The government clinic is housed in an old building built pre-independence. It is located at the outskirts of town, away from the urban congestion. I didn't actually know that there is such a place. The missus and I are there to visit someone. It is a brief visit.
As we walk back to our car, I study the surroundings. Although the building is old, it seems to be well-maintained. The grass is neatly trimmed and a few flowering bougainvillea shrubs gave the large surrounding compound colour. A big old angsana tree grows just next to the entrance, providing much needed shade. The presence of a slight breeze complements the tranquility of the mid-afternoon moment.
We get into our car that is parked in a small paved area not far from the main gate. I mention to my wife, "The peaceful surroundings sure suit the clinic... but for the general public who don't have their own transport, it can be quite troublesome to get to this place. I don't think the public buses come round here. I doubt there are any taxis either... it is too out-of-the way."
My wife nods in agreement. But what startled me is a voice coming from the back seat of the car.
"Betul tu dik... dah lama akak tunggu teksi tapi tak sampai-sampai. Nasib baik la adik bagi tumpang kat akak."
I turn around to see a middle-aged Malay lady sitting at the back smiling at me. Good God! Who is this woman? And how did she get into my car?!
"Adik turunkan akak kat bandar ye..."
I take a big gulp but my throat is suddenly dry. I can only mutter a muffled, "Uh-huh" in reply. She is already in the car... so I can't ask her to step out, can I?
I start the engine and slowly drive out of the clinic compound. My wife sits quietly, looking straight out the front windscreen as if nothing is happening. I thought she is doing a good job of remaining calm by ignoring who (or what) is sitting at the back and focussing her mind directly on the road ahead. Good move, buat tak tahu aje.
Throughout the drive into town, it is eerily quiet inside the car. Nobody spoke. I occasionally steal some glances at my rear-view mirror. Firstly, to check if my unexpected passenger is still there and if she is, to have a more detailed look at her appearance.
Well... she is still there. She wears a simple baju kurung in a light-blue floral pattern. Her hair is wavy and shoulder-length with streaks of grey showing all over. She sits there calmly with both hands neatly on her lap as she looks out of the window at nothing in particular. The slight smile on her face gives the impression of contentment. I couldn't see if she carried a bag or anything else.
We reach a busy part of town and the silence in the car is broken by my passenger.
"Adik boleh berhenti kat sini. Akak nak turun sini."
"Oh.. okay," I reply.
"What okay?" my wife responds. "And why are we stopping here?"
"Err... our passenger wants to get off here," I answer while twisting my head slightly to indicate the back seat.
My wife looks at me quizzically and asks, "What passenger?"
Both of us turn to look at the back seat.... but there is nobody there.
I ask my wife, "You didn't notice an old woman riding with us in the car from the clinic? She wanted a lift into town."
My wife has a bewildered look on her face. She slowly shakes her head and reply, "No... "
Friday 10 April 2009
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Setahun jagung
This blog is one year old today.I started off my first post in this blog with something I received in a forwarded email. The article, Paradox of Our Time, was purportedly by the American comedian George Carlin. Before posting, I googled about Carlin and from his official website, found that he denied writing such crap.
A year has now gone by... George Carlin passed away on 22 June 2008. And I've met more friends in blogosphere. Some blogger friends became Facebook friends and in turn, I hope we would have the chance to meet in real-life someday.
Thank you to all who have taken the time to drop a comment or two.
Sunday 5 April 2009
The need for speed
It's motor racing season again. The second race of the Formula 1 Grand Prix is being held today at Sepang, Selangor.
Not many people know that there is another motor racing circuit of international standard in Malaysia. It is located in Pasir Gudang, Johor.
The Johor Circuit was built in 1986 by Johor Corporation as a means to promote motorsports in the state. In 1990, just after four years after it was built, the circuit was upgraded to comply to the strict FIM World GP specifications. Among the improvements made were lengthening of the track from 3.1 km to 3.86 km, introduction of new bends, reconstruction of run-off areas at some corners and improvement to the pit facilities. The track now has 12 turns or corners.
I was attached to the Engineering Department at Pasir Gudang at the time and hence became directly involved in the upgrading works. Our department was responsible for the construction of the track extension and supervision of the pit improvement works. The earthworks were carried out using departmental machinery and we worked round the clock to meet the tight schedule. The first race to be held upon completion of the upgrading works was the Johor International Formula 3 grand prix.
We managed to complete our portion of the works on time and I was proud of our in-house construction team. The completed track has to undergo an independent inspection before it can be certified to world standards.
