Proud of You Mal Tati !

Two days ago on Christmas day I wrote a bit about Mal Tati, how she enjoyed disturbing Farah, how she earned "tear shedding princess" tittle etc.

Today, 27th dec 2007 she made us proud! Congratulations Mal Tati! We are so proud of you. Mal Tati scored straight 9 As today in her PMR. Gone was the worry that surrounded her the last few days. True to the tittle accorded to her she nearly broke down when the school official, jokingly, before handing her the exam result slip said "la....kenapa ni? Tak baca buku ke?". The joke, not very timely, I suppose caught Amal by sursprise. My heart stopped beating for a while. I grabbed the exam results slip from the officer, glanced through, I could see nothing but straight As! I said to Mal Tati " kenapa Amal??"

Before Amal screamed and went hysteria I grabbed her, hugged her and congratulated her. By then my other half, Norcaidah and Farah already joined us. All of us celebrated with cry of joy in full view of the school official.

We proceeded to the mosque to do sujud syukur and also solat Zuhor. We thanked Allah for all the blessing. Only if my beloved mum was still around, I would have contacted her right away.
After prayer we proceded to REBUNG RESTAURANT of Dr Sheikh Muszafar for a heafty lunch. My pocket was shallow soon after lunch but it was really worthwhile, since Mal Tati has been longing to go there for quite some time.

Mal Tati, you followed Along and Angah in showing perfect score in PMR. I just pray that Nurcaidah and Farah would follow you foot step,insya Allah.

Congratulate Mal Tati...here goes some of your trade mark:

1) Started pre school in Prestwich Manchester, but lasted only ONE (repeat ONE) day only he he :)

2) Could not pronounced letter "R" properly, hence replacing it it "W". ROTI became WOTI. In 1995 buckled in the stroller in the street in Italy, she was feeling thirsty. She told me "Dad I want dwink." I said " What?" Mal Tati said " Dwink! Dwink!" meaning drink! I asked her again as I didnt get her and she shouted loudly " I want Dwiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!!!!!"

3) Would obliged with what ever decision I made but would cried and sob behind me. "Tak pe lah"...said Mal Tati as though agreeing with my decision, only to start crying heavily behind me as a sign of disagreement!

4) A real manja kid with my other half, only to slow down after joining the boarding school in 2005. in fact while in the hostel Angah played the motherly role on behalf of my other half.

5) Mal Tati made a lady dentist (u48 he he) one morning went scavenging the dustbin at SRK Jalan 3 looking for her text book. The poor dentist, discovered the book, in the dustbin, left over nite by Mal Tati.

6) Very bubly while at the very young age. I remembered during one of the trip to Malaysia Hall in London, from Manchester Mal Tati grabbed hold of the remaning satay in the plate in front of Along and Angah, loudly saying "THIS ONE IS FOR ME REMEMBER!"

7) One day while walking to the post office in Prestwich , Mal Tati was carring a few letters to be posted. At that age she assured me " I will hold tightly, dont worry Dad!" when I reminded her not to drp the letters.

Mal Tati...form 4 you are very soon. You may go full flesh with you English drama during this period coz by next year you would be back to be book worm and ready to give us another surprise.

Congragtulation Mal Tati...proud of you.

KERI

Of the many friends that I had during my childhood days, the only one that is still in touch with me is Shukri. Really, I do not know what happen to others. In fact I have not seen them for many long years. I too do not know where they are now or what they are doing. Are they still around? Whoever and where ever they are my doa to Allah SWT may Allah bless them and their families.Amin

The only one, left is Shukri. Yes, we parted ways after school, lost contact for a certain period of time, get in touch, lost again and finally now back in contact. Shukri, or Keri as he is fondly known was my immidiate neighbour then. However he was not that lucky when his parent divorced and as a result of a broken family, he and his other siblings took different hard routes to survive.

During those childhood days Keri and me were very close. More often than not, our play time ended up with him having lunch at my place. Like any other kids we played together, quarelled, fight but in the end we remain friend. Keri did not fare well in his studies and hence survive doing odd jobs like selling ice cream, helping farmers in the kampong etc. What ever he did, he earned sympathy from the villagers, may be coz of his family back ground. However, the hard earned money, to Keri was hard to come but easy go. Never ever know how to save. Many a time the proceeding from his ice cream bussiness was given to me to be safe kept, only to be requested back the next day.That was KERI my child hood friend

When I entered university , Keri joined the army. That was the first depart point for us. I remembered him writing to me how he missed me and he just had no one else in the kampong. I did reply his letter at the beginning but some how we started to forget each other. When I returned for the term break, my arwah bonda told me that Keri was in the army. I got a mix feeling, shocked, proud and sad. Shocked coz Keri whom I know, so disorganized, so disoriented was now an army personnel. Couldnt believe it at first. Proud, coz Keri my friend at last was able to find a stable income to make ends meet. Sad, coz I did not know what will happen to him, whether we could meet again in the future.

Years passed without us in contact.

