead, you hear the endless chatter and ramblings of the announcers during rush hour. You look to your right, hoping perhaps to see a hot girl/guy. That would've killed some time. A wink here and there, glances between the changing lights that you never seem to be able to go through, but instead, what you see is a couple. Married. Married couples during rush hour would have this generic look, the wife would be sleeping, head tilted to the window, and husband would be staring off into space, wondering or perhaps reminiscing how his once hot wife isn't looking so hot anymore nowadays. Not that the husband is looking all that great either.

You try not to get irritated at the motorcyclists weaving in and out, you wish you could do the same. You look at the traffic light again, still red, you count to 10, and it's still red. And then you ask yourself "why do I have to drive during rush hour?" Your tummy starts to do the rumba and your throat suddenly feels parched.

Here is what I suggest you to do, but this only applies if you are driving along Jalan P. Ramlee heading towards Jalan Raja Chulan.

Turn left after the traffic light, The Weld will be on your left. Enter the parking lot, park your car, go inside and look for a place to eat. They have Bangkok Express, a little Arab restaurant, Dominoes, Mc Donalds, O'Brien's (I love their sandwiches), Delifrance and a few others to satisfy your taste palette.

Eat, drink and wait for the traffic to subside. Now, when you're about ready to brave the streets of KL again, on the 1^st floor of the Weld, near the escalator, stop at *NIGELLA GROCERS. Buy a pack of salad for tomorrow's lunch, or a bar of chocolate or a bottle of water. Buy anything.

If you see a woman in the shop, with 3 beautiful children running around her, pretty Arabella, cheeky Iskandar and cute little Arissa, stop and say hi and tell her that Cinta sends her regards.

A close friend of mine owns the place. Well, co-own actually and I call her Lyn. They opened yesterday. We go way back from our Uni days and I value her friendship ever more so after all these years.

So, if you are ever there at The Weld, stop by at NIGELLA GROCERS and tell her that I said hi.

*Nigella is the scientific name for Habbatus Sauda.

In Islam, it is regarded as one of the greatest forms of healing medicine available. Muhammad once stated that the black seed can heal every disease—except death—as recounted in the following hadith:

"

Narrated Khalid bin Sa'd:We went out and Ghalib bin Abjar was accompanying us. He fell ill on the way and when we arrived at Medina he was still sick. Ibn Abi 'Atiq came to visit him and said to us, "Treat him with black cumin. Take five or seven seeds and crush them (mix the powder with oil) and drop the resulting mixture into both nostrils, for 'Aisha has narrated to me that she heard the Prophet saying, 'This black cumin is healing for all diseases except As-Sam.' 'Aisha said, 'What is As-Sam?' He said, 'Death.' " (Bukhari)