Kak Som in Loving Memories

My instinct told me that something was going to happen not long after
I received the last hug from my sister. She really hugged me tight like never before.

Me with some of Abang Dir's and Kak Som's children and grandchildren
during the last Hari Raya in Seremban.

Last Sunday evening 9 November 2008 I received a call from Eddie my nephew that his mother's condition has worsened and critical. The respiratory machine and the oxygen aid could not do much to help Kak Som breath normally. she was high on morphin doses and had been in coma for 3 consecutive days.

Later on at 9 pm I received a distressed call from Abang Nan, both of us were in tears. Kak Som has finally left us to see the Almighty. I could not help but broke into tears in amoiglam's arms. Kak Som had been so good to me and the whole family. Frankly telling that I have spent more time with Kak Som's family and Kak Yam's family while my mother was still around. During my school holidays I would rather spend my time with Eddie, my closest friend and nephew (Kak Som's third child). We are of the same age. Kak Som took very good care of me since that I have been without a father ever since I was 7 years old. Even my brother the late Abang Ta was also very close to Eddie's eldest brother, Izani. Our siblings have been very close to each other. There were 9 of us altogether. Abang Pa our eldest left us at the age of 39 and so did Abang Ta at 39. Both of them had heart attacks at a very early age. I myself was very lucky to have survived my bypass surgery at the age of 38.

As far as I could remember from stories about Kak Som from my late mother, Kak Som had never gone to school, but she still reads. Maybe she learned from our late grandfather Nik Abdul Rahman or learned it elsewhere. Kak Som was born in 1941, being the 2nd child and the eldest girl was raised by our grandfather and grandmother Cik Munah in Pasir Mas because our grandfather worked at the Land Office and opened up the kampung by order of the British Government. Till now the street where our grandfather's house used to stand was named upon our grandfather's nickname, Lorong Pak Nik Man. My late father was working in Kual Krai and took my mother and Abang Pa with him. From what I understand Abang Nal and Abang Pin who were born later were also brought up in Kuala Krai. My father worked there as a clerk in the Forestry Department checking the timbers brought out from Dabong and Gua Musang via the Kelantan River.

Abang Dir was a handsome young man from Rembau and worked as a Land Surveying clerk together with my grandfather. Every day he would follow my grandfather back home for lunch because they were close friends and sort of menthor and menthee. He paid monthly for lunch because in the 50's there were not many hygienic eating shops in Pasir Mas besides Kopitiams and further more my grandmother was a good cook too. Kak Som was only 16 years old when she married Abang Dir. She has been blessed with 5 wonderful children Ani, An, Eddie, Jimmy and Eda. All of them are succesful in their own ways.

I can never forget Kak Som's wonderful Rendang, Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng and Bihun Goreng. Even Kak Yati, amoiglam's sister was so amazed with Kak Som's Bihun Goreng. Eventhough Kak Som and Abang Dir were not rich but both of them had done too many good deeds for our family. I would not have enjoyed the almost monthly picnics by the beach while I was a kid if not for Kak Som and Abang Dir's generousity. My father never owned any car, so travelling was very rare for us when we were small. Only Abang Dir and Abang Pa had cars during the 60's. Kak Som even took care of me during my curcumcision (berkhatan) which Abang Dir had sponsored at their home in Kota Bharu.

Let Kak Som's soul rest in peace and let us pray for her while remembering all the loving memories of her. We all love you Hajah Nik Kelsom Nik Yusoff.

Special Dedications

How are you doing Tun! Glad to be in the same club...

This afternoon I met Kak Hadijah Sani Ahmad my former colleague and also senior in ITM. She was quite shocked when she just got the news that I have gone under the knife 5 years ago, so she demanded me to write in my blog about my ops experience. I had no choice but to fulfill her wish so that she can read it.

Kak Hadi, this post is specially dedicated to you and the surgeons that have helped me survived until now especially Professor Wan Azman, Dr. Chong, Dr. Nik Sherina, Tan Sri Yahya Awang, Mr. Alwi Yunus, Mr. Thiru, Mr. Rais and the whole surgery team including the Anaesthetists, Nurses, Hospital Assistants, the extra blood despatch personnels and everybody from The National Heart Institute (IJN) that have succesfully opened, reopened and put everything in place and in the right order so as to save my life. For your info, heart surgeons are not called Doctor but they are called Mister. These are a breed of very special people with very accurate hands and excellent cutting and sewing skills. They are mighty good with their knives as well.

Maybe you are wondering why I showed my picture shaking hands with Tun Mahathir. It's not to show off but we actually have one thing in common. We share the same heart surgeon, Tan Sri Yahya Awang. Tan Sri Yahya Awang is the son-in-law of the late Tun Hussein Onn and of course the brother-in-law of Dato' Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein.

OK, back to my story. It all started in 2003. I was doing some video editing that was supposed to be shown at 3.00 pm that day. It was 3.00 am and I was alone in the editing room. Kamalisa my cameraman had dozed off in the next room. I had not slept for the past 2 days to finish the video. The computer for the video editing system were giving me lots of problems and suddenly I felt like something was crushing in my chest. I also felt like somebody had grabbed me from behind and squeezed my torso. I was so stupid that I could not figure out what I had encountered. I just took a deep breath and tears and sweat were gushing out. My heart was beating too fast and I was too nervous. It happened too fast and luckily I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. It did go off... phewww!!! After a few minutes I took a sip of cold teh tarik left on my desk and foolishly had a few puffs from my beloved Marlboro. Cool lah tu konon...

The following week, I was on my way to see my doctor Dr. Nik Sherina at the University Malaya Medical Centre. I parked my car at the parking complex near the hospital mosque and had to walk uphill and quite a distance along the corridors to the clinic. I did not go far until my chest started giving me problems again. I just could not walk and had to grab hold of the railing along the corridor. I was helpless and leaned against the wall. There was nobody around so I had to wait for a few minutes to regain my strength and walked to the clinic very slowly.

