Thursday, October 25, 2007

PUSARA

Kebiasaan aku, pagi hari pertama Syawal, pasti akan menemani Makngah dan Achik mengunjungi pusara arwah atuk dan nenekku. Tahun ni, timing off sikit, dan akhirnya kami cuma dapat berkumpul dan ke sana pada Ahad lepas. Suasana jauh berbeza dari suasana awal Syawal, sunyi sesunyinya. Hanya kami berempat sahaja yang ada, selain dari pekerja penjaga tanah perkuburan itu.

Anyway, sambil lalu-lalang, aku sempat survey sekeliling. Nampaknya trend terkini, buat binaan pusara dengan batu granit hitam, atau batu mar-mar bermacam-macam warna, biru merah hitam perang kelabu hijau maroon. Ada yang binaannya dibuat bertingkat, jadi 3 tingkat separas pinggang aku. Diatasnya disusun batu kecil licin hitam atau kelabu berkilat, very decorative. Batu nisan pula samada mar-mar yang sama atau batu sungai yang besar yang dilekatkan 'plaque' untuk tulis nama etc. Banyak juga yang ditanam rumput karpet di atas dan di sekelilingnya. Dibahagian kepala, dibuat tempat duduk untuk pengunjung. Aku cuba bersangka baik, mungkin untuk memudahkan pengunjung yang ada masalah kesihatan, seperti sakit lutut, kot? Ada juga beberapa pusara yang diberi bumbung, dan ada juga yang berpagar siap berkunci padlock, kenapa agaknya ye? Oh, ada juga yang dihadapan batu nisannya diletakkan 'vase' mar-mar, untuk diisi sejambak bunga oleh pengunjung. Silap haribulan, macam tugu pulak.

Hmmmm.

Aku sempat berhenti seketika di satu pusara di baris hadapan pusara atukku. Nampaknya agak semak, jadi aku buang sikit rumput-rampainya, mungkin jarang dikunjungi kot. Aku sedekahkan bacaan al-Fatihah. Aku baca namanya. Seorang mualaf cina berusia 27 tahun. Mungkinkah tak ada saudara-maranya yang mengunjunginya?

Lantas aku terfikir. Dalam keadaan aku sekarang, bila tiba masaku nanti, adakah sesiapa yang akan mengunjungi pusaraku?

Perasaanku jadi sunyi, sesunyi tanah perkuburan itu pada pagi itu.

Tiba-tiba aku sebak.

Friday, October 19, 2007

BERBAGI SUAMI

Anyone caught the Indonesian movie 'Berbagi Suami' aired over Hari Raya on Astro? This movie was released last year I think, and there were some public protests against it because it 'portrays poligamy & Islam in a negative way', or some sort of similar comment la. I haven't been to the movies in ages, so I really haven't kept up with the movie scene.

Anyway, this movie is, well, different, to say the least. I guess the director Nia Dinata, a female nontheless, wanted to explore different sides of the issue, and in doing so had unearthed real-life situations which she highlighted in the movie, ugly as they may. So the movie ended up as a bit provocative, not unlike Yasmin Ahmad's movies as they are received here. But hey, life is NOT a bed of roses, and I bet the movie is as honest and close to the real happenings around their community.

Anyway, it's based on the lives of three different women in various poligamous marriages, and how these women actually have met each other in their daily lives without even realising that they all suffer from the same predicament.

The first lady, Salma is from a religious and well-to-do background. She is a gynaechologist in her middle ages, married to a Pak Haji, has one son, and is rich enough to have equestrian as her hobby, hah! She only found out about her honey a few years after her husband married the woman, and initially couldn't accept it. But her husband had proven that he is a good provider and that his love & attention towards her & son hadn't changed despite marrying a second wife, and so as time goes by, Salma learned to accept the second wife, and later, a third wife, while suffering in silence.

