ANAK OMAK BERTUNANG

Isnin 17 Jan den telefon Epit minta dia email salinan kad pengenalan dia sebab den nak buat visa umrah. Confirm dah flight umrah den ngan Ayong pada 11 Mac nanti. Sebab den pergi berdua ngan Ayong je, kena ada kebenaran dan dokumen waris. 

Memula Epit silap faham ingatkan den nak bawak dia gi umrah sebab asalnya bila den cadang nak bawak Ma dan Baba gi umrah [nak bawak gi haji mungkin tak sempat dah sebab Baba kurang sihat], den minta Epit ikut untuk bantu  Baba kat sana. Tapi Baba menolak untuk pergi atas sebab kesihatan. Jadi den pergi ngan Ayong je lah.

Kemudian Epit bagitau yang dia bercadang nak bertunang pada tarikh den pergi umrah. Kena ubah tarikh ... his. Memandangkan dia bercadang untuk kawin pada cuti sekolah bulan Jun nanti dan pihak perempuan perlu masa sekurang kurangnya 3 bulan untuk menempah dewan jadi kena bertunang cepat.

Maknanya den kena pergi meminang.

Sabtu 30 Jan je tarikh yang available. Less than one week to put together a 'rombongan meminang'. Epit said all 'hantaran' are ready.

Den telefon adik beradik bagi tau Epit nak bertunang. Semua available hari Sabtu. Sis Ha offered to cook lunch for the rombongan. Told Epit to have all hantaran ready at the girl's place but Ayong disagreed saying nanti rombongan sampai togel.

Epit arrived home with all barang hantaran including a 'gubahan kain'. I dubbed it ayam mati sebab ekor dia terkulai. Ended up redoing it so as to have the ekor tegak ... hahaha!

Ma called on Friday saying ketua rombongan [her youngest brother staying in Gombak married to a N9 lady] told us to ready sireh junjong and tepak sireh. And a 'cincin tanya'.

 Jeng! jeng! jeng! ... jin mengarut start dohhh!

Tepak sireh is possible but sireh junjong is impossible at the last minute. 

We were all puzzled with the cincin tanya but went to town and bought one.

Tepak Sireh [Cerana]

None of us knew anything about getting the cerana ready for meminang. All I knew was daun sireh susun ikut saiz ... yang besar di bawah. Tak tahu pulak berapa helai perlu disusun atau bagaimana cara letak dalam cerana tu ... terlentang atau terbalik? Untuk nampak cantik dalam gambar, den letak susunan daun sireh tu terlentang. 

Di rumah pihak perempuan, Pak Ngah ketua rombongan kami bagi salam dan hulur tepak sireh untuk memulakan peminangan. Everyone just looked on, nobody even touched it. Masa jumpa mak  budak perempuan tu sebelum balik, dia ada sebut tepak sireh tu sekadar lambang dan tidak membawa sebarang makna. Den angguk angguk saja walaupun tak faham apa apa.

Masa balik, kami hanya bawak balik cerana. Hantaran semua tinggal sebab fikirkan ada yang nak bergambar.

Dah balik di rumah sis Ha, she said kalau cerana dipulangkan dengan sireh 'terlentang' maksudnya pinangan ditolak. Kalau pinangan diterima, sireh diletak 'terbalik'. Hmm .. I NEVER knew that! 

Cincin Tanya dan Cincin Tunang

Lepas bagi salam dan hulur cerana, Pak Ngah hulur pulak dulang yang ada dua cincin untuk tujuan 'bertanya' dan seterusnya meminang. Wakil pihak perempuan terima pinangan dan pulangkan dulang. 

Hantaran

Kemudian Pak Ngah mengisyaratkan pula 5 dulang yang kami bawa sebagai hantaran meminang, pihak perempuan balas dengan 7 dulang.

Sarong cincin

Lepas tu den sarong cincin ke jari bakal menantu. Memula sarong cincin tanya di jari manis tangan kiri. Kemudian sarong cincin tunang di jari manis tangan kanan.


Selesai sarong cincin, we had tea. Rombongan mokcikool bertolak balik. Mokcikool kena tunggu Epit bergambar kenangan.

Epit & his new family

Mokcikool kena duduk atas kerusi sebab sakit lutut.


