Rainy season brings back many sweet memories. Memories of childhood days are much sweeter than even the refined Prai sugar.
One such memory was swimming in a natural pool in the field just behind the present Sultan Ahmad mosque. The field was used by fishermen nearby mainly to dry their fishing nets (pukat tangkul).
In other times it is also used to be the venue for activities like a circus, a funfair, etc.
When it is dry, Hazis Khalid (aka Aziz Wali by Kemaman folks and believe it or not, my best friend then) and I used to wander around looking for beautiful sea shells.
During rainy season, the field was something else. It would be turned into a huge pond. The water was, most of the time especially after a dozen or more children played in it, would be black in colour as the soil was bris.
My cousins (all girls) and I used to go swimming in these ponds. The water, even at the deepest part, was only around three feet. We would play our hearts out once we were there, even forgetting our lunch time.
Back to my friend Hazis, he was blessed with a special gift even then. He somehow was very good in finding gemstones from nature. After school he used to come to my house and he carried me on his bicycle and we went around Kampung Besut. Our favourite place was the kemunting bush in front of my aunt's house.
We would played and ran across the bushes the whole day.
There was no more bush there now. The bushes had been replaced by low cost houses now.
Next to the bushes was the airstrip. People would run there just to catch a glimpse of airplanes whenever one landed there.
In rainy season, again the airstrip was something else too - my favourite bird hunting gtround. Snipes and quails were plenty, ready to be caught by adventurous kids like me. Using a net on a long wooden handle I would run after the shivering and totally rainwater-soaked birds.
But all these are just memories now. Memories to be kept in a special corner of my mind and once in a while will be shared with you all.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
MEETING MY BIRTHDAYMATE!
Meeting schoolmates, collegemates and whatever-mates is sure fun to many people. Being gregarious and social creatures, we all just love to reminisce, talk about those wonderful years that we spent together.
But for me, meeting, at last, my birthdaymate was an extraordinary, out of this world experience.
I did not mean meeting someone who was born on the same day and month. What I meant was meeting someone who was born exactly the same day, month and the year - 22 July 1954!
We were on the same table in one agricultural function in one Felda scheme in Pahang. We were talking about our age. Both of us said that we were 54 (it was last year). I asked him what month. He answered July. He asked what date. I said 22. Both os us were equally flabbergasted.
At last we met our birthdaymate! Both of us strangely enough were frantically searching for our birthdaymate.
If that was still not enough, he was also the son of a policemen.The only thing different was the state where we were born. I was born in Terengganu and he Negeri Sembilan.
The other is that I am planning to retire at 56 and he at 58!
He is non other than En. Mohd Dan, a senior FELDA officer.
But for me, meeting, at last, my birthdaymate was an extraordinary, out of this world experience.
I did not mean meeting someone who was born on the same day and month. What I meant was meeting someone who was born exactly the same day, month and the year - 22 July 1954!
We were on the same table in one agricultural function in one Felda scheme in Pahang. We were talking about our age. Both of us said that we were 54 (it was last year). I asked him what month. He answered July. He asked what date. I said 22. Both os us were equally flabbergasted.
At last we met our birthdaymate! Both of us strangely enough were frantically searching for our birthdaymate.
If that was still not enough, he was also the son of a policemen.The only thing different was the state where we were born. I was born in Terengganu and he Negeri Sembilan.
The other is that I am planning to retire at 56 and he at 58!
He is non other than En. Mohd Dan, a senior FELDA officer.
DOUBLE MEANING WORDS
For the past few weeks Malaysians were busy talking about the 'cut' advertisement. "Have you cut?"
It may be innocent to many, but to some it was vulgar or may be even obscene.
What do you think?
It depends on how we perceive things. The word 'cut' conjures pictures of the foreskin being removed.
Still remember how our new Principal banned the phrase "pecah dara" when he first set foot on SDAR's soil.
We then said that we 'pecah dara' doing something...meaning doing any thing for the first time...but to him the phrase was obscene and may be too blue to be used by students. He took it too literally.
We are living in a world full of words that have double meanings. No matter what the word is, some people will twist and turn the word and finally it is made to be related to nothing else, but that thing.
Our mind must have been corrupted, so corrupted that even words that do not have any relation to that particular organ will be so.
Once I met an old lady professor who was having the same problem with her students. She told me that there are certain words that should not be used at all in lectures. Words like triangle, hole, rod, cock, pink, etc etc
Even my biology lecturer was perplexed when her students giggled when she said that the fungal hyphae resembled 'rods' or 'batang'.
"What's so funny?" She just could not understand why.Only later she found out why and since then she would be careful to choose what words to use!
It may be innocent to many, but to some it was vulgar or may be even obscene.
