AT THE ZOO.

I took my sons and daughter to the zoo, when they were small between 2 – 12 years old.

They ran here and there.

Screaming, pushing and running.
AT THE ZOO.
I was belated seeing them happy.

“Look , mama , bird”

“Look , mama, elephant”

“Look , mama, talking bird (parrot)”

“ Look mama, oistrich”

“Look, mama , crocodile”

“Look ,mama, giraffe. “

“Look, mama, snake”

“Look, mama, swine”

“Look mama , Hippo”

Look here , look there.

Suddenly my third child (son) said this,

“Mama, mama, our cousins are here” excitedly.

I looked around searching for my brother and his 5 kids. I didn’t know that he was at the zoo.

“Where? Where?” I asked my son.

“There”

He pointed at the monkeys swinging in the cage.

Cikgutanya: Out of my 4 kids , the 3rd child the jovial one. He brought sunshine to our life. By just listening to his laughter is enough to make you feel happy.

NAÏVE AND WEAK 2

Every school holiday , we met. I study smart and hard . He worked hard too.”

“After SPM examination , during the school holiday , we met.”

“I know that I will get good SPM result and will further my study either oversea or locally . We talk about it.”

“He was worried that I might leave him when I got my SPM result.”

“He told me that, I have to show my love to him, convince him that I won’t leave him and we spent a week together in one of the resort in one island.”

“I told my parent I need to go to my residential school for a gathering. He paid for the trip.”

“I didn’t think I might get pregnant at all. Warden sir, please help me.”

The warden told her that she can’t continue to be at the camp . She got to be sent home.

Her auntie came and fetched her.

Her auntie told the warden that ,” I will be in charged of the girl until she gives birth. I will adopt the baby.”

“ After the girl’s confinement is over , I will sent her back to her parent.”

“If the villagers ask about her explanation given will be that she is at the camp for 4 month and then taking up a short course in the capital city”

After 5 month, her auntie call the warden and told the warden that her niece had given birth to a baby girl.
She was sent back to her village to be with her mother and father.

She is now in a college doing a twinning program to go to Australia.

She broke with the boy and the existence of their baby girl was not told to the boy .

Cikgutanya : How to prove your love. Careful girls.

NAÏVE AND WEAK.

When I was in the summer camp in the north as a guest speaker, I talked to the warden at the camp about the girls and boys who attended the camp.

“Well,” he told me ,”there was one case of a 17 year old girl. She just sat for her SPM examination and was pregnant”

“How did your find out?”

“When the girls registered here , they were asked to write down their last period date, and this particular girl wrote the date of her last period was 4 month ago. “

“The doctor confirmed it. She was pregnant.”

“I told the girl that I got to informed her mother or father regarding her pregnancy.”

“Please don’t call my mother or father, warden sir, please call my auntie instead.”

“I call her auntie, and her auntie was shocked but she insisted that I call her mother.”

The warden called her mother.

Her mother was shocked to hear about her pregnancy but she asked the warden to call her sister (the girl’s auntie) and handle it with her.

“I did some investigation” explained the warden

“The girl explained to me what had happened.”

The explanation:

“Warden, sir, I knew this boy when I was in form 3. He is the mechanic at the car workshop in my village. He earn RM 1000/= a month.”

” He is 21 years old. I was fifteen then. We were so in love.”

“After PMR examination , I got a place in one of the residential school since my PMR result is good – 8A’s .”

Cikgutanya: Girl with brain but instead listen to her heart.

THE MAID 5 .

Knowing that her only son wanted to get married, she received a lot of help. A rich neighbor in the 1st street donated 20 packet of rice (10 kilos each). It was enough to cater for at least 400 guests.

My son was married four months earlier, so she borrowed the items for the dias from me. The door gift was donated by the four mothers that send their babies for her to take care every morning.

Her sisters and brothers from the village, volunteered to cook for the wedding.

An elderly neighbor whom she always help give her RM 1000/= (her husband is very rich). The Community Club gave her free usage of 2 tents (40’ x 40’) for the wedding.

Her husband ?
Call the karaoke company and ask her to pay RM 350/= for it. (He monopolizes the karaoke session on the wedding day – he keep on singing and singing all the 1960’s song to his hearts content.)

The wedding went on smoothly – people come and go – some bearing gift , some gave token in term of cash.

She told me , “Thank God. Everybody help me and the wedding was successful.”

“I am so happy. I didn’t spent much since a lot of people help me. I still have some extra money, but I have to work hard again for my old age ”

Her husband ?

At 4.30 pm, after the wedding, her husband left her and their son and go back to his lovely 1st wife. If you can’t be fair then why marry two wives?


Cikgutanya: She told me , “After the wedding I am going to do something about my marriage.”

THE MAID 4

You might wonder why a lot of people wanted to help her?

Reasons :

-She stayed in that area for about 35 years . She knows almost everybody in that area.

-Almost everybody know about her and her plight of having a very irresponsible man for a husband.

-Her son is a very nice boy. Though he sees his father for about an hour a day or sometimes his father didn’t turn up but still he has becomes a good and well mannered man.

-Though , suffering inside , she is a very jovial and helpful person.

What happened to her life recently?

Her son wanted to get married. His girlfriend is from a village, 240 kilometers from the capital city. On her son engagement day, her husband went with her but he ask her to fill the tank of his car and pay for the toll.

Her son fiancée dowry is RM 5,000/=. Her son had been working for the past five years. He managed to save between RM 200 – RM 300 a month. So the RM 5,000 is settled.

“I have to foot the bill of everything else,” she told me.

“How?”