At the clinic I told everything to Dr. Nik and she arranged for a 'Treadmill' test the very next day. I went for the treadmill test and of course I FAILED with flying colours. Dr. Chong and Professor Wan Azman(my late Abang Ta's friend) performed the angiogram on me(they poked a hole in my groins and pushed the catheter tube deep into my arteries). I was so cool that I jokingly asked Dr. Chong when he was going to blow the balloon (angioplasty)? Dr. Chong looked straight into my eyes and said.... "Tak payah balloon lah.... Kita buat by-pass terus lah! All your three main arteries were 90%, 90% and 99% blocked!!!! Fabulous!!!

Prof. Wan Azman advised me to do the surgery within 3 weeks but could not get the UMMC surgeon Prof. Al-Jefri to do it because of the full booking for 6 months! Luckily Abg. Nan through his boss Hj. Said had made arrangements with Dato' Dr. Yahya from IJN. Dato' Yahya went through my angiogram film and agreed with Prof. Wan Azman's opinion. At last I went through the surgery on June 10th 2003, a day after Dato' Yahya received his Tan Sri from the King.

I had some complications within the critical hours after the ops. I had my ops starting from 8 am till 1 pm and had to be pushed back into the ops theatre and they re-opened my ribs after some excessive bleeding at 7 pm the same day. I was in coma for almost 3 days. I remember having dreamt of lying down in a boat all alone in a calm open sea before opening my eyes. Guess what? I saw a white figure in thin air standing at the left side of my bed right next to me and suddenly dissapeared. Abang Nan told me that our family had already held baca Yassin sessions at the surau at the kampung. I guess Allah still loves me and wanted me to live longer to love my family. Alhamdulillah...

It was truly a very valuable experience for me and my family. From these kind of experiences you will truly feel the love and care of your spouse, your children, your siblings, nephews, nieces, in-laws and everybody around you and be gratefull of being who you are now. Thank you everybody. I also must thank my boss and colleagues for being so understanding and accepting me the way I am now. I also wish to thank the management and the government for paying all my medical bills. I will never forget your good deeds.

Actually I had another surgery exactly a year after because 2 of the grafts(replacement arteries) were 60% and 100% blocked. It was not a by-pass but an angioplasty(balloon) procedure. The cardiologist could only save 1 artery. The other was abandoned because it could only be done through another by-pass, so my right side of the heart does not function well till now but I consider myself still very lucky to have at least have my heart beating. Cheer up and live life to the fullest bro! I guess that's all I could write for Kak Hadi....

Why Learn History?

A group photo with kids of Nunawading Elementary School, Melbourne.
These kids could speak a little Malay and sang 'Geylang Si Paku Geylang' for us.

amoiglam, Afiq, PW1(R) Nik Zainal Abidin(Abang Nal) and me
while visiting Afiq during his PLKN training earlier this year

Of all the subjects in the world, why learn history? I think Pak Lah was absolutely right when he suggested that the new Malaysian generation to learn about history while in their elementary school. I think I started learning history when I was only 8 years old while in Standard 3. I remember Mr. Basheer my favourite history cum English and also P.E. teacher taught us history in a very unique way. He was a very versatile teacher indeed. In fact he was the favourite of many pupils. He came from Penang. He used the method of making history as stories to tell and slit in some jokes. I remember him teaching us how to pronounce some unfamiliar words and terms like Alfonso d' Albuquerqe as 'Alfonso di Abu Kaki' so that we could remember easily or acronyms like the V.O.C. in full, that is 'Vereenigdee Ostindischee Compagnie' (The Dutch East India Company ). It really made our tongues twisted. See? I could still remember those words... In fact he made us to like history even though I always hate to remember the dates. That was what almost put a stop to my interest in history. I hate numbers but not when counting money!

Yes, if you are a government servant you will need to look back at our country's history and understand the importance of everything that had happened before and why things happened to be as it is now. History has got nothing to hide. Sooner or later the truth will prevail. We in the government service have to understand and analyze historical facts to pass in our compulsory government exams. Otherwise we would just have to quit and seek for other jobs. I am not saying that the government is always right, but as a Malaysian citizen we must truly understand how the multi-ethnic nation was built to seek independence from the British the gentleman's way. I am not with any political side but I think understanding the real history is essential to every living citizen of Malaysia.

In fact, the old education system has some positive agenda if not all. During my schooling age we were made to learn about the history of other countries as well. We learned about Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi, Pandit Jawarhalal Nehru, Jose Rizal, Kamal Attartuk, Sun Yat Sen and other people's struggle for freedom. That was how we manage to have some comparisons. We in Malaysia have never encountered such tremendous challenges like what these important names have had to go through just to achieve freedom and independence and yet we are still being ungrateful. We want change but we don't really know what kind of change that we are asking for. The truth is that we came from different education backgrounds, different living environments and totally different kind of upbringings.

Sometimes I have to ask our education policy makers, why they must change the good parts of the existing education system. Was it just for the sake of changing or was it because of some idiotic ideas of some arrogant politicians who would just want their names to be documented as somebody who changed the education system? The same thing refers to changing of teaching Maths and science in English. Did you ever realize that in our constitution, it is clearly stated that Bahasa Melayu is the official language to be used in our education system? I am not surprised if one day somebody would make a police report that the government has abused our own constitution, hehehe.... I am not suggesting, ok? Actually I have read a book by somebody who claimed that he was among the individuals who had suggested that Maths and Science be taught in English because he did not find the Malay language adequate in providing the right terms in those related subjects. Surprisingly this fellow was a former lecturer who had taught some Malay medical students during the early years in UKM which taught medical science in Malay and found difficulties in explaining them in Malay.

I think this fellow was not a good lecturer and has some attitude problem himself . That was why he kept on blaming the Malay language instead of his own weaknesses. The funny thing is that this so called Mat Salleh wannabe doctor now resides in Canada and has the guts to criticise our education policy. Is he that good? Why not just cari makan in Malaysia then? I don't want to reveal neither his book nor his name. Find it yourself then. Just for a clue, his name might start with the letter 'B'. I can consider him one of those who always worship whatever that is English to him...