Sampai balik kat rumah sis Ha di Kajang, we talked about the cincin tanya. i was rather confused about the rings. My brother in law who hailed from Kuala Pilah explained cincin tanya serves to ask the girl's family if she is available to be proposed to. For all purpose and intent, cincin tanya is not to be worn by the girl but returned to the proposer. I remembered the girl's rep did that - returned the cincin tanya.


Cincin tanya is used during merisik. It is usual for cincin tanya to double as cincin tanda. Cincin tanda serves as a caveat. Once a girl accept cincin tanda, no other man can propose to her. Usually cincin tanda is cincin belah rotan and can be considered as the engagement ring. Cincin tanya can be used as cincin tanda. If another rombongan - rombongan meminang goes to the girl's house bearing an engagement ring, then cincin tanda has to be returned unless it was agreed to let the girl keep the cincin tanda.


So, on hindsight, we didn't have to buy that cincin tanya. Epit bought a ring with precious stone as the engagement ring because he has given the girl a ring and she has worn it for some time. He planned to give her a bangle in place of cincin kawin.


When Pak Ngah asked us to get a cincin tanya, I could have just used any of my old cincin because I can expect it to be returned. And since our rombongan was not a rombongan merisik but a rombongan meminang, we only needed one engagement ring. I didn't have to sarongkan dua cincin. One ring should be enough for the job.


Well! Rezeki orang!

The owner of the skin

First saw its discarded old skin broken into three [here].


Tonight, at about 10 pm in the late evening soft drizzle,the owner of the rumpled discarded skin, resplendent in bright new skin, slithered slowly across the dirt road, oblivious to the flashing light from the camera.

Teaching in a foreign language vs learning foreign language

I do not see where this is going to. I mean what hope we have of preventing the pigs and the dogs from taking over this tanah air.

Read what JMD has to say here

I have come across some great write ups by some bloggers. That goes to show we are not totally lost without an aota of hope. I don't understand is why is it we seemed to be so hard pressed for good men to take over the helm.

Read TDM's concern taken from here.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says it is only in Malaysia where the government allows and pays for schools which use a foreign language for teaching in schools meant for a community whose ancestors came from a foreign country.

In the latest posting on his blog on Monday, Jan 24, the former prime minister said there was a difference between teaching in a foreign language and learning and speaking a foreign language.

He was elaborating on his interview by Nanyang Siang Pau on the issue after a newspaper reader claimed Dr Mahathir was wrong because in many countries the Chinese language is taught and are spoken.

May I point out that there is a difference between teaching in a foreign language and learning (and speaking) a foreign language.

I was referring to teaching (medium of instruction) in a foreign language not learning a foreign language. Learning a foreign language is usually not only permissible but encouraged, he said.

Dr Mahathir said the claim that in Thailand there are schools which use Chinese as the medium of teaching was not correct.

He said there were international schools which do not use the Thai national language but they were not funded by the Government. Similar international schools to cater for expatriates are found in many countries including in Malaysia.

Some nationals also go to these schools. But they are not like the Chinese and Tamil schools in Malaysia which are government funded schools, he said.

Dr Mahathir said even in Singapore there are no government funded schools where the medium of instruction was Chinese or Tamil.

However, the students must learn another language other than English, which was the medium of teaching in Singapore.

Incidentally the policy of the Singapore Government to use English as a teaching medium rather than Malay, Chinese or Tamil has not resulted in it being accused of being anti-Chinese, anti-Tamil or anti-Malay.

Nationally the national language of predominantly Chinese Singapore is Malay but Chinese, Tamil and English are also official languages which are taught and may be used instead of English, he said.

1 MAN 2 WOMEN AND A BMW

Read this on Yahoo news today.

I am quite confused though ... first the man promised EACH of his mistress a bimmers and then the wife demanded the bimmers to be returned to her.

To have something returned means one own it the first place. Whereas the news reported that the man promised to "buy" each of the ladies a BMW car.

Either somebody is not telling the truth or somebody is doing a spin.

Beijing (China Daily/ANN) - Two 25-year-old women who shared the affections of the same man in Jinan, Shandong province, China, jumped into the Yellow River in the hope of snagging a BMW.


The pair were both mistresses of a man surnamed Wang, who had separately promised to buy each of them a BMW car.

When the two women ran into each other on Jan 3, they began to quarrel about the car. One of them said she would do anything for Wang and jumped into the Yellow River to show she meant it. Not to be outdone, the second one followed suit.

A passer-by surnamed Mi saw the two women, one of whom had cut her leg on an icicle, and pulled them from the river before calling their lover.