As has been fated by Allah SWT when I was first posted in Penang, Keri was based there too. I could not recall who initiated but it was a tearful reunion when we first met. We were both married when we met. I visited him at the army quarters with my other half at Air Hitam and he too visited me in Butterworth. I had just started a family and I remembered how Keri used to buy the PURNAMA products for me at the subsidized rate!

Again, as fated, when I got transfered to KL in 1986 we lost touch again, only to re established many years later during the eid gathering in the kampong. By then he already resigned from the army, ventured into the kedai makan bussiness and was not doing that well though. However, the greatest surprise was...despite all those, Keri is now on DOUBLE BARREL, the second one from South Thailand.

It had been twice I took my family to visit his. I just want to make sure that the bond between us is not loosen and we would be in close contact forever. Over and above that I just want my other half, my lovely girls to know how much I treasured the friendship that I endured with this real unique creature since when we were still running naked in the bendang and around the kampong. To you Keri, till death we are friends!

Langkawi revisited

My first trip to this island was when I was in form two. The scouts of SMPS and the girl guides of SMTM co-organized the trip there. It was in the 70's and what Langkawi is now is world apart. We loaded the bicycle into the ferry at Kuala Kedah and off we sailed to Kuah Jetty. Kuah Jetty then was made of wooden pillars full of fishermen boats around. After collecting our bicycle we were briefted on the "rules and regulations" and off we went to the island tour. Hardly any cars. Only old bikes, bicycles around. Kuah was then just a row of wooden shop houses. There it was the most out standing shop then belonging to Manggaram, the father of my classmates, Suresh. He is also the father to the not so clever Dr Dev Anand who operated my daughter twice without success! Curse on you Dev!

Back to the 70's. We camped at the mosque compound of Masjid Jamek Langkawi.(the very same mosque where Taufiq lost his phone and wallet recently). At nite, Rahman, my buddy got a strange idea of getting the fresh coconuts up the trees. I believe hunger got the better of him. Mind you, those days young coconuts were valuables!While the girl guides and scouts were deep asleep, Rahman and me sneaked out of the tents and up he went like a trained monkey. I was at the base to collect the dropped coconuts. Boms! one, two three, four the coconuts tumbled down. "cukup Man" I said. "Sikit lagi Bie" he answered.

As Rahman was busy monkeying with the coconuts he was not aware of what was happening down there. An old man approached me and I knew that was the mosque official. Within a split of a second I made a quick dash into total darkness and straight into the tent. With heart pumping hard, adrenalin flowing fast, I peeped through the small opening of the tent. The man, waited patiently at the base, collecting the coconuts, on behalf of "Bie". Rahman kept asking "Bie" whether the collection was enough. Rahman only stopped and came down once "Bie" said "Cukup tu......"

Rahman, upon hearing a different voice, was shaking on the tree but managed to land down safely. The landing was as rought as Dr Sheikh Muszafar as his leg was unable to grip the tree trunk any further...

The man was sporting enough not to scold Rahman but in fact he divided the collection into halves, between both of them...

The next day, we all enjoyed. Both the young coconut meat and juice as well as the hillarious incident. As all of us, especially the girl guides burst into laughter, Rahman pulled a long sour face. Of course, till we departed Langkawi, not even a word, Rahman and I spoke to each other.

TIME FLIES

Time flies, there goes the saying. Felt that it was only yesterday all my girls were running around in the garden,screaming and fighting over their toys and today, they are all grown up.Yes, time flies. It was only yesterday Along, my eldest was playing Teng-teng with Angah. Today, Along is in her final year at the university and Angah into her first. Both of them are busy attending classmate's, coursemate's, engagement; wedding etc. It is a matter of time that they both soon would be following the foot step of their classmates, coursemates and friends. Time flies. Amal, or Mal Tati as she was fondly known during the chilhood days is now a grown up teen ager. Slowly she shed off her well known trade mark as the "puteri air mata." Ops!!She is much capable of doing that still though..at the drama competition she burst, broke down like nobody bisness simply to get into a character!

Ano, is now in the intermittent stage as she is about to enter into her secondary education level. Still very much a kid, most of the time she is caught in a situation of being an elder sister and a kid at heart. Proven in the recent Langkawi Holiday Trip, Ano enjoyed disrturbing Farah all the way. As and when Farah reacted to her antics, it was seen as a success! Know what? Mal Tati too would join Ano in torturing their youngest!

Farah, in her 10th year of seing the light, is very much a kid still. Screaming at others and me is seen as nothing wrong. Grabbing full plates of "ketam masak lemak" before others is normal and is seen as "ni adik punya!". Any advices against her wishes is unacceptable. "Mulut muncung boleh ikat reben" simply reflect her disapproval for any thing against her wish. A trip to the supermarket is incomplete without buying something for her, even if it is not at all required. Any sign of maturity is reflected in her never ending love for cosmetics and make up! She promised me when she is grown up she would built me a palace!

There they are, my 5 lovely girls who are now grown up lads. To all of you, mummy and daddy dedicated our love, souls and hearts. Girls, we love you all , very very much.

