CELOTEH

I wrote this piece for my little column Celoteh Kak Azlina on my alumni website http://www.exsas.com.my/ and caused quite a stir at the mentioned institute. At first I was rather put off by the reaction from some of the staff but come to think of it I now read the old adage “A pen is mightier than a sword” with a slight smugness. Never in my life had I effected such strong reaction by relating a true account (from my very own personal experience) of what took place. Here it is copied from the column:-

Assalamualaikum everyone.
First school mid-semester break is over and I did not get any break at all. I was away in Cameron Highlands for the final week of ETeMS course for Year Six Science Teacher 2007. It was a gruelling week but the ambience of the place somehow diffused the sombre nature of the business at hand.

One of the course participants got married on Sunday and that very Monday he had to join us in CH. So, guess what he did!! We did manage to get Rosa Pasadena Hotel (our three star accommodation provided by Jerantut Education Office) to provide the newly weds with a cake during the special dinner on our final night there.

I took the new Lojing road to CH. The drive from Jerantut to Gua Musang took about three hours. Before reaching GM town there is a left turn to Pulai which will take you to CH. I did not take that turn because I was supposed to regroup with my convoy leader at Lojing. I broke away from the convoy when I had to stop for petrol at Kechau.

I thought I was behind so driving up the gentle slopes easy corners no speed limit very little traffic four-laned road was done at full speed. The scenery was fabulous. The secondary jungle (I think the prime jungle has all been timbered a long time ago) was flaming with colours.

I arrived in CH in about one hour from GM minus my convoy leader. Apparently, he missed the left turning to Lojing at Kuala Betis junction and drove straight to Dabong and unfortunately, there was no mobile reception along the way. He made it to CH about three hours later.

The drive back was even better. I was not in any hurry to keep up with any convoy. I made stops after stops after stops along the way from Brincang to Kg Raja. Yes! I made sure to have the last bite of chocolate dipped strawberry, stumbled upon fried ice-cream and washed everything down with strawberry milkshake. Burp! Excuse me. And oh! I almost forgot the ‘Stretched Chai Tea’ I accidentally discovered at Bharat Tea Shop. Chai tea is recommendable for those with lots of ‘angin’ (pus-pus included).

I arrived home to piles of exam papers waiting to be marked (five classes of not less than 30 students each and paper 1, 2 and 3 make fifteen bundles and the marks to be submitted on Monday). Tengku Puan Pahang is coming for the State Girl Guides ‘Pertandingan Kawad Kaki” on 24th March and yours truly is the secretary of the event.

Anyway, out of respect for the hard works of my colleagues on EXSAS, I attended the Semsas 7’s Rugby final held in SEMSAS on Sunday 18th March 2007: my very first time watching a game of rugby. Honestly, I've never cared much about rugby. I always thought of it as a very exclusive chauvinist type of game.

However, after watching those boys (some were surprisingly skinny) panting and chasing after that oval ball (aren't balls supposed to be round?), I think I'm 'corrupted'. I believe now that rugby is a very suitable game for boys (brawny and skinny), especially ones with stress issue. It helps those capricious boys with raging testosterone spent a bit of that 'wild' energy (making a wild guess here). I was impressed by the organization of the event and the commitment of all the participating teams: kudos to the organizing committee (EXSAS Eagle).

I wished I had attended the event earlier which started on Friday but I was away in Kxxxx Xxxxx attending in-service-training for smart school teachers. I want to share my taste-of-ash-in-the mouth experience during the first week of the so called “Kursus Bestari” carried out at an institution where hundreds of teachers are trained every year and are then entrusted to educate our children.

I arrived at the college at 8.00am. Registration and briefing was supposed to be from 8.00 to 10.00 am. It was a very large place and I had a hard time finding the registration desk. There was not a single sign or arrow to point me to the right place. Finally after a lot of asking and walking, I saw a sign “Pendaftaran Bestari” printed on A4 paper pasted on a glass door.

I went through the door into a covered courtyard and saw a few ladies standing outside a closed door. There was a table nearby and there were some files and a piece of paper for registration. I was the eighth person to register and all of us kept asking each other where to go to for the briefing.

This is a lead in to a bigger case of sweeping under the carpet attitude in relation to macro and micro development of our country. Since space is limited here, I am breaking this account into two parts.

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