Wang, a construction supplier from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, arrived at the scene with his wife, who denounced the two women and told her husband to return the BMW to her.

An anonymous party reported the ensuing row to the police, who recorded the incident, and Wang paid Mi for rescuing the women from the river.

SAPA PUNYA SUSU SAPA DAPAT NAMA

Last week i read [here] Penang Chief Minister claimed that Penang hit a record RM88 millions surplus in 2008 and RM77 millions in 2009 through 'the dividends of anti-corruption measures'  since PR took over in 2008.


Pure Shiite took a close look at the claim and concluded that there was NOTHING significant about the measures except that the state's administration has been selling land [of which the donkeys' work were carried out by federal administration people].


Today i read this.


Deputy Minister of International Trade  said 99% of investments in Penang are the result of federal government efforts, specifically the ministry. Therefore, the DAP-led-coalition should not be in a haste to 'take credit' for the efforts of others in promoting the state as a centre of investment.


The Deputy Minister went on to claim that he himself led a mission of trade and investment promotion to Taiwan and he is sure that it was that effort which brought investments to Penang.


I really really wish the Deputy Minister can come out with solid evidence about that 99% claim.


I still believe that birds of the same feather prefer to flock together.

DEAD SPOT

Read something on Yahoo sports news today which I believe had Harian Metro or Kosmo got to this kind of nes first, would have all the tok bomohs [faith healers?] flocking in to flex their 'powers'.

The ball doesn't bounce at all! It's completely absorbed by the court. There's no upward movement at all. I just tried dropping a tennis ball on a soft pillow and there was at least a little. That one simply died, like it was caught by one of those velcro paddles you see people playing with on the beach

Apparently there's scientific explanation behind the phenomenon.

What happened is that the stifling temperatures in Melbourne caused a heat bubble filled with air to form under the surface of the court. It's the same concept that causes crust bubbles to develop on edges of pizza slices. As the Mirror reported, workers came out and drilled two small holes in the court, which let out the air. Order, and gravity, was restored.


Phewww!

For a minute or two I thought ada djin ke apa ...

Suparman [pun intended]

Ken,


Hero seluar dalam mengaum ler!


Whoa! takut nyerrrrrrrrrrrrrr


sapa le yang kena 'hamtam' nanti


me booty's shiverin'

Flip flop

hehehehe

first it's BN is kape adik kakok sebak oghe amno berskoko denge oghe buke isle. perlembagoe umno tadak ghoyak tubuh negagho isle. dok make hasil haghe aghok de judi.

and now this.

on top of that, to claim that 'they' have the 'control' is very very conceited i think

KELANTAN READY TO ISSUE MORE LIQUOR LICENCES
Bernama - Wednesday, January 19

KOTA BAHARU, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan PAS government is ready to issue additional liquor licences, according to the needs of non-Muslim residents in the state, said state local government, culture, tourism committee chairman Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said the move proved that the state government had no restrictions on non-Muslims to consume alcohol in a state which practised Islamic administrative policies.

“We have not imposed restrictions on non-Muslims because we control the use of liquor among them, and we are ready to increase liquor licences, if necessary,” he told reporters after launching the Crown Garden Hotel here today.

Also present at the event was hotel general manager Iby Quek.

Takiyuddin said in Kota Baharu alone, the state government had issued 28 liquor licences, including Jalan Kebun Sultan, better known as ''Chinatown''.

However, he said gambling licences would not be offered as the activity was not only prohibited by all religions, but also frowned upon by families.

Where have all the telors gone?

Here we go again. [read here]


This time, one apek sent a complaint to the Prime Minister's Department about the the loud azan [prayer call] which disturbs his morning sleep.


And this apek is a lawyer no less!


He must have thought that EVERYONE in the PM's Department must be shivering and peeing in their pants.


Because he is NOT a DAP apek.


And a lawyer to boot!


Therefore, something MUST be wrong with the bigot racist Malay Muslims who blasted the loud azan 5 times a day starting very early in the morning when the educated cultured apeks are sleeping. No wonder lah these racist bigots nasi-lemak-pulut-rendang-teh tarik kaw kaw addicts are so stupid and malaise. They lack sleep which is oh so important in developing one's intelligence and health.


Hmmm ...


What a sad affair


Seeing this mother land being sold to the dogs and the pigs by my own Malay Muslim brothers and sisters [small fonts denoting small in number].


All this apek needs to do is just apologize. That's what THEY have been doing. Anything and then just apologise and business as usual.


