OVERHEARD...

I hadn't heard this version before and I found it interesting, especially hearing it from someone relatively "in the know" ...

"Siakap, senohong, gelama, ikan duri
Bercakap bohong lama-lama jadi menteri"

Mmmm - it might actually explain a few things...

THE DEVIL'S CAT

We have had cats off and on over the years but I never thought we 'd get to three at one time! The latest addition was a week-old squint-eyed, bow-legged, tiny kitten my youngest daughter found hiding under a car outside our gate. According to her it was akin to "instant rapport and mutual love - what with her pleading meows and the pale blue eyes". If that was indeed the case, I thought to myself she'd be in for a real heartbreak for there's no way her mother would allow another cat in the house (and especially not that miserable looking thing that didn't even seem like it was going to make it).

Surprise, surprise - I was wrong! Somehow she got her mother to let her keep it, though the lecture on the subject kept on and on, unabated - until last week.

What happened last week?

Well, we discovered that "Juling" (as she's officially called) and my wife had a common interest. We found her fully absorbed in the Man'U-Bolton game for a good portion of the match - and my wife, a die-hard Man'U supporter since her school days was visibly impressed and pleased with the addition of another (assumed) Man'U fan in the house. She (Juling) now even gets to ocasionally watch TV just with my wife!

She's not telling, but I wonder which team Juling's really rooting for...

WHAT A CUCU CAN MAKE YOU DO

Everytime I see Sash's photos on her mother's blog (courtesy of Yoya or ED) I get so depressed because I don't blog. It seems what may come naturally to the children and grand-children can be not only quite an uphill effort but even intimidating to some of those of my vintage... ( oops sorry, before anyone takes offence perhaps I should just make that strictly for me and my wife) but since this is probably the only way to keep in close touch with Sasha, I just have no choice but to struggle on.

So here I am Sash....... this is for you (written during your first visit home).

.........................................................................

SASHA...

Sasha, our very first grand-daughter, our very first grand-child
Barely two months old and already so generous with your smile
Dark brown hair, huge eyes, and heavy cheeks pink as a rose
Clearly daddy's complexion but very much your mother's nose

I think we hit it off - you and me - rather early and quite nicely
Something your nenek agrees with, although perhaps grudgingly
For nenek was the one who was there for your birth to greet you
Travelling all by herself half around the world to meet her cucu

And we were all naturally excited over your first homecoming
But for your nenek to be excited was really quite another thing
If only you could see her check-list of things that needed doing
Including that elaborate cukur jambul that Saturday morning

I thought you handled the entire lengthy ceremony very nicely
Smiling, gurgling, waving your hands all the time at everybody
It was as if you knew you were the reason for the occasion
Fully participating throughout and enjoying all that attention

As you lay there on the big coushion elaborately decorated
On seven layers of Tok's best kain songket intricately folded
The ladies in a half circle reciting their selected verses vibrantly
And you echoing their chorus from time to time enthusiastically

Finally your mum carried you and introduced you to all present
And tiny snips of your hair were carefully and gingerly taken
The strands were placed in a young coconut "bowl" as a token
...of a cultural and symbolic gesture of simple purification

In the years to come you won't remember this ocasion naturally
But you'll have other such events to add to your early memory
And when you grow up, very much a global citizen most likely
These will help remind you of your roots and your family"

................................................................................

So, for what it's worth ...enjoy the poem Sash. Nek, like I was until a few days ago, doesn't blog - period. So I'll be your intermediary because she will not be left out when it comes to any kind of communication with you... love you, don't grow up too quickly. Tok

TRUST AND EXPECTATION

It's amazing - the promises we make and the expectations we strive to create when we want something. What is more amazing is that these promises, it would seem, are often made with scant considerations of their attendent obligations - they were merely promises and no more. How sad .... especially when this is a glaringly rampant practise even at the nation's highest hierarchy, showing the whole nation the "way".

..........................................................................

TRUST AND EXPECTATON

They meet in the haloed chamber of the nation's highest
Where key national issues are discussed
Where major affairs of the nation are deliberated
As the Rakyat watch with interest and hear them debated
Where the strictest of decorum is observed
When throughout the chamber's honour is preserved
Where conduct and manners are exemplary
Each move and each word made and uttered with dignity
Each claim and every assertion grounded in facts
Every issue fully studied - every angle, in every respect
Avoiding trivialities and unseemly verbal fights
Picking the issues to spend time on and to fully deliberate
Not belabouring matters that are unproductive and petty
Those that can be resolved by a much lesser committee
Arguements and recommendations thoroughly considered
Each promise, each undertaking sincerely honoured
No grandstanding; only constructive opinions
No slick double-talks to accomodate what is convenient
No hidden agenda, no impetuousness
Everything done in the Rakyat's and the nations interest
Every Honorable Member coming fully prepared
Home-work done, fully equipped with all data and facts
Every Honorable Member behaving honourably
Discharging his or her responsibilty always conscionably
Every honorable Member giving this task due standing
Every other task a distant second to this important sitting

These are the trust, the belief, the responsibilty expected
Of these representatives the Rakyat elected
An expectation that follow the high trust they have given
A trust and expectation so often seem forgotten"

............................................................................

Maybe we ought to really learn to listen not to the actual words but to what they might really mean. And I'm really not sure how we can do that ... if it gets too difficult maybe we ought to stop listening to them and believing in them, and purely judge them on their actions ...