I might be writing in English for some unexplained reasons but I have a very high respect for our very own unique Bahasa Melayu. Believe it or not, there are actually more than 270 million Malay speaking people in the entire world and Malay language stands among the top ten of international languages out of 6,500 languages of the world. Elementary schools in Australia have included the Malay Language as one of the languages to be taught as international languages for their students. Don't be surprised if you meet a small Australian boy or girl speaking a few simple Malay words when they meet you. Even The Military School in Australia also taught the same. In fact I have witnessed a few of them while visiting a school in Melbourne Down Under. Countries like China, Korea, Japan, The US, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands have their own Faculties of Malay Studies in their universities because they have long found that Malay language is important to them. The China Radio International (CRI) in Beijing has a Malay and Indonesian broadcast section which airs everyday in the Malay Language. You can find their live broadcast through the internet and are using their own Chinese nationals as DJ's. If you wish to visit Beijing and have a Malay speaking guide you'll be surprised that they have a shipload of them. These guys and beautiful gals speak fluent Malay sometimes better than our own chinese friends in Malaysia and even suggested to us the prayers time and stops during our tour around Beijing. They only use their Malay names to make us feel at home. Believe me... Go and check for yourself. They sure know the economic values of learning Bahasa Melayu...at least.

Forget about the politicians and our current political situation now. What we have to do now is to go back to the library and start reading about our own history and also read about other people's history and biographies of people like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Dr. Ismail, Ghazali Shafie, Chin Peng, Ibrahim Yaacob, Ahmad Boestamam, Shamsiah Fakeh, General Tan Sri Ibrahim, Dato' Onn, Tun Razak and even Lim Goh Tong, then you will understand why... Don't simply listen to your friends or just read from the bloggers. Go and read my friends!

About Celebrations and Mournings

Definitely Not A Boy Band (Major Menon and The Hearts Club Band)

The Ghazali's Clan (amoiglam's side)

Ayah'sjamm and amoiglam with kids

This year's Hari Raya has a mix of many things. We did enjoy Hari Raya despite of having some hiccups. This week I have lost 2 people whom I used to know. One was my former staff and another was my former teacher and bandmaster. Haji Abdul Rahman, my former photographer, staff, good friend and also neighbour had passed on after suffering from diabetic complications. He was a very good friend and always willing to lend a hand whenever asked by friends. A former videographer and photographer who had worked under my supervision for more than 15 years. I used to live within the same neighbourhood with him in Serdang.

I remember he told me a story about him hitch hiking from Muar to KL when he was offered a job at our office in 1967. He was too poor to buy a bus ticket back then. A quite adventurous fellow. He was one of our earlier staffs. I remember learning a few things from him especially about microfilms and some electronic skills. We used to nickname him 'Man Guyver', just like McGuyver. He even renovated his present house all by himself and even helped a few friends to upgrade their homes at a very minimal cost. You just name it, and he will do it enthusiastically. ManGuyver was simply a great person. He started his job as an office boy and soon became a book binder. He has showed his interest in photography so he was assigned to be a microfilm operator by our former boss. Later on we found that he was also good in video works when I first joined the department in 1986 and he became our videographer. After many years we promoted him to hold the photographer's post until his retirement a few years back. We salute you Man Guyver.

This morning I received a message from my junior Jasri about Pak Simanjuntak's demise. Pak Siman was my former bandmaster and Warden in school. He was from Indonesia and taught the Matriculation students maths. He was also the bandmaster for our Brass Band. His son Haris was my junior and also a good friend. I remember during his time we had the chance to play a few beautiful numbers like The Marlborro song (Theme from Magnificent Seven), Theme from Hawaii Five-O, Theme from Bridge on The River Kwai (Colonel Bogey), El-Bimbo, Delilah and many other songs that were not very familiar to other school bands in KL during the 70's. When I entered Form Six he tried to persuade me to be the Drum Major but I was too worried about dropping the drum major's mace on somebody else's head, rather than tossing and flipping it high in the air and catching it with style. I was also too keen to play in the rock band instead. I guess I have made a wise decision. I would like to convey my deepest condolences to Haris and family and... Farewell Pak Siman.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Why the long silence? Ooops... the dragons were sleeping lah... Actually amoiglam and me always call ourselves Si Naga-Naga because both of us were born in the same lunar year of the DRAGON! We always dream of having our own little cafe by the name of Si Naga-Naga or probably Double Dragon. My brother-in-law Major Menon always like it to be named as Cafe Kitarongge from our son's Afiq's childhood favourite word when he's happy.

I decided to scribble something today after Eddie called and asked me asking for an update. I was also in the middle of writing an article for my office bulletin and happened to have a phone chat with Jiwa Rasa(jiwarasa.blogspot.com), another blogger from Penang and decided to write something to refresh my mind.

Actually I wanted to write something about Hari Raya but I still have the hari raya photos in my hard disk at home. Hari Raya this year was quite ok like before. This year I have tasted the best lemang ever, wonderfully made by Ayob my brother-in-law. he brought them all the way from Kuala Pilah for us in Shah Alam. I would call it 'Lemang Lemak Merdu'. I didn't even bother to taste the rendang with the lemang. It was awesomely lemak merdu eaten on it's own. It's palm lickin' good! I could only take 2 pieces or my gastric alarm would trigger. But it was really awesome. Ayob said the santan was from home grown ripe coconuts because his mother-in-law insisted on having their very own home grown coconuts santan. Nothing less than that! It's mandatory bro! If only Abang Uni could taste that lemang, I am sure he would have given it the trophy. Not recommended for those with heart problems...hehehe....

Hari raya this year was still joyful and full of food. I had my nasi dagang in Seremban! That was quite strange? My beloved sister Kak Som actually lives in Seremban so the family tradition still lives on. A combination of multi-cultural food spread. Our family in Kelantan would also want to have rendang, lemang, nasi impit, kuah kacang, lontong and soto every raya. These are all the toxicated taste buds of the Nik's clan that we got while growing up and living in KL.

I was always overjoyed by the word food. I guess every living human has the right to taste and enjoy their favourite food. I am a meat lover. Both cooked and raw I guess??? Hehehe... For people within my kind of species are definitely very familiar with terms like tenderloins, sirloins, knuckels, rumps, fillet, ribs and malay words like batang pinang, urat keting, harimau menangis and some Kelantanese terms like Lemusir, senonok, perut kitab, perut bulat and many others. The smell of fresh meat makes me high. The meat names just sounded like music to my half deaf ears. Yes...we always love to eat whatever that is forbidden to Zippers Club (ex-by pass surgery patients) members like me. Well....you can't blame me...It's already been fated.