They must have found a great way to SCRAMBLE a lot of big TELORS


ishkkk! lost one recipe now

Belanda Minta Tanah - 2

Sekolah vernakular yang pada asalnya haram ... berjaya dihalalkan masa DSN jadi Menteri Pelajaran


Sebaik menang di 5 buah negeri dalam PRU 12, antara agenda utama ialah menyama tarafkan bahasa mereka dengan Bahasa Kebangsaan. Habis tanda jalan di Kuala Lumpur dan P Pinang ditukar konon untuk kemudahan pelancong asing [yang masuk ke tanah air ini sebagai pelancong kemudian meLencong ke pusat pusat urut yang tumbuh bagai cendawan di musim hujan].


Dengan selamba masuk surau beri ucapan sempena sumbangan.


Lihat aksi Presiden satu komponen parti BN, memberi amaran pada PAS pasal isu negara Islam.


Sekarang sibuk pulak pasal azan.


Satu masa tak berapa lama dulu, kerajaan Melayu Melaka tumbang. Bukan kerana besar armada musuh atau handal laksamananya tapi kerana orang dalam yang buka pintu kota.


Adakah sejarah akan berulang?


Maklum, negara kecik di hujung semenanjung amat maju ditadbir urus oleh pepuak penyembah tok pekong.


Sebak dada berair mata mengenangkan nasib anak cucu.


Sewaktu menurun bukit aku terlihat, terpampang di langit suatu pandangan hebat. Warna langit musim pejor waktu matahari meniti senja, tatkala cengkerik mula berirama menyulam azan yang bergema.  ALLAH HU AKBAR! ALLAH HU AKBAR! ALLAH HU AKBAR! ALLAH HU AKBAR!

Ubi dot dot dot

Semalam balik dari hantar dokumen

untuk visa ke Tanah Haram

insyaAllah awal Mac depan

selepas usaha dan doa siang malam

dari tahun lepas hasrat 

nak bawa Baba dan Ma

tapi Baba dah tak larat

Ma pun tak boleh ikut sama

selesai urusan terus ke bandar

ambil baju dari tukang jahit

kemudian singgah di pasar

cadang nak cari lauk sikit

tiba tiba perasan

longgok gelap dalam besen

depan gerai beras mokcik Kelantan

sebelah badang ikan masin

nostalgia masa silam

waktu masih kanak kanak

tak kira siang malam

kunyah je sebab enak

bukan keledek bukan kentang

kulit nipis warna hampir hitam

ada yang bulat ada yang panjang

saiznya macam macam

masa kecik kecik dulu 

orang kampong saya panggil ubi keling 

orang hilir orang hulu

tak de pulak sapa nak jeling

apa yang berlaku pada Interlok

rasa takut lah pulok

nak tulis nama ubi ni di blog

kena panggil ubi dot dot dot

haihhhhh!!!

OXYMORON

Dictonary.com defines oxymoron as a figure of speech by which a locution produces incongrous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or 'to make haste slowly" . 


thestar online today reported 


"The Prime Minister held his marathon meeting with 135 Barisan Nasional MPs on Saturday, where he was given briefings and viewpoints by the elected representatives on the situation in their constituencies.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had earlier indicated that he wanted to know first-hand the situation on the ground and issue directives to them to prepare the coalition for the next general election."


came across this [here] 


"Prime Minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor will be on a three-nation visit with the first stop Saudi Arabia for three days from tomorrow.
Rosmah, accompanied by members of the Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) as well as Senior Officials from the Prime Minister’s Department, will be visiting Oman for four days from January 16 before proceeding to Bangladesh for a three-day visit from January 19, said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here today.

In Saudi Arabia, Rosmah is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 1st International Conference of Total Quality Management (TQM) in K-12 Education in Riyadh.

She will also be witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Permata Insan Academy, Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) and the King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba).

While in Oman, Rosmah will be meeting its Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Sayyid Fahad Bin Mahmood Al-Said, and the Minister of Social Development Dr Sharifa Bint Khalfan Al Yahya"

NO


there's nothing contradictory


just that this old eyes missed ONE four letter word in the second news 


caused me to think that there was a case of wrong pronoun [which happens a lot with my students - mother tongue interference ... third person pronoun 'dia/beliau' is used for both genders]


hehehe ... 




p.s


this entry is posted 
with Voices Around 
in mind

skin

Rumpelstiltskin?