One afternoon, I was at the track with two colleagues to check up on last minute preparations prior to the independent inspection. We completed our tasks earlier than expected and were taking a break sitting at the grandstand area while viewing the quiet and empty circuit. The tracks have been re-surfaced and the overall view was quite impressive.
Out of the blue, my colleague named Ismail remarked, "What a nice track and what a nice day..."
"Yeah," I said.
Ismail turned to look at me and asked, "You want to race?"
"You're kidding, right?" I replied. I looked at Ismail's face and saw that he was not.
And so I said, "Okay, let's race!"
It was a spur of the moment decision but it did cross my mind that we would never get the chance to take our cars for a spin once the track is formally opened. I had previously driven around the circuit before but those drives were more to inspect the progress of construction works by my staff. Now that the track has been fully re-surfaced, I'm itching to try out a spin at racing speed.
Ismail and I scanned the premises to make sure the circuit management staff were not around before we quietly sneaked in our cars onto the track. What we were about to do was something that was definitely against the rules. But hey... nothing ventured, nothing gained. We decided that the race shall be over 2 laps. Hopefully we can sneak out after those two laps without getting caught. Our other colleague named Samad declined to ride with either of us and so acted as the starter to flag us off. To show that he was serious about the race, Ismail even put on a motorcycle helmet.
I was driving a Mazda 323 Hatchback at the time. It has a 1.5 litre engine with manual transmission and was my first car. It was maroon in colour and had a rubber spoiler attached at the rear. Not a bad-looking car.
Ismail's car was a 1,000 cc Daihatsu Charade, the pre-cursor of our Perodua Kancil. To balance the mismatch in engine power, I agreed to take on a handicap by starting two grid positions behind him. I was confident that I could catch up by the end of the first lap.
How wrong I was! As soon as Samad flagged us off, Ismail's Charade took off at lightning speed. I gave chase with all my might. The Mazda's engine revved to the danger levels in a bid to squeeze every bit acceleration that it can deliver. When I reached the corners, I braked as late I dared and shifted gears downwards and upwards in near frenzy as the tyres screeched in mercy. It was constant gear-shifting between the 2nd and 3rd gears throughout. There was hardly any time to switch to 4th gear except for the long back straight.
As we reached the end of the first lap, I was nowhere near overtaking the Charade. We crossed the start/finish line on the first lap with me still 2 car lengths behind Ismail. Ini tak boleh jadi ni, I said to myself.
I floored the accelerator and coaxed my car to give its all. In a bid to make up the gap, I braked even later, causing the tyres to screech even louder. As we reached the last turn on the 2nd lap, I was side-by-side with the Daihatsu. I took the outside line, made a smooth gear change and stepped hard on the accelerator as we exited the last corner. I overtook my friend just as we crossed the finish line. The rush of adrenaline was indescribable!
Suddenly, I saw a man standing in the middle of the track with both arms spread out wide... an obvious signal for us to stop. It was Harvey Yap, the Track Manager. Crap, I thought... we're gonna be toast!
As we brought our cars to a stop, we heard Harvey yell, "Are you guys CRAZY! You want to kill yourselves?!!!"
Ismail quickly got out of his car, took off his helmet and approached Harvey. "Very sorry, Harvey. Very sorry," he pleaded profusely. We were like begging Harvey for our lives at that moment.
Mr. Yap, a retired race car driver, gave us a severe tongue-lashing but quickly cooled down. He let us off with a final reminder, "Next time, if you want to race, you let me know first! I'll show you how to do it properly."
We thanked Harvey for the let-off. He kept his word by not reporting our crazy escapade to our bosses.
And to this day, not many people know that the very first race on the upgraded Johor Circuit was run by two amateurs who, at that time, do not know the meaning of the word `insane'.
Not many people know that there is another motor racing circuit of international standard in Malaysia. It is located in Pasir Gudang, Johor.
The Johor Circuit was built in 1986 by Johor Corporation as a means to promote motorsports in the state. In 1990, just after four years after it was built, the circuit was upgraded to comply to the strict FIM World GP specifications. Among the improvements made were lengthening of the track from 3.1 km to 3.86 km, introduction of new bends, reconstruction of run-off areas at some corners and improvement to the pit facilities. The track now has 12 turns or corners.
