Pak Boleh Belah

My blood boiled yesterday when I inadvertently saw the news, during MB Selangor talking about the repairs of his car issue.

Macam ni lah, bear in mind that I am not partial to any parties in Malaysia, but for BN to make such a big deal out of this is unforgivable. Especially when we the rakyat know that there are bigger swindlers hiding behind the political masks, that there are bigger pengabih duit rakyat.

Now, as far as I know he didn’t have a government issue car. He is using his own car, and therefore since he is making a huge savings already, why begrudge him the maintenance cost ? After all he is entitled to it, as all MBs and big corporate figures are. There got to be some perks for high positions, isn't it ? Other menteris have bigger perks than that I am sure... 2-3 extra houses, cars for wife, second and third wife, children, tok nenek, mak and pak menakan... well the list goes on and on..

Pak Lah to me has failed again. I do not know why he is letting this happening. This petty accusations are not endearing him more to the rakyat because we know the truth, and the truth is, please see paragraph 2.

Pak Lah should rise to the occasion by asking this matter to be closed. He should let MB Selangor do his job because at the end of the day if you truly are berjiwa rakyat, you would want Selangor to be governed efficiently. He should have issued a challenge instead to MB Selangor to make Selangor prosper under his governance.

He should have said, well that is his mistake, don’t do it again so let us see if he can make Selangor better. Then, we would probably have to admit “Hey… Pak Lah is actually quite all right…..”

Instead it has turned into this hugely embarrassing political melee.

Opportunity came and Pak Lah didn’t know how to take it and twist it to his advantage. Accusing Khalid of that charges is like pot calling the kettle black. Pak lah should stop thinking that the rakyat is stupid. We know better…

Duh… !!

Saturday and Sunday

My Saturday was BUSY !!

It started of with normal Saturday routine. Cili Merah, piano then art. Everybody was home by 1.30 to eat Beef and Mushroom pie Mummy prepared while she had the house all on her own. Babah and kiddies, take note that Mummy wasn’t lazing around, she made lunch !

2.30 off to Subang Parade to buy a birthday present for Abang Kamal. Babah dropped me off at Amelia’s house close to 4 pm and at 4.30 we were already at Kakiku, SACC Mall for a massage. Noreen joined us at 5.

Hang out at Secret Recipe until 6.30 after which Amelia sent me to Babah’s sister Wawa’s house for her husband Kamal’s birthday party or… more appropriately get-together. It wasn’t a party. Much more sedate than that.

Stayed there until 9 before we made a move to Yasmin’s housewarming pulak.

Made it home by 11, I think all sweaty and sticky… belengas kata orang Penang.

Before sleep claimed me, I groaned when I remember bout the tennis class on Sunday.. at 7.30 am !! Contemplated my attendance, decided to be absent because the class was to be held at sek 21 Matsushita sports complex since ITM is renovating their courts. Don’t know where it is so sms-ed coach to say that Umar will be there at 8.30.

Sleep……

The busyness of Saturday was offset by the laziness of Sunday, exacerbated by the rain. Since Astro’s reception goes wonky when it pours, we sat on our ugly patio to watch the rain.

Lazy, lazy Sunday.

Itu aje ?

Babah and I usually decides our dinner menu around 4 pm because it depends on what he eats for lunch (I usually have boring stuffs like bread or fruits so there is no danger of repeats for dinner in my case).

I suggested nasi lemak from Makcik Soto at Seksyen 8 and Babah readily agreed because we hadn’t been there for while. When we got home, Abang’s face was flushed. Demam. He complained in the morning of dizziness but since he didn’t whine or made a big fuss about it he still went to school.

With that we discovered that we have quite a number of places to go to that night since I have to go to the bank and lack of ubat demam at home means a trip to the pharmacist. Discussed again and the first order of the night was nasi lemak. Bought 2 delicious looking nasi lemak to go, please.

Then the pharmacist at Sek 9, next to Shell. No pharmacist pulak. Entered the car and the smell of nasi lemak wafted through the air. Yummm….