Anyway, what the hell is daging 'harimau menangis'? Oh..the Kelantanese call it daging 'senonok'. It is a precious part between the cow's breast and the hind legs and covered with a thick layer of beautiful luscious fat. The content? MY GOD! It's crunchiness of a blend of meat and the fat within that sinfully makes the tiger CRIES when it has the chance to sink it's saber teeth into the precious meat...Roarrrrr!!!! I gues that's what the tiger told me before...hehehe...

The Old Town and The Old Campus

I guess my most enjoyable life was during my college days. I entered college after being persuaded by Abang Nan at the very last minute. At first I was not interested because I was not offered the Mass Communication course that I was interviewed for and had to do with Library science which sounded so odd to me. I was among the very last students to have registered at ITM. It was nearly 4pm. I remember that my niece Noni also gave me some comforting words so that I would join ITM like she did before. She's actually a year older than I am and joined after her fifth form doing Quantity Survey. I had to do my STPM because I wanted to do Mass Comm after failing to enter earlier to do Transport. Why Dip. in Transport? Maybe I was so enthusiastic about those huge express buses, trailers and container trucks. They look cool enough for me and maybe because of the incident that I could not afford a bus ticket home for hari raya in 1976, so that I could have my own bus?

Life during the orientation week was ok I guess? Not that bad... I've been through worst during my school days. My adventures began when we were transported to our very own little campus in PJ Old Town and our very own apartments in Old Klang Road. Everything seemed to be old I guess? The campus was a very small campus and has a unique 50's era design. The design I love most. It was like living in a different era. I could see similar designs when I was in Phnom Penh a few years back. Actually Phnom Penh was one of the most modern cities in Southeast Asia during the 60's but the bloody war has turned the nation backwards. Thanks to Pol Pot with his selfishness and brainlessness ideology that destroyed everything. the campus consists of 2 blocks of girls' hostels a dining hall, a canteen, a library and 2 blocks of lecture rooms. The campus only catered for the School of Library Science, Off Campus Studies for Business and Accounting and the best part, The School of Secretarial Science!

The most wonderful part was our hostel in Old Klang Road. It was actually a two-room apartment converted into our hostel. We were located right in the middle of a huge Chinese community. Right in-front of our hostel was a chinese temple and a few blocks of flats of mostly chinese community. At the side of our hostel were a few bungalows of the United Garden. Every apartment was shared by 4 or 5 of us. It was not like the Jati hostels in Shah Alam where they had to share 10 students for every apartment.

The college provided a bus for our daily commuting to Old Town. It was total fun for us. I was blessed with a motorbike which I took from my Abang Ta after he bought his 1st car. Anyway sometimes I love to join my friends on the bus while saving some petrol money.

By the 2nd Semester the girls had to share our hostel because the hostels in Old Tow were not enough to cater for every beautiful girl in the campus. One thing I should commend the ITM was that it was very kindhearted to have provided enough accomodation for every student who wish to stay in. Bravo!

The Beringin Hostel where I stayed was a very comfortable one. We were being surrounded by a mostly chinese neighbourhood. Right in-front of our hostel is a small chinese temple which I believe belongs to a kongsi because I sometime witnessed some rituals being held there where some tough guys were seen rubbing their bare bodies with hot boiling oil from a huge pot.

Back to the girls story... The girls had moved in to share our hostel block but only on the top floor. The warden, Encik Ismail had to take extra care about the situation and I guess you know better. The wonderful thing was that I was among the privelleged few that were trusted by the authorities to be the hostel committee member. What's the privillege then? We were authorised to enter the girls' room whenever needs arise such as identifying leakages, power breakdowns, jammed doors or anything similar. Hmmmm... at least I got to know how neat and tidy these girls' rooms were compared to our rooms or maybe suitably called chicken coops...

Since then life at the hostel has lighten up and quite cheerful I could say.. hehehe... Every night the girls would come down to the tv room and we became to know them better. We became more like family because there were not many of us and we tend to know each other better. Some of the girls even gave us some food or tit bits especially when we did not go to the dining hall during weekends. we also helped them tapau some food from the makciks' stalls near the Old Klang Road or roti canai Joe (our favourite mamak stall).

Our neighbourhood was quite interesting. We had the Kimisawa supermarket with Burger King just a ten minutes walk from our place and we always watched midnight movies during saturday nights in a very large group. We even had our favourite cendul vending rickshaw just 3 minutes away. It was totally fun for us.

At least one special week of the year we would be entertained with a free whole week of open air kung fu movies at the temple. We just watched from our corridoors. This was normally during their new lunar year celebrations. At least with this kind of experiences we learned a lot about the chinese community and their culture. They are
are actually very simple people. Throughout the three years of living there, I did not witness any misunderstandings or problems living within the chinese neighbourhood. In fact it was quite fun.

In Old Town we also had our favourite food court near the old big roundabout which does not exist anymore. We would normally go together in a big group of girls and boys for our special dinner treat once in a while. We had our favourite ais kacang and ice cream stall, Rahman's Ice cream stall. The sotong kangkung there was the best among the best. We also had Pak Atan's Nasi goreng ayam which really suited my taste bud. I also met my favourite barber Ipeen, an IKM graduate when he was working in a mamak's barber shop in Old Town. He is still my best barber till now. He has a small shop on the first floor of a bazaar right behind Masjid India by the name Ipeen's Barber Shop.

The Buka Puasa Adventures

I am sure many of us would love to talk about this. Actually I am trying to figure out what to bring home for buka puasa today. Yesterday Lady Luck was on my side. I managed to skip the terrible jam at the Bukit Jalil KESAS hi-way when I used the Putrajaya Hi-way. I succesfully brought home some satay for the family. I bought them at the Seri Kembangan R&R. It appears to be the only makan shop there besides a drinks stall. Could not forget the grinning smiles of my family.