I was attached to the Engineering Department at Pasir Gudang at the time and hence became directly involved in the upgrading works. Our department was responsible for the construction of the track extension and supervision of the pit improvement works. The earthworks were carried out using departmental machinery and we worked round the clock to meet the tight schedule. The first race to be held upon completion of the upgrading works was the Johor International Formula 3 grand prix.We managed to complete our portion of the works on time and I was proud of our in-house construction team. The completed track has to undergo an independent inspection before it can be certified to world standards.
One afternoon, I was at the track with two colleagues to check up on last minute preparations prior to the independent inspection. We completed our tasks earlier than expected and were taking a break sitting at the grandstand area while viewing the quiet and empty circuit. The tracks have been re-surfaced and the overall view was quite impressive.
Out of the blue, my colleague named Ismail remarked, "What a nice track and what a nice day..."
"Yeah," I said.
Ismail turned to look at me and asked, "You want to race?"
"You're kidding, right?" I replied. I looked at Ismail's face and saw that he was not.
And so I said, "Okay, let's race!"
It was a spur of the moment decision but it did cross my mind that we would never get the chance to take our cars for a spin once the track is formally opened. I had previously driven around the circuit before but those drives were more to inspect the progress of construction works by my staff. Now that the track has been fully re-surfaced, I'm itching to try out a spin at racing speed.
Ismail and I scanned the premises to make sure the circuit management staff were not around before we quietly sneaked in our cars onto the track. What we were about to do was something that was definitely against the rules. But hey... nothing ventured, nothing gained. We decided that the race shall be over 2 laps. Hopefully we can sneak out after those two laps without getting caught. Our other colleague named Samad declined to ride with either of us and so acted as the starter to flag us off. To show that he was serious about the race, Ismail even put on a motorcycle helmet.
I was driving a Mazda 323 Hatchback at the time. It has a 1.5 litre engine with manual transmission and was my first car. It was maroon in colour and had a rubber spoiler attached at the rear. Not a bad-looking car.
Ismail's car was a 1,000 cc Daihatsu Charade, the pre-cursor of our Perodua Kancil. To balance the mismatch in engine power, I agreed to take on a handicap by starting two grid positions behind him. I was confident that I could catch up by the end of the first lap.
How wrong I was! As soon as Samad flagged us off, Ismail's Charade took off at lightning speed. I gave chase with all my might. The Mazda's engine revved to the danger levels in a bid to squeeze every bit acceleration that it can deliver. When I reached the corners, I braked as late I dared and shifted gears downwards and upwards in near frenzy as the tyres screeched in mercy. It was constant gear-shifting between the 2nd and 3rd gears throughout. There was hardly any time to switch to 4th gear except for the long back straight.
Images of a Mazda 323 Hatchback and a Daihatsu Charade, mid-1980's model
As we reached the end of the first lap, I was nowhere near overtaking the Charade. We crossed the start/finish line on the first lap with me still 2 car lengths behind Ismail. Ini tak boleh jadi ni, I said to myself.
I floored the accelerator and coaxed my car to give its all. In a bid to make up the gap, I braked even later, causing the tyres to screech even louder. As we reached the last turn on the 2nd lap, I was side-by-side with the Daihatsu. I took the outside line, made a smooth gear change and stepped hard on the accelerator as we exited the last corner. I overtook my friend just as we crossed the finish line. The rush of adrenaline was indescribable!
Suddenly, I saw a man standing in the middle of the track with both arms spread out wide... an obvious signal for us to stop. It was Harvey Yap, the Track Manager. Crap, I thought... we're gonna be toast!
As we brought our cars to a stop, we heard Harvey yell, "Are you guys CRAZY! You want to kill yourselves?!!!"
Ismail quickly got out of his car, took off his helmet and approached Harvey. "Very sorry, Harvey. Very sorry," he pleaded profusely. We were like begging Harvey for our lives at that moment.
Mr. Yap, a retired race car driver, gave us a severe tongue-lashing but quickly cooled down. He let us off with a final reminder, "Next time, if you want to race, you let me know first! I'll show you how to do it properly."
We thanked Harvey for the let-off. He kept his word by not reporting our crazy escapade to our bosses.
And to this day, not many people know that the very first race on the upgraded Johor Circuit was run by two amateurs who, at that time, do not know the meaning of the word `insane'.
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Lawak buah
Let's start this first day of April with a joke...
Lawak Buah
Tiga orang pengembara dalam hutan ditangkap oleh se puak orang cannibal. Ketua puak tu pun mengarahkan anak buahnya supaya membunuh ketiga-tiga lelaki itu untuk dijadikan santapan. Ketiga-tiga lelaki itu pun merayu dengan sepenuh hati supaya mereka dibebaskan.