Salma's patience paid off in the end, when Pak Haji fell ill and decided that he wanted Salma to care for him. Their son also got closer to Pak Haji, and near his demise, Pak Haji sempat pesan to the son not to marry more than one wife, "nanti pusing (pening)" hehehe :-) Very last scene at the cemetary, rupanya there was a fourth wife whom nobody knew about. Hebat Pak Haji ni... and by that I mean he probably conducted his polygamous business in the best way and never menyusahkan one family over another, so that they all lead happy, almost separate lives.

The second story takes place in a poor area, where Siti came to Jakarta to stay with her uncle's family (uncle already had two wives and several kids) and ended up as the third wife. Everyone live 'acceptingly' although under very poor conditions in the same house. Somehow, second and third wives became very close, so close that I think they ended up as lesbian partners la. Bummer for the husband's manly reputation!

When the husband brought home a fourth wife, it was the last straw for Siti, and she ran away from home, together with second wife and her kids. Ha, yang ni toksah ikut ler, tak mampu tapi sibuk nak poligami. Tak reti bagi kasih-sayang, tau nak main blasah bini aje - the scene for Siti's 'first night' was censored on Astro, but she was taken without foreplay, and in a standing position against the bedroom door (don't ask me how I know haha!), which must've been quite rough for a virgin. Do you blame her for how things turn out later then?

The third story is about Ming, a beautiful chinese girl working in a popular restaurant. Koh Abun, the cook cum owner of restaurant desperately wanted her for himself, despite already having a wife and daughters. Yang ni pun toksah ikut le, dia boleh 'pau' staf dia right under his wife's nose, as the wife is the cashier in the same restaurant. Anyway, I kinda get the idea that Ming became a second wife for the sake of easy money. Later on her ex-boyfriend (who is now a movie producer) offered her a movie part, she became restless and wanted freedom. What she didn't expect was that Koh Abun would leave her, and took his family to migrate overseas. So much for that marriage!

Anyway, it was an enjoyable and somewhat provoking movie, but don't watch it with kids la, nanti depa banyak tanya plak. I don't think it's all negative there la, in fact in the first story, Salma is a very strong lady who acts more with her head than with her emotions, and she persevered through the strength of her religious belief. Walhal kalau dia nak blah boleh aje, dia doktor pakar kan, tak risau pasal duit pun. Siti's action pun, bagi aku bagus jugak. No, not the lesbian bit la aiyoooo..... but the bit about making changes in her life, moving on kerana dah nampak laki tu bukannya bertanggungjawab sangat. Each to his own la.

So kalau ada sesiapa nak amik tips, tonton ler, pastu fikir-fikirkan balik, ye?

Thursday, October 18, 2007

MASUK KEJE LEPAS RAYA

Mula masuk kerja dari semalam, tak ramai, cuma 8 orang staf. Aku sorang ajer officer yang kerja semalam, kira jadik 'Pengawal Pusat' la. Rasa sunyi betul bila semua orang duduk di cubicle masing-masing, pastu masih dalam mood Raya, enjin belum panas untuk bekerja. So depa pakat lepak depan tv kat ruangan pelanggan. Hampeh! Hehehe baik tengok tv kat umah aje.

Tapi tulahnya, nak marah pun tak kuasa. Macam typist tu, kalau takde officer yang kasik draf surat untuk ditaip, depa pun takdak keje, so takleh marah la kalau depa lepak tengok tv, kan? At least depa dok dalam ofis, tak gi merayau. Aku plak dok mainkan koleksi lagu entah haper-haper yang ada dalam pc aku, asalkan hilang sunyi.

Yang paling bosan, bab makan la. Isy.... semua restoran di keliling tutup, termasuk food court ofis aku dan food court ofis sebelah. Yang bukak kat deret kedai bawah tu hanya restoran satay. Siapa nak makan satay pagi-pagi buta? In the end semua orang sarapan kat the only restoran yang bukak, sebuah restoran mamak yang agak kejauhan sikit. Orang bertali-arus sampai tak menang tangan mamak tu melayan. Makan tengahari pun kat situ jugak. Hmm... bebudak ofis ni, baju depa dah lekat bau kari sampai ke petang!