Today my next attempt is to fetch Afiq in Bukit Jelutong and speed thru the Elite Hi-way via Puchong back home and try to secure some food anywhere possible. Last Friday I failed. We buka puasa in the car instead. I pray to Allah that my mission will be accomplished. That's what me and amoiglam have to go through every working day during Ramadhan. Last year was the worst when we only used amoiglam's car to work. I would send her to the LRT station at Sg. Besi every morning and by 5.30 sharp I had to race back from office to Sg. Besi tinseltown, grab whatever possible (if posssible I'll just buy the cook himself and bring him home). By the time I was walking back to the car amoiglam would appear from the LRT station. We had to brave thru another jam at Bukit Jalil via Bandar Kinrara and by the time we arrive home the children were already holding their glasses waiting for the azan.

This year we decided to drive our own cars because there is a fly-over construction right in front of my office that causes another bloody jam. I had to park my car a few blocks away from my office by 4 pm everyday just to skip the jam and to make sure that we arrive home with the grubs before buka puasa. What a beautiful life... How I wish that I could bring the whole family to work and just buka puasa at the mamak stall nearby my office everyday. Sometimes I wish I could work in Brunei where they go home by 2pm during Ramadhan.

Actually Buka Puasa during my school days were very much simpler than now. We actually had nothing special except for the kurmas. Before 1980 our special treat was only sambal tumis kerang or ikan bilis that we bought for 50 cents each from the staff quarters. I would normally keep some for sahur at 3.00am because the sahur food was almost inedible. Things only improved after 1980. I don't really know why. After 1980 we were allowed to go out and buy some kuih in a small setinggan town we called 'Texas' which now has been turned into 'Downtown' near the Cheras Velodrome.

The Wedding Video

Told you all before that my hobby is videography. Today I would like to present a video clip as part of the whole dvd I did for my little naughty nephew Sham(used to be), now an architect. They came over for buka puasa last night. Sham was born in Seremban after I finished my STPM before I entered ITM. I remember flying back to Seremban with my mother from Kota Bharu after his birth. Abang Uni, Sham's father asked us to stay with them in Seremban for my mother to take care of Kak Yam during her confinement. I had to leave my volleyball team in Pasir Mas and could not join them in the Kelantan Amateur Volleyball Open Championship for that year, 1983.

I took my new 2nd guitar along and stayed there until my STPM results came out and entered ITM. Seremban was a very wonderful place to stay. Abang Uni even paid for my driving lessons and that's why my driving licence file is in Seremban JPJ until now. I am grateful to him until now and will never forget his good deeds. Thank you Abang Uni and Kak Yam.

I became part of their family from their Seremban days. I even stayed with them when they were staying in Jln Conlay, KL until Afiq was born. After that we bought Kak Zah's house in Serdang and lived there until 2004 before moving to our present house in Equine.

I am presenting this videoclip as a very special dedication to my very beloved family members especially my wife amoiglam and kids, Kak Yam, Abang Uni, Rina, Suzy, Sham, Kak Zan, Abang Nal, Abang Pin, Kak Som, Abang Nan, Kak Zah, nephews. nieces, grand nephews, grand nieces and our whole clan. I thank god that I am fully blessed with such wonderful siblings, in-laws and family. Thank you everybody, I love you all. Like what amoiglam always say, I did this with love....

Heavenly taste

Last night's buka puasa was ok lah... Today I wish that I could get something more exciting. Maybe some Nasi Kerabu or Nasi Minyak or Nasi Briyani Johor or maybe the magical Nasi Tumpang? mana mau cari Nasi Tumpang in KL? Gila ka? I think if I can find Nasi Tumpang in KL I would buy the whole lot for my family. They just love it. Even my Sister-in-Law from Ipoh also loves Nasi Tumpang. If I ever knew how to make it I would have done it commercially here in KL. Wanna know what Nasi Tumpang is? You can only find them in Kelantan. Sold only at Pasar Chabang Tiga, Pengkalan Chepa and Pasar Kubang Pasu, Kota Bharu. You may also find some at the Pasar Malam that used to be Pasar Malam near the Kota Bharu Bus Station. Now they have relocated it somewhere nearby. I can't remember the name of the place. Maybe next time if I ever have the chance to snap a photo, I will place it here.

Nasi Tumpang is actually a wholesome of original nasi impit wrapped handsomely in banana leafs in a cone style. It has three stages. The top part is stuffed with serunding ikan or serunding daging. The middle part is always stuffed with omelette and the bottom part is stuffed with either ikan tongkol masak lemak or udang masak lemak. My favourite is the one with ikan tongkol because the one with the prawn is normally stuffed with very small and not so fresh prawns and further more the fish adds more flavour to the whole thing.

I love nasi kerabu with lots of vegetables especially the shredded long beans, bean sprouts and daun kesum. Topped up with extra serunding and sambal tumis and a lot of the magical budu. Foooyyyyooo!!!! Tambah lagi keropok and eat it with daging bakar and ikan goreng celup tepung! Alamak kena pergi cari lah petang ni.... Bye!!!

If you like rojak mamak, my favourite is always the one in the Sungei Besi tinseltown near the Sungei Besi Army Camp. I call it tinseltown because it's one of the smallest towns in KL. The gravy taste just fine. Not too sweet and not too spicy but full of flavour. Throw in some sotong sambal and extra cucur kelapa or cucur udang. Dooosshhh!!!

The rojak is sold by a guy on his motorbike. This guy, Din starts selling at 1.00pm daily and at 11.00am on Sundays. The cendul next to him is also quite ok. Even the one sold in Jalan Bellamy could not match this rojak. Long ago my favourite used to be from the Kampung Pandan Fishhead curry outlet on the 1st floor of the Central Market, but now the outlet does not exist anymore. You may also try the rojak in Jalan Ipoh within the entrance to Damai Complex under the tree of course. Nearby amoiglam's office.

You want to taste the best original basic Mee goreng mamak, try the one prepared by Daud in front of the old Dewan Bahasa building at one of the food stalls at the corner between Jalan Dewan Bahasa and Jln Maharajalela. No frills and fancies like chicken, beef or shrimps but simply delightful.

The best Ice Kacang I've tasted is in front of 7-Eleven in Brickfields next to the YMCA. Try the Ice Kacang Special with strips of kelapa muda. Perghhh!!! Enough for today...