NO

Skin head?

NO NO

Reaching home in the heavy rain

very late yesterday evenin'

in the tall grass along the drain

my eyes caught something glitterin'

stopped the car close

rolled down the window

right under my nose

hidden in the shadow

 at first

a snake ... i thought

on closer look it turned out to be

pieces of snake skin broken into three

the front part was rather large

crumpled middle

tapering end snake's tail like

it was big no doubt

kept me guessing tried to sort

a king cobra or a python is it

that shed its skin about 6 feet

gosh! that gave me the creep

A reaLspoiler

Last week I spent the last day 

of year end school holiday

in Kuantan on Friday

 watched Tron in 3D.

bracing the monsoon rain

weaving 'tween the lanes

was this funny lookin'

Milo tin with engine

but this mokcik and her daughter

 burst out in loud laughter

looking at the reaLspoiler

THAT was an intended misnomer

the driver must have thought

the car was such a sport

What's cooking?

Few days ago, while blog hopping, my eyes caught a glimpse of an entry header of a blog listed on a blog. I can't remember whose blog that was and whose entry. i was not interested to read the entry because it was something about another tsunami in next general election. it felt suffocating.


then i came across this posting on Parpukari which was taken from MyKMU.


i already read on some blogs about PAS leaders meeting with the royalty. Parpukari's observation made me realize that something is brewing.


Apa pun, penulis yakin pertemuan itu dianjurkan oleh DYMM Yang DiPertuan Agung dengan agenda “istimewa”. Semoga pemimpin-pemimpin politik yang hadir pada santapan malam itu dapat menghayati dan melaksanakan agenda Ketua Tertinggi Negara itu. Alhamdulillah, Malaysia kini lebih hebat kerana dikurniakan seorang pemimpin yang yang bijaksana seperti DYMM Yg DiPertuan Agung, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin. Daulat Tuanku!


i am hoping and praying that the brew will be a great refreshing drink that is very much needed now.


akhirnya, aku dengar beberapa 'dehem' dari sultan di sana sini. i can only hope it is not too late to stop the lions, the dogs and the pigs dari terus membaham ibu pertiwi ini.

Attack of the centipede

As i sat on the worn out settee

with a mug of hot coco latte

crossing few inches from my feet 

was a centipede

[a bit smaller and less fierce

then the one that evaded me

on new years' eve]

a stool was the nearest thing at hand

to stop the creature from going

before darting

into the kitchen i did

to get me the machete

first i cut off the tail

that protruded from under the stool

then cautiously it was lifted

and the machete was ready

to chop off the head

with the tail and the head

chopped off

the middle part kept moving

aiming straight at me

[i was shivering]

i don't think it was the same 

with yesterday's one

which was bigger and redder

here's how it looked

with tail and head chopped

next to a kilometrico papermate ballpoint pen

at almost midnight

while struggling to compose this entry

my girl lamenting 

 about the boring shows on the tube

when she suddenly shouted

"Anak lipan!"

she jumped for the Baygon can

and sprayed the anak lipan

until it drowned

and laid still

Huh!

i hope there is no father centipede

coming to look 

for its offspring

and mate

1.1.11

Welcome New Year

Am still here

in the blogosphere

though neither there nor here

one thing is sure

the end is near

Came back to the house yesterday

which was last year of course

after watching Tron

the 3D glasses was uncomfortable

dozed off and on

too tired after 3 weeks of struggle

the less than quarter full ECM cineplex

was too cold for a mother 

and her daughter

On reaching home

amidst the rain

ran to the loo

had to release the pain
for hours of holding

the full bladder in

[when one is a golden girl

this is no laughing matter]

As i sat down

to read the mails

from the corner of my eyes

on the cold greenish tiles

an inch wide

maybe 8 inches long

a red centipede

swaying at a speed

across the floor

of the hall

My heart leaped

to my daughter i screamed  

get her feet 

off the floor quick

grabbed a door mat

threw it on the centipede

such a frail attempt

for it came from under that

charging at me

[like one of those from the Alien movies ... hahaha]

ran to the kitchen

desperate for something

to be used 

over such a thing

By the time 

i found a machete

the creature had vanished

under the furniture

tried flushing it out

with sprays of Baygon

but it was gone

mustering all courage

i looked under the carpet

the chairs

and tables

every nook

and cranny

but it was gone

gone

went to bed

but that red threat

stayed in my head

which made me forget

the dawn of a new year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!