Drove to the one near Secret Recipe and when we entered the car again, the vehicle smelt strongly of it. Our stomachs growled.

Raced to the bank because at that point we were half crazed with the aroma already, me especially so since I only had fruit salad for lunch ! Again when we entered the car the scent was so overwhelming, we half contemplated wolfing it down that very minute. It was the longest 3 minute ride home.

We entered the house with one, sole purpose; to eat. We should have eaten 20 minutes ago.

10 minutes after that, we were satiated, and watched American Idol. 5 minutes watching I turned to Babah and said, “I feel empty somehow. All those waiting and it was over in 10 minutes… What a let down….”

Ha ha…

Boleh berkenalan ?

I have requests to write an entry of my journey with my husband. I do not know how to start really….. My apologies if I missed out anything or if my friends remember it differently.. HA HA !

Hmm….

Babah and I were school mates. I think I was aware of his presence when we were in form 1. A friend of mine had a crush on him and I was entrusted to take his photo. So we called him to our class, asked him to stand there at the corridor, I crouched and clicked. Girls….

Years later after the camera clicking incident we joined the same extra co-curricular club and somewhat re-newed our acquaintance. We somehow managed to not talk to each other before that. However I hated him. I wondered why my friend could have a crush on him because he was loud mouthed, opiniated and I hated his glasses… he he.. Our feelings were mutual. We passionately hated each other.

How did we make our peace ? Well it was very weird. It was during one of the club meetings and I recounted a story to my dimpled friend of a dream I had the night before. I was on a London bus, and when I got off it, he…(the guy that I hate, Babah le tu) came down the bus with me !

Now, our mutual friend overheard the story and said something to the effect of “Hey very funny, Babah told me of his dream of you and him in London, too !” So this guy called him over and we were forced to talk politely to each other about the dream out of curiosity. However during the course of that conversation I was relaxed and my talons were in check voluntarily. We exchanged stories peacefully.

That was very weird. Weirder still, I had a good look at him for the first time and thought, “Hmmm…. He wouldn’t look so bad without those wretched glasses…” He he…. We somehow made our peace that day and gradually our warring days were over.

He then started to give me attention which I found bizarre. You know… suddenly appearing at my side when I walk or actually caring about what I said without mocking me. Calling me at home….. Hmmm…. I am never quick into thinking that a guy has interests in me. To me the most embarrassing thing people can call me are perasan and mengada-ngada. Therefore I always am very careful to avoid that kind of label. Hence, I didn’t want to think that he was interested. I don’t want to be perasan…. Or perah santan as we used to call it (for what reason I don’t know, our own attempt to be Cockney probably).

At that time my love life was rather busy anyway. I was flirting with this younger guy (he is gorgeous but sometimes accidentally added kakak in front of my name and that could dampen any notion of romance in a jiffy) and was fending off attentions from a friend in the same club (let’s call him A to avoid confusion) and now him ? I cannot be that hot… ha ha. Jangan perasan, jangan perasan….. I told myself.

However at that point I cannot say that I didn’t like his attention, but because I hated him so much before, the sudden affection he was showing me was rather overwhelming when I was just getting used to like him as a person. It was all very confusing.

To make matters worse this other guy A, was giving me hints so crystal clear all our mutual friends could see it and kept laughing at us ! But… at the same time they liked to create opportunities for us to be left alone (for their amusement I think…. the seniors memang naughty). Whenever these impromptu ‘time alone’ with A happened, I always looked around to see Babah’s reactions. It is safe to say I was rather smitten by Mr Babah at that point.

My husband, luckily was very persistent. He kept plying me with attentions and he succeeded in making me think of him day and night. You would too if you have this guy who kept asking “Hai, boleh berkenalan ?” Everytime he saw you ? Tergelak aku sekarang…. Hai, boleh berkenalan ? Hai, boleh berkenalan….

One day during raya a group of us went to visit Shazleen’s house. Isa brought his car but since there were so many of us and I happened to live nearby, I decided to walk home, to lighten Isa’s burden. Guess who followed me home ?

