A YEAR AGO TODAY …

I had camped out at the Damansara Specialist Hospital.
The other half was put on induced coma for a viral infection to the brain. Until now, we have yet to know what strain it was. At best, we were told it was some kind of encephalitis.
It was a harrowing experience that we – his family and I – would not want to go through again.
Being fit physically does not guarantee that we are free from any form of viral attacks. That is for a fact. The other half was fit and healthy when he got struck by the infection.
But he was lucky. It did not linger too long in his body to do any damage.
He survived it without a scratch. Well, not exactly. There is a slight indent on his right frontal hairline where the neurosurgeon had done a procedure to clamp the blood vein on his head. That indent, since covered by hair (no, he is no longer bald!), is a reminder of what happened a year ago.
There was only one minor scare a month or so ago when he asked if the doctor had told me if the infection could recur. He told me he felt feverish around Mahgrib. This was after he had returned from an outing at Bukit Cherakah.
I had wondered if it was psychological especially since it was going to be a year to the day he was first hospitalized.
I SMS-ed Tokasid for advice and he recommended that the other half undergo blood tests for infections. Well, men being men (or are they boys?), he hasn’t done it.
“Maybe I should refer to a bomoh instead,” he joked, saying that he could have been “sampuk” while in the jungle.
No, he hasn’t gone to see a bomoh either but the feverish feeling is gone.
He has re-started his gym and busy pitching a product he had been taking since his recovery.
He is my walking testimony of the product and I have been busy pitching it to my family members and friends too.
During his hospitalization period, I made new friends through this blog, for example, but somehow he met them first.
He bumped into TPJ the first time at the Taman Tun Dr Ismail mosque about a month after his discharge from the hospital. TPJ first wrote a comment on my posting here.
TPJ had approached and introduced himself to the other half. “I met your friend,” he told me after the Friday prayers. When he told me it was Tengku Putra, I told the other half that while he had dropped a comment on my post, we had never met.
In fact, they bumped into each other a few times after that. I had the opportunity to be introduced to Tengku Putra at the Umno General Assembly in end-March.
I have since met Raden Galoh , Elviza , Pak Idrus, Tokasid and a few others at a Blogger’s meet at the Curve.
And, of course, who can forget Clark Gable of Pulau Duyong who came to the hospital when the other half was in a coma and when he was out of ICU.
There are many others who I still kept in touch via SMSes, emails and their blogs.
Alhamdulillah, a year over, he is well. We thank you for your support

JOHOR STREETS: Travelling back to the old scenic routes

BACK in the 1970s, the thought of travelling in a car for hours and passing through rubber and oil palm plantations never excited us.
Most of the travelling time was spent sleeping. If not, we would be squabbling among ourselves in the back of the car.
Back then, it took six hours by road between Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.
From Johor Baru to Kota Baru would take us the whole day. By the time you arrived, you would be exhausted even if you were not behind the wheel.
Today, by road between Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur has been reduced to four, thanks to the Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (PLUS) highway. Even then, my eight year-old nephew would complain of boredom an hour into the journey.
I haven't tried driving from Johor Baru to Kota Baru but I reckoned it would still be close to a day's driving as there is no direct highway as such connecting the south to the north on the west coast of the peninsula.
It was only recently that I realised how much we had missed while sleeping on the road in the early years.
We had gone to Negri Sembilan last weekend and took the "jalan lama", as my mother puts it, from the city.
My brother's intention was to show his children what a real kampung looks like.
Along the way, they saw durian and rambutan trees bearing fruits. They now know what a dusun (an orchard) is. In Pedas, my nephew saw a live rooster. He hasn't seen a live turkey yet.
On that particular trip, we had reminisced the smaller towns we had to pass through driving up from Johor Baru. I then realised how much I missed travelling using the old federal roads.
These days, we no longer passed through Skudai.
Kempas, where the family home is, has a dedicated highway linking into PLUS highway.
The only town familiar to my nephew and his 12-year-old niece would be Senai because of the airport. We fly in and out of the state on overnight trips.
Back then, we often journeyed out at dawn and continued our sleep in the car, only to be jolted awake as we passed through Skudai.
I remembered having to hold my breath as we passed through the town as the stench from the river could be overpowering.
I don't quite remember all that well now whether it was pineapple cannery or a rubber processing plant there. Waste water from these factories flowed into the river.
We missed the sights of the smaller towns like Kulai, where the federal trunk road cut right through the town. You can find a bicycle workshop in between a general convenience store and a Chinese coffeeshop with the marble topped tables and chairs.
The main North-South trunk road that runs through KulaiIf you set out early, you'll missed the early morning crowd. At the same trunk road, you'll find people taking the buses to their various destinations.
One time, there was a fire in the town and we had to be diverted through a rubber plantation to get to the other side.
I also remembered this long stretch of road at Air Bemban, which was back then notorious for road accidents. It's a quiet road with a small surau up a little hill on the right if you're driving north. It was a little eerie too.
There was also Macap, where the famous Aw Pottery is, and Air Hitam, where we would shop for vases and other pottery stuff. This was where we would make a stop for breakfast.
From Air Hitam, we would take the Yong Peng road into Muar/Batu Pahat.
A trunk road that passes through Yong Peng to Muar or Batu PahatAlong the way, you can find roadside stalls peddling pineapples, pumpkins and fruits. While my parents haggled the price of these stuff, we would be throwing pebbles into the brownish peat water. We would see children swimming in the little canal along the road.
And you know you are close to crossing the border into Malacca when you've reached the Muar bridge.
The Muar bridge is close to the border of MalaccaOn one side would be Muar town while on the other would be Tanjung Agas and onwards into Malacca.
Driving out of the state could be tedious. After thinking you had slept a long time, you would wake up to still find that you have yet to cross the border into the other state.
But I do think my generation is a lucky lot. Travelling by road was more scenic and adventurous during the yesteryears.

