SOUL SCRIBBLES

When you come to our house on any day during Syawal, you’ll find that my mother would have prepared some kind of dishes, Johor favourites or otherwise, elaborate fare or simple ones, for you and your family or your extended families or friends who tagged along for the visit. If you call ahead a day or two before the visit, you’ll give her enough time to buy the ingredients and cook a storm in the kitchen.  If not, she’ll boil spaghetti and toss it in Prego’s Carbonara sauce, which she has in stock at home. Yes, she’ll go out of her way to make sure that you are fed when you come to the house; never mind the fact that you told her not to susahkan diri nak masak bagai  when you called to inform her of your impending visit. She reminds me of her aunty, who she stayed with her teenage years, whom I addressed as Tok Itam. If we dropped by her house unannounced at Jalan Parit Besar in Batu Pahat, the first thing she would say after the customary greetings, hugs and kisses wil...

“She can now stick a fridge magnet on her right arm.” “Bionic woman … ” “Oooh, boleh sepak muka orang sampai ke dinding ni …” "She  “She still has her humour intact ...” after telling them that the doctor had to graft the humerus bone. Humerus … humour … get it? No? Never mind. Yes, my office mates poked fun at me. I was away from the office for almost a month. I had popped in prior to the surgery (on the pretext of sending in the medical chit although the aim was to get out of the house) and a few times after (same reason and on the way from the hospital into the city). When the surgeon finally agreed to discharge me, he gave a month supply of painkillers and medicated plasters. I took home the two ice packs. His nurse asked that I see him in two weeks to get the staples off. It was painless when the nurse took the staples out. The wound was healing nicely. But I asked that she bandaged it loosely (I was going into the office and later do a spot of shopping) inste...

There was phlegm in my throat. Lots of it. I couldn’t breathe.  I could hear the gurgling sound as the nurse used the suction to suck it out. Once it was cleared, I breathed in as deep as I could. When I woke up, I was at the recovery room outside the operating theatre. I had an oxygen mask on. “ Kenapa ni ?” I asked the male nurse seated at the table next to me. “ Kakak kurang oxygen,” he said. I asked him for the time. Half an hour later, I was back in the room. It was 2.30pm. I was hooked up to the oxygen next to the bed. I asked the nurse how long I would have to be on it. “ Sampai pukul lima atau enam. Kalau okay, tak payah guna lah.” I had the oxygen mask on until about four. My mother and brother’s family came at about 4.30pm. My niece will be spending the duration with me at the hospital. The surgeon came right after to check on me. The surgery went well. He showed me the x-ray which showed where he placed the six inch plate and screws. He asked if I was in pa...

I postponed the surgery to the following week. “I have to make some arrangements at work,” I told the surgeon. I lied. I could just go through with it immediately but I wasn’t mentally prepared for the surgery. His nurse penned down the date for surgery. She booked the room and cleared with the insurance company on the necessary payment. I was to be warded the day before for pre-surgical procedures. After the appointment, I went to the office and then back to my own house. My staff thought I had done the surgery the way I was carrying myself. I told them the painkiller was my best friend. Seriously, I have no problem being put under for the surgery. My problem is the pre-surgery procedure, especially having to draw blood for tests. You see, I had a painful and traumatic experience when I was hospitalized for suspected dengue in 1974.  I was poked three times in each arm by an inexperienced nurse. She couldn’t locate the vein on my arm to draw blood. A doctor had to draw bl...

I fell at KLCC. Wait, I know what you’re going to ask. “Macam mana boleh jatuh?” I was asked that every time I relate this story. I don’t know really. The floor may have been wet (it happened in front of Garrett’s, the popular popcorn outlet) or I may have tripped after stepping on my long skirt. Or I may have simply misstepped. I felt a sharp pain on my right shoulder. I knew immediately that something was not right. What I didn’t know then was that I had fractured the head of the humerus bone. The KLCC guest relations officer, who happened to pass by, asked if they can take me to the clinic. I told her I needed a hospital instead. When she told me that the medical centre had closed (it was after 6 pm when it happened), I decided to go to Pantai Hospital. I took the Isetan escalator to the groundfloor and headed towards the taxi stand. It was peak hour. There was no taxi in the queue, except for one waiting for her ride to finish work. The lady driver saw that I was in ...

Esok, kita akan mula berpuasa. Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk memohon keampunan di atas segala perbuatan dan percakapan saya samada di dalam keadaan sedar atau tidak. Jua, di halalkan segala makan dan minum. Sesungguhnya, yang baik itu datangnya dari Allah SWT dan segala keburukan, kesalahan dan kesilapan itu datangnya dari diri saya sendiri.  Semoga Allah SWT menerima amalan dan ibadah kita sepanjang bulan Ramadhan ini. Mohon kita semua perkukuhkan ikatan silaratul rahim yang sedia ada, insya’Allah.

It was a missed opportunity. I should have taken out my phone, put the camera setting on and take her photograph. Oh, I would probably ask her permission first before I snap her photograph or maybe not because I would want a candid shot. She was a rare specie in this day of modern technology. She was reading a book while waiting for her order to arrive. Yes, you read it right the first time. She was reading a book when I saw her. This was at Ben’s KLCC two weekends ago. Everyone around us was looking at the mobile phone screens. You know some were scrolling because they were using the index finger in an upward or downward motion on the mobile phone screen. I saw others furiously typing notes, SMSes or messages on Whatsapp, Telegram or whatever message applications they have on their mobile phones. I didn’t see anyone actually talking on the mobile phone. I am guilty of doing the same thing – checking my messages, checking Facebook or reading the links send to by my frien...