What do you think?
It depends on how we perceive things. The word 'cut' conjures pictures of the foreskin being removed.
Still remember how our new Principal banned the phrase "pecah dara" when he first set foot on SDAR's soil.
We then said that we 'pecah dara' doing something...meaning doing any thing for the first time...but to him the phrase was obscene and may be too blue to be used by students. He took it too literally.
We are living in a world full of words that have double meanings. No matter what the word is, some people will twist and turn the word and finally it is made to be related to nothing else, but that thing.
Our mind must have been corrupted, so corrupted that even words that do not have any relation to that particular organ will be so.
Once I met an old lady professor who was having the same problem with her students. She told me that there are certain words that should not be used at all in lectures. Words like triangle, hole, rod, cock, pink, etc etc
Even my biology lecturer was perplexed when her students giggled when she said that the fungal hyphae resembled 'rods' or 'batang'.
"What's so funny?" She just could not understand why.Only later she found out why and since then she would be careful to choose what words to use!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
DISCOVERING DISTANT RELATIVES
Within this year alone I discovered that three of my childhood friends, namely Shamsiah Abu Bakar (SK Pusat and STF), Sharifah Aminah (SK Pusat) and Shuib Samah (SDAR) are distant relatives of mine.
How wonderful to know that we had been friends all these years and yet did not have the slightest and faintest idea that we were somehow related.
Shamsiah Abu Bakar, we were together in Standard six A in SK Pusat in 1966 and together we followed Chikgu Yong Bin Hitam, the best teacher that I had ever had, wherever he organized after school tuition class just to get the nine of us ready for that special exam for boarding school.Come to think of it, my mother knows Shamsiah's late father even then.
Sharifah Aminah told me that she is related to Syed Noh, and when her Tok Cik Hawa was still alive she used to tell me that my grandmother was realted to her. That means somehow or someway, we were related too.
Shuib Samah told me that he hailed from Senamo Kilir too. Same suku with my father, Mungka Bukit...that automatically makes us relatives, or at least one clan!
So, I now have 3 more relatives in my directory!
How wonderful to know that we had been friends all these years and yet did not have the slightest and faintest idea that we were somehow related.
Shamsiah Abu Bakar, we were together in Standard six A in SK Pusat in 1966 and together we followed Chikgu Yong Bin Hitam, the best teacher that I had ever had, wherever he organized after school tuition class just to get the nine of us ready for that special exam for boarding school.Come to think of it, my mother knows Shamsiah's late father even then.
Sharifah Aminah told me that she is related to Syed Noh, and when her Tok Cik Hawa was still alive she used to tell me that my grandmother was realted to her. That means somehow or someway, we were related too.
Shuib Samah told me that he hailed from Senamo Kilir too. Same suku with my father, Mungka Bukit...that automatically makes us relatives, or at least one clan!
So, I now have 3 more relatives in my directory!
KAMPUNG BUKIT KUANG
The first time (that I could still remember) I set foot in Kampung Bukit Kuang was way back in the early sixties (1963-1964). It was a visit to my grandfather, Ibrahim bin Long or better known as Pok Heng Dekor (Pendekar) and his wife, my step-grandmother.
My grandfather was a famous silat guru of his time. Some said that even Mat Kilau used to spar with him whenever he passed that way on his usual walkabout.
Actually he was Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Long, but due to reasons known only to him, he dropped the Wan part of his name. I only knew this fact long after he passed away.
The little that I knew was that he ran away from his village in Kelantan and stayed put in Kemaman for much of his life. He married my grandmother, had a few children, divorce her and later remarried and had another few children. Finally he divorced her again and remarried my step-grandmother who was more known as Mek 'ndo (for jendol).
First there were only three families living in Kg Bukit Kuang - My grandfather, Syed Noh and Pok Man (the trishaw peddler). As the village was still considered ulu and covered by forest, they made a deal between the three of them.
The deal was that they all should come back and spend the night in the village, come what may. They never broken their deal, not for any reason eventhough they left the village during daytime to work.
Bukit Kuang got its name from a kind of pheasant (kuang) that roamed the hill (bukit kuang). Back then we can hear these birds singing.
I used to climb the hill with my friends in search of the berangan (Malaysian version of chestnut). They were much smaller than the present day Chinese variety of chestnut and they for sure were a lot harder to chew on.
A few times we even came across wild boars at the top of the hill. It is sad to see the hill now. It is no more green as it used to be.
Those days, there was no bridge across the Kemaman river. WE used ferry to cross the river.
The river was full of fish species like rays, sea bass, garupas, trevally, scads, cat fish and of course the crabs and shrimps. There were crocsdiles too, but as far as I could remember, they never disturb us. Probably they had plenty of their normal food to care about us.
