The Bicycle's Delayed Arrival

It has been a long while since the last bicycle ride but the interval has been well spent.

I had dearly wished - during this stay in KL - to visit Lely and Macik Alimah  (Jai's mother) in Singapore.

http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012/08/selamat-hari-raya.html

We usually travel to Singapore on the Aeroline Bus from KL, across the Second Link to the Singapore Harbour Front - a journey which takes about 5 hours.  But this time, a spouse with an unviable back made such a journey impossible.  Then last week, my former student Din (aka Rockybru) came to the rescue and kindly provided me a door to door 'delivery' by car  from KL to Singapore and back.

Thank you Din for your 'korban' for your old teacher.

I spent all of Tuesday with Lely and kept her company while she was doing her 2 1/2 hours intensive therapy at St Luke's Hospital.  She will undergo another operation in February to remove the residual clot.  She has all our prayers but I know from watching her determined and relentless effort to get better, she will be just as positive and courageous when the time comes.  In the evening we had a get-together for mee rebus at Macik Alimah's flat at Boon Lay.

And thank you Jai, for ferrying us from Dover Road to Boon Lay and Jelapang Road.

After I got home on the Thursday, I had a chat about the Singapore trip with my neighbour Zarinah.  Then her youngest son,  little six-year-old Haiqal came up to me and asked, with a censorious fire in his voice, (quoted verbatim)  "Why did you leave Uncle alone at home?  That is impossible!"  (He meant 'unacceptable'.)

Haiqal and his big brother  Daniel.
As for their cats:  From left to right, Spice, Two-Socks and Betsy

Dear oh dear, I'm being told off by this little tyke for being - in his eyes - an errant wife.  I did try to explain but I don't think he accepted  my reason.  And now, each time I nag the spouse he threatens to report me to Haiqal.

But never mind, when we're back in Leicester, Haiqal won't be able to protect him.

After Hari Raya, it was back to the routine of a thrice weekly trip to Tung Shin Hospital for the spouse's Orthopaedic Therapy and with fingers crossed and heart in mouth, he may just make it for the journey back to Leicester in two weeks' time.

I started this post intending to write another bicycle story.  But Haiqal's admonition of AsH had to be recorded to warn other wives to beware of getting on the wrong side of  little people like this MCP , meaning Macho Chili Padi.

Off to bed now,  and hoping I don't have nightmares of being hounded by a fiery two-legged chili padi.

Cycles of Life

From my collection of old textbooks :

First published 1951.  Fourth Impression 1956.

The above book published by Longmans catered for pupils in English Schools and non-Malay Schools.  This was the period before  Malay  became the National language.

I never got this far in my Malay language lessons during Primary School - for reasons not known to us.  All in all I had only 2 years of  learning my mother-tongue.  However  in our wanderings from bookshop to bookshop in Singapore, Batu Pahat, Muar, Kajang, Kuala Kangsar and especially Penang I became quite obsessed with collecting school textbooks in Malay and English.  They are fascinating because they featured not only the education system pre-war and post -war, but the social and economic conditions of those times.

These books have travelled with us from Singapore/Penang to Leicester where they took up a good deal of our living space for 17 years before we brought them 'home' to Kuala Lumpur.  Whenever I get weary, coping with the twenty-first century,  I retreat to these books for a good dose of nostalgia for the good days of long ago.

This chapter from Latehan Bahasa Melayu got me going on a magic journey on bicycles.

I have learned several new words from the above text.  Gerek is another word for roda (wheel), sayap refers to the mudguards, bam means the wooden handles of the bechak dua roda (rickshaw).  However 'brakes' and 'handle' remain as such, although the dictionary uses rem for brakes and a handle is also a pemegang or hendal  But this was after all,  the 1950s.

Page 50 is interesting because of the two bicycle brands mentioned - Raleigh and Hercules.  Of course the Raleigh is top of the range and in 1952 a loving father had to part with about $160 to keep his offspring quiet and active on a Raleigh.  As for the Hercules I was told by the spouse that the boneshaker bicycle he had been using was a Hercules!   Here it is with my own nameless bicycle and Fido (the cat) who made it a habit to use our bikes as a launching pad to get up and down the wall.

And here's my frozen bike sans Fido.

