Festival of Lights

Wishing a Happy Deepavali to my Hindu friends in Malaysia and elsewhere. May the future of our country be bright and all its citizens live in peace and harmony.

Pic of Kolam borrowed from AllMalaysia.info

Update 01 Dec 2021 : AllMalaysia.info website no longer exists.

On a lighter note

Terlewat sebulan

Sepasang pengantin baru berkahwin 4 bulan. Pada suatu malam si isteri memeluk leher suami dengan nada manja seraya berkata, "Ayang, period I dah lewat sebulan, tapi I tak boleh nak pastikan lagi sebab kita kena gi check kat doktor."

Si suami yang teramat gembira tu pun berpakat dengan isterinya untuk tidak memberitahu sesiapa pun tentang perkhabaran gumbira ini sehingga ianya benar-benar pasti.

Pada suatu hari, pasangan ini di datangi oleh pegawai dari TNB kerana terdapat tunggakan dalam pembayaran bill elektrik rumah mereka. Pegawai TNB tu pun bertanya "Ini rumah En. Mahpus ker?" "Iya, saya ni isterinya. Ada apa Encik?"

Pegawai TNB tu pun berkata, "Puan, ni dah sebulan lewat, saya dah tak boleh tunggu ni, nanti boss saya marah."

Dengan nada terkejut, si isteri itu pun membalas balik cakap pegawai TNB tu."APA??? Macam mana pulak Encik tahu yang saya ni sebulan lewat???"

Pegawai TNB tu pun dengan selamba menjawab "Alaa puan, ni kan zaman IT, semua tu ada dalam komputer dan kita boleh check Online."

Kata-kata pegawai TNB tu membuatkan si isteri tu lagi terkejut.
"APAAA???? Saya lewat sebulan pun awak semua boleh tahuuu???"

Pegawai TNB tu pun mententeramkan keadaan. "Releks puan, puan ni baru lewat sebulan, ada yg lagi teruk, lewat 5-6 bulan."

Si isteri yang terperanjat beruk dengan kenyataan pegawai tu pun berkata, “Nanti saya bincang dengan suami saya..” Lalu pegawai TNB tu pun beredar dari situ..

Keesokkan harinya, selepas si Mahphus ini diberitahu oleh isterinya, dia pun naik berang dan terus amik cuti dan pergi ke kedai TNB yang berdekatan.

Dengan tanpa menghiraukan pegawai-pegawai TNB yang ramai di situ, dia pun memekik seraya berkata, "Apa korang ni, isteri saya sebulan lewat pun nak heboh-heboh ke dalam internet! Awak ni semua yang berkeluarga tak pernah lewat sebulan kerrrr????!! Bisness apa korang buat niii?? Nak kena saman kerr???”

Lalu pegawai yang datang ke rumah si Mahphus ni berdiri dan cuba mententeramkan keadaan. "Sabar encik, sabar encik. Apa susah, kalau cik nak settlekan perkara ni, bayar je..."

Kata-kata pegawai TNB tu membuatkan si Mahphus tambah naik berang.

"APAAA?? nak bayar korang? belahhhh lahh..."

Lalu pegawai TNB tu pun cakap, "Kalau macam tu, kita terpaksa potong encik punya..."

Si Mahpus mencelah, "Apa??? Potong??? Abih tu isteri saya di rumah nak pakai apaaaaaa???”

Pegawai TNB tu pun cakap, "Nampak gayanye.. ISTERI ENCIK KENA PAKAI LILIN AJERRRLAAAAAAAA"


Note : Got this from my favourite online forum site. Original author unknown.

Fiction, continued...

Headnote : The opening part of this story can be read in the post of 30 September 2008, here -> Part 1.

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A Bingo Straight To The Heart (Part 2)

Sheffield, England – Winter of 1990

During our student days, me and my three housemates were Scrabble freaks and we play the game for hours on end almost every Saturday. It was the winter break and I was in the final year of my Accountancy course. Aida is two years my junior, studying Civil Engineering, the only Malaysian girl taking up a technical course out of the twenty Malaysian girls studying in Sheffield at that time.

Aida stayed in a rented flat a few streets away from our house and she and her housemates often join us on our Scrabble sessions. On one particular Saturday afternoon just before the Christmas holiday that year, Aida as usual turned up at our door for a Scrabble session, but this time without her girl friends. Instead, she had brought along her classmate, Johari.

“Hi guys!” chirped Aida in her ever-present jovial voice as soon as she stepped into our hallway from the cold outside. “This is my friend, Johari. I hope you all don’t mind me bringing him along. Dee and Ann are away at some friend’s place so I’ve invited Joe to join us.”

