Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A.H (a bundle of joy)



10.10 a.m mama said "lets go to UH!
Nana said "Ha? Is it real this time?
Papa said " Wait, can we wait a little?
Am about to catch my much-needed nap"
Harith said "Nope! Pa, I cannot wait

Lets go Pa, lets go... I am arriving!"

I heard Nana saying "Oh false alarm"
Yeah It better be
Because otherwise I would be
Too early to be expected
The invitation card says 23.1.2008
Time? Not mentioned
Venue? Probably UMMC...yes!

This time, still early but
Later by a week than the false alarm...
Nana stand by? Ok?Ok!
Nana prepares room for Harith Ok? Ok!
Nana shifts to upper room ok? Ok!

But where is my bed?
Oh don't worry lad, it's coming
From Ochi's house
Uncel Iman would be sending it over
Harith! Assemble it yourself ok?OK!
BUT! Where is the mattress?

Ok, lets workout how to find it
Aunty Intan next door said
You just CUT, yes cut!
Ok! So we did...Papa did
After measuring, re measure, re measure
Taking a long pencil, draw few lines
Papa did cut it up
From a well full sized mattress

Cik Za, patiently sew the cover
Ops! My! With blanket stitch????
Five long laborious hours
Done!
Nana found a quicker way
Plain stitches, it ends in two hours
fine...I have two mattress now
They fit beautifully
Where they ought to be

OK, bags, people and people and people
All into the car...we all now go to UMMC!

there's a sound of thunder now.....pause!

Nana, Cik Za were waiting in the room
Together with Mama and Papa
Then came the time all should leave
BUT Mama still receiving visitors
Among them are C.B, Uchi, Yaii, Cik Tini And Cik Tika

Wait!

Someone was missing since morning...
Cik Di was in the campus with friends
Doing projects in the lab at the Eng.Fac
She only joined us all much later

By 5.30pm Nana, Cik Za and Cik Di left
They were going home for dinner
Probably coming back later tonight
To see me arriving

YES! They came back later, true
This time Nana sat outside the VIP Suite
Cik Za called Cik Fiz to come
He arrived shortly before 11.00pm

While the two Professors and nurses were busy
Attending to Mama
Sat Nana silently outside "saying prayers"
She read all the surahs and doas for Mama
She never stopped reading
NEVER stopped
From the little book in her hands

FINALLY!
I arrived at 11.56pm...refusing
To be a 13th January born child

ALHAMDULILLAH
Nana and Cik Za hugged each other
..........................!


Ooooo! It was so wonderful to see them
Outside the room
Tears of joy were flowing freely
Like the pearls without strings
None stop
ALHAMDULILLAH Syukur
I heard Nana saying repeatedly

I was delivered by Prof.Paul Tay



Later Ochi, Yaii, Cik Tika, Cik Tini arrived
Much to their joys


Ochi brought nasi minyak for Mama and Papa

Drinks and all the goodies

They all later left the new parents

To enjoy me, as the new born

In the privacy of our room...1017 now


By 2.30am "Wan" (the decided title for Nana) became hungry
So she helped herself to fried rice
That was bought from the morning
Cik Za helped herself to fried mee hoon
Cik Di helped herself to fried mee hoon too
So not only Wan was hungry

The next morning
We (A.H, Papa and Mama) received visitors
Many, many, many visitors
Chu T, C.B. Hannah Sarah, Uncle Peter

Later joined by Ochi and her family

They made a lot of noise
Excitement filled our room

Then Mama shoved me out
Profesor C.T.Lim wanted to check me
One final checking
Before we went home

FINALLY
By 3.00pm everyone left
Taking with them our luggage
Like we were just returning from a long journey
Indeed it was an eight-month-long-journey
For me, little A.H

Everyone waited in our house
For our arrival
With me in Ochi's arm
Mama sitting in the front seat
While Papa drove through

It was time to feed me
We found our way into my new bedroom
Much later we made our appearance
To adjust with the new world
New surroundings
New swimming pool
Everything new to me as little A.H

Then it all began...SILENT!
No voice for the TV (silent movies)
No loud talk (more sign language)
No door slamming(more polite)
Even when the lights were switched on
It could startled me

On week ends I started receiving
Visitors and visitors endlessly (?)
Of course it ended before night fall
Then the new "everything"
AND I have a lot to do now

Sending thank you notes
To All The WANs in town
To all my Grandmas, Grandads
Aunties who helped to prepare
Those mentioned earlier
Aunties who visited me
And most all to Mama and Papa...

On the third day of my birth
I was already opening my eyes wide
Much to Wan's amazement
I also gave a loud yell when wet
Then I found my way into the bathroom

Bathing time was blissfully joyful
Awkwardly people were holding me
Dipping my toes into the tub
Immersing my body into the water
All the way through
Yell!!!!!!!! It's strange
Why the cuddle were gone
The lying position was unsafe
I felt insecure
Yell.......

Quickly they would wrap me around
My brand new yellow Aussino towel
Thick and fluffy
Drying here, drying there...
Got dressed before I got the chill

Every few hours I would "deliver"
I don't think I enjoy it much
Mama put me up there
So high, while Wan tried to pasify me
Distracting me with all sorts
AND
Oh yes! I found some friends
From the tissued box placed next to me
They are colorful
Some are fat and yellow
Holding cakes and cookies
The other is striped and big
I have not met them yet..

Wait till I see them on their TV programme
Then shall I know who they are
Toys with sounds and colors
Made my head turned
Mama and Papa were happy to see me
Turning my head slowly
Left and right

Papa enjoyed holding me
When he was leaving for work
He would hold and kiss me
Each morning send offs
Have no cries yet
Wait till I get much older
Then probably my cries
Would get to the neighbor's house
Next door, where Kak Sarah lives

For the past ten days
I have been bathing in the ...
Wouldn't want to tell you...
Sink, in the bathroom
Sometimes I enjoyed too much
Didn't realize that bathing was over

Three days now
I found myself sleeping
On the settee that seats three adults
I slept through till Mama
Woke me up for feeding
Wan was wondering
What else would I conquer after this
In this house

Wan is probably an IT literate
But not an expert
She loves writing and blogging
This may be (her) longest poem ever written
Since the birth of her blog
On the 16th December 2007
Just a little bit older than me...
Probably 28days older

Now A.H is 25 days old
I could say "Aaaaauh"
Gave a little smile to Mama
And to Papa?
Some "accidents" occured
Sorry Pa!