Oleh kerana mereka merayu dengan bersungguh-sunggguh, ketua puak itu pun setuju untuk melepaskan mereka dengan satu syarat. Syaratnya ialah mereka perlu mencari 10 biji buah dari jenis yang sama.
"Ah.. nie simple punya keje".. kata mereka dalam hati.
Maka mereka pun berpecah ke dalam hutan untuk mencari buah-buahan tersebut dengan diiringi oleh beberapa lelaki dari puak tersebut.
Lelaki yang pertama keluar dengan membawa 10 biji buah nenas. Kemudian berkata ketua puak kepada anak buahnya, "Sumbatkan buah tersebut ke dalam punggungnya. Kalau dia mengeluarkan bunyi, bunuh dia!" Lalu buah nenas itu pun disumbatkan ke dalam punggung lelaki malang tersebut. Pada buah nenas yang kedua, lelaki itu pun menjerit dan dia pun dibunuh.
Kemudian lelaki kedua pun muncul. Dia membawa 10 biji ciku bersamanya. Dia pun dikenakan tindakan yang sama. Oleh kerana buah ciku kecil, lelaki itu dapat bertahan sehingga buah ciku yang kelapan. Pada masa ini, tiba-tiba lelaki tu ketawa. Maka dia pun dibunuh.
Apabila sudah mati, roh orang yang pertama pun berjumpa dengan roh orang yang kedua. "Kenapa kamu ketawa pada buah ciku yang kelapan?" tanya roh pertama. Jawab roh yang kedua, "Aku nampak rakan ketiga kita tu keluar dengan membawa buah durian!"
Moral: Jangan gelakkan orang... heheheh...
Credit to bacteria82@cari.com.my
Lawak Buah
Tiga orang pengembara dalam hutan ditangkap oleh se puak orang cannibal. Ketua puak tu pun mengarahkan anak buahnya supaya membunuh ketiga-tiga lelaki itu untuk dijadikan santapan. Ketiga-tiga lelaki itu pun merayu dengan sepenuh hati supaya mereka dibebaskan.
Oleh kerana mereka merayu dengan bersungguh-sunggguh, ketua puak itu pun setuju untuk melepaskan mereka dengan satu syarat. Syaratnya ialah mereka perlu mencari 10 biji buah dari jenis yang sama.
"Ah.. nie simple punya keje".. kata mereka dalam hati.
Maka mereka pun berpecah ke dalam hutan untuk mencari buah-buahan tersebut dengan diiringi oleh beberapa lelaki dari puak tersebut.
Lelaki yang pertama keluar dengan membawa 10 biji buah nenas. Kemudian berkata ketua puak kepada anak buahnya, "Sumbatkan buah tersebut ke dalam punggungnya. Kalau dia mengeluarkan bunyi, bunuh dia!" Lalu buah nenas itu pun disumbatkan ke dalam punggung lelaki malang tersebut. Pada buah nenas yang kedua, lelaki itu pun menjerit dan dia pun dibunuh.
Kemudian lelaki kedua pun muncul. Dia membawa 10 biji ciku bersamanya. Dia pun dikenakan tindakan yang sama. Oleh kerana buah ciku kecil, lelaki itu dapat bertahan sehingga buah ciku yang kelapan. Pada masa ini, tiba-tiba lelaki tu ketawa. Maka dia pun dibunuh.
Apabila sudah mati, roh orang yang pertama pun berjumpa dengan roh orang yang kedua. "Kenapa kamu ketawa pada buah ciku yang kelapan?" tanya roh pertama. Jawab roh yang kedua, "Aku nampak rakan ketiga kita tu keluar dengan membawa buah durian!"
Moral: Jangan gelakkan orang... heheheh...
Credit to bacteria82@cari.com.my
Monday 30 March 2009
Something to ponder...
There's an article in today's The Star Online about a young man who has the ability to screen other people to see if they are under the influence of or being disturbed by djinns. You can read the full article -> here. But let's steer away from any more `cerita seram' for the moment.
Here's something lighthearted. I am copying here, my response to a Facebook tag that I received from my friend Zarinah Salleh early this month.
--------------------------
Paste the sentences into a note of your own, change to your answers, then tag me and ten other people.
1. My ex..... girlfriend was so HOT that she could melt butter just by looking at it. I’m kidding… there never was an ex-girlfriend.
2. Maybe I should... stop thinking of my procrastination problems and get off my butt and do something about it. Hmm… maybe after solve my other problems first.
