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!

TRY YOUR LUCK 2

Clinking …. Clinking ……clinking …. my friends and I waited anxiously .
I won … I won …. I won . We jumped up and down without looking at what we are winning. The ice-cream seller gave us the thing that we won . We were shocked .
It was a packet of cigarettes … “Rough Rider” …. 10 sticks inside.


“My friends , what are we supposed to do with this cigarettes. There’s a lot in it”

We looked at each other.

“I can’t take it home , my father will kill me “ says friend no 1

“OK let’s think about it.” says friend no 2

“ Why don’t we smoke it” says friend no 3

Everybody agreed. But where?

“Why not in the toilet” says friend no 1

Hmm …. again everybody agreed.

We borrowed a box of matches form the canteen operator . We went to the toilet. We smoked. There was four of us in one cubicle of the toilet.
Puff … puff …. puff ….. cough … cough ………..cough

CIKGUTANYA: What was I thinking then?

TRY YOUR LUCK 1

There was this ice-cream seller. He sells ice-cream just outside the school compound, very near the main entrance of the school .

I was in Form One.

The modus-operandi was, if you buy the ice-cream from him, you get the chance to try you luck by putting a marble in a special case/box, specially made, for that purpose.
It was made of wood. Nails is nailed on the board of the case – ½ inches apart. About 200 nails was used.



Your have to put the marble in the hole at the top of the box. It will go down toward the bottom of the box where the photo of the thing that you might win. It will zig-zag down . I bought a 5 cents worth of ice-cream and was given a marble to try my luck. Chuckling,. Chuckling, Chuckling it went down

Cikgutanya: I will continue tomorrow. Oh , what a thrill.

singer 2

Why did we changed our mind?

“Because she was there!” Our serious, strict and stern Geography teacher. She sat beside J. Sham. The organizer told us that the lady was J. Sham’s girlfriend.

Buzz …buzz .. lots of comments can be heard.

“She’s J Sham’s girlfriend?” my friend, Saemah asked.

“She’s our teacher and a very serious one, how can a singer fall for her?” Jamaliah asked.

“J Sham should be my boyfriend.” Nor, my flamboyant friend commented.

“I want to tackle him, but our teacher got to him first.” Ton, my other friend commented.

Me, I am the good one. I just like him as a singer and nothing more.

We went back frustrated because we can’t get his autograph.

The next day, during geography lesson in class, we noticed that our teacher’s face light up and she will be smiling alone and look happy. My friend and I think, it must be love.

J Sham and our teacher got married six months later. It seems that they were together at the teacher’s training college before and now they meet again.

They are still together.

Cikgutanya: Yes , we were teenagers and enjoying our teenage life.

Singer 1

My geography teacher was a lady teacher. Beautiful and fair. She was a very good teacher.

With her tutelage I still can draw a map of Malaysia, off hand , 35 years after leaving school. I still can draw a map of Perak and sketch the area of tin mines in Perak. I can draw a world map without looking at the original map.

She was not fierce but very stern and strict.

One day there was a stage show at the school field in my kampong. My friends and I decided to go. There were five of us.

We were very thrilled because one of our favorite singer will be performing. He was popular those dayas with the name J. Sham.

After a few performances by other singers, J. Sham was called on satge to perform by the emcee.

He started to sing. My friends and I screamed, jumped and danced when he was performing.

At 11.30 pm the stage show ended.

As fans we wanted to get his autograph. So we went backstage. But we changed our mind suddenly. Why?

Continue tomorrow

Cikgutanya: Heartache!

Conversation 2

Son number One :

“Oh , yours is nothing.”

“When I was in this boarding school, one night we wanted to celebrate the birthday of five of our friends.”

“We brought along two packets of flour and twenty eggs. We will celebrate the birthday boys and girls by throwing the eggs and then throw the flour at them, what a sight it would be.”

“But someone told the warden. He came into the hostel and ransacked our bags and also our bags in the classroom. I got slapped because in my bag there was a whole packet of flour.”

Son number three:

“I also got scolded by my teacher.”

“The rules of my boarding school was nobody should bring MP 3 to the hostel. But I did , without mum’s knowledge.”

“ The teacher found my MP3. He threw down my MP 3 from the fourth floor of the hostel. It can’t be safe anymore.”


Cikgutanya: Why now (when they are all out of school ) and there is nothing I can do.

Conversation

While driving to my village (kampong) 240 km away form the capital city, I heard my three sons talking. They were all on their semester break of their respective universities.

All out of schools.

Their conversation goes like this:

Son number 2 :

“Brother, when I was in the boarding school, one night after the night preparation class , we went back to our dorm.”

“We talked about music and song and singers.”

“In the hostel at our dorm my friend knocked two spoons together , klik, klik , klik.”

“The other friend of mine knocked on the bed ..klang …klang ….klang.”

“Two other boys knocked on the window pane ….. kling … kling …. Kling.”

”Three other boys clapped their hands and a beautiful rhythm was created.”

”I danced to the tune. I break dance.”

“Suddenly! The hostel warden barged in. He scolded us and punished us by asking us to sleep on the corridor of the hostel.”

“We abide, but sleeping outside is better, it is colder.”

Cikgutanya: I just keep my mouth shut , but my heart says WHAT?