Yesterday 5th February 2008
Dr.Abdullah Yasin paid us a visit

Holding me in his arm
He then put an Ajwa Date in his mouth

Chewing and chewing

Dipped his finger in "air zam zam"

Then he put his "date -covered-finger"

Into my little mouth

It went round in circle

It tasted sweet

The the "doa" was recited

Followed by Pa, Ma, Wan, Cik Fiz, Uchi and Yaii

TQ Ustaz for performing the
tahnik

Thank you all for witnessing
I was very lucky indeed
Historic day of my life...25days old

They helped themselves to sweets
Which was served with Uchi's sandwiches
To savour it a little
BUT

Tea was prepared by Cik Fiz
AND
Not by the RoyalTlady

Ok, A.H want to sleep now...

See you in the next line

Or two later...




On the day the monkeys came

They stood on the window ledges

Mama said they were watching

Perhaps counting how many

Of us were taking our naps

Luckily they did not venture in

And joined us in bed

Otherwise? Mama would be screaming

Her heart out

Visitors came, visitors went
They came with presents
Less empty handed ones
I often see similar faces
Which never failed to be away
Be it day or night
They are the faces of
My ever faithful Mama and Papa

They slept through with me
Woke up when I did
Then one day I decided
To sleep with them in their large bed
The magnetic mattress below
Gave me extra warmth

Today, Cik Di left us all
She had to attend uncle Khairul's wedding
Ki took his family along
Cik Di would have preferred to stay longer
I knew it for sure but...
She had no choice
She has to go along

Cik Sarah next door is so cute
But ever since I arrived, she sort of stopped
Becoming Wan's close friend
She even stopped her usual warm waving
That she had always done

Whenever she heard Wan's voice
Calling out her name, Sarah,Sarah
Now she no longer waves no more

Cik Za spends a lot of time with me too
She would adore me
Clean me, cuddle me whenever she is free
Now she is holding the new toy
Waving frantically to attract my attention
Suddenly her arm became tired
She asked "how long would I have to do this?"

I guess I have the longest poem ever written so far...
So long dear bloggers
Do write comments here and everywhere
I shall reply after each of my nap
OK?
Cheers!

Hello again... This is my youngest aunty
Named Hanna Sarah Woods

Belongs to Wan Chu Tee and Ki Uncle Peter
She weighs a Kg. a month
Impossible for Harith to keep up!!!!
We call her "Michelline Baby"
Isn't she adorable?

Ok, I am quite busy today
Uploading pictures of my family
Clicking here and there
Editing and cropping where possible
Uploading then blog and then paste

Harith has sent emails to Wans in "oga'72"
Thanking them all for the well wishes
To Wan JAM especially
For pointing out my 'yellowish" skin
That day sent me sleeping
For three nights under that lamp

Then there was jasmine tea to bathe in
Nice and warm after half an hour boil
Comfort surrounded me with towels
Then the rush, rush, rush
Why? Only few special people
Knew too well "WHY"?

Guess what? In this house
People have afternoon naps
The longest one ever had
Normally Wan
She filled up her mornings
With brisk "do this, do that"
She got annoyed when people woke her up!

So, people! Understand this okay?
Don't expect her attendance
Whenever guests popped in and out
For she deserved this much needed rests
After we all drove her energy out...
Don't get sick okay Wan?
We needed you to be around


photos are found missing, again? 2.09 a.m 19th.feb.08


















BEHIND THE BERLIN WALL


The journey that "almost" never was

Each time mom went to the embassy
She was forever told and updated
With faxes that would have just arrived
As though knew mom were there
Telling of the exodus
From the East to the West

Painstaking process that followed
Much to our disgust and frustration
School had begun, what shall we do?
To buy books, uniforms, shoes?
Nope! He said, no, wait a while more
Just hang on and be patient

Yes, but for how long?
They played a game of hide and seek
We were not refugees? Why did they stop us?
After much hassle and trying moments
Finally, we were on our way there

The house was left to some people
To look after and use as their dwellings
Toys were not kept away
Mom simply had too much to do all at once
She had to handle so many things alone
In between her job, she had to come home
Feed us and see that we were safe
Pity her

The shocking pink skirt and sky blue skirt
Were sewn in some cotton cloth
Mom managed them amidst her tight schedule
Hafiz's baju melayu were sewn by our late Acik Wook
In purple, pink and green cotton fabric

She even made some curry puffs
Then came along acar buah (spicy pickled mixed dried fruits)
Specially prepared by Cik Mah
All were secured by newsprints
To cast away the smell of spices
Mouth watering they may be

Upon reaching Farnkfurt International Airport
Mom had the chance to look down
There were our bags, luggages and boxes
She was called down
To have them opened up
She argued with the ground hostess
No cellophane tapes and strings to re secure boxes
So she got away with the excuse
Somehow she opened the luggage with locks
To pacify the situation

The pink hover sack was on Zaza's back
Tasha had one too
They were both filled with food
There were mouth watering smells
The Bangladesh guard let us leave
Though knowing the food stuffs
From their much-too-familiar-smells
He did not confiscate them
Instead he waved with a handsome smile

Next flight took us to Berlin
The good guy who sat beside mom
Was telling about the German people
Disliked the ouslanders (outsiders)
Explained the culture and what to expect
He reminded us about the rules and law
We departed without knowing his German name

True enough when we arrived
Settled in Devrient Weg
A mail arrived too
Asking us to attend a school
Not too far away on a bus ride

It was strange to hear them speaking
Unter den Kastanian Schule was the name
The school was indeed under a huge tree
The chest nut tree it was
It covered great part of the building
I have not seen such an enormous tree before
God knows its real age

The German children described
Tasha and Zaza as the "pencil 2B lead" and "tea plus milk'
Colors (???????)
Intelligent way of describing
To make their parents wonder
Who on earth had joined the school
Must have been some kind of ouslanders
Where could they be from?