It was the first time we were having a male visitor in the house and Mei Lin, my housemate who had opened the door, looked at me for a sign of approval. Aida’s friend had already stepped into the hallway and it would have been very discourteous and awkward to turn him away.

“No problem. Please come on in,” I replied.

“All right!” Aida exclaimed, smiling widely as if she had struck the winning lottery or something. “Joe, this is Kak June, that’s Mei Lin and over there is Anita and Nooraini,” she continues to introduce us.

“Hello,” Joe said. “I hope this is not too much of a trouble. Aida thought that you guys may need an extra hand at the game and has asked me to come along.”

“No trouble!” I said, “You are most welcome to join us.”

I wasn’t sure if I was entirely truthful when I said that at the time.

... to be continued.

The abode of a princess

On Saturday, I attended the wedding of my colleague whose kampung is at Sungai Mati in the district of Muar, Johor. After the wedding, I traveled on the Bukit Gambir - Panchor road to access the North-South highway at Pagoh.

This particular road passes through the rice-planting region of Gersik where the spectacular scenery of Gunung Ledang fills the background. It was already almost dusk when I took the photograph shown below. With the very low level of light and without a tripod, it was difficult to avoid camera shake. I didn't have time to scout around for better angles either. How I wished to have a good dSLR camera in my possession.

Gunung Ledang, also known by the English name of Mount Ophir, is famous for the legend of a beautiful princess whose hand was sought in marriage by the Sultan of Melaka. The princess set seven practically-impossible conditions for the Sultan to fulfil before his marriage proposal can be accepted. One version of the fable has it that the first six conditions were met but the Sultan failed the final one... to provide a bowl of blood from the Sultan's own son.

When I was younger, listening to this story always filled me with awe. Nowadays, I've come to realise that it was meant to teach something... that men can become so stupid and senseless upon being enchanted by the beauty of a woman. The princess set all those impossible conditions because she didn't want to marry the Sultan in the first place. In other words, she was trying to politely decline... but the Melaka ruler just didn't get it. To paraphrase it in Malay, tak kan tak paham-paham lagi.

As I said, there are many versions of this folklore. A very good research piece done by Sabri Zain can be read here -> The Fairy Princess of Gunung Ledang.

Update 01 Dec 2021 : The link relating to the seven conditions has been removed but readers can still view it on Wikipedia by searching for the page, Legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang. The link to the research piece by Sabri Zain has also been removed but I encourage readers to view the write-up by going to www.sabrizain.org/malaya/melaka3.htm.

A good makan spot in Mersing, Johor

I mentioned earlier that we spent the second day of Aidilfitri at my wife's kampung. Having had enough of ketupat and rendang for two days, I decided to take the family out for dinner. As it was still the second day of raya, I didn't think that there would be many restaurants open for business yet, but we took a chance of exploring the small town of Mersing anyway.

Surprise, surprise! We found one that was open and what a find it was. The restaurant is called Sally's Place and the tagline on the signboard says that they serve Chinese Muslim food. Sally's Place is quite unique in that it is actually an old Malay kampung house. The original living room and bedrooms in the raised section of the house are now converted to dining areas. The kitchen is located in a front annexe on the ground floor. Being still a small-time business, the interior decor is nothing to shout about... but the taste of the food was something else.

Our meal that night was made up of Siakap fish steamed Teochew-style, hot-plate ginger beef, black pepper prawns, mixed vegetable soup and egg foo-yung. The steamed fish was exquisite and the beef was delicious. The prawns were a tad small, both in size and portion but the black pepper taste was actually quite good. If they had served us large-sized prawns (for which I don't mind paying for), it would have been perfect. The soup and eggs were not bad too. We cleared all the dishes, no leftovers.

Steamed Siakap, Teochew-style

Black pepper prawns

The whole meal for four cost me RM67 only. How's that for value for money.

I was told that Sally's Place began operating only recently, about 3 or 4 months ago. I hope they can maintain their taste and I wish them continued success. The restaurant is located about two kilometres from the centre of Mersing town, north after the bridge on the road to Endau. They are open during dinner time only.

I went to the place again the next day to take a photo of the house from the outside. Opposite the house is a tranquil beach facing the North China Sea.

If you happen to be spending a night in Mersing, do drop by Sally's Place for a lovely dinner of Chinese Muslim cuisine.

Old Malay kampung house converted into a restaurant

Mersing Kanan beach with a view of Pulau Setindan

Update 01 Dec 2021 : Sally's Place ceased operations many years ago. A few other businesses have taken over the place since then. None seem to last. The house still exists but it's only outdoor dining now.