A Wedding and Four Funerals

It is not like the movie title 'Four Weddings and A Funeral'. For the past four weeks I've attended only a wedding but four funerals instead. Just got back from another colleague's 18 year old daughter's funeral. She passed on last night after buka puasa in her father's car right in-front of the University Hospital's Trauma Centre Entrance. She had high fever. Condolences to my friend Shaari Shafie.

Before the Jenazah Prayers I felt so sad looking at his daughter's face. I could feel how sad my friend was because I also have a son of the same age. Al-Fatihah...

Hari Raya Holidays

Hari Raya holidays is something that most of us Malaysians would look forward to or maybe try to avoid. The joy of balik kampung is something that used to be an annual excitement for many. As for myself, the balik kampung feat is something like preparing and strategically planning for a battle. Why? Firstly I have to make sure that the family car is fit for the road and safe for every passenger. 7 of us are going to travel in a single car and it should be in an excellent condition.

Just imagine if the air-cond suddenly breaks down once we are already in Kelantan. It did happen once to me. Luckily one shop still opened during the hols and and had the spares. Normally the car would behave very well during normal days but once we are already at the kampung then the car started having tantrums. I have had so many experiences of balik kampung failures in my life. There was once my old Ford Telstar radiator fan just failed a day before balik kampung and luckily my beloved Abang Nan lent his second car at the very last minute, a Wira Aeroback. It was a very cramped journey all the way and before we reached Kota Bharu during twilight a silly goat just crossed the road and I did not have enough time to step on the brakes. I hit the goat on the side panel. Luckily the silly goat survived but I had to bear the cost of replacing and repainting the side panel. After all actually the goat was not silly enough except for the owner himself.

After a few years we got ourself a brand new mpv and it was a total relief for us but the cost of maintenance is definitely a bomb plus the rising cost of petrol. The traffic congestion is another story. If I were to go back to Kelantan, I would try my best not to start my journey during normal hours and also the normal Kuala Lipis-Gua Musang route. I always hate meaningless shorter routes but full of road hoggers and bumpy rides. My choice is always the Grik-Jeli route or maybe sometimes the Kuantan-K.Terengganu route for less traffic. Last year I tried starting our journey at 12.00 midnight en-route Kuantan and stopped for sahur and a short nap at my niece's place in Kuantan. It was a beautiful and smooth journey. We even had the chance to visit my big brother Abang Pin in Kemaman and stopped for some traditional kuihs and Nasi Dagang for buka puasa at Kuala Terengganu. We did not mind the long hours as long as there is no traffic jams. It was not stressfull at all. BUT!!!!!.....

When I entered Kelantan, the story was different. I always wonder why do these people just love to take their own sweet time hogging the trunk roads. My blood always gets boiled to the brains whenever I drive in Kelantan. There seemed to be not much sense of urgency in my own people's culture. That's a true fact, I guess. They seemed to be comfortable in their own ways. Well... it's a free country anyway... just take your own sweet time and leave the worrying to others... maybe my perceptions will change once I get older... Maybe.....hopefully...

Of Seniors, Peers, Wardens and Ghosts Part 3

To those who have had some experiences tasting some hostel life may agree with me when I say that almost every hostel is haunted. I have had my share of these experiences. Quite interesting indeed. I am not an expert in ghost stories but I have heard many tales about them during my hostel life.

Our hostel existed since 1963 and was believed to be built on a site where some Japanese army were killed in battle. It was in 1977 during the Chinese New Year holidays when most of the boys went balik kampung or to their relatives' homes. I was also not around. My dormitory was 1c2 of Block C. It was only a two storey newer block and our dorm on the second floor is the same level of the road leading to Block A and B which were on a higher ground. Out of maybe 16 of us only 4 stayed on during the hols because they had no other plans.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year while they were of to bed around 11pm the surrounding was so quiet and there was a gush of wind blowing inside the dorm. I couldn't recall who but one of them suddenly heard voices and footsteps of a marching troop on the road which was clearly viewed from within the dorm. He called the other 3 and all of them witnessed the same thing. Soddenly the room became very dark and windy and there they saw a big dark figure in thin air floating on the ceiling. They were just stunned and scared. They could not utter a single word and just kept quiet until everything went off. The next morning, all the four boys suffered from fever until we came back 2 days later and told us about their encounter.

Another story happened during the early 70's. The Chief Warden whom we called Lee Van Cleef because he had some resemblance of the infamous western movies actor especially in the eyes. He was doing his routine midnight patrol. He was looking for boys who might be trying to sneak back after the midnight show in KL.

Suddenly he saw a few boys still in their all-white uniforms walking towards Block A. He did not waste time and went after the boys. The boys ran towards a big tree behind Block C and climbed up the tree. He straight away went under the big tree and flashed his torchlight towards the boys but what he saw were no more school boys but a few horrible looking creatures with fangs staring, grinning and laughing at him. That was all I knew... Oooops! Sorry!

Jam or Jammed

Ramadhan in KL means another series of traffic jams in the evening rush hour home. Both of us had to drive our own cars instead of the usual car pooling. Why? If we were to use one car means we are going to arrive home at 7.15 pm every day, if there is no irregular jams. I guess the Klang Valley Traffic jams would not have happened if there are no kiasu drivers who loves to potong q or those sleuth drivers and also apologetic gedik drivers who just love to take their own sweet time negotiating corners or hogging every single lane of the expressways. I hope the authorities would find some genius solutions to overcome this teething problem.

I sometimes wonder why people in the Klang Valley still chose to live in areas like Cheras, Ampang and Selayang and complain about traffic jams. As far as I knew Cheras has been a regular area for traffic jams since the early 70's, but I still can't understand why the housing developers still lured their potential buyers into believing that their new homes would be within 10 minutes drive to KL. It is a total bluff and these people really believed it. Well, it's a free country anyway?