Thanks for NO Thanks

Thank You. Just a two word phrase which take less than 2 seconds to utter. Yes..2 seconds. Thats all it takes. However just ponder how many of us ever say the word thank you appropriately in our life? With the fortcoming Ramadhan, today I belanja the famous nasi beringin to my 39 subordinates in the office. Less than 10 came back to say thank you. So was when I issued birthday cards. It seems, to some, saying thank you is so expensive!
Not that I really want to be appreciated! Definitely not! All that I gave is out of my sincerity. It gives me no harm by them not saying thank you. All that I say is I wonder (and ponder) why it takes so much for these people to say that little meaningful phrase.

I remember, when residing in UK in mid 90's, I was amazed to see how a cashier at the grocery said thank you at least 3 or 4 times for a simple purchased I made.

1) When I put the thing I want to buy in front of her- she said Thank you
2) Gave her the money- she said thank you
3) She gave me the things I purchased-She! yes ! She said Thank you and not me!
4) She gave me the change- she said thank you

Immedietly upon my return to Malaysia I tried to practice that locally, and I met with an unpleasant incident one day:
I was queing up at the Sg Besi toll with my other half and when came my turn, I gave the toll girl my toll card. As expected(or as cultured!) the told girl didnt say a word. I said..thank you...when she took my card. Again I said thank you when I gave her the money, and she didnt say anything.
When she gave me the receipt and the change, I said thank you...love. She look at me, and suddently uttered " gatal!". I was so surprised and drove off dissapointingly. Probably what catced her ears was the word LOVE. That itself warrant me the word gatal!....I dont blame her for that. She was never exposed to the western culture I went through and I pardoned her for that. To me she was young enough to be addressed as "love" like what I went through and heard in Cheetam Hill, Manchester. Cultured~ and it would be there for many years to come. Sadly enough, by now , I who want to introduce change, has also been cultured! I am now part of the society, being and behaving like the toll girl, or...even worse than her!

Care less Bikers

I am a biker myself. Owning a 535 cc Yamaha virago since the last ten years. It wasnt my first bike since I did own a few before. That include a kapcai and a RXZ.But the virago is my first big bike. Very proud of it and in fact not willing to part with it despite being under utilised now. Alhamdulillah since owning it, I have always been protected by Allah SWT from any untowards incidents and accidents. On my part, I am always a careful rider (and driver), being defensive most of the time.

Well, I am sure you readers must have experienced those bikers zigzaging squezing themselves in between cars right?Ever realized that those involve in those nasty acts are actually the kapcais or the small bike riders. Though I am a biker, I truly hate those small bikers who never ever value their life, left alone life of others. Everytime they get into the sucidal act, I would be cursing them. Not really fear for their safety but really that of others. Recalling some of their stupid acts:

1) Vrooming past red traffic light. Red is simply green to these species
2) Zigzaging in between cars whenever there is a traffic crawl.
3) Breezing past your car at high speed, ovbertaking you just by inches
4) Wheeling to attract attention...(mat rempiting actually!)
...and the list could go on and on endlessly.

To those crazy bikers, I have only this to say: Since you dont value your life at all...my sympathy is not with you but do have the heart for others..Its ok if your life is dam bloody dirt cheap but do treasure others!

Wedding! Wedding! Wedding!
That was the activities i attended to during this long merdeka break. First september , I attended the wedding of Dr B's daughter. He and me are of the same age, but he has got a son in law!.
Today I again attended the weedding of GNB daughter at Mutiara Bangi. Tonite, I had just returned from PWTC, wedding KA's daughter. Expecting to see more friends from my old office but sad to see only a few regular faces. Baie was supposed to be there but was no where to be seen. It was a grand wedding of sort. Two ministers in attendance. Ops its past midnite now, need to pen off coz I need to be with the companys top guns for important meeting tomorrow.

I am a blogger!

Heard about blogger being labelled as GOBLOK? Guessed it is not the very nice name to label the bloggers but I believed the politician (and many of us too) know the reason why. Whatever, I for one, enjoyed reading blog of some. I truly admirered the way they let their heart out by hitting the keyboards. GartBLUE once once proposed for me to blog. Told her I dont have time for all that. While that may be true, I did not know how to go about blogging actually. It was about few days ago I stumbled upon the blog of Angah. Sort of touched with what she expressed in her blog, especially the one dedicated to me on this year's fathers day. Sort like, i just realized, after reading through her blog, that Angah is now a grown up matured teen ager. Felt like it was only yesterday she was still running around half naked, disturbing Kak Cik. Now, she is 18 plus, transformed into a sweet young lad driving proudly her MYVY around campus.

Recall those child hood years. Angah was more adventerous compared to her elder sister ALONG. While Along is more intruvert, "good citizen" personality, Angah is on the opposite. A classic example: Whenever we went to the shopping complex, Angah would rushed for the escalator. She would jump on to the moving escalators for the second floor BUT on the decending escalators! She would be jumping every rung of the escalators until she finally made it, feeling proud whenever she made it to the top. When ever I asked her to get down, she would immediately abide, but surely through the ascending escalators!

Today, she is 18 plus. Next few days, September 4, she is gonna be 19! ...and this sweet young lad of mine TODAY taught me how to blog. Here, goes my first blog, dedicated especially for Angah. Insya Allah , I shall be a passionate blogger, and not goblok, from now onwards.