He made his feelings known that day (first day of raya okay… I was lucky my parents decided to raya in Shah Alam that year instead of going back to Penang as we usually did) and although I was giddy with happiness, I kept it all inside. I just can’t believe it, it was hari raya, the best day of the year and now this, a guy who by then I found to be gorgeous beyond belief (he changed his glasses) professing his undying love for me ? I could still remember the way he looked when he described my honkers as 'button nose'. People usually commented on its invisibility so I was duly flattered. He had me at "your button nose..." Haii......

However I played it cool because I did not want to show how happy I was (jaga maruah sikit) and secondly because A is one of his closest friends.

He however had no such compunctions and held my hand. And I let him. Gatal... He he... Unfortunately, our mutual best friend Shazmi’s father saw us from the height of his house, informed his son and Shazmi came down to laugh at us. Uncle waved at us from his balcony. Sigh…. I can still blush when I think of that moment.

On the 13th of April 1993, I finally decided okay, I do want to be with him. People started asking me why they always see us together and those who didn’t ask made the correct conclusions. Zaki (a guy in school that people loved to hate but whom I like very much) informed me while we were drinking near the canteen that he doesn’t understand why all our girl friends could fall for the Malay boys in school. He went on to inform me that most of those boys were ugly (I think Zaki is half Pakistani… well he doesn’t look Malay and is rather cute… or was…. I haven’t seen him in ages) and that “The only Malay guy whom I find is good looking is Babah…” he concluded, without looking at me, then smiled. I take that as his approval of my choice.

Well 6 years after that we got married. And 10 years after that we are still here. How much do I love him ? Well my parents took the same stance as most Asian parents at that time in the daughter-boyfriend issue, which is basically Hell, No ! but my feelings for him was so gargantuan, I bravely took him home. My parents said nothing. They can’t I think because although I could be naughty, my parents trust me. That was what my father told me when I came home during my first summer holidays. He said that he trusts me and that was huge and something that I appreciate until now.

We have never been apart. We somehow managed to be with each other throughout the course of our lives. I don’t think we could bear being apart, so we somehow made sacrifices just to be together.

Seriously, I don’t know how long this will last because we never had the chance to properly look around, but I hope that there will always be the two of together, forever.

PS : Despite our dream, I have never been on a London bus with him. I did with my parents and he got on one with Razif (while I was in Manchester visiting Nani with Cho) but never together. We did take the Nottingham double decker loads of time, though… but they were green and beige and not red. Hmmm.......

Babah

Hai lah…

I met up my husband for lunch. We agreed yesterday that I make fish and chips for dinner tonight and since the we couldn’t find any tartare sauce to go with the fish last night, after lunch we headed straight for Cold Storage at Ikano Power Center.

I love the Cold Storage there. Ingredients for western cooking are in abundance, you are spoilt for choice.

Found the tartare sauce, bought some mushrooms for mushroom soup, paid and walked back to his office. Before he closed the door to my car (on our last lunch date, a car knocked my shoulder – sakit woooo – so now he saw me to my car, making sure no drama unfolded when his shoulders are turned away from me.. he he) he asked me, “Hey… what are we having for dinner ?”

Laa…. What were we talking about during lunch, not half an hour ago ? Why the rush to buy the tartare sauce ?

Itu le… saya dah cakap awak tu dah tua… tak caya…..

PS : This entry was written yesterday but didn’t post it due to a more important news….

PPS : Pagi tadi while we were still in between sleep and wakeness, he asked, “Today (13/02/09) we have been together 15 years and 10 months ?”

I was still clouded with sleep and struggled to answer him. “Kita dah kawin berapa tahun ha ?”

“Sepuluh…” He answered and I went “Well yeah kalau sepuluh tahun then yes this April 16 tahun…”

“Whoaa…” That came from him.

“Kenapa ? Lama sangat ke ?” Biasa lah orang perempuan, senang kecik hati…

“No… I was thinking why didn’t I meet you earlier…”

Aww…. (kalau dia kelentong baik punya pun bukan nya aku tahu kan.... baik AWwwww.... je...)