Then started the lessons in German language
Diedre Reimer from Montreal Canada
(Now Diedre is married and live in Vancouver)
Who had been to this school much earlier
Whose father was a Mormon priest
At a church in Berlin
Became their unofficial translater

The teachers were not English conversant either
Much difficulties were observed
But children somehow picked up quite easily
Homeworks done with so much noise
Mathematics helped mom to understand
The price tags and how to pronounce

Then came the time for an excursion
To the East Berlin it was
Mom was worried sick for us
But the teachers reassured her of our safety
We camped outside some place
Cooked potatoes under the fire
It was full of fun
Somehow they managed it well and came home safe

The year end class party was fun too
But our characters were simple
Zaza of the tree that stood still
While Tasha, ops! I forgot what it was
Must have been some kind of a flower
Dierdre's part was probably spoken
Anyway, the fun was over
As soon as we were leaving Berlin

We visited the broken down Berlin Wall
(In the fasting month of Ramadhan in 1990)
That brought the exodus from the East
That caused chaos and upheavels
Economic unification was announced soon
After the wall came crumbling down
People with chisles knocking them away
We bought few pieces as souvenirs
Of the once stood tall the infamous Berlin Wall

Travelling was without hassle
Check Point Charley was unmanned
The once restricted gates were left opened
Unattended anymore by uniformed guards
Scary as it may seemed
With previously guards pointing guns every where

Eastern part of Berlin were gray and smoky
As thought forever the sky was hazy
The vast contrast was observed
Even the buildings were dilapidated
But perhaps as I am writing this poem
The reunion may have taken its turn
Rebuilding all the structures into modern city

Finally....
On the day Iraq was invaded by the US
We left Berlin for good as it said
One fighter plane never took off
The ground of Berlin airport to find its way
It crashed on sight and burst into flames

The eleven hours journey seemed too long
To travel out of the German airspace
Worried sick in case...in case..in case
In Dubai it stopped just a while
Then heading straight home we came
Alas! Alhamdulillah syukur
The experience worth remembering

Settled alas!
To continue our schooling
Back to our appropriate classes
Tasha in Standard five and Zaza in standard tree
Hafiz was in Tadikum then...
Mom? Back to her business to support.....

memoir of those yesteryears



Monday, February 11, 2008

Part 2

Meaning no disrespect to her, there was this funny bespectacled Chinese lady teacher who was fond of asking us for waste paper every time she went out of the class. It was only much later that I knew why. There was no such thing as toilet paper in the school's toilet then.

I did not remember much about the school's Standard one curriculum.There was an incident, however, that would always make me burst intolaughter whenever my mother reminded me about it. It happened duringan arithmetic lesson. The teacher asked us all to bring along objectslike ice cream sticks and rubber seeds to school to help us inarithmetics.


Contrary to her request, I never brought any of that to school. The teacher asked me how then I would do my arithmetics exercises. I told her that I would use all my fingers.


"What if you have used up all your ten fingers?" she then teasingly asked me again.