A colleauge of mine lives in the Cheras area. He starts his journey to the office by 6.30am and would normally arrive at the office by 7.45am. I myself start my drive at 7.00am, send my daughter to school 15 kilometres away and would normally reach the office after continuing another 25 kilometres at 8.00am. I live in Seri Kembangan in between the borders of Cyberjaya, Puchong and Seri Kembangan. Cheras is only a few kilometres away from the city centre but the journey to work is like travelling from Seremban. Logically the consumption of petrol is actually higher for stop n' go driving compared to consistent driving. We are actually wasting a lot of our precious time and money on the road. I don't suggest people to commute from Bukit Beruntung nor Lembah Beringin neither.

Tepuk Dada Tanya Pakar Sakit Dada...

Life is Shorter

This morning we received another sad news. My colleauge's son had passed on at a very tender age of 10. Condolences to Norlina and family. Her son had been suffering from cancer of the blood for more than a year. Norlina and her husband had tried every way they could to save their son's life. Norlina even took a years leave without pay just to be with her beloved son but after a few weeks back to work, her son had passed on at last. Farewell little boy... May God keep you in his tender care.

Of Seniors, Peers, Wardens and Ghosts: Part 2

In 1976 the school rules were very lenient and I can consider as remarkable. It was under Haji Hamzah Salas that we had such a wonderful administration with so much freedom. Going for our weekly outings meant wearing anything comfortable as long as there are no slippers or round collared T-Shirts. You may even wear your favourite jeans. Bravo!!! No warden permission were needed. Just write your names in the log book and get lost! Be back by 6.

I always loved to go out alone. I was only 11 yrs old but I have roamed all around Taman Midah, Mountbatten Road, Masjid India, Chow Kit alone. In those days it was quite safe to walk alone for an 11 year old boy. Not now bro... Sometimes if Rafee (Died of Leukimea while studying in ITM) asked me to follow him back to his house in Sentul, I would gladly follow because at least I got to taste some home cooking for lunch. I only had the chance to taste my mother's cooking only during school holidays. In 1976 I only celebrated Hari Raya at my brother's place in Selayang Baru and didn't get the chance to go home because the bus fare of RM18 was unaffordable. You even have to book a month earlier because there were no such thing like extra buses to Kota Bharu. So when my brother and family went out I just stayed home and cook my Raya Maggi Mee. Heheheehe...

I also learned some silat lessons when I was in Form 2. It was Silat Lincah under the Mahaguru Omar Din. It was an exciting experience and sometimes a bit funny. Before the practise sessions some rituals like Memagar Gelanggang were done by the Guru. He would burn the kemenyan(incense) and walk around the gelanggang. Once you were within the gelanggang you wouldn't feel the real pain when you were punched or kicked. I remember that I could do a flying kick that I'd never thought I could do. Wah! Macam Bruce Lee lah! But once you were out and stopped practising, the pain will be felt... Heheehe...

Of Seniors, Peers, Wardens and Ghosts

When I first stepped into the hostel in 1976 I was so amazed with the school that I was supposed to stay in and study. It was a boarding school somewhere in Cheras in KL. Things were totally different back in 1976. There were almost 700 of us in the school. It was a different environment altogether for a foolish kampung boy like me who came all the way from Pasir Mas, Kelantan. I was only 11 years and 4 months old that very day. Yes I skipped my standard 2 session and entered standard 3 straight away because I was in the 'Express Class'. It was a normal practice in the education system during those years.

My late mother, my eldest late brother Abang Pa and my 7th brother Abang Nan who was studying in UTM were there to send me. We were greeted by a Sixth Former Prefect whom I called Abang Leman (Dato' Sulaiman Shafie, former Speaker for Perlis State Assembly). Later on I found out that he was my Dorm Leader and became my 'abang angkat'. Abang Pa gave me RM15 and told me that's my first pocket money for the whole month and I didn't really know how and from where I was supposed to get my money for the following months. From then on I was left to be on my own and it was a really new and quite scary experience with total strangers around you.

Luckily Abang Leman was very responsible to his younger brothers in his dorm. Abang Leman was a very interesting character indeed. He stands at only 5' 3'' but has a heart of a lion. He was born in Perlis but also had some relatives in Kelantan. One of his nephews, Ghaffar happened to be my former classmate in Pasir Mas. Abang Leman was a very fluent orator and he just love to debate with his friends especially with his sparing partner Abang Rosli (Dato' Ahmad Roseli Ibrahim, former Kelantan State Assemblyman). They would just find any issue that ever crossed their minds and started a debate. A weird kind of hobby indeed. Abang Leman had always admired the late Tun Razak. I saw him wept when the late Tun Razak's demise was announced in the morning news. During his happy hours Abang Leman would play his accordion a couple of tunes. My friend Yusri or Mat Yus would sometimes play the accordion while Abang Leman was not around. He was a talented friend too.

We had a love hate relationship with Abang Leman. It's normal that school boys would hate prefects but would turn back to them whenever help is needed. We were only form one students and definitely were the mischievous lot. We just love to make noise especially during weekends. We called Abang Leman 'Spy Leman' because of his ability to catch us red handed while we were enjoying ourselves fooling around and making noise in the dorm. The best part was the punishment. There was no detention class or cleaning the toilet chores but we were made to sleep on the lawn outside our dormitories. But that added more fun to us. It was like camping out under the stars and moon light. I also had a few punishments myself. Frankly, we actually enjoyed it. Heheheh....

Abang Leman held a very important post in the Scouts movement. He was the Assistant Scout Master 1. Most of us in the dorm joined The Scouts because he told us that he would make sure that we enjoy joining the Scouts, and we really did. Abang Leman had taught us a lot about jungle survival. He organised a few camping activities the Scouts' way. We learned to make gadgets from Tembusu woods that we obtained from our Tembusu Camp at the back of the school compound. It was situated next to an abandoned mining pool. We learned the hard way in Tembusu Camp. I learned to cook in the rain, cut trees, sleeping on the trees while hiding from wild boars and rescueing one of our friends who was bitten by a centipede while sleeping inside the tent in Tembusu Camp when we were only 12 or 13 years old. Actually our school was situated at the entrance to Kampung Conggo or now Bandar Tun Razak. Some senior scouts had the chance to compete in the KL Scouts Jamboree at Castle Camp with teams from St. John's, Victoria Institution, La Salle School and other strong teams. After Abang Leman left school for UKM Abang Ibrahim Seman took over and it was also fun. We even camped out in Templer's Park with the Sixth Former Seniors including Abang Dud (Sa'adudin Sa'ad) and Abang Zol(Dato' Zolkeples Embong, Director General of Malaysian Sports Council).

