Today and Tosay and RMCO

Thank you Abah Muhyiddin, Pa'Long 'Mail and Pa'Ngah Hisham.  This morning, the geriatric Dynamic Duo had the time of their life enjoying a tosay breakfast accompanied by teh tarik biasa (exquisitely brewed with tea dust) and kopi tarik kurang manis (for AsH).  To top up the celebration I bought a packet of nasi lemak (just a tiny packet) for brunch.  But I promised the spouse I shall have only an apple and papaya for lunch.

But it was not to be.  Rusty, our cat who has a stomach like a bottomless pit decided otherwise.

Rusty jumped on top of the freezer to pull down the packet and tore it apart.  I rescued it just in time!

But that's life eh?  This violation of my brunch by 12 year old (in human terms, he's 84) Rusty will be replicated by an attack on the present government by the  Absurd Axis of Tun Dr Mahathir (Party X), Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PKR), and the DAP led by Lim Kit Siang & Son - all of whom (excepting the Son) are a bit long-in-the-tooth like dear ole Rusty and Ash of course!

From The Star yesterday.

Malaysian politics consist of a pack of shifty rogues, rascals and scalawags unashamedly ridden with hypocrisy, self-righteousness,  greed, over-lusting ambition and treachery.  But we were told that democracy and parliamentary government is good and commendable, weren't we?  Unfolding before us would be another sick tragedy that will make Shakespeare's Julius Caesar seem like a fairy tale.  I can imagine all the horse trading going on in the background, like a bunch of pimply teenagers, running rampant on high testosterone, fuelled by the invitations of all manners of pimps and whorehouses!!!

KESANA  KESINI.  KESANA  KESINI.







Alas, my poor Tanah Pusaka.  What is in store for you?


Perhaps we shall one day be blessed with this.  We shall have a Tun/ Tan Sri/ Datuk Seri/ Datuk/Dr /Puan/Datin Kepala Baldi to lead us to a promised land built on shifting sand.

Every democratic nation should have a Lord Buckethead.

A plea from a septuagenarian : can we, until the ravages of Covid 19 are under control keep our Abah, Pa'Long, Pa'Ngah in charge?  Can we allow our economy , the B40s, the small businesses, the schools etc etc to get on their feet before we commence on the Politicians's (and their sons') Game of Thrones.

Why does it always rain on Malaysia?

Here's to more Days of Tosay!!!! - please, please.

Hacking Away

Since we got back about 4 weeks ago, a persistent infection that we picked up on the plane has resulted in a hacking cough that could not be shifted, even after two bouts of antibiotics.  We have become as a result, quite antisocial and unproductive in Kuala Lumpur.

Under such circumstances I could only resort to my usual tactic of tidying and sorting out the junk in my work-room.  This never fails to bring some light - some discovery - to a hacker's life.

This I found, tucked in an old brown envelope - a set of sketches on paper now brittle with age - sketches drawn by the spouse in the mid-1970s - way,way before fate threw us together.

Cautious the Cat

This was part of a young dad's foray into story telling at bedtime for his young son.  Each night Keith would listen intently to the adventures of Cautious the Cat. It was not read from a book, his dad Iain would just create the stories as they come into his head.  Little Keith somehow managed to drift away into dreamland by the end of each adventure.  The next night, he would ask and get another exciting story of Cautious the Cat scouting the streets and dustbins, the riverbanks and food centres for food to feed his family.  Lucky Keith!

We were lucky too in our Abah.  In the late 1940s and 1950s, each evening after dinner we would gather in the sitting room (bilik depan)  under the light of a single pressure lamp (lampu pam), reading our books and comics that Abah had got together for us.  It was also the usual time for getting our homework done at the family dining table.  Abah would be reading the newspaper or a book,  Mak would be busy with her sewing and mending .  And in the background could be heard the dulcet voice of a singer on the radio.