My grandfather was a famous silat guru of his time. Some said that even Mat Kilau used to spar with him whenever he passed that way on his usual walkabout.
Actually he was Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Long, but due to reasons known only to him, he dropped the Wan part of his name. I only knew this fact long after he passed away.
The little that I knew was that he ran away from his village in Kelantan and stayed put in Kemaman for much of his life. He married my grandmother, had a few children, divorce her and later remarried and had another few children. Finally he divorced her again and remarried my step-grandmother who was more known as Mek 'ndo (for jendol).
First there were only three families living in Kg Bukit Kuang - My grandfather, Syed Noh and Pok Man (the trishaw peddler). As the village was still considered ulu and covered by forest, they made a deal between the three of them.
The deal was that they all should come back and spend the night in the village, come what may. They never broken their deal, not for any reason eventhough they left the village during daytime to work.
Bukit Kuang got its name from a kind of pheasant (kuang) that roamed the hill (bukit kuang). Back then we can hear these birds singing.
I used to climb the hill with my friends in search of the berangan (Malaysian version of chestnut). They were much smaller than the present day Chinese variety of chestnut and they for sure were a lot harder to chew on.
A few times we even came across wild boars at the top of the hill. It is sad to see the hill now. It is no more green as it used to be.
Those days, there was no bridge across the Kemaman river. WE used ferry to cross the river.
The river was full of fish species like rays, sea bass, garupas, trevally, scads, cat fish and of course the crabs and shrimps. There were crocsdiles too, but as far as I could remember, they never disturb us. Probably they had plenty of their normal food to care about us.
Monday, November 16, 2009
DIYANA'S LAST FEW DAYS IN JAKIM
I think I know how Diyana is feeling right now. I had gone through the same predicament when I first started work some twenty more years ago.
The work and responsibility burden that she has to handle and manage right now are just too big for a newcomer like her.
She is all alone in the Legal section of JAKIM. Her boss was transferred within such a short notice. Her immediate boss was on maternal leave, or rather was given a bed-rest order before that big day. To cap it all, Diyana did not receive any handing over notes from the two.
Yesterday she was at the parliament representing her department. There are meetings to attend, agreements to read and legal opinion to give. A daunting responsibility for one so green in working life.
But knowing her, I am confident she can do it very well. This trying period is teaching her how to deal with the stress of working life she has to face later on. She is just too responsible to leave her work unfinished. Imagine she has only six more working days before moving to PETRONAS and yet she is still worried about not being able to give her best in her remaining job!
Even for me, I will just do whatever I could in her situation. Why worry about it? But that is not our Diyana. She still strongly feels that it is her responsibility to finish all her jobs in whatever time remaining.
As a father I just told her that this is the experience that she could not find anywhere. To work with no supervision, no boss to guide and to do the job well.
Good luck Diyana, don't overstress yourself in doing others' jobs. May Allah guide you to a better future in PETRONAS and in your life.
The work and responsibility burden that she has to handle and manage right now are just too big for a newcomer like her.
She is all alone in the Legal section of JAKIM. Her boss was transferred within such a short notice. Her immediate boss was on maternal leave, or rather was given a bed-rest order before that big day. To cap it all, Diyana did not receive any handing over notes from the two.
Yesterday she was at the parliament representing her department. There are meetings to attend, agreements to read and legal opinion to give. A daunting responsibility for one so green in working life.
But knowing her, I am confident she can do it very well. This trying period is teaching her how to deal with the stress of working life she has to face later on. She is just too responsible to leave her work unfinished. Imagine she has only six more working days before moving to PETRONAS and yet she is still worried about not being able to give her best in her remaining job!
Even for me, I will just do whatever I could in her situation. Why worry about it? But that is not our Diyana. She still strongly feels that it is her responsibility to finish all her jobs in whatever time remaining.
As a father I just told her that this is the experience that she could not find anywhere. To work with no supervision, no boss to guide and to do the job well.
Good luck Diyana, don't overstress yourself in doing others' jobs. May Allah guide you to a better future in PETRONAS and in your life.
WONDERFUL FEELING
It felt nice to hear so much being said about DVS in the 2010 budget speech. I could not believe that they took almost the entire write-up that we sent, almost four pages of the written speech, with all the nitty gritty such the number of cattle and goats distributed to so and so many farmers.
Talking to an officer from the SFO during tea break he told me that there was substance in our report. That was why they included it in the speech.
At least somebody appreciated what we were doing!
Talking to an officer from the SFO during tea break he told me that there was substance in our report. That was why they included it in the speech.
At least somebody appreciated what we were doing!
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