Petang, tak tunggu lama, cabut tepat kul 4.30. Malam tu dah ada plan nak ke rumah paktuo. Dia ni aku panggil 'Self-Appointed Buapak'... maklum le dia abang, so adik-adik semua termasuk abah aku, kena hormat dan dengar cakap dia. Eh OK aper aku gelar dia gitu, some of my cousins lagi ler, panggil dia 'Agung' terus! Hmm...? Apa menatang 'buapak' tu? Korang tak pernah dengar? OK, nanti boring-boring aku tulis post pasal Adat Perpatih plak, ye?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

MY NEPHEWS

Hmm... lama dah tak post gambar bebudak nakal ni.
Here are their latest pics!


Danish smiling for the camera

Brrr.... it's cold!

Haziq, mat enter frame

Sivaji the Boss! Hehehe

Brothers' sharing time

SYAWAL

1 Syawal
2 Syawal
3 Syawal
Same as any other day.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

I GOT IT FROM MY MAMA

Hah! Despite what the gals say in Will.I.Am's song, not EVERYTHING about your body will be inherited from your mama. Me and my sis don't look much alike. We're not of the same height and stature either. I have a friend who has fair skin and is nicknamed 'amoi' while her sister have skin quite dark that she's fondly called 'achi'. One sister may have thick curly hair, quite the envy of the other siblings. Hmm, mamaries too. Not all sisters would be similarly endowed, regardless of how overflowing their mama's cup is (pun intended, ppbbbtttt). Sometimes features 'skip' a generation or two, mak ayah petot je tapi anak menggalah macam great-grandpa.

Oh, by the way, I just thought of this topic while watching MTV earlier. Hmm... maybe it's not such a good idea to watch MTV at daytime during the fasting month, yeah? Hahaha... tau takper.

Anyway, we've all got our share of prides and peeves about our physical appearance. My personal peeves are regarding my height (or rather, lack of, bleargh!) and also my weight (or rather, excess of, double bleargh!). Of course once in a while, when I see beautiful people, I'd wish for bigger eyes, prettier smile, mancung-er nose etc etc, but otherwise I'm happy with what He has granted me.

But I think a more popular concern among ladies is regarding their bodies. And thanks to mainstream media, commercialism and hollywood endorsements i.e the song on my sidebar, most women want to be stick-thin slimmer, have bigger gravity-defying boobs and rounder perky derrierres (betul ke ejaan ni?). Sedangkan sepatutnya yang being promoted is health, not beauty semata-mata.

Anyway, amongst the individual features, there is more emphasize on the breasts size, methinks. A friend got so excited when she was a few months pregnant, she called friends up to tell us that she's "finally getting out of the A-cup category" and hurriedly bought new B-cup bras. But a few months after delivery, she was back in A-cup, and we all (her including) had a great laugh over her 'cup' adventure hehe :-)

Once while shopping with Milly, we were buying bras. She sighed and said she hated her flat chest. So I said, why don't you get one of those push-up bras, it would surely improve appearances. She sighed even louder, and said, "my dear, the one I want to impress is the one who will see me without a bra..." Seems that her hubs sometimes comments on her flat chest, which is totally unfair in my opinion, since she'd had that figure since forever.

Ala, hubs ni pun, size shouldn't matter la, kan? We ladies accept our dearests, size notwithstanding. And anyway tang breast size ni, I'm sure it's something likely obvious from the time you first meet, so you basically already know if she's flat chested or not. Takkan sampai dah anak tiga pun masih nak komen? Oh, but not all men la macam tu kan, probably ada yang tak minat pun dengan ladies' fuller breasts, "takut lemas..." hahaha :-)

By the way, and this is generalising, malays usually have good-sized breasts compared to the other races here. Out there pulak, they say Swedes are genetically more likely to have bigger boobs. Betul ke? I leave you with this video clip which I also saw on MTV (rosak pahala puasa aku... hahaha). Here's Inga from Sweden!