"Then I will use all my toes"."Then what?""Then I will use my stomach!"She laughed at my frank but honest answer. Of course what I reallymeant then was the gray matter of my brain. I did not know anythingabout human anatomy at that age! It was true. I was blessed with avery good arithmetics prowess and memory power. She believed me, and Iwas among a few whom she excused from bringing those basic countingparaphernalia to school.Coming back to my animal friends, nothing could come close to thestory of \'Johnny\', my pet common mynah and I. The story began onerainy night. It was raining furiously all through the night.
Suddenly there was this sudden extra strong gust of wind and I heard some thingfalling in front of the door. I opened the door and saw a heap ofrubbish in front of the house. Then I heard it - the sound of birdschirping. It came from somewhere in the rubbish made by the fallenfronds and other debris from the coconut tree. I rushed to the soundsand saw two helpless mynah chicks. They were still in their downs andsmartly hiding under the coconut leaves. They were completely soaked.Their parents were nowhere to be seen. With them safely in my hands, I",predominantly Malay school like Sekolah Kebangsaan Galing.I did not remember much about the school's Standard one curriculum.
There was an incident, however, that would always make me burst into laughter whenever my mother reminded me about it. It happened during an arithmetic lesson. The teacher asked us all to bring along objects like ice cream sticks and rubber seeds to school to help us in arithmetics. Contrary to her request, I never brought any of that to school. The teacher asked me how then I would do my arithmetic exercises. I told her that I would use all my fingers."What if you have used up all your ten fingers?" she then teasingly asked me again."Then I will use all my toes"."Then what?""Then I will use my stomach!"She laughed at my frank but honest answer. Of course what I really meant then was the gray matter of my brain. I did not know anything about human anatomy at that age! It was true. I was blessed with a very good arithmetics prowess and memory power. She believed me, and I was among a few whom she excused from bringing those basic counting paraphernalia to school.
Coming back to my animal friends, nothing could come close to the story of 'Johnny', my pet common mynah and I. The story began one rainy night. It was raining furiously all through the night. Suddenly there was this sudden extra strong gust of wind and I heard some thing falling in front of the door. I opened the door and saw a heap of rubbish in front of the house. Then I heard it - the sound of birds chirping. It came from somewhere in the rubbish made by the fallen fronds and other debris from the coconut tree. I rushed to the sounds and saw two helpless mynah chicks. They were still in their downs and smartly hiding under the coconut leaves. They were completely soaked. Their parents were nowhere to be seen. With them safely in my hands, I
towel, and placed them in a cozy little box close to my bed.That was the beginning of a relationship that taught me a lot abouttender loving care towards other creatures. With a constant supply of high-protein grasshoppers that my friends and I diligently chasedafter and caught from nearby vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, thetwo chicks grew amazingly fast. It was just wonderful to see thebaby-birds busily swallowing one grasshopper after another as I fedthem. They most probably thought that I was their very own mother.
One day while I was busyMe preparing the grasshoppers, a neighbour\'skinky-tailed tomcat walked into my room unnoticed and without warning,pounced onto one of the baby-birds and ran away with the chirping babymynah in its mouth. I gave chase, but it was too late. The baby mynahwas already dead by the time I caught up with the cat. I buried it ina shallow but nicely decorated grave by the side of the mango tree.The other chick grew faster now that it had no competition for thefood and my love. In no time he began his maiden flight. The constantfalls did not in any way deter him. With the passing days he perfectedhis flying skill and soon he fell no more. Not long after that hebegan flying with his wild friends. Johnny was never in the cage whenI was around. I spent most of my free afternoons playing with him.Wherever I went, he would always be close to me, either on my shoulderor flying with friends nearby. When he was happily playing with hisfriends, I just had to catch a grasshopper or pretended that I hadcaught one and called his name and then he would for sure come flyingstraight onto my shoulder. I called him Johnny from my favouriteWestern hero Johnny Ringgo.One morning before going to school, like always, I peeked intoJohnny\'s cage. Johnny was not there! I panicked and began looking",1]
);
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brought them back into the house, dried them with a piece of an old towel, and placed them in a cozy little box close to my bed.That was the beginning of a relationship that taught me a lot about tender loving care towards other creatures. With a constant supply of high-protein grasshoppers that my friends and I diligently chased after and caught from nearby vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, the two chicks grew amazingly fast. It was just wonderful to see the baby-birds busily swallowing one grasshopper after another as I fed them. They most probably thought that I was their very own mother.
One day while I was busy preparing the grasshoppers, a neighbour's kinky-tailed tomcat walked into my room unnoticed and without warning, pounced onto one of the baby-birds and ran away with the chirping baby mynah in its mouth. I gave chase, but it was too late. The baby mynah was already dead by the time I caught up with the cat. I buried it in a shallow but nicely decorated grave by the side of the mango tree.The other chick grew faster now that it had no competition for the food and my love.
In no time he began his maiden flight. The constant falls did not in any way deter him. With the passing days he perfected his flying skill and soon he fell no more. Not long after that he began flying with his wild friends. Johnny was never in the cage when I was around. I spent most of my free afternoons playing with him. Wherever I went, he would always be close to me, either on my shoulder or flying with friends nearby. When he was happily playing with his friends, I just had to catch a grasshopper or pretended that I had caught one and called his name and then he would for sure come flying straight onto my shoulder. I called him Johnny from my favourite Western hero Johnny Ringgo.
One morning before going to school, like always, I peeked into Johnny's cage. Johnny was not there! I panicked and began looking respond. Then I realized that Johnny was lost. I began to cry,momentarily forgetting about school. I just could not bear the thoughtof living without Johnny around. Only the consoling words of my mothermanaged to pacify me. She said that Johnny was no more with us and itmight be better for Johnny to be free among his many wild free-flyingfriends. I missed my bus to school. My father had to carry me on his bicycle to school that morning. After school, I continued my search for Johnny, on his favourite trees, in the playing fields, everywhere,but Johnny was still no where to be found. Then I realized that I had probably lost Johnny for good.
A few days later I found Johnny. He was in someone else\'s cage!Despite my incessant pleas to have Johnny back, that boy refused. I could not believe my ears when he boldly declared that Johnny was his!I just felt like running to him and grabbed hold of him and squeezedhis neck for that. My mother also tried her best to get Johnny back,but he was far too stubborn to listen to reasons.Finally, it dawned on me that I could never get Johnny back from that boy\'s family. Johnny\'s memory lingered on for years and even till nowI would always narrate the story of Johnny and me to my children.Syazwan was never tired of hearing the story being told over and over again. He really admired me, a seven-year old boy successfully rearing a mynah, from a featherless chick to an adult bird, almost single handedly. He knew that most children of similar age or even oldernowadays could not even look after an adult caged bird well, let alonean almost featherless baby bird!Unlike now, much of Kuantan then was still under dense virgin junglefull of floras and faunas. Trapping mousedeer was another favouritepast time of mine. Together with uncle Mat Saman, my father\'s",1]
);
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everywhere for him. Despite my continuous calls, Johnny did not respond. Then I realized that Johnny was lost. I began to cry, momentarily forgetting about school. I just could not bear the thought of living without Johnny around. Only the consoling words of my mother managed to pacify me. She said that Johnny was no more with us and it might be better for Johnny to be free among his many wild free-flying friends. I missed my bus to school. My father had to carry me on his
bicycle to school that morning. After school, I continued my search for Johnny, on his favourite trees, in the playing fields, everywhere, but Johnny was still no where to be found. Then I realized that I had probably lost Johnny for good.A few days later I found Johnny. He was in someone else's cage! Despite my incessant pleas to have Johnny back, that boy refused. I could not believe my ears when he boldly declared that Johnny was his! I just felt like running to him and grabbed hold of him and squeezed his neck for that. My mother also tried her best to get Johnny back, but he was far too stubborn to listen to reasons.Finally, it dawned on me that I
