Outing in Serendah

I really thought there was a river behind Adik's new home in Serendah cos' I saw some siblings picnicking there. So i went to her house warming party in my swim suit.Rumah dia ada some 10 mins to the river and Iskandar went to book a parking.Penuh! Kereta tak leh bergerak for a good 1 km..orang pi cari sungai to cool off cuti raya Cina. Sampai ke sudah we didn't get to go so akhirnya berpiknik tepi longkang bawah pokok2 pisang.

I siap masak roast chicken yang within minutes habis.Adik did nasi ulam and kerabu pucuk paku and Umi ordered some Tganu kari.My hubby said mmg sedap lunch hari itu. I went home sulking.No river! They all laughed. I told them I got conned.Kalau Airbnb ni ratingnya satu je. Haha.

So the other clan will go to Janda Baik looking for a river before Z leaves for her assignment overseas.Not for me but for little Ajir cos' he loves nature.Watch this space.InshaAllah.

We went to Azam's house warming party at Putra Heights after changing my swimsuit to baju biasa at Serendah.Well, at least dapat kumpul and do tahlil with my clan at Adik's place.Lama tak jumpa.

Pandai betul Mazlinda hias rumah. So homely.I'm inspired too.Mula le berangan nak tukar furniture, langsir segala. Haha.

Bertanak menggulai di Temoh, Perak

Fatin and I left on Friday petang to Temoh for the Bertanak Menggulai event organised by JARO Perak in Temoh. That term "bertanak" which is widely used in my family rupanya bahasa Rawa. Byk lauk pauk Rawa Perak yang sama dgn lauk pauk Rawa Pahang. Nasi goreng bawang tu namanya Nasi Rondang Bawang is a Rawa breakfast. I belajar cara membuat laba..a kind of rojak buah which I served to Dr Bubbles and family when they came over for tea and dinner (sambil makan tapai segala). Kek buah Yati is so yummy.Nanti nak order lagi.Umar is such a well mannered boy. Mcm Zafirah masa kecik, he would put back his toys where he found them. Kemas sgt orangnya. :)

Fatin and I slept at a homestay in Temoh. 3 bilik so we each got a room. Tengah malam telinga I sakit bukan main. Then I baca ayat halau jin. Keh keh...mmg hilang sakitnya and I could sleep again.Anak jin mana bit my ear. I tertidur atas dia gamaknya (the house must have been left empty for a while..like who would stay there daily, kan?)

We were treated well by kins in Temoh. We managed to speak to many Rawa Perak. Some baru 3 generasi. I finally found a story about water routes across..ada from Acheh ke Penang..ada yang terus ke Melaka. Ada yang terus ke Teluk Intan. Masa perjalanan 1 hour bot pancung 2 horse power. Caranya berpandukan asap gas yang keluar dari elantar minyak mana2..so all boats would berpandukan itu as their lighthouse.Takkan jauh menyasar ..kalau ditiup angin..paling tidak tersadai di pantai Selangor or pantai Perak. Tekong laut and tekong darat would take care of those migrant workers...satu boat boleh muat 25 orang but usually sampai 50 orang lebih..tu yang mudah terbalik.

Someone from Tanjung Malim told me zaman Belanda, sebab Belanda ambik semua biji kopi..teh locals were left only with daun kopi so they dried up daun kopi and then buat kopi.Lagi sedap dan berkhasiat dari biji kopi. Tuhan tu kaya. Akal ada untuk innovate.

DO Tanjung Malim ckp he would like me to be part of his team for the next Rawa event.Ahh..I must drop him a line in case he forgets. Haha. Mmg seronok belajar sesuatu baru sebenarnya. And you meet very interesting people along the way. Good for my novel development.

 Rawa cuisine

 With Dr Nazri and Dr Zabidin di kebun kelapa sawitnya

which is infront of his bungalow. :)

belajar cara membuat laba

 Saturday event : lunch in Temoh

Sunday dinner..nasi ayam with Dr Bubbles & family

 sunday event with the MGS gals

Almost didn't make it.Ingat masa mcm wedding melayu 12-4

Rupa2nya 10-12 noon. I was still melepak2 at home

at 11.30 am.45 mins to get there! But I made it..syukur

New job

I have figured out how to go to work and back.The new office may be temporary until Crescent moves out I think. Meanwhile, I have agreed to take over aruah Ajmal's old office in one of the bungalows (level 3 is like a 5 star apartment but no lift so gamaknya saya takda le nak turun naik tempat tu. If we have guests, nampaknya di situlah mereka). This place is huge.Pandai betul Syed Naguib Alatas membinanya. I have requested that the pgrads are placed where I am sebab kalau tidak, saya sorang je kat situ with my RA.

Kawan-kawan Che Noraini

Prof Dato Asiah texted me ajak lunch. I tau dia nak drown in her grief with me. Dia suruh ajak Prof Saodah but Saodah nak pi jumpa lawyer dia pulak dgn anaknya so I suggested we go to Jibby East and that I would pick her up depan office President.

So we met as agreed. Dalam kereta lagi Prof Asiah dah tak sabar nak share, going down detik2 akhir bersama aruah exactly a week before she passed on.

Then I told her my moments pulak. I said when I asked Saodah to call you sebab I nak cari kawan menangis since Saodah pun didn't break down. I told Saodah, can you call Prof Asiah and we broke the news. Tengok2 you pun mcm dek je. But then you started sending her pics and vid clip non stop to me then I knew that you had started to 'cry' in your own way, I told her. We laughed but there were still tears in me. Prof Asiah kata dia mmg mcm tu...but sedih dia makan dalam bkn keluar airmata. She said she would pasang the vid clip and watch it over and over again. Iyalah, I told her. People mourn differently. I ni mesti nak nangis. And nangis berjumaah baru puas rasa sedih I di share ramai-ramai. Ketidak rasa macam makan dalam juga.

Now we know why Noraini accepted us as her friends. Kita mmg gila2 mcm dia juga.Gelak2..nangis.
Semoga dia damai di sana. Next week I dah janji nak keluar lunch dgn anak aruah (about the same age with Zafirah)

Prof Asiah and Dr Che Nor

Understanding Malaysian Literature Citations

Alhamdulillah, two citations of my writings were brought to my attention this year.One by Thammasat Uni in Thailand and the other by Oxford Academic.

1.http://203.131.219.167/km2559/2017/12/24/new-books-understanding-malaysian-literature/
2.  https://academic.oup.com/ywes/article-abstract/96/1/1166/3811995?redirectedFrom=fulltext
(look under Malaysia subtitle)