Link: sevenload.com

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

BACK FROM BRUNEI

I'm baaaack!
Brunei was, well, macam pegi rumah sepupu aje, bih kurang sama je ngan kat sini :-)
<--- Anak damit (baby/infant in Bruneispeak)

Anak domok - chubby kid, hahah :-) --->

Seriously, si Haziq ni dah tembam sekarang heheh dah domok!

Anyway, we didn't get to do many things during the trip, because the kids were a bit unwell, and my bro-inlaw was tied up in meetings in the mornings. We stayed at his colleague's rented house in Kiarong, 6-room bungalow, so the kids were running all over the house, letih aku mengejar.

For iftar, it's food galore at the pasar ramadhan, mostly we went to Pasar Gadong. It's lamb heaven here! Depa suka makan kambing, so syok la dok beli lamb steak hari-hari, yang takdak jual kat pasar ramadhan Kelana Jaya ni. Banyak juga kuih yang first time aku jumpa. Aku geram tengok ikan bakar, banyak betul dijual dan murah pulak tu.

Sempat jugak survey pasar biasa. Hansac, petai nampak sama je ngan kat Semenanjung la :-)

Tapi durian, memang lain la, buahnya kecik, duri halus & panjang, isi warna merah. The aroma is different, and the taste is certainly different. Tapi aku tak pelik la, sebab aku dah pernah jumpa masa gi Sarawak dulu, in fact some of the fruits kat situ ada labels 'dari Miri' including the durian and the membangan. We bought some buah tarap too, nice! Hmm... foodstuff nampak murah dari di KL. For example secekak sawi bunga yang aku beli kat pasar tani sini dengan harga RM2.00, kat sana baru B50sen, which is quivelant to RM1.15.

Masjid tersergam indah, dengan kubah emas

One thing yang obvious sangat sal appearance kat sana, is that all signboards must have a jawi version. I bet Anita Roddick could never imagine her shop to have the signboard spelt ba-wau-dal-ya shim-wau-pa hehehe :-) MacDonalds lagi la panjang ejaannya.

Oh, first time aku lalu depan restoran ni, kat banner dia tulis 'Sungkai Buffet', and I thought the restaurant owner was a Malaysian hailing from Sungkai, Perak. Ghopenye, sungkai tu is berbuka puasa hehehe.

First time also tasted ambuyat, masa berbuka di restoran Andaman. I guess it takes some getting used to la, although it was fun to twirl the 'stick' in the ambuyat mixture hehehe :-) Aku ni asyik cakap sal makan je kan? Anyway, aku rasa belacan kat sana sedap, so aku hangkut balik a few packets. I guess it must be the shrimp in those areas la, sebab sebelum ni pun aku dok beli belacan Miri yang memang sedap (pada aku lar) dari belacan di sini.

Anyway, we had a relaxing time there. So relaxed is the life, sampai aku jadik tension dalam keta. Yelah, dah biasa ngan driver KL yang brutal, bila jumpa driver sopan-santun kat sana, nak keluar simpang pun ala-ala lemah-gemalai, rasa rimas plak hahaha :-)

Punyalah tak sibuk, check out the pc screen kat kaunter imigresen hehehe :-)

The people... oh the few that I met and spoke to, are so warm and friendly mah! And very sopan, tak intrusive and tak sesuka hati je tanya soalan personal. Yelah, kalau kat sini, baru 5 minutes into the conversation, mesti dah keluar soalan cepumas "dah kawin? anak berapa? oh kenapa tak kawin lagi?"

The sky looked great from my window on the flight back. I am a bit relaxed as compared to last week. Thank you, Brunei Darussalam :-)