DESTINATION: JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA

In my years of travelling overseas on assignment, it never crossed my mind to sign up for a tour package in the city or country that I am in. Most often than not, I would go around the city on my own, with the aid of a map.
On Jeju Island in South Korea recently, I decided to take a day tour before flying home the next day.
It was all because I didn’t want to hassle myself especially when communications was a problem. Taxi drivers there could not speak the English language.
Twice that I ventured out using the cab was when I went to the folk museum and the Baghdad café, both 45 minutes away from the hotel. And I had to get the hotel concierge to negotiate the cab fare and other arrangements.
Jeju Island is an island created entirely from volcanic eruptions some two million years ago. It is the only special autonomous province of South Korea. The island is a Natural World Heritage Site.
In terms of size, at 1,845.55 sq km, it is one-third the size of Bali in Indonesia.
It is also the location for some 30 dramas and films.
I have never watched a South Korean drama on our local television channels or through the internet. Winter Sonata was the first South Korean drama which made its impact here sometime in early 2000. It was so popular that a translated version of the theme song, Sonata Musim Salju, was sung by Hazami.
The latest craze is Mr Goodbye, which many are following through the internet.
And Rain, who I recognized from the Clear shampoo billboard advertisement, and Ahn Jae Wook have become household names.
Some of my friends, who are die-hard South Korean soap fans, could identify the dramas when I posted pictures on my Facebook album.
And I was told by these same friends that the South Korean dramas are not about “boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy or girl meets with a tragic accident, boy or girl is left distraught” alone.
They showcased the local culture, lifestyle and scenic locations. Some fans have actually picked up the language and can string sentences from just watching these dramas.
One local taxi driver was very excited when my Utusan colleague started dropping Korean words in our conversation with him; we in English and him in Korean.
For an island, it has lots to offer and I only visited some of them.

At Hallim Park, you can walk through the Hyeopjae Cave and Ssangyong Cave, which have been designated as natural monument.At Jusangjeoli Rocks, you'll find these dark coloured hexagonal stone pillars, which were formed when lava from erupting volcanoes met the ocean. This is one of God's greatest creations.Jeongbang waterfall is the only seaside waterfall in Asia. It falls directly into the ocean and is one of the three famous waterfalls on Jeju Island.

Jeju Folk Museum where you can find relics of old.

Teddy Bear Museum

THE MAIDS' DIARY

She left us when we moved to Johor Baru. Her family didn’t want her to be too far away from them. She was from Dusun Tua in Selangor. She joined our family when we moved from Kelantan to Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1960s.
Kak Hasnah was mom’s helper when we were growing up in Kuala Lumpur. She was our favourite among those that we had before or after her.
She was not the maid, orang gaji or amah. Kak Hasnah was like a big sister to me and my brothers.
I grew up with a helper in the house until I was in Standard Five. We didn’t hire one when my father retired from government service and we moved to Kempas. From then on, I had to do stuff by myself like making my own bed in the morning and washing my own school shoes. As I grew older, I had to do my own laundry with the exception of my school clothes. Mom did those.
Back then, we didn’t have major problems with the hired help. In fact, they were taught to cook, to iron and do housekeeping.
My uncles and aunties who hired helpers to look after the children never had any major complaints. If any, these hired help were embraced into the family. They were all addressed as “Kakak.”
Of course, back then, they were locals.
But this changed as the country slowly became industrialized. Factories were in need of workers.
Those in the kampong who thought their way into the city was being an orang gaji in someone’s house had found an alternative.
They prefer to work in the factories instead especially after finding out that there were benefits to it. They became known as Minah Karan as they were mostly working in electronics factories and were among others getting off days and paid overtime on top of their salary.
I haven’t researched enough to tell you when exactly we started “importing” foreign maids. It must have been in the late 1980s. Still, during those years, there were little or no complaints at all on foreign maids. It was only recently that we heard or read stories of employers abusing their maids.
While we are reading some of these horror stories, there are some comical ones too.
A maid employed by a friend of mine had to unpick the hem of all her clothes after her employers found out that she kept the money she stole from them this way. The maid confessed of her wrongdoings after my friend’s husband threatened to report her to the police.
Her employers not only found denominations in ringgit but also US dollars and pound sterling as the couple had traveled quite extensively.
The maid was thrown out of the house that very night.
Another friend hired two maids, one for his family and another to look after his mother at her house. When his mother’s maid went back to Indonesia recently, his own maid complained about her and what she had been doing at his mother’s house. “I nearly kicked her out of the car for not telling me earlier,” he said.
His maid was not too happy that he had given the mother’s maid a bonus for thinking that she had done a good job. What was more hilarious was when he was told by his maid that she decided to spill the beans because she was jealous after seeing him hugging the mother’s maid goodbye at the airport!
And he found only recently that his own maid has a boyfriend, a policeman. “I was at home when I saw a squad car in front of my house. When I got out, the policeman was surprised. When I gestured asking him what was wrong, he pointed to my maid who was already outside the house. She was waving at him. I must say my house is the safest on the block,” he said.
Another friend in Shah Alam caught her maid sneaking out of the house through the back door at night to meet her boyfriend. My friend was curiously as to why the maid was heavily made-up for bed. She and her husband pounced on her when she returned after her “date.”
Meanwhile, a cousin, thinking it was a smart way to get her children to speak English, hired a Filipino maid. Her idea backfired somewhat because her children were speaking English with a Filipino accent instead.
The late Hani Mohsin proudly told us when we visited his house at Bukit Antarabangsa that his daughter can speak three languages: Bahasa Malaysia, English and Bahasa Indonesia. She had just told him that she was taking off her “celana” (seluar or pants).
Beyond these, they are thankful that they have not had problematic maids.
None of the guys reported of their maids looking like Jennifer Lopez. Then again, they don’t live in Manhattan.