Bedtime was at nine or half-past nine.  We would shuffle off into our beds and only the youngest Akim, would give a goodnight kiss to Abah.  There were times when Abah was entertaining visitors and Akim would be nodding his head, half awake and half in slumber waiting for Abah to appear for the  goodnight peck.  None of us dared to approach Abah to inform him that Akim was waiting.  Children were to be seen and not heard!!  It may sound strict, but it never hurt us - especially now when I observe the precocious and rude children that surround present day family life.

But for Keith and Cautious the Cat, dad's story was not just one of fun and games.  Life is more complicated than that and stories should always carry a meaning, a lesson or a moral for young and old alike.  But preaching and finger-pointing morality does not make for a good story either.

Cautious lived in a world where the cards are stacked against him - where the need to feed his family sometimes makes for a dangerous and frantic existence. But, he's cautious, hardworking and honest - traits that every child should be brought up with.

Cautious was a hungry cat, who lived at the bottom end of town.

.......... where even the dustbins were empty.

...... for at the bottom end of town, everyone was hungry

..... and dogs, too  -  just as hungry - and bigger ... and fiercer.

But Cautious and all his mates, who were facing the same fate as him, were aware of other dustbins, bins that were located in the upper end of town.

...... the dustbins must certainly be fuller at the top end of town.

I suppose this fictional representation of a cat's life sketched in a child's story in the 1970s is replicated today in the life of humans ...  some humans .... some humans from some countries.


And like in the nursery rhyme The Crooked Man - there are many out there, men and women who are crooked, who do not walk and live the straight and narrow ..... though they are not confined just to the mature and elderly.

The crooked (Malay) man and more especially after Merdeka in 1957.

But the poor and the destitute - and deplorables (according to Hilary Clinton) will always be with us.

In the same vein, the rich and liberals, the self-serving elites and others who are somehow not-so-deplorable will retain their secured places in society.  What hope is there as envisaged by Mrs Obama during her husband's presidency ....

..... when hope is but a rotting carrot dangled in the face of the deplorables as in Madrid ..

.... or in Obama's home patch in Chicago ..

..... while he cavorts with the super rich.

In our home patch, it has been reported that DBKL employees and Malaysian policemen are deeply in debt trying to emulate the lifestyle of those who can afford such indulgences ...

Would Cautious the Cat, if he lived in these times be able to maintain his probity and dignity?

When times were really hard at the bottom end of town, even the people looked through each other's dustbins .....

....... and Cautious got nothing, at all ...... nor did his friends, and nor did the dogs ......

You see, Cautious who dwells on the surface is quite ignorant about the wiles and connivings of those who live above the ground - those in the higher echelons.  Cats have nothing to do with the monkey business at the top end of the town.

NB  Why are the sketches peppered with copyright labels? Read http://anaksihamid.blogspot.my/2016/05/a-malay-malady-episode-2.html

Lenggang Kangkung di Leicester

What have I been up to since arriving in the spouse's kampung 10 days ago?

It has been a leisurely and peaceful stroll, without (well, not as much as in KL) a care - an absolute lenggang kangkung!  The spouse had a nasty cough and cold for the last 5 days but he's picking up sans any medication, just a good dose of sleep and rest.  As people in Malaysia like to put it - 'no sweat'- literally and figuratively.

This photograph shows the reflection of my refuge on the outside world at 5 am.

I took this photograph just an hour ago, at 5 am.  The rest of Leicester is still asleep but AsH treasures such solitary moments.

So, what have I been up to this winter?

1.  I gave myself a present - a beautifully embroidered picture of clouds, greenery, apple trees in Spring and the top of a stone wall - sewn by our best friend and master embroiderer Jack Marlowe.  Jack is almost 80 and despite his arthriticky fingers, he perseveres with his embroidery and gardening and spoiling his four cats Allegra, Gingerlation, Ichabod and Schtanley.

Read  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/on-se-quitte-toujours-we-always-leave.html 

Jack's Apple Trees.

 And, talking about cats - I miss our three cats very, very much - they define our raison d'etre in Kuala Lumpur.