could never get Johnny back from that boy's family. Johnny's memory lingered on for years and even till now I would always narrate the story of Johnny and me to my children. Syazwan was never tired of hearing the story being told over and over again. He really admired me, a seven-year old boy successfully rearing a mynah, from a featherless chick to an adult bird, almost single handedly. He knew that most children of similar age or even older nowadays could not even look after an adult caged bird well, let alone an almost featherless baby bird!Unlike now, much of Kuantan then was still under dense virgin jungle full of floras and faunas. Trapping mouse deer was another favourite past time of mine. Together with uncle Mat Saman, my father's
traps for catching the animal. We used shoots of a particular plant asthe bait for the mousedeer. I had forgotten the local name of theplant, but its shoots were bright red and had a peculiar pungent smellthat had never failed to attract any passing mousedeer to the trap.Even reports of frequent sightings of a three-legged tiger roamingthat particular part of the jungle did not in any way dampen my
spiritas a hunter.The sight of us bringing home a few heads of mousedeer for dinner wasnothing new for my mother. Once I caught a mousedeer doe with heryoung one and brought them back with the intention of keeping them aspets. It was a pity that I was not allowed to do so (it was the ruleof the camp). Instead, sadly both of them ended up as mousedeer curryfor our dinner that night. For your information, those days mousedeerwas still not a protected animal. They were still abundant till thelate sixties and early seventies when I lived in Kampong Bukit Kuang.Those days I could easily get a mousedeer from the village boys forjust a ringgit!Besides mousedeer, trapping bulbuls was another hobby, which uncle MatSaman and I never failed to pursue in our leisure time. We used a typeof locally prepared glue to catch the birds. Basically the glue wasmade from a mixture of plant saps like the jackfruit tree. The gluewas pasted onto long bamboo sticks. The sticks were then placed nearwater holes that were frequently visited by these birds to bathe. If we were lucky, we would catch plenty of birds that way. After eachsuccessful hunting trip, I was given the responsibility ofdefeathering and degutting the slaughtered bulbuls. The rewardafterwards was worth all the trouble of getting them cleaned. The deepfried birds\' meat was both tasty and crunchy.According to my mother, I was also quite a helpful son at home. I just",1]
);
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colleague, we frequented the forested areas nearby the camp setting traps for catching the animal. We used shoots of a particular plant as the bait for the mouse deer. I had forgotten the local name of the plant, but its shoots were bright red and had a peculiar pungent smell that had never failed to attract any passing mouse deer to the trap. Even reports of frequent sightings of a
three-legged tiger roaming that particular part of the jungle did not in any way dampen my spirit as a hunter.The sight of us bringing home a few heads of mouse deer for dinner was nothing new for my mother. Once I caught a mouse deer doe with her young one and brought them back with the intention of keeping them as pets. It was a pity that I was not allowed to do so (it was the rule of the camp). Instead, sadly both of them ended up as mouse deer curry for our dinner that night. For your information, those days mouse deer was still not a protected animal. They were still abundant till the late sixties and early seventies when I lived in Kampong Bukit Kuang. Those days I could easily get a mouse deer from the village boys for just a ringgit!Besides mouse deer, trapping bulbuls was another hobby, which uncle Mat Saman and I never failed to pursue in our leisure time. We used a type of locally prepared glue to catch the birds. Basically the glue was made from a mixture of plant saps like the jackfruit tree. The glue was pasted onto long bamboo sticks. The sticks were then placed near water holes that were frequently visited by these birds to bathe. If we were lucky, we would catch plenty of birds that way. After each successful hunting trip, I was given the responsibility of defeathering and degutting the slaughtered bulbuls. The reward afterwards was worth all the trouble of getting them cleaned. The deep fried birds' meat was both tasty and crunchy.According to my mother, I was also quite a helpful son at home. I just
baking cakes, the traditional method, was one of my favourites. Sheused to tell my children how helpful I was to her back then. A fewdays before Hari Raya Aidilfitri I usually went around coconutplantations in Alor Akar searching and collecting coconut husks for mymother. She used the coconut husks to bake her famous baulu. The huskswere burned and placed on the covering lid of the baulu copper mouldthat she used to bake the cake in. She said that the baulu baked thatway was far superior in texture and taste than those baked in modernovens.During baulu preparation, I was assigned the job of beating the eggs.Normally about twenty duck eggs were beaten with sugar in a bigporcelain pot using a manual spring-like eggbeater. There were noelectrical gadgets like the present-day eggbeater for performing sucha task then. It was quite a tough job for a kid
like me, but I enjoyedit very much especially when I saw that the beaten eggs had risenwell. After the beaten eggs had risen to the level approved by mymother, I passed the porcelain pot to her who then took over beatingthe mixture. She then scooped up the mixture into a small bowl and mixed it with flour. Then the eggs, sugar and flour mixture was thenplaced in the mould and baked. Looking after the baked baulu thenbecame my next duty. It normally involved looking after the burningcoconut husk on the lid and making sure that the fire was undercontrol and the baulu was not charred. The baulu came in variousshapes like a fish, a cockle, a shrimp and so on. I loved the freshly baked baulu so much that I could easily finish a dozen baulu in onesitting.Besides baking cakes, I was also extremely good at cleaning big fishlike red snappers, tunas, mackerels, etc. I had the special surgeon\'s ability to remove the guts and internal organs of fish without turning",1]
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loved to help my mother with her household chores. Preparing and baking cakes, the traditional method, was one of my favourites. She used to tell my children how helpful I was to her back then. A few days before Hari Raya Aidilfitri I usually went around coconut plantations in Alor Akar searching and collecting coconut husks for my mother. She used the coconut husks to bake her famous baulu. The husks were burned and placed on the covering lid of the baulu copper mould that she used to bake the cake in. She said that the baulu baked that way was far superior in texture and taste than those baked in modern ovens.During baulu preparation, I was assigned the job of beating the eggs. Normally about twenty duck eggs were beaten with sugar in a big porcelain pot using a manual spring-like eggbeater. There were no electrical gadgets like the present-day eggbeater for performing such a task then. It was quite a tough job for a kid like me, but I enjoyed it very much especially when I saw that the beaten eggs had risen well. After the beaten eggs had risen to the level approved by my mother, I passed the porcelain pot to her who then took over beating the mixture. She then scooped up the mixture into a small bowl and mixed it with flour. Then the eggs, sugar and flour mixture was then placed in the mould and baked. Looking after the baked baulu then became my next duty. It normally involved looking after the burning coconut husk on the lid and making sure that the fire was under control and the baulu was not charred. The baulu came in various shapes like a fish, a cockle, a shrimp and so on. I loved the freshly baked baulu so much that I could easily finish a dozen baulu in one sitting.Besides baking cakes, I was also extremely good at cleaning big fish like red snappers, tunas, mackerels, etc. I had the special surgeon's ability to remove the guts and internal organs of fish without turning the fish by using only a sharp parang. I was also good in cleaningchickens. Usually whenever there were chickens to be processed, I wasgiven the task of defeathering, degutting and cutting the chickensinto small pieces for my mother to cook. My mother was always amazedat the way I removed the chicken\'s liver intact, from the abdominalcavity, without rupturing the gall bladder or macerating the delicateorgan.Next : Part 2Dr Azahar",0]
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the fish flesh into fish paste. I wish you could see how well I debone the fish by using only a sharp parang. I was also good in cleaning chickens. Usually whenever there were chickens to be processed, I was given the task of defeathering, degutting and cutting the chickens into small pieces for my mother to cook. My mother was always amazed at the way I removed the chicken's liver intact, from the abdominal cavity, without rupturing the gall bladder or macerating the delicate organ.
To be continued...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Early Years

