Coarse bamboo

In the late 1980s at my first workplace in Johor Bahru, I was in charge of the construction of the Islamic religious schools throughout the state. The project was funded by the State Government and the organisation I worked in acted as Project Managers.

Most of these schools were located in rural towns and villages where access were sometimes a problem. I loved my short stint while being involved in the project. It gave me the opportunity to travel to all corners of Johor state and reach the remotest of places in all 8 districts.

In the district of Segamat, there is a small town on the main road heading north to Kuala Lumpur, called Buloh Kasap. I have passed by this place a few times on my trips to KL but the first time I actually made a stop was when I attended a handing-over ceremony of a completed school. In the days before the North-South Expressway, a trip to Segamat from JB would take up to 3 hours. That can be considered as a very far distance but I was a young man then... any outstation trip to visit projects was always fun and worth the drive.

Buloh Kasap got its name from a certain type bamboo plant that is said to have grown abundantly in the area... at least, that's what historical reference sources tell us. Buloh is bamboo while kasap means coarse or rough. I take it that this refers to the skin or surface of the bamboo. I don't actually know how a coarse bamboo plant looks like. The ones I see growing in jungles or by river banks are normally dark green and have smooth outer surface. These are the type that lemang-makers use.

This clump of bamboo is certainly not the kasap variety. Definitely not suitable for making lemang.

The term `buloh kasap' is also widely-known as being used in a Malay proverb. According to Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, the full proverb goes like this -> Berniaga bagai buloh kasap, hujungnya hilang, pangkalnya lesap. The Malay saying means wasteful work being done by someone who doesn't have the knowledge or skills to do it. In particular, it refers to a loss-making business venture caused by the person's own weakness.

As always, I like to ask the mystery question. How does a particular type of bamboo plant gets connected to poor business decisions?

The idea for this post came after I heard my mother use the saying the other day. My youngest sister has started a small makan business selling nasi lemak, satay, mee siam and a few other stuff from a rented stall. She has asked our mother for some cooking tips on how to make her dishes more tasty. Mom would of course, share her secrets... but not before nagging to my sister to be careful about this, be aware about that, take care about the cash collection, don't pamper your workers, don't hutang too much, plus a whole lot of other business advice. She knows what she's talking about, being a small-time businesswoman herself when she was younger. `Jangan berniaga macam buloh kasap,' she warned, `Untung tak ada, modal pun lesap.'

Mothers... they may nag non-stop, but they have the welfare of their children at heart :-)

Songs from yesteryear

In a reply to a comment from blogger-friend Dr Wati in the previous post, I mentioned that I got stuck in assembling 12 photos for compilation as my annual review of `The Previous Year In Pictures'. I have done the series twice already, for 2009 and 2010.

Apparently, there were certain times during 2011 that my camera slept soundly in its bag and wasn't doing any duty. After browsing through my photo files, there were 2 months last year when I did not take any pics, not even from the mobile phone camera. Sadly, this edition of TPYIP has to be skipped.

As a substitute, I've decided to compile all the Youtube songs that I shared on my FB wall in 2011 . There were 7 of them and there was one that I've also shared in this blog, so I apologise for the repetition. Looking and listening to the full list, you can probably can guess the type of person that I sometimes am.... mushy :-)

1. April 10 : (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons - Rod Stewart

I hope you do believe me
I've given you my heart...




2. July 10 : Crazy - Diane Krall, Elvis Costello & Willie Nelson

I'm crazy... crazy for feeling so blue...



3. September 16 : My Love - Julio Iglesias & Stevie Wonder

Say words of love to all we see,
To rich or poor for love is equal,
Let us lift up humanity,
Spread love all over...



4. October 25 : Foolish Heart - Steve Perry

You've been wrong before,
Don't be wrong anymore...



5. November 4 : Reminiscing - The Little River Band

Each time we hear our favourite song,
The memories come along...



6. December 22 : Ain't No Sunshine - Joe Cocker

And this house just ain't no home,
Anytime she goes away...



7. December 31 : Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Carole King & James Taylor

So tell me now and I won't ask again,
Will you still love me tomorrow?




Thanks to all the original uploaders of the vids. I do hope you enjoy them...

A rolling stone...

Wow, it's the new year already. On New Year's Day last year, I was in Temerloh attending a friend's wedding before heading to Kuantan where I spend the night. An unplanned exchange of messages during breakfast the next day saw me having afternoon tea with blogger Versedanggerik and her family. Later on the way back to Kuala Lumpur, I made a detour to Triang, somewhere deep in the Pahang heartland, to visit a nephew whose wife had just given birth.

For the first post of 2012, let's have a discussion on English proverbs for a change.

I spent the first half of last year based in KL, with my family rooted in JB. It was a regular trip up and down the North-South Expressway every other weekend. Sometimes driving but mostly on the express buses. It wasn't something I particularly liked but what to do? Later on in June, a friend introduced me to a job opportunity in Pontian and after a quick interview, I was offered the post. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, that job didn't last... but I decided to remain in Johor Bahru and look for something new. Alhamdulillah, I recently received an offer for a job that would put me back at familiar grounds.