JOHOR STREETS: Showcase folk dances on regular basis

FOR the past month or so, I have been travelling either for work or leisure. On these trips, I found places where cultural performances were held. Through culture, one can learn about a place, its people and their lifestyles, among others.
When I was holidaying in Phuket, I watched a cultural performance at the Fantasea theme park. In Bali, also on a holiday, I went to Uluwatu, a 45-minute drive from the city, to watch the Kechak and fire dance. The next day, at another site in the city, I saw the barongan dance.
While on assignment on Jeju Island in South Korea, I visited the Jeju Folk Village Museum. There, I saw a folk dance performance.
At each of these places, I was told the performances are held on a daily basis with the exception of certain days to give the performers their one day off in the week.
When back in the country, especially in my own home state, I asked myself this question: Where in the city can we see cultural performances either on a daily basis or certain days of the week?
Johor, for example, listed kuda kepang, zapin, barongan, ceracap inai and sarah as traditional dances. If you check the state government's official portal at http://www.johordt.gov.my, it also lists ghazal as traditional music and sepak raga, gasing (gasing jantung, gasing piring, gasing Cina, gasing buku benang and gasing pinang) and konda kondi as traditional games.
In fact, how many of those among the younger generation know of these dances, music and games?
I know about kuda kepang and zapin and barongan (if it is the same one as that in Bali) but this is the first time I've heard of ceracap inai and sarah being traditional dances in the state.
The first time I watched a kuda kepang performance was at a kenduri hosted by my maternal grandmother at her house in Stulang Baru way back when I was in secondary school. Two of my cousins were members of the kuda kepang troupe. We were entertained by the troupe after the feast.
As for zapin, we had a zapin performance at my nephew's wedding two years ago. I read the state recognises at least 11 types of zapin Melayu namely zapin pekajang from Gelang Patah, zapin tenglu and zapin pulau from Mersing, zapin Tanjung Labuh and zapin kores from Batu Pahat, zapin Sri Bunian and zapin Parit Mastar from Pontian, zapin Lenga, zapin Parit Bagan, zapin Muar and zapin Putar Alam from Muar.
I was told that our Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman can perform the zapin dance well.
As for the barongan, this is the first time I am reading that it is a traditional dance in Johor. According to the state government portal, barongan dance continues to be performed especially in Batu Pahat. I have relatives in the district but I have yet to hear them talk about it.
As for the ceracap inai, the website said the dance originated as a royal court performance and was performed for the sultan and state noblemen during auspicious events.
Its roots lead back to the Malacca Sultanates, when the sultan navigated upstream to Sungai Muar. The dance is said to have been famously performed at Kampung Baru Lenga, 28th Mile, Lenga in Muar. I hope friends in Muar can fill me in with the details of the dance.
According to details on the website, the sarah dance is well known among the Johor community with Arabic heritage in Batu Pahat and Muar.
In Johor, the dance is usually performed by males only. They would dance together with the same movements in sync with the tempo of a song with Samrah-like tune.
This dance is also performed at auspicious celebrations and family events such as thanksgiving ceremonies and weddings. This dance usually continues well into the night.
As for ghazal, you can probably get it at private and official functions. We wanted a ghazal party for my nephew's wedding reception but the family settled for the zapin instead.
It is just unfortunate that after reading about these dances, music and traditional games on the state government portal, I cannot find a place where these activities are carried out.
We deprive ourselves of the opportunity to learn about our own culture in our own state.