The oh very disturbing news

Okay this is very disturbing, yeah ?

I just read that Paris Hilton have the hots for Robert Pattinson a.k.a the dreamy albeit pasty Edward Cullen from Twlight.

My advice, “Run, love. Run for your life !! Do not even turn back to look !! She is soooo not worth it. Go on then, run !! Bugger off quick !”

Hmm…. I have done my part. The rest is up to him.

Ohh.... Babah

Aku nak tergelak ni ha…

As a rule, I will usually buy stuffs from the street peddlers. Makcik kerepek, anak-anak sekolah yang sepatutnya pegi sekolah tapi pukul 11 malam pun aku nampak masih menjaja calendar and sekarang ubat …

Aku kesian.

Don’t think I would be heading for the poorhouse if I give them my RM 10.

Anyway, yesterday we went to fetch our children from their class, Babah and I. When I got in the car, I saw a keropok seller talking to my husband, talking in his Terengganu accent.

“You nak ke keropok ?” He asked.

“Ambik je….” Was my answer.

So my husband felt around for money and when he paid, he asked “Dari terengganuNG ya….”

And terbahak-bahak le aku ketawa.

I looked at my obviously embarrassed husband.

“Babah… Terengganung ? Sejak bila ?”

“I don’t know……” I can still see him laughing with sheer embarrassment when he said that, head almost touching the steering wheel...

Ha ha !!

Apa Saja...

Recently Babah was rooting around our CD collections and found some old CDs… he he… segan jugak nak cakap… but he found Best of KRU album that we both still enjoy.

We were driving to KL that night and so he put on the CD and the car was filled with songs that took us back, waaaayyy back when we were younger. 16 years ago to be precise, when he still had moustache (which he fondly refers to as kumis… uweekk…..) and I was with very oily T-Zone and angry red spots… he he…

The songs evoked so many memories that I let one secret out. With the 3 brothers singing Apa Saja in the background I said, “You know… dulu… whenever our day ended and you were going home, I always, always felt like I wanted to go with you…..”

“Ha ?” He asked, looking at me with nose scrunched. It is not cute, his nose scrunching because the sheer size of the beak.. he heh…

“Well yeah… I had separation issues… I didn’t like that we have to be separated at the end of the day…. So I nak ikut you balik…”

Gosh, it didn’t come out right, did it ? Instead of sounding so bloody in love I just can’t be without him kind of thing, I sounded like perempuan paling gatal dalam Shah Alam… he he…

Perak kat mane ?

I try not to be political..

No... that is not true.

I DO NOT want to be political. I hate politics because that is when I will find people who get pissed off if anybody dared to not share their views. I have to say during the elections is when all the hideous people decided to come out of their 5 years reasonable and lovable personality façade. Who is this know-it-all is the question I always ask.

So I shy away from discussing politics… I do discuss them when it is brought up, but only participate when I am in polite company. And I do not take the word polite lightly.

Anyway, I do not support anybody. After Pak Lah, I look at politicians wearily and take everything they say not with a pinch of salt, but with a whole 30 sen packet ( is it still 30 sen nowadays ? ). Money politics is evident and even after what has transpired during the last election, it still failed to jolt these people out of their crimes.

I know of a Menteri whose second wife drove an old CRV before the election and after was seen zipping around town in a CX9. His second father in-law (he heh) drove a Vios and now drives a new CRV. That is the second family, I shudder to think what upgrades he gave to his first one.

Now, the situation in Perak to me is shameful. Next election do not vote for these frogs because in my observation I believe the voters voted for the party, not the candidates. They just want BN out and do not give a rat’s ass who represented the opposition.

The people of Perak voted for PKR and I believe another small election at the respective frogs’ seat would be the fair course of action.

Allow the rakyat to vote again.

Kesian

Ada cerita sedih ni…. Really sad.