That little bike took me on umpteen little journeys to the market at the City Centre.  We took several sorties cycling in the posh parts of Leicester.  When we passed through the working class area, someone threw a stone at me simply because of my colour.  And there was the time when I was pushing my bicycle up a steep slope, and a mixed black and white little girl, aged about eleven yelled at me, "Chinkee, go home!"

As for that lovable little bicycle, Iain  lent it to this  little West Indian  girl when someone stole her bicycle while she was delivering the papers in our street.  Her father, much, much later, returned it to us but with the front wheel in a right sorry state. So there you are - "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

I have always fancied a Raleigh.  The Rudge bicycle that my two brothers and I shared was our pride and joy.

Kampung Abu Kassim, Pasir Panjang, Singapore  - 1956

I was always very happy when my mother asked me to get her kelapa parut from the one shop at the 4th milestone, or  small items of grocery that she had forgotten to buy, or post letters and cards at the 7th milestone Post Office.  I would immediately grab the Rudge away from either of my two brothers who were having too much fun with it - and soon I'd be cycling and flying away like a bird on the wing, so to speak.  (Also it gave me a chance to wave a hello to my heart-throbs, Ng Kian Ann and Ang Hock Kee as I cycled past their house.)

As for the Raleigh - sometime in 1993, when we left Penang after 2 years at USM,  my mother gave us a prezzie of $1,000 because she thought it would be useful for us back in Leicester.  Well, we bought two brand new Raleigh bicycles from Halfords.  Everytime we took to the road and cycled on the tracks alongside the Canal, stopping to pick blackberries along the wayside and resting for a picnic we think of mak and thanking her for this joy.

I brought  both bicycles back to KL with all our books and phonograph players and vinyls.  I had to dismantle them for packing and they remain still in parts because I can't get any shop to put them - like Humpty Dumpty -  together again.  This is all I could retrieve - the sayap.

  

Bicycles of Yore

We have all owned or shared a bicycle in our time.  Two problems occur for any kid who desires a two-wheeler.  Firstly, you need to persuade your parents to buy you  one.  Then comes the most traumatic part - learning to ride it.  It causes you a lot of cuts and bumps and tears to the skin and trousers.  More dreadful is the humiliation of falling on and under and over your bike.  But after a great deal of physical and mental scars you eventually make it.  Best of all, you never forget how!

I'm back at my favourite activity -  rummaging through my collection of old school textbooks and discovering  how bicycles, both two-wheelers and three wheelers were very much a popular topic.  How different to today when children are more interested in luxury cars, Facebook and computer games.

So, let's go cycling:  From :

.......we read about Ah Chong ...

.... and his bicycle which costs forty-five dollars in the 1950s!

                               ***********************************************

My 1956 Primary School Malay textbook ..........

..... tells us about Basir and his

Ah Chong lives in the town and Basir is a kampung boy.  It seems that this two-wheeler, first invented by a man called Macmillan from Scotland held together the Chinese and the Malay and town and kampung.

What a shame that this tie is now broken.  Can you, today, imagine Ah Chong from the small town of Gemas and Basir from Kampung Tongkang Pechah  dressed up to the nines on their bicycle, looking like this?

The Postman for Lely

Lely with her favourite Uncle at her favourite abode, Pohutukawa Cottage

.

My Internet, which had been playing up for more than a week ever since TM Net supplied me with their Modem, completely gave up the ghost on late Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday and Monday.  It was only by Tuesday morning that I got the service I paid for.

I wanted to do this posting for Lely before she went for another MRI Scan and angiogram - which would determine the next step for her on-going post-stroke treatment to remove the remnant clot in the brain.  I know how searingly distressing it is for her when the 'wiring' for the angiogram moves up her body to end in the brain.

See -http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012/01/for-love-of-lely.html

  I can only imagine what this bright and active young woman had to cope with - 9 months (so far) of living with only half of her mobility. I want to bring back the smile to her face; to rejuvenate her zest for life and the world around her.  So Lely, better late than never eh?

I want to remind her about her happiest two weeks in New Zealand and to reassure her that such days and times will come again.   Hang on girl, don't allow these past 9 months to weaken you and bring you down.

To whet your appetite, here are some delicious instances of yum-yum times.

A hot cuppa at the teashop at the top of Ruapehu.

