Cari Kat London

The late 80's were the Rock years. It was huge, globally as well as in our dear own Malaysia. For a very realistic feel of what I'm talking about, check out the local movie "Rock". Depicting exactly as it was in the 80's. Weekend nights were usually spent at the Red Rooster (Medan Tuanku), Kathy's Lounge (TTDI), Hard Rock Cafe (TTDI - before Concorde) and Beer Keller (SS 14). The dress code was, well .. rock. Acid washed jeans, with rock bands patches sewn on them, some torn, t-shirts were mainly of British or American rock bands - almost inevitably black, bandanas were usually an option. I used to have stud bracelets, even once I bought a "rantai motor" belt (confiscated by one of the warden at section 18 Shah Alam .. tiu..) I suppose about 90% of the pub frequenters drank. Me, proud to announce that I'm a teetotaler. The motto was always "there's so many other stuff to drink".

The up & coming bands playing around that time were the likes of Search, Bloodshed, Wings, May, Rahim Maarof & the White Steel, Ella & the Boys, Lefthanded & Rusty Blade. Live gigs were a mark of a true rock band. Most played Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Ozzy, Van Halen, Whitesnake .. among others. Those bands eventually came up with their own songs & albums. Personally, during those years, I practically memorised all their lyrics.

Alas, study comes 1st. Due to the years I was in Australia, I never had the chance to enjoy their concerts. But I went to a lot of international bands' though .. Anthrax, Stryper, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Poison, Guns & Roses .. among others, which I enjoyed immensely. The best was probably Metallica's. For us students, Friday nights were jamming nights .. we played English as well as Malay numbers. New malay albums were mostly mailed from Malaysia .. in the form of cassette. CDs were only taking off during that time. So, we were never out of touch.

Last night was sublime. After 30 years .. Search came to London. Played at Scala, next to Kings Cross Station. They rocked & they rocked hard. Well worth my £25. Heck, even got myself their Eire & UK Tour t-shirt. Hujan, the starting band was quite fantastic in their own way as well. Brilliant!

Welcome Naqeeb

It was 0235 .. baru je tidor around 0100. Rasa mamai ya amat. Mummy kejut .. Skin dah contraction 7 minutes apart. Terkalut kejap. By 0300 sampai St Peter's Hospital. After a while, balik dulu sambung tidor.

0616 Naqeeb was born. Tambah satu nephew .. bengkok la Erry & Skin nak layan.
Congrats!!!

Ni dia budak comel tu.

Balik rumah terus gali lubang bawah pokok plum, nak tanam placenta .. cari tempat redup sikit, so budak ni nanti cool sikit. Tapi tanah tu banyak beno batu .. hopefully beso nanti powero budak ni. Ni placenta lepas mandi .. heart shaped .. macam akar kayu, if turned upside down - macam tree of life.

Jua Ikan

Amende la tajuk hari ni .. actually ianya berkenaan "selfish" sebab tu jua ikan bukan jual ikan.

Aku tak de menda nak buat, biasa lah .. masuk FB main Barn Buddy, curi hasil tanaman kawan2 sikit, tolong siram tanah2 yg kering etc. Sambil2 tu termasuk page member kamceng aku, Pak Din. Aku tersangat2 la kamceng ngan dia ni specifically masa aku study kat Adelaide dulu.

So, aku teringat pergi Selama (Perak) one time dulu. Sembang2 ngan ayah dia. Mat Sani namanya, aku panggil Pak Long. Dia ni imam kampung tu, merangkap penghulu. Sihat dan sasa orangnya. Sekarang ni tak tau lah, dah tua kan. Anak2 ramai juga. Memang layan sembang ngan orang tua ni. Banyak buah2 fikiran yg bernas. Infact, one of his advice was what led me to decide to go ahead & marry Ann. Ye lah kan, muda2 masa tu .. cold feet la, takut nak mampus dgn commitment etc.