PART 1

It was one very beautiful sunny Friday morning sometimes in 1958, on a lonely dirt road leading to a stretch of white sandy beach. Though a bit hazy, I could still see a group of children chasing each other merrily towards the beach. We were racing our hearts out trying to be the first to reach the sea.

“Be careful son, you’ll fall….”

True enough before she even finished her cautioning words, there I was, tumbling down skinning my knees, elbows and palms along the jagged surface of the road. The pain was excruciating, but I was just too proud to cry aloud. Only tears trickled down my boyish cheeks. Blood started seeping out of the raw areas of my knees, elbows and palms. My grandmother, whom I called Tok Wan, instinctively reacted in the best way she knew to help. She quickly gathered spider webs from the overhanging branches of cashew nut trees and meticulously cleaned them of leftover insect parts and other debris. She then gently covered the wounds with the gauze-like spider webs and the bleeding miraculously stopped.

She taught me a lot about natural sciences, traditional medicine in particular. Some of my cousins were jealous of our close relationship. They said that she favoured me over her other grandchildren. I knew that I was her favourite grandson, but never for once took advantage of it. I tried my best to make her share her love with my cousins too. It was not unusual for her to bring back a variety of presents from the wild for me, things like pitcher plants (periuk kera), weaverbird’s nests, strange creatures like stick insects (belalang Mekah), giant millipedes (pinang kote) and even baby birds. Even then she was aware of my great love for nature.

One evening after visiting her sick neighbour, she told me about a pair of juvenile yellow-vented bulbuls (merbah kapur) sleeping on a coffes tree by the side of the well. So, the following dusk the two of us tiptoed towards the tree with a batik sarong. The birds got away just before we could cover the tree with the sarong. An old rusted Milo tin warned them of our sinister intention. I stepped on it as we were spreading the sarong to blanket the tree. I waited for the birds to come back many dusks after that, but they were just a lot smarter than I thought. They never again came back to spend the night on that coffee tree.

Being very close to nature, she knew a lot about herbal medicine. There was this one of her many concoctions that I remembered well. It was made up of Cassia alata (gelenggang) leaves, roots of tuba and mata ayam plants and sulphur. Briefly, the leaves, the roots and sulphur were grounded into a paste. The paste was then boiled over a slow fire in her self-prepared 100% pure coconut oil. Despite of its terrible smell, it was superb in healing scabies, especially those that defied modern medicines I used to have.

One thing about the skin disease that never failed to amaze me was her special ability to actually see the burrowing mites, Sarcoptes scabiei with her naked eyes. Using the sharp end of a safety pin, she would then masterly pick up the mites from their burrows in the skin of my palm, making sure that the pustules were not ruptured and the oozing exudates did not sweep them away. She then placed the tiny white dust-like particles on a piece of mirror. The little things then started crawling, thus dispelling any of my remaining doubts of her ability to see the microscopic organisms with her naked eyes.

I was always amazed at her excellent eyesight even at her age. Besides that, she was also blessed with very good health. Once in the hospital ward she became the center of attraction with the nurses, young and old. Attracted to her youthful skin, the nurses were always surrounding her, probably busy coaxing her into divulging her secrets. She gladly told them all they wanted to know.

“Make sure you all have a balanced diet. You need something that’s bitter, pungent and sour, not just sweet and salty only. Always include lots of fresh green vegetables and herbs like pegaga, shoots of cashew nut, papaya, and cemperai.”

“What else, Tok Wan?”

“Have a happy life, wash your face regularly with five-times-daily ablution and never forget to do the traditional exercise as soon as you wake up!”

Once, overconfident and proud of my strength, I challenged her to a duel.
It was a competition to see who could prepare a ten-by-two bund faster. I started using the hoe fast and hard. She, on the other hand, kept her cool and went on with the task at her own pace. Barely half an hour later, I began to feel the effects of my youthful over-zealousness. I began to tire. There were blisters at the base of my fingers. Realizing that I could never beat her, I then threw in the towel. I had lost the game. She just smiled at me and continued her work until three neat bunds were ready.

She was like that, very friendly to her grandchildren and always hardworking. Once Rohana, my little sister asked her:

“Tok Wan, when you were small what games did you play in your free time?”

“Games? What games? The only game that I ever played was helping my mother with day-to-day household chores.” Her candid and honest answer made us all burst into laughter.
That was the earliest moment of my life that I could still remember. My mother confirmed that I was almost four then. Going further down the history, I was born on 22 July 1954, in a modest rented wooden house a stone’s throw from the historic mosque in Kampong Tuan. My arrival into this beautiful world was as modest. There was no fancy baby shower or expensive maternity ward waiting for me. It happened so fast that I was delivered right smack onto an old mengkuang mat that my mother was sitting on while busy processing nipah shoot for making nipah cigarette wrappers. The late Mak Yam Johor, the village midwife arrived ten minutes late.

The afterbirth (my own sibling, so they believed those days) was elaborately cleansed, sprinkled with a few grains of salt, covered with white clot and buried under the minaret of the mosque. By doing so they hoped that when I grew up I would become a pious and righteous man!

For others, it was far more elaborate. A few even went as far as placing day-to-day paraphernalia like a comb and mirror in the case of a girl, and a pencil and a book for a boy. Why did they do that? They wanted their daughters to be beautiful and good looking and their sons hardworking and intelligent. Whenever a child cried continuously at night, some people would build a fire on the ground where the placenta was buried. The warmth would sooth the crying baby, so they believed.