We even had the chance to experience the Ist Class Scout badge test when I was in Form 2. The test was called Ist Class Journey where we had to endure the test of hiking a 60 miles journey around KL and Selangor in a team of only 2 boy scouts while collecting proof of our journey such as official chops(stamping) from Police Stations, Petrol Kiosks, The Museum, The Batu Caves Authorities, The Rubber Research Institute and many more. No hitch hiking nor using any public transport. We had to camp out, which we never did. My partner was Shamsul Baharin. We took the bus back to school and continued our journey the next morning. I only had RM5 in my pocket for food and bus fares and could only afford to buy air sirap to quench my thirst. We had to catch our meals during dinner back at the hostel. The journey was really a gruelling one when you had to bear with the scorching heat, dusty roads, had nothing to eat and being asked so many questions by the police and kiosk clerks. Pheww... My scouting experience was a very interesting experience.

Abang Leman once led us to climb the Cheras Hill (Bukit Cheras) which was situated next to the Cheras Christian Cemetery. We started climbing on one fine Sunday morning but before climbing we bought a few watermelons at the foot of the hill which were only sold at 15 sen per kilogram in those days. We walked through a small 'setinggan' area called Kampung Semerah Padi. I am not sure whether the kampung nor the Bukit Cheras still exist anymore, which I don't think so. We reached the peak after quite a while and were amazed with the landscapes of KL for our very first time. We could watch the Air Force planes landing and taking off at the Sungei Besi Airport from the top of the hill while enjoying the sweet and juicy watermelons. After resting for an hour we started our downhill journey of sliding and tumbling adventure. Bukit Cheras was quite steep indeed, but we managed to survive unhurt.

My scouting adventure was a very valuable experience in my life. I learned the hard way of collecting donations during the Scouts Job Week in 1977. Me and my partner Pakharuddin went all around Taman Midah, Cheras Baru, Kampung Conggo, Salak South, Sungei Besi Army Camp doing jobs such as cleaning dishes at the stalls, sweeping the garage floors and many other chores just to get a few cents and the most a dollar (RM1). If my 12 year old son were to do those things now, I would have surely objected or maybe took him back to stay at home comfortably. I will continue about hostel life in my next post...

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

When I switched on the TV this morning the Merdeka Celebrations brings back fond memories to me. During my school days Merdeka Celebration means taking part every year in the Merdeka Parade. I remember joining the parade every year from 1978 till 1980. I played the saxaphone in our school brass band.

The Merdeka Parade in 1978 was during the Ramadhan month and you can imagine the agony of these hungry and thirsty schoolboys marching while playing the tunes, blowing the trumpets, trombones, tubas, clarinets, saxophones and beating the drums all the way non-stop from Jalan Raja to Jalan Raja Muda Musa in Kampung Bharu under the scorching heat. The most beautiful thing was that the chartered bus that transported us in the morning never arrived to take us back to our hostel. We were so exhausted that we just took our nap along the walkways of the Chow Kit Shops until our own schoolbus came to the rescue at 3.00pm. Back to the hostel, some of us just could not resist of soaking maggi mee in cold tap water and there goes their fasting feat of two-third of the day. What a day to remember and we were paid RM5 each by the next month.... Yes... that's how Malaysians treat band boys... I just could not imagine the kind of people who organised that particular Merdeka Parade in 1978. God Bless You...

Ayah's Jamming

Greetings! This is my very first time writing in my own blog after being persuaded by my beloved wife. She started her own blog last year. I don't consider myself an IT savvy person but I always admire those people who are mighty good at it. To keep yourself at par with these people is almost impossible and I think my wife is always better than I am when we talk about surfing the internet or blogging. At first, I was not convinced at all to start my own blog but, why not?

All these while my wife and friends were the ones who would lend their ears listening to my views and comments but now I would also want to share with everybody.

AyahsJamm is actually a place where we can jam together and share our stories and views about anything. I got the idea of jamming because I also like to play the guitar during my free time and sometimes my 2nd daughter would jam with me. She learned the guitar from a music teacher, but not me. During my schooldays in the 70's we just learned to play the guitar from friends and then most of the time we were self-taught musicians. There were not many music classes back then and as for myself it was a matter of not having the money. I bought my first guitar for RM45 on the last day of my SPM exams. It was a Kapok guitar that I bought from Woh Fatt Music House in Jalan Silang. I kept 3 money orders of RM15 every month which my elder brother Abang Pin sent me for my pocket money and I achieved my target of buying my own guitar and by the next year I have already joined my Sixth Former buddies on stage performing in the school band. I only played the Rhythm guitar or some may call it 2nd guitar. It was history and I really treasure the experience very much. Millions of thanks to my buddies Zahidi(Chot), Hamid(Peng...) and Ismadi. Brothers, you really ROCK!!!

This blog of mine is actually bilingual. Sometimes I would also write in my mother tongue, Melayu lah... Entah macamana kadang-kadang tercerita dalam bahasa Orang Putih. Bukannya nak tunjuk sombong... cuma secara peribadinya ada perkara yang lebih selesa diceritakan dalam bahasa itu. At least, other English speaking surfers can share my views and stories.

I always believe that having many friends from multi-racial and multi-cultural background opens up your perception towards other people. I just like to observe people and the things that happened around me. I believe that every person's reactions were justified based on their cultural backgrounds, beliefs and the environment they live in. Some people are very lucky to be born in a wealthy family and with excellent health conditions. Many others are not that lucky, so treasure every gift that god has given to us.

I also believe that being critical is good but there are always limits. Some critics went overboard and turn themselves as 'kaki komplen'. Everybody else is wrong except the critics themselves.

I learned the meaning of survival during my teenage years in the boarding school. I was only 11 yrs old when I first stepped my foot into hostel life. It was a boys school, and I managed to survive my 7 years of extreme fun+mental block till my STPM in the same school. Phewww!!! The school has unearthed capabilities in me and my buddies or more as brothers. We never complained. The school has created humans, not just homo-sapiens. We salute you.