Ada satu hari tu masa aku lepak2 ngan Pak Din, dia cerita kat aku, one fine day masa dia kecik - dia pergi la dapur & then buat la air (milo kot) satu mug. Tengah bersenang lenang minum Milo, boss panggil. Belum sempat cakap apa, sebijik pelempang dah hinggap kat pipi. Sambil Pak Din tercengang2 Pak Long tanya, "berapa orang duduk dalam rumah ni?" .. Pak Din jawab, "7" (aku rasa lah). "Habis tu buat air satu gelas kenapa? Lain kali nak buat air, buat satu teko."

Sejak hari tu, Pak Din pun menjadi seorang yang sharing, dah tidak lagi selfish. Oleh itu rajin2 lah buat air untuk kawan2/ahli keluarga, i.e. jangan buat untuk sendiri2 aje.

p/s aku memang malas buat air + potong bawang

Sekian, terima kasih.

Pulut Kuning

Ada mamat tu gigih suruh eksplen jugak pasal pulut kuning ni as per here.

So here goes.

Whenever there is a majlis khatam Quran for Malaysian Malays (can't vouch for Brunei, Indonesian, Phillipines, Sri Lankan, Thai, South African, Hawaii .. etc) almost inevitably among the menu would be Pulut Kuning. Now, what has pulut kuning got to do with khatam Quran? I'm pretty certain zaman2 Saidina Hassan & Hussin dulu diorang khatam sure makan shish kebab or something like that. Probably with nasi Bukhara (itu kalau zaman2 Imam Bukhari lah kot). What I mean is, its definitely a Malay tradition.

My suspicion is, khatam Quran being a highlight in the life of a kid, he or she is supposed to be treated like a royal. Hence the colour yellow in the pulut. Kalau putih je, tak de kelas la kan? Makan dengan kelapa parut & ikan masin - peasant food gitu (sedap siot!)

Another possible explanation was given by Mar a long time ago.
Kata dia: Masa khatam orang baca Lamyakunillazi (Surah 98 i.e. Al-Bayyinah [Bukti]). Orang Kelantan sebut Lamyakuning .. hence the Pulut Kuning!!

Wallahua'lam

p/s aku memang suka gila pulut kuning ni. Tak caya tanya Mar. Paling kokak makan dgn telur dadar potong jalur2.

2-in-1 Macam Shampoo

Happy Birthday & Happy Anniversary Mama Diny.

B'bojeng

Tadi aku singgah kedai gunting celah2 Queensway shops untuk berbojeng (Kelate for gunting rambut). Sebabnya rambut aku dah ala-ala Lion King. Lagi pun big boss sampai esok , next week dia gi Amsterdam pas tu BOD meeting the week after. So kena la hensem sikit, gaya, mutu, keunggulan gitu.

Awek yg gunting rambut tu la pulak - Chuuuun nya! Awek Polish. Bila aku tanya, "Are you European?", dia kata "No, I'm Polish". Pening aku kejap. May be very late 20's or early 30's. Ntah, minah2 salleh ni kengkadang muka cam tua tapi umur baru 20'an. So masa dia sepit2 rambut aku dgn jari dia, terus teringat Tom Selleck masa Paulina Porizkova gunting rambut dia in Her Alibi.

Dia ni lah satu2 nya model pujaan aku, awek Czech. Masa dulu2 aku ingat aku collect semua pamphlet Estee Lauder yg ada gambar dia. Tak gila ke? Seorang balak dok kutip Estee Lauder punya pamphlets? But that was what I did every time I pass through David Jones or Myer at Rundle Mall. Sambil2 tu spray la perfume testers mana yg patut kan (alang2 dah ada kat area cosmetic). Bila masuk lecture, wangi je. Rasa2 nya masa tu yg agak hot perfume were Jazz (YSL ke?) and Drakkar Noir. Kadang2 tu pasal dah selalu sangat buat, bila masuk je area perfume tu, macam terdengar2 announcement: "All cosmetic staff. Please hide all testers."