On Monday my sister Ita called me up at 4. She is sooo like my mother who loves to create suspense when she has something important to tell.

“A, aku rasa something happened kat akwasan rumah ko ni lah…..”

Eh ? What ?

“I think something bad happened here….. Ko tahu tak nak masuk rumah ko….”

Ya Rabbi !! Tell me the story already !! Don’t mind the location first lah !

“Tak… ada van forensic, polis and krew TV3 kat sini….”

Okay now you tell me where exactly this is happening already !

I was scared. Because it is a house just across the street, 3 houses away to the left. Basically a neighbour. I raced home because I was scared for my family’s safety. In my head I expected the same thing that happened to that poor lady in Sek 13.

When I got home, the street was empty. It didn’t look like anything had happened. It was peaceful. I rang the bell of a neighbour but no answer. As I was about to go back home, I saw Aunty Intan who lives a door away parked her car near the scene.

I waved at her and she waited for me. My question of apa jadi, aunty was promptly answered and it was sad indeed.

Apparently Aunty Katherine (I think) who lived alone had died. The thing is she had passed away for 2-3 days before her next door neighbour smelt something foul from her house. She dared not break the door so she called the cops and they made the sad discovery.

Her husband passed away years ago and her only child is in the States. She only has her stepchildren from her husband’s first wife in Malaysia.

It is not just the fact that she died alone and remained undiscovered for a few days that saddens me, also the fact that the house is quiet, devoid from any activity. Aunty Intan said probably her stepchildren are handling it from where they live but the thing is we don’t even know where she is buried or more distressingly if her body was even claimed.

I have been looking at the house, waiting for any sign of her relatives and friends but there is none. Hopefully they came while I was at work.

The question people asked was how come the neighbours didn’t know ? Well.. because she is a recluse. She did go to the surau once in a while but she kept much to herself. Maybe that is the culture of mat sallehs, I don’t know. Maybe neighbours pun tak perasan that they haven’t seen her for a few days already. Maybe she preferred to stay indoors so her neighbours thought all is normal.

She did come for my kenduri though when we first moved in. My husband and I went knocking at all the houses on our street to extend our invititation for the kenduri. When we called on her, there was no answer but when we were about to leave I saw her peering from a window upstairs. I waited but she didn’t come out, neither did she when I called again.

But she came to grace our kenduri with apologies. She explained that since she lives alone, she is scared of strangers, something that I readily accept. Kesian dia.

Al-Fatihah for her.

Tasik

Saturday we went walking again but this time we decided to walk around the tasik near Kompleks PKNS. We had always walked there last time, but the sorry state of the tasik made us prefer the one near the mosque.

Well, our absence hadn’t made the tasik any better. It is dirty and unkempt. End of story. No flowers to enhance the beauty, nothing that could actually make it memorable.

It is also in a state of disrepair, most of the wooden bridges looked frail. We passed behind Wet World and I do not have to discourage my children from going. Umar didn’t want to go because the place smelt bad.

Even the playground looked old. It is definitely newer than the KLCC ones but why does it looked so….blah ? The KLCC ones were shining and clean and looked inviting. I know. We went last month.

The bird island that used to enthrall us with the promises of bird sightings, even from afar was empty and messy, with broken fences. Abang then saw what promises to be a lovely spot with a nice bridge, near the defunct Taman Orkid. I answered his questions of what is that and why is it like that with a “Hangat-hangat taik ayam” answer. The idea is there but no will to carry it through.

Let me tell you about St. James Park in London. Year after year, the park remained a delight. Birds of various types wandered freely with the humans. The last year we where there, they build a low fence along the lake to keep the birds out but the long legged ones and of course the determined ones got out anyway. One even greeted the chubby 2 year old Abang and the gurgling and bubbling Umar followed him home !!

We see gardeners tending the flowers all the time. The gardener’s hut was hidden but was awashed with flowers, beautifully maintained. Nothing was done halfway and if there were any, they took all its evidence away from our eyes. I want to be proud of the tasik. I love the trees and the breeze… but that is not enough, is it ?