I am what you call, a rolling stone. The full English proverb goes like this : A rolling stone gathers no moss. Now why would we want to gather moss, you may ask. Why not gather something more valuable? Well... proverbs being based on metaphors, are not meant to be understood literally. The meaning of this particular proverb is that if we move around too much (as opposed to sticking around for a long time), then we wouldn't be gaining much experience. Jumping from job to job is an obvious example.

I hadn't actually made a count of how many companies I have worked for since I graduated, until a few days ago. While updating my resume to include this latest appointment, I realised that I have been employed at eleven (11) different firms throughout my 27 years of working life. That number does not include a few short stints at companies owned by friends and relatives. Some people say that this hopping around is not a good thing. Perhaps they are right... but it is not that I purposely seek new jobs every few years just for the fun of it. Each and every job resignation I went through has its own story. Sometimes, things happen that are not within our control. But I'm not the type to live in regret although I admit that the constant job changes had caused difficulties.

I therefore do not fully agree with meaning of the proverb about rolling stones. While I may not have gained a deep knowledge of one particular field, my different job postings have afforded me with a varied exposure of civil engineering disciplines. In which case, another familiar English proverb would apply : a jack of all trades but the master of none. It's okay... I have accepted that I'm not a master, but the little that I know of a few specialised areas are valuable enough for me to survive on. Nonetheless, I do hope this present job will last for some time. A rolling stone can't go on rolling forever.

I may not have gathered moss by not staying still but I can tell you what I've gathered over the years... bank accounts. For the purpose of salary payment, different employers want me to open account at banks of their choice. To date, I have/had accounts at the following financial institutions :

- Malaysia Credit Finance (now defunct)
- HSBC Bank
- Bank Bumiputera (a/c revived as Bank Muamalat when BB went kaput)
- Public Bank
- Maybank
- CIMB Bank (this is the latest)

As I have mentioned previously, nak harapkan akaun bank je yang banyak, duit dalamnya tak se berapa...

The stones in Sungai Bernam that no longer roll...

School child harvest

There is a small rambutan tree in the front compound of our house. It was planted by my mother quite a number of years ago, I can't remember. A few years ago it started to bear fruit but the quantity wasn't that much. Last year was not very good at all, with most of the fruits falling off the tree before they were fully ripe.

This year is different. Seems to be the best produce of all... a bumper harvest. Part of the tree's branches overhang past our front fence and the neighbourhood kids are having a field day plucking the fruits as they please. Some of them ask our permission while others do not. To those who asked, I say go ahead. There's plenty to share.

Since last Monday was a holiday and it wasn't raining continuously like previous days, I decided to do some rambutan-harvesting. My son and his cousin pitched in to help. I climbed part way up the tree to trim some of the branches using a saw. The fallen branches were then gathered by the boys who then pluck off the abundant fruits at the tips. Trimming the branches help new leaves to sprout for the next season.

As my son started to gather the branches, three of the neighbour's kids came around to help... and this kind Pakcik then rewarded them with a plastic bag-full of their pickings. I had trimmed maybe four or five small branches when I felt too tired to continue. We had already collected 2 large bucketful of the fruits. There are still plenty more up there on the tree. Maybe I'll continue the harvest this weekend.

The rambutan my mother planted is of the variety known as `anak sekolah'. Strange name for a fruit but very sweet and juicy with a reasonably thick flesh. I wondered how the name came about. According to a friend, this type of rambutan is well-known in Kelantan state since many years ago. Moktea anok skoloh, that's the way they say it.

The young man using a stick and ladder to pick the lower fruits

The plucked fruits are gathered in a bundle and then shared

Red hairy skin...

...with white juicy flesh.

The day after Christmas

The first time I spent my Christmas holidays at a place where most of the people actually celebrated Christmas, was in 1980 in the small town of Wrexham, in the northern part of Wales, in the United Kingdom. The bunch of us students from Malaysia didn't actually do very much during that term break. It was freezing cold outside so we just stayed at home, kept warm and watch TV. No snow though, so it wasn't a white Christmas.

It was the first time I heard the term Boxing Day, the day after the 25th of December. It is also a public holiday in the UK. If we in Malaysia can have 2 days off for Aidilfitri plus another 2 days off for Chinese New Year, then it is not difficult to understand why the Matsallehs cannot have 2 days off too.

I was puzzled why they called the 26th of December as Boxing Day, so I asked my British friends. None of them could give me a definitive answer. Even today, trying to search for the origin of the name via online sources does not give clear results. The name has nothing to do with the sport of boxing (you know, the game where one man punch another man, in a ring which is actually square in shape). The most accepted theory is that it has to do with boxes (the thing that we keep stuff in), whereby charity boxes containing donations from the public during the Christmas service the previous day are collected and then shared with the poor.

Well, what ever the origin of the name, I remember Boxing Day for another reason. It is a full day programme for English league football. So I'll be tied in front of the telly tonight.

Hoping my friends had a lovely day-off yesterday. Me and the missus had a quiet day resting at home. Our son with a number of his cousins, had a blast spending the whole day at Universal Studios in Singapore.

Once a lifetime experience...