Paulina Porizkova - bapak la cun nya

Warrick

It's the new season for CSI: Vegas tonight. I know he's into drugs and things. But so what? Why are you guys doing this to me? Arghhhh!!!

Gary Dourdan

Dato' Latt - Ketua Bahagian Kuala Kedah

TERMUDA: Latt Shariman Abdullah, 40, kelmarin menjadi Ketua Bahagian termuda di Kedah apabila memenangi jawatan Ketua Bahagian Umno Kuala Kedah.Latt Shariman, kini bertugas sebagai Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas Timbalan Perdana Menteri Najib Razak, menewaskan Timbalan Ketua Bahagian Hashim Jasin. Ketua Bahagian dahulu Syed Razak Syed Zain Barakbah tidak mendapat cukup pencalonan untuk mempertahankan jawatan beliau.

Dato' Latt is my buddy from school. Great guy. Will go to illogical length to help people. After school we were quite active for old boys dinner/concert. I think at least 3 times I acted in sketches with him. Twice I was Tun Ghaffar Baba (Encik at that time) and he was DSAI. That was fun .. so much so that people who don't remember my name, simply call me "Ghafur".

Dato' Latt was the guy who persuaded me to go to UK for the 1st time in 1993 (FX was RM3.87:£1.00 !!). He even gave soft loan for half the ticket price, which was only RM1,600 return. Murah kan? We stayed near Baker Street station that time. Kalau tak, memang tak merasalah jadi tourist.

Congratz bro!

BTW, it snowed just now. Hmmm .. it's still October. Camana January nanti???

Briani Diana, Special Branch & Generosity

When in KL, once in a while I'll get this phone call, either from my insurance broker buddy - Joel or my politician-in-the-making buddy, Doc Fitter. Reason being: ajak makan kat Diana Nasi Beriani

Its a stall located at the Taman Melawati business district (that's what I call it lah - pandai2 bagi nama). Alah, area across jalan besar from Giant tu. Anyway, everytime pi .. sure angkat kambing, ayam goreng, ayam pedas and may be just for the heck of it, daging. Memang superb! Conversation usually turns to politics and business.

There's another location nearby, which kambing is reputedly better than this, but Doc said the rice at Diana is better. Once in a while, as usual you get beggars and some sellers selling things that needs persuasion before they can be bought. Sidetrack: Most people would try their best to avoid these people, but Abang Rip, my biras - will call these people and ask them, "Eh, adik jual apa tu?". Contrast betul lah manusia nih.

Sometimes you get one guy berboleng with only shirts on, fingernails with dirt from god knows where, body & face bercalit2 like he's just completed an engine overhaul. Not to mention the hair .. macam tak mandi seminggu. Sometimes we give him cigarettes or ask him whether he wants to eat. Usually he's content with the cigarette. But Doc Fitter warned, its not unusual for Special Branch officers to be incognito like this and loiter around to listen to what people are talking about at public places.

I guess so, coz I have one ex-Special Branch officer friend whom I know spent 2 months in Arqam, spotting the Taliban beard, turban, green jubah .. the works.
So, the next time you see somebody whose screw is a bit loose, don't be stingy. If you continually give, you will continually have.

Mak Long Has Been Called

Mar & Diny called to inform about Mak Long, who passed on at about 1230 - 0100 M'sian time. May she be placed among the believers.

Spoke to Cik Nah shortly after knowing and she said it was almost the same as what happened when Abah passed on. Same thing, there were only two of them in the house at the time. It was also in July, 11 years ago.

Prayed for her & family to face this with patience & keredhaan.

Mak Long - somebody I believe could have been the likes of Tan Sri Datin Paduka Seri Dr. Aishah Ghani, had she got the chance to get the same kind of education and exposure.

Innalillahiwa-inna-ilaihirajiuun.