According to my mother I was abnormally quiet during my early childhood days. I did not utter a word, not even babyish sounds like other babies of similar age. Only my big bright dark brown eyes and meaningful facial expression did all the necessary communications between the two of us. Many people then thought that I was a mute. Many would come near me, stroke my head and said,” What a pity a handsome boy like you a mute.” However, my mother never for once thought so. To her, there was this special thing with my eyes and facial expressions that told her otherwise.
Many years later her friends told me that she would always defended me in front of her relatives and friends whenever they said that I was a mute. Instead, she insisted that I would grow up as an intelligent boy whom she could be proud of later in life. Like they said, a mother’s words were prayers in front of god. She was right. As soon as Rohani was born, there I was, saying my first word – mama. I was not a mute after all.

It was a picnic organized by my aunts as a farewell party for us. The beach was in Geliga. My father was to be transferred to Kuantan. Despite of that little mishap, the picnic turned out to be a joyous occasion for us all. The mouth-watering cookies and finger-licking fried chickens made me forget the pains of the tumble. By the way, the chickens were real village chickens. It was not too frequent that we had fried chickens those days.

Back then parents would rather sell their village chickens for other daily essentials than having them for their own family’s routine meals. Ah Chong was one such village chicken buyer. He went around the village on his old bicycle equipped with a big rattan basket on the carrier. He told me that chickens with bright yellow legs fetch better price than those blacklegged ones. He also asked me to give the birds with more corn in order to get that intense yellow colour.

Parents would only slaughter their chickens when some relatives came a- calling or their own family members returned home from school hostels during holidays and also during special occasions like weddings and pre-circumcision ceremony!

I was often very jealous to see more fortunate boys enjoying their chickens in front of me, and hated them for not inviting me to have a bite. My mouth turned to water in no time just by looking at the juicy chickens. Not knowing that I was destined to become a Veterinarian, I once made a vow to Tok Wan that I would have chickens every day when I grew up!


Sadly, she was no more with me to see that I had fulfilled my childhood vow. She passed away a few days before I received my appointment later as a Veterinary Officer. I missed her a lot. She was a grandmother that I thought all boys and girls would wish they could have for their own. What saddened me most was that I missed the chance of trying to pay back for all her kindness that she gave me. Knowing that she loved traveling so much, it had always been my dream to invite her into my first car and bring her to all the places that she had never been. I knew she had lived a full life. She had traveled a fair bit, mostly following us around to Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Perak.

You must be wondering why there was so much fuss over our short distance transfer. Actually, those days Kuantan was considered far by many of us in Kemaman and vise versa. Ordinary people did not normally travel over the distance unless it was really necessary. The only public transport was the old creaking Thong Aik bus.

In Kuantan my father was attached to the Police Filed Force Camp in Alor Akar. I could not recall much about life in Kuantan except that it was there that I experienced a few firsts in my childhood years. It was in Kuantan that I first went to school and started getting acquainted with animals. The school was Sekolah Kebangsaan Galing. Now all the wooden school buildings have been demolished and replaced by the monotonous all-common Public Works Department’s school buildings. Believe it or not, it was in Sekolah Kebangsaan Galing that had the experience of using the slate board for the first couple of weeks of school. I had to use the bulbous stems of wild orchids collected from coconut trees to clean the board during weekends and my free times.

My best friend was one Sheik Raziff, whom I later shared the same boarding school in Tanjung Malim, and my favourite teacher was the late Tuan Haji Tajuddin.....

(to be continued)

A.H (a bundle of joy)

10.10 a.m mama said "lets go to UH!"
Nana said "Ha? Is it real this time?"
Papa said " Wait, can we wait a little?
Am about to catch my much-needed nap"

Harith said "Nope! Pa, I cannot wait

Lets go Pa, lets go... I am arriving!"


I heard Nana saying "Oh false alarm"
Yeah It better be
Because otherwise I would be

Too early to be expected

The invitation card says 23.1.2008

Time? Not mentioned

Venue? Probably UMMC...yes!


This time, still early but
Later by a week than the false alarm...

Nana stand by? Ok?Ok!

Nana prepares room for Harith Ok? Ok!

Nana shifts to upper room ok? Ok!


But where is my bed?
Oh don't worry lad, it's coming

From Ochi's house

Uncel Iman would be sending it over

Harith! Assemble it yourself ok?OK!

BUT! Where is the mattress?


Ok, lets workout how to find it

Aunty Intan next door said

You just CUT, yes cut!

Ok! So we did...Papa did

After measuring, re measure, re measure

Taking a long pencil, draw few lines

Papa did cut it up

From a well full sized mattress


Cik Za, patiently sew the cover

Ops! My! With blanket stitch????

Five long laborious hours

Done!

Nana found a quicker way

Plain stitches, it ends in two hours

fine...I have two mattress now

They fit beautifully

Where they ought to be

OK, bags, people and people and people

All into the car...we all now go to UMMC!

there's a sound of thunder now.....pause!


Nana, Cik Za were waiting in the room
Together with Mama and Papa

Then came the time all should leave

BUT Mama still receiving visitors

Among them are C.B, Uchi, Yaii, Cik Tini And Cik Tika

Wait!

Someone was missing since morning...