3. I love... to read and relax.
4. People would say that I'm...... snobbish. Yeah, that’s the first impression that I give to most people.
5. I don't understand... calculus, the periodic table, electromagnetism, finite element analysis, deoxyribonucleic acid… and a host of other things. But I do understand women, though ;-)
6. When I wake up in the morning... I thank God that I’m still alive.
7. I lost... my virginity when I was … (crap, I can’t remember my wedding night. The wife is gonna be pissed!)
8. Life is full of... challenges. Some people have it easy while others are made to grind. For me, I’m about par for the course.
9. My past is... colourful. I’m putting the bits and pieces in written form. Hopefully, it will be an interesting read. Otherwise, who cares?
10. I get annoyed when... people jump queue. Impatient people are real jerks.
11. Parties are... those group or association of people who stand for election, who think they are the best person to lead, who claim to have the solutions to all the problems, who think that they are the only ones that are RIGHT and anybody else who are not in their party are WRONG. Ooops! I’m not answering this part correctly, am I?
12. I wish... can play the piano. Or at least, any other musical instrument. Luckily, I can sing not too badly, heheheh.
13. Dogs... are a man’s best friend. At least, that’s what I learnt in school. But now for me, a man’s best friend is a WOMAN.
14. Cats... are now straying into my compound and are becoming a bloody nuisance. They crap all over the place! I’ve tried chasing them out but they keep coming back.
15. Tomorrow... is a period in time when things that should’ve been done today, would maybe (I repeat, maybe) be carried out. I just love tomorrow! It’s a mystery!
16. I have a low tolerance... for stubbornly ignorant people.
17. If I had a million dollars… then I won’t tell you.
18. I'm totally terrified... (sorry, can’t think of a good one to answer this. Yes, I’m terrified of certain things, but I can’t think of something that I’m TOTALLY terrified of.)
So there you go, Zarinah. A bit more info about me that you wish to know :-) And I'm not tagging anybody. Tapi kalau ada sesiapa yg sudi... silakan.
Here's something lighthearted. I am copying here, my response to a Facebook tag that I received from my friend Zarinah Salleh early this month.
--------------------------
Paste the sentences into a note of your own, change to your answers, then tag me and ten other people.
1. My ex..... girlfriend was so HOT that she could melt butter just by looking at it. I’m kidding… there never was an ex-girlfriend.
2. Maybe I should... stop thinking of my procrastination problems and get off my butt and do something about it. Hmm… maybe after solve my other problems first.
3. I love... to read and relax.
4. People would say that I'm...... snobbish. Yeah, that’s the first impression that I give to most people.
5. I don't understand... calculus, the periodic table, electromagnetism, finite element analysis, deoxyribonucleic acid… and a host of other things. But I do understand women, though ;-)
6. When I wake up in the morning... I thank God that I’m still alive.
7. I lost... my virginity when I was … (crap, I can’t remember my wedding night. The wife is gonna be pissed!)
8. Life is full of... challenges. Some people have it easy while others are made to grind. For me, I’m about par for the course.
9. My past is... colourful. I’m putting the bits and pieces in written form. Hopefully, it will be an interesting read. Otherwise, who cares?
10. I get annoyed when... people jump queue. Impatient people are real jerks.
11. Parties are... those group or association of people who stand for election, who think they are the best person to lead, who claim to have the solutions to all the problems, who think that they are the only ones that are RIGHT and anybody else who are not in their party are WRONG. Ooops! I’m not answering this part correctly, am I?
12. I wish... can play the piano. Or at least, any other musical instrument. Luckily, I can sing not too badly, heheheh.
13. Dogs... are a man’s best friend. At least, that’s what I learnt in school. But now for me, a man’s best friend is a WOMAN.
14. Cats... are now straying into my compound and are becoming a bloody nuisance. They crap all over the place! I’ve tried chasing them out but they keep coming back.
15. Tomorrow... is a period in time when things that should’ve been done today, would maybe (I repeat, maybe) be carried out. I just love tomorrow! It’s a mystery!
16. I have a low tolerance... for stubbornly ignorant people.
17. If I had a million dollars… then I won’t tell you.
18. I'm totally terrified... (sorry, can’t think of a good one to answer this. Yes, I’m terrified of certain things, but I can’t think of something that I’m TOTALLY terrified of.)
So there you go, Zarinah. A bit more info about me that you wish to know :-) And I'm not tagging anybody. Tapi kalau ada sesiapa yg sudi... silakan.
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