“I have managed to keep some money for the wedding because I know that one day my son will want to get married.”
“It will be such a simple wedding. I will prepare salted fish curry with pineapple, fried chicken, ulam with sambal belacan (salad with the dip) and sambal tumis ikan bilis (anchovies in chilly sauce).”

Cikgutanya: She got to think of everything. May God bless her.

THE MAID 3

Reason be / the owner of the house knows her because he and his family stayed there for 40 years. Their children know her well.

Sometimes when they have guest or kenduri (gathering of peoples ) she will be asked to cook. Extra money for her then.

The head of the family is rich. He bought his children a big house each. When he and his wife died the children didn’t want to stay in the house even though it is a bungalow but it was an old bungalow and the interior is not up to their liking.

It was and old style of a bungalow.

Since they know that the maid is looking fo a place to stay. They offered and asked her to stay in the old bungalow and take care of it. She agreed. It was free and they paid her RM 300/= a month as an allowance for her to take care of the house.

What else for her to survive.-

Her son is working with a salary of RM 1300. He goes to work on a second hand motor bike. He pays for the phone bill, the electricity and water bill and Astro which amount to about RM 300/= a month.
She takes care of four babies, sent by working mother to her for RM 250 each child. She got RM 1000 a month. Tax free.

RM 300 from the house owner’s children. . It is enough for both of them to survive in the capital city.

From her husband ?

Still nothing.

He came to the house once a week. At about 5.00 pm. Eat whatever she cooked and left.

Cikgutanya : Why there is not a shred of anger in her?

THE MAID 2

Pathetic man. Not even a single cent given to the wife and son. It seems that his first wife is a very domineering woman. She controlled his money and his movement. How he can marry his 2nd wife is beyond my comprehension.

For the past 28 years he never gave any money. I asked the maid how she can stand that kind of life.

“Teacher, he is my husband. He is my son’s father. Like it or not and for the sake of my son I have to endure it. I’ve made the choice – so I got to live with it.”

Only about 5 years ago she stopped working as maid.
Her son ?

Her son was sent to KEMAS tadika (a government aid kindergarten for the poor) and to the primary and secondary school nearby. He just need to walk to the school. She stayed in her employer house for about 35 years. She stopped working as their maid when her son was 23 years old.

After SPM, he further his study – Diploma course in IT with a private college. Cost of his study was paid by his mother, using her hard earned money.

The father?

Not a single cent from him toward his son education.

After finishing his study he got a job with a local university as an IT technician. That’s the time he and his mother moved out .

Where?

They moved to the house next to the former employer’s house.

Cikgutanya : Pity the son , Pity her but spiteful of the husband.

THE MAID 1

She was working as a maid. Lucky for her that her employer was very good and very understanding. She’s married to a man as his 2nd wife.

They have a boy and gave him a nickname “Boy”. She and her son was given a room at the back of the house by the employer. They had been married for 28 years.

“Boy” is now 27 years old.

For 28 years the first wife didn’t know about her husband 2nd marriage. The question that lingers was, how did they keep it a secret for 28 years and still keep the secret until today?

They never spent a night together even though her employer allowed her to see her husband any time. He usually comes after office from 5 pm – 7 pm. On Saturday or Sunday – never.

How does/did she managed their son on her own.

Lucky for her again, her employer understand her predicament. When they found out that she was pregnant, they took care of her.

She had been living with them since she was 17. Got married at 22. Gave birth at 23. She is now 51 years old. Working with her employer for more than 20 years. She received her monthly salary. To make extra money for the bringing up of her son, she makes nasi lemak (coconut milk rice) and kuih-kuih (traditional cakes ) every day and consigned it to the restaurants or stalls around the area.

She bought a cooker and bought all the things needed for preparing the food she sells using her own money. She woke up early at 4.30 am to do everyting. She never neglected her duty as the maid to her employer. Tough life.

Cikgutanya: What about her husband?

KEEP ON RUNNING

In the 60’s there was a lot of stage show. The stage show will be organized at the school fields ,local council field etc.

The singers will be called to perform : J Sham, Jefridin – just to name a few singers of the 60’s and early 70’s .

Before the professional singer was call to perform , a few amateur singer will be performing.

This particular singer was handsome. Better than the professional singer themselves (dressing)

He wanted to sing the song titled “Running to my heart”

“Presenting , Mr OK to perform , his song is “Running to my Heart,” was announced by the emcee.

Mr OK ran to the centre of the stage. He wore a cap, red in color, his pants black- his shirt purple. He dance and dance vigorously, jumped up here and there . The spectators clapped including me.

Then, he opened his mouth and

“Keep on NANNING , NANNING to my heart.”

Instead of “Keep on RUNNING , RUNNING to my heart”

Cikgutanya: I admire his courage.To learn language you have to practice.

TRY YOUR LUCK 3

Smoke was everywhere.

BUM………. The door of the cubicle was opened – kicked by our male discipline teacher.

He looked at us very sternly.

I thought I will die that day.

“Girls! Why did all of you smoked. This is very bad , very bad!”

We started crying.

He continued , “ Do you know that only prostitutes smoke”

What? Prostitute? What is that? (Please , remember this is in the 1960’s , we were very naïve and the society was very closed when it’s comes to sex related things/people).

He asked us to follow him to the Principal office. We were so scared. Cannot run, cannot do anything! We just leave it to God.

We were then reprimanded by the Principal after a long lecture.

We were very lucky because the Principal did not call our parent but instead he gave us three strokes of the cane on the palm.

The next day, we didn’t see the ice-cream seller at the gate. He never sold his ice-cream in front our school again.

CIKGUTANYA: That was the first and the last time that I smoked. Never again. It was really bad!