Cik Di was in the campus with friends

Doing projects in the lab at the Eng.Fac

She only joined us all much later


By 5.30pm Nana, Cik Za and Cik Di left

They were going home for dinner

Probably coming back later tonight

To see me arriving


YES! They came back later, true

This time Nana sat outside 1017

Cik Za called Cik Fiz to come

He arrived shortly before 11.00pm


While the two Professors and nurses were busy
Attending to Mama
Sat Nana silently outside "saying prayers"

She read all the surahs and doas for Mama

She never stopped reading
NEVER stopped
From the little book in her hand

FINALLY!
I arrived at 11.56pm...refusing

To be a 13th January born child

ALHAMDULILLAH

Nana and Cik Za hugged each other

..........................!
Ooooo! It was so wonderful to see them
Outside the room

Tears of joy were flowing freely

Like the pearls without strings
None stop
ALHAMDULILLAH Syukur

I heard Nana saying repeatedly

I was delivered by Prof.Paul Tay


Later Ochi, Yaii, Cik Tika, Cik Tini arrived

Much to their joys

Ochi brought nasi minyak for Mama and Papa

Drinks and all the goodies

They all later left the new parents

To enjoy me, as the new born

In the privacy of our room


By 2.30am "Wan"
(the decide title for Nana) became hungry
So she helped herself to fried rice
That was bought from the morning
Cik Za helped herself to fried mee hoon

Cik Di helped herself to fried mee hoon too
So not only Wan was hungry

The next morning
We (A.H, Papa and Mama) received visitors

Many, many, many visitors
Chu T, C.B. Hannah
Sarah, Uncle Peter
Later joined bu Ochi and her family
They made a lot of noise
Excitement filled our room
Then Mama shoved me out
Prof.C.T.Lim wanted to check me

One final checking
Before we went home


FINALLY

By 3.00pm everyone left

Taking with them our luggage
Like we were just returning from a long journey
Indeed it was an eight-month-long-journey
For me, little A.H

Everyone waited in our house

For our arrival

With me in Ochi's arm

Mama sitting in the front seat
While Papa drove through


It was time to feed me

We found our way into my new bedroom

Much later we made our appearance

To adjust with the new world

New surroundings
New swimming pool
Everything new to me as little A.H

Then it all began...SILENT!
No voice for the TV (silent movies)

No loud talk (more sign language)

No door slamming(more polite)

Even when the lights were switched on

It could startled me


On week ends I started receiving
Visitors and visitors endlessly (?)

Of course it ended before night fall

Then the new "everything"

AND I have a lot to do now


Sending thank you notes

To all my Grandmas, Grandads

Aunties who helped to prepare

Those mentioned earlier

Aunties who visited me

And most all to Mama and Papa...


On the third day of my birth

I was already opening my eyes wide

Much to Wan's amazement

I also gave a loud yell when wet
Then I found my way into the bathroom

Bathing time was blissfully joyful
Awkwardly people were holding me

Dipping my toes into the tub

Immersing my body into the water

All the way through

Yell!!!!!!!! It's strange

Why the cuddle were gone

The lying position was unsafe

I felt insecure

Yell.......


Quickly they would wrap me around

My brand new yellow Aussino towel

Thick and fluffy

Drying here, drying there...

Got dressed before I got the chill

Every few hours I would "deliver"
I don't think I enjoy it much
Mama put me up there
So high, while Wan tried to pasify me
Distracting me with all sorts
AND
Oh yes! I found some friends
From the tissued box placed next to me
They are colorful
Some are fat and yellow
Holding cakes and cookies

The other is striped and big
I have not met them yet..

Wait till I see them on their TV programme
Then shall I know who they are
Toys with sounds and colors
Made my head turned
Mama and Papa were happy to see me
Turning my head slowly
Left and right

Papa enjoyed holding me
When he was leaving for work
He would hold and kiss me
Each morning send offs
Have no cries yet
Wait till I get much older
Then probably my cries
Would get to the neighbor's house
Next door, where Kak Sarah lives

For the past ten days
I have been bathing in the ...
Wouldn't want to tell you...
Sink, in the bathroom
Sometimes I enjoyed too much
Didn't realize that bathing was over

Three days now
I found myself sleeping
On the settee that seats three adults
I slept through till Mama
Woke me up for feeding
Wan was wondering
What else would I conquer after this
In this house

Wan is probably an IT literate
But not an expert
She loves writing and blogging
This may be (her) longest poem ever written
Since the birth of her blog
On the 16th December 2007
Just a little bit older than me...

Probably 28days older

Now A.H is 25 days old
I could say "Aaaaauh"
Gave a little smile to Mama
And to Papa?
Some "accidents" occured
Sorry Pa!

Yesterday 5th February 2008
Dr.Abdullah Yasin paid us a visit
Holding me in his arm
He then put an Ajwa Date in his mouth
Chewing and chewing
Dipped his finger in "air zam zam"
Then he put his "date -covered-finger"
In my little mouth
It went round in circle
It tasted sweet
The the "doa" was recited
Followed by Pa, Ma, Wan, Cik Fiz, Uchi and Yaii
TQ Ustaz for performing the
tahnik
Thank you all for witnessing

I was very lucky indeed
Historic day of my life...25days old

They helped themselves to sweets
Which was served with Uchi's sandwiches

To savour it a little
BUT
Tea was prepared by Cik Fiz

AND
Not by the RoyalTlady

Ok, A.H want to sleep now...
See you in the next line

Or two later...


On the day the monkeys came
They stood on the window ledges
Mama said they were watching
Perhaps counting how many
Of us were taking our naps
Luckily they did not venture in
And joined us in bed
Otherwise? Mama would be screaming
Her heart out

Visitors came, visitors went
They came with presents
Less empty handed ones
I often see similar faces
Which never failed to be away
Be it day or night
They are the faces of
My ever faithful Mama and Papa

They slept through with me
Woke up when I did
Then one day I decided
To sleep with them in their large bed
The magnetic mattress below
Gave me extra warmth

Today, Cik Di left us all
She had to attend uncle Khairul's wedding
Ki took his family along
Cik Di would have preferred to stay longer
I knew it for sure but...
She had no choice
She has to go along

Cik Sarah next door is so cute
But ever since I arrived, she sort of stopped
Becoming Wan's close friend
She even stopped her usual warm waving
That she had always done
Whenever she heard Wan's voice
Calling out her name, Sarah,Sarah
Now she no longer waves no more

Cik Za spends a lot of time with me too
She would adore me
Clean me, cuddle me whenever she is free
Now she is holding the new toy
Waving frantically to attract my attention
Suddenly her arm became tired
She asked "how long would I have to do this?"

I guess I have the longest poem ever written so far...
So long dear bloggers
Do write comments here and everywhere
I shall reply after each of my nap
OK?
Cheers!