So 'syiok' - waiting for lunch

Finally - for two lucky, greedy devils.

The usual compliment to the chef - ERRPP!

For that, of course Lely had to be thrown out of the house!

Take heart dear Lely, put on your sunshine hat and we shall take to the road again, soon, InsyaAllah.

Good night  maknyonya and dream of this night at Paekakariki.

And this is MY picture from MY camera - na na na na na!!

And remember you have a big job to do for Darby and Joan - to light up our fire to keep us going.

Remembering Mr. Kempson Wong

He must have seen me lingering by the classroom door where he was teaching  and he said out loud for all to hear,  "Maznoor, you've heard this story before.  Now get back to your class."  When Mr Wong gives you an order, you jump!

He was fierce, and one look from him would have us shivering with fear.  It was a cheeky habit for us to lean back and wobble on two legs of the chair.  For doing that, Mr. Kempson Wong would parade us in front of the class - and make us stand there balanced on one leg.  "You shall do what you did to your chair, using only half of what you've been given."  And I was the only girl to be put on parade.

But he was a great narrator of stories.  Our English lessons included 'story telling'.  Mr Kempson Wong would  sit on the chair, with all of us kids seated on the floor in front of him, and he would tell us a story without having to refer to a book at all. He did it so well, modulating his voice - the volume, the inflections, the pace and the pitch - according to the tenor of the tale.  His eyes and arms and hands and shoulders would move with the mood of the story.  He had us glued to the floor,  all eyes gazing in attentive rapture at his face.  What a teacher!

Our favourites were the stories from Greek mythology.  And the story of 'Jason and the Golden Fleece' had me skulking to Mr. Wong's next class just to hear him telling it all over again.  What a nut-case!

He was strict, he was fair and he made us push ourselves to the limit - especially for Arithmetic.

 Besides being my class teacher he was also in charge of my House, Keppel House.  I used to tag along behind him like a happy puppy during House Practice.

Red Arrow:  AsH.  Brown Arrow:  Mr. Kempson Wong
The caption reads - Keppel House - "The Champs" 1955  P.P.S.I

Back Row:  2nd from left Ang Hock Kee, 5th from left Ng Kian Ann, 6th from left Mr. Kempson Wong.
Front Row:  2nd from left AsH's kid brother Mustapha

In the autumn/winter of one's years we tend to look back on our springs and summers with nostalgic joy.
My one regret was my failure to say thank you to teachers like Mr. Kempson Wong, Mr. Chia Wai Chee, Mr. Chong Khim Siong, and Mrs. Tan Choon Lan.    In 1968, during my second year of teaching I went to Kaki Bukit Secondary School (if my memory serves me well) for a meeting.     I entered the Teachers' Common Room and there he was, Mr. Kempson Wong, right there in front of me!  We looked at each other, stunned.    And what did he do?

 He waggled his finger at me - just like the time he shoo-ed me to get back to my class - and  in his unforgettable crisp and powerful voice, he said,  "You are Maznoor! What are you doing here?"  The smile on his face was full of pride, just to see his ex-pupil from long ago.  I must have beamed like the bright morning sun - just to see my teacher again.

Like a magpie I treasure the memorabilia from days in Pasir Panjang English School.  And here, from my Record Book is  Mr. Kempson Wong's  notations on 11 year old Maznor bte Hamid when she was in Primary IV 1955.

Dear Mr. Kempson Wong,
Thank  you, sir.

GUMPTION

My favourite past time is rummaging through my collection of old school text books.  This particular book has always been my favourite because I actually used it during my limited Malay Language lessons at Pasir Panjang English School.

You see, it's not just a Buku  but a  Kitab.  Buku has many attributes  It can be a joint of the ankle (buku lali) or the finger (buku jari).  There's also buku benang, buku bicara, berbuku and so on.  But a Kitab has only one meaning : a religious book, a piece of Scripture.  Hence reading and learning of a non-religious nature is also a sacred task.  Furthermore, it wasn't just Kitab with a number attached to it.  It had been given the poetic name of Kitab Beneh Akal.

The  word akal is rarely heard or used nowadays.  Fikiran seems to be the choice.  More and more in our schools and daily life, thinking is not allowed.  Schoolchildren especially  and  adults as well, are guided, lectured, advised, compelled - and they call that learning!