It was a Friday like today 34 years ago when I received news that my eldest brother had passed away. He was in Ipoh, a final year land survey student at Politeknik Ungku Omar. I was in Muar doing my Form Six. My parents and my youngest brother were at home in Johor Bahru. The brother-in-law of my aunt’s husband, who lived in Muar, came by the hostel to break the news. There was kuliah at the college in the morning but I stayed in instead. I woke up feeling extremely cold – chilling to the bones – although the weather was warm that morning. He said my parents would be picking me up later to go to Kuala Lumpur to bring the body home. My parents had received a telegram from the polytechnic informing them of his death. My father called the polytechnic to confirm the news and got in touch with other family members. In the car to Kuala Lumpur, they discussed funeral arrangements. They decided not to bring the body home but to bury him in Kuala Lumpur instead. A cousin, whose husba...

School holidays are right around the corner but we haven’t made any plans. In fact, we’re not going anywhere this mid-year school holidays (or else, we would have made bookings for transport, accommodation and whatever else that needed to be done to ensure a vacation to be enjoyed by all especially my 75-year old mother). My niece, Mysara, who will be sitting for the STPM at the end of the year while her brother, Danial, will do the PT3, will have extra classes during the two-week break. I would have signed him up for a PT3 workshop if he hasn’t any extra classes.   " Duduk rumah, baca buku, kan nak periksa ni ..." would be my mother's reply if the grandchildren asked her where they can take her for a short break outside Kuala Lumpur. So, we're not going anywhere. Furthermore, I’m saving up for our winter holiday in Korea at the end of the year. They were pretty disappointed when we were in London and Paris during the Christmas/New Year break last year. They w...

I wear an XXL T-shirt (American size). Add another X to that if the T-shirt is in the Malaysian size. Using the UK chart, I vary between sizes 18 and 20, depending on the cutting of the clothes. Yes, I’m a plus size woman. I have been one all my life. Even if I drop one X from the local size of XXXL, I am still considered a plus size. (In the fashion industry, a plus size is identified as sizes 12-24, super size as sizes 4X-6X and extended size as 7X and above. In Britain, the term used is “outsize”.) Some 20 years ago, a plus size woman would find difficulty buying clothes off the rack. The largest size would be XL. Only certain labels carry XXL or XXXL. Either you send fabric for tailoring or you shop for your plus size clothing overseas. Now, you can find several labels carrying plus size clothes here such as Marks and Spencer (up to size 24), Ms Read (sizes 12-24) and Total Women (T1 to T4). Price-wise, items from these labels can be a little bit on the high side (although...

I haven’t been cooking much the past year or so. It’s not that I don’t have the time for it but it’s cheaper for me to eat outside. Cooking for one can be an expensive affair. It can lead to wastage too. Nevertheless, when I do cook, normally weekends when I’m too lazy to go out, it would be simple dishes like the kerabu ikan bilis I read on LoubiLou .  Only, I called mine ikan bilis goreng bawang dan cili api (tak creative langsung kan ?) and I add a squeeze of tamarind juice in it, thus creating some gravy. I swear I can live on this alone; eating it with piping hot rice, with kicap manis cap Kipas (somehow I like this brand the best!) and telur dadar (fried egg pancake with sliced onions and red or green chillies). Or, sardines in tomato sauce (saute onions in some oil, add chillies, pour in the sardine with the tomato sauce and add a little water to thin the gravy), also to be eaten with rice and telur dadar. Or just hot rice with a dab of butter, kicap manis and ...

Have you heard of this term before? I can bet you have not. It’s my mother’s favourite line on her squabbling grandchildren. Well, they don’t squabble all the time. You know how teenage siblings are; they can be best buddies one minute and get on each others’ nerves the next. One word, one sentence or an action can trigger an outburst. And it can happen anywhere; hence, “ dari rumah ” (from home) and “ ke tanah ” (to mean outside the house). And it can be irritating to the grandmother because she’s with them in Putrajaya. Whenever they start quarrelling, the nenek will go, “ dari rumah ke tanah …” and starts her rant. Mysara and Danial will start blaming each other on who started the quarrel first.   And because the nenek uses it often enough, they will, in the midst of their squabbling, say “ dari rumah ke tanah ” before she can say it herself. And they will burst out laughing. And nenek will be annoyed. “ Tengok tu, dia main-mainkan kita ,” she would say. I don’...

Remember the encyclopedia? I had an uncle who kept volumes (from A to Z) of the Encyclopedia Britannica in a cupboard. No one could touch it. It was as if these books were put in there as a display. At the school library, I use the encyclopedia as my reference books. Just like the dictionary, only the encyclopedia had a lot more information than just on words alone. It was my teacher. I refer to it mostly when teachers can’t give me a satisfactory answer to my questions. These days, kids (and adults, included) have Google and the many search engines available. All they need to do is type in what they want to know and voila … the answer is there for the taking! But it is YouTube that has replaced the encyclopedia as my teacher. Some of the things I’ve learned and become good at are because of the videos on YouTube. Baking is one of them. Decourage is another. The third will, insya’Allah, be playing the guitar. When I was in school, I used to follow my mother to her bakin...

Six letters, Two words, Easy to say, Hard to explain, Harder to do: MOVE ON.

Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living, But the child who is born on the Sabbath day Is fair and wise and good in every way. -           A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire (Volume II, pp. 287–288) This is a new blog. Does this mean a new life? Well, maybe. This is my third blog, to be exact. I don’t remember the first blog. I accidentally deleted the account when I wanted to change the blog name. Lucky for me, there weren’t that many postings yet. The second blog was initially called Latte @ Chinoz on the Park as I used to hang out there quite a lot with my good friend Helen, who has now moved to Kuching, Sarawak. We had a good time watching people from all walks of life there. I started it on a Wednesday, on 26 July 2006 to be exact. I ...