Akal invokes intelligence.   Akal requires understanding, common sense, discretion, and reasoning power - all of which separate man from beast.  But I find this attribute most meaningful.  Akal also means gumption.  And gumption is the ability and determination to decide what needs to be done and to do it.

"Innocence of Muslims" is just another deliberate act of provocation by the Islamophobes.  The video has been circulating since July and publicised to coincide with 9/11.   Again, Muslims jumped at the bait -this time thrown in by  a cock-eyed Coptic - Christian  fanatic from California.  There are innumerable hate videos and writings against Islam and Muslims on the Internet.  If each time,  Muslims  react by going on to the streets and yelling and burning flags, all it does is damage Islam's  dignity.

 Malaysia has  a well-off and well-heeled Ummah in comparison to many other Muslim countries.  Young Malaysian Muslims who have been educated at home and also overseas  (at the Rakyat's expense) -  stretching from North America to Europe and Egypt and Jordan and Yemen and Russia and Australia and New Zealand - should be tapping into and utilising their Akal to respond to and to counter not only these silly videos, but also the much more challenging and mischievous diatribes from Western Academics and the Western Media like Tom Holland's and Channel 4's "Islam: The Untold Story".  This of course is hard work, involving a long and quiet slogging and will not attract any glamour or publicity from the Media.

This is what Gumption aka Akal is all about.

If Malaysian Muslims can only react as Pak Torot and can't even agree on which road direction to take for their demonstration; then indeed  this statement is justified.   "Islam is a great religion, it's a shame about the Muslims."

From Top to Bottom

What with a Coptic Christian making a nasty video/movie "Innocence of Muslims" and Tom Holland, the Cambridge Double First in Latin and English conniving with Channel 4 (British TV) to slag off  Islam and its history, the news of the world has been very unpleasant for 1.6 billion Muslims.  That however, does not take into account the daily sufferings and deaths in Palestine, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries touched by western "democratic ideals"'

But what do we expect?  Islam, as the world's favourite bete noir will always face the brunt of attack by the Judaeo-Christian culture - on print and/or electronic media.  It reminds me of this quote by Ivo Andric  (1892-1975).

Change "a nation's" (2nd line) to "the world's" and "the nation's" (5th line) to  'world's".

In his speech condemning the 'attack' on the US Consulate in Libya by a 'mob' responding in anger to the American film "Innocence of Muslims" - Obama warned on 13 September 2012  "that no act of terror would dim the light of the values that we proudly shine on the rest of the world  ...... We will not be deterred - we will keep going, we will keep going because the world needs us.  We are the one indispensable power in the world."

These words can only come from those that Andric described as "unqualified and incompetent" suffering a "huge and insatiable vanity."

But in this nation that is Malaysia, we have the same petty, inadequate egoists scrounging for power and control.  They can be found in the higher echelons of politics,  educational institutions,  religious bureaucracies of all shades of beliefs, the Press and  the legal establishments.

Such shenanigans at the top play havoc with the small fry at the bottom.  Our husband-and-wife road sweepers, Osman and Aisha had to keep on paying and waiting for seven years before they were given the key to their low-cost flat at Jelatek.  But they could not move in because the water supply which had been promised on the 16th of September was still unavailable.  Even worse, they had been told to vacate their Puchong low-cost accommodation when they received their keys to the new flat!  The rakyat like Osman and Aisha do not have the time, or the skills or the network and the clout to get their voices heard.

Tomorrow we shall try to go into the vipers' pit and speak to the developer and make an inquiry on their behalf.  As two pensioners with no titles, no clout and no chains to pull we do not hold much hope in getting through to the relevant pen-pushers.

As it is we still suffer  noisy assaults from Ikan Bakar Sekinchan's establishment.  On Hari Raya eve we were blasted with Hindi music from 8pm to after midnight.  On Hari Raya itself, we were given an encore as soon as  Eid Prayers were over.  We were told these were the workers from IBS celebrating Eid Mubarak!  I thought they should be entertained and entertaining their masters at the latter's residence.  And last week, at 2am we suffered more ear-splitting music from Datuk Jamal's IBS establishment.

Who can we complain to?  I suppose we have to wait for the announcement of the date for the next election - when we can try to play one against the other.  Dream on....AsH.