Rusty - splendour in the grass. 

Socks - the reluctant researcher

Comot loves to take a nap on the printer.

Comot - tired out after helping me with my printing.

2.  Indulging Myself.

My self-indulgent Comestible Corner.

3.  Feeding my mind as well, on my cosy couch.

Book 1: Hundreds of programmes, but less than ten are worth watching.  My latest fad is gratifying myself with old  koboi programmes like The High Chaparral, Gunsmoke, Alias Smith and Jones and Star Trek. Wottalife!!

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Book 2:  "Ziauddin Sardar was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hackney.  A writer, broadcaster and cultural critic, he is one of the world's foremost Muslim intellectuals and author of more than fifty books on Islam, science and contemporary culture, including the highly acclaimed Desperately Seeking Paradise."

I've got only as far as Page 91 but here's an excerpt from one of the most touching parts of the book (Page 39-40).

A select group called on Abu Talib again.  How could he allow his nephew to curse their gods, insult their religion, mock their way of life, and accuse their forefathers of error?  Abu Talib was left  in no doubt: "Shut your nephew up or we will."

We now know that the relationship between Abu Talib and his nephew is crucial to the success of his mission and yet curiously paradoxical at the same time.  Everything we know about it indicates a warm bond of affection.  In accordance with the custom of his clan, Abu Talib took Muhammad in as a seven-year-old orphan.  He raised and nurtured the boy, taught him the rudiments of trade and commerce, and exposed him to the wider world by taking him on trading expeditions.  It is thanks to his uncle that Muhammad secured his place in Meccan society.

...........He summoned his nephew.  "Do not put a burden on me greater than I can bear,' he told Muhammad.. 'Spare me and spare yourself.'  Muhammad feared he was about to lose his uncle's protection.  With tears in his eyes, he replied:  'By God if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon on my left  on condition that I abandon this course, I would not abandon it until God has made me victorious or I perish.' As he turned away from his uncle, Abu Talib called Muhammad back: 'Go and say what you please, for by God I will never give you up on any account.'

Abu Talib was not declaring himself a convert.  He was a fond uncle accepting the sincerity of his nephew's cry of conscience, no matter how troublesome or disconcerting that might be to the rest of society.  And what is the paradox?  What Muhammad preached  sought to overturn, indeed to replace entirely the ethos and conventions of tribal solidarity.  Yet it was this very principle extended and guaranteed by Abu Talib that secured Muhammad's personal safety and hence his ability to continue his mission.  It is a paradox of human dynamics, of how the progress of new ideas often rests on the survival of old ways.


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Book 3

Yesterday (Tuesday) I made my usual foray into Leicester Animal Rescue (LAR) my favourite charity shop/shopping mall.  I noticed this book "The Making of Britain - The Middle Ages" in a box marked '50p'  just outside the shop.  As I flicked through the pages, I came across page 24 which had the illustrations 'Medieval Islamic scholars at work in a library' and most fascinating of all  'A page  from an Arabic translation of Euclid''!  It was worth 50p and more.

I took it home, skimmed through the contents, and discovered more.

An eleventh century map of the world.  (from page 8).  In this map, the Mediterranean is the centre of the land mass and Jerusalem as the çentre of creation'.

This extract from page 9-10 elaborates on this - and provides an interesting facet about the First Crusade:

Intellectually, this view of the world  linked medieval scholars to what they had read of classical antiquity, and to the world of St Paul and St Augustine.  At the same time it shows us how, to them, Christendom seemed hemmed in by heretics and infidels.  It makes us realise why, when Pope Urban II in 1095  called for volunteers from western Europe to go to the help of Christians in the East, it was interpreted as a call to liberate Jerusalem  from the clutches of Islam.

Yet the odd fact is that when the First Crusade set out, Jerusalem had been in the hands of the Moslems for over four hundred years .........  Crusading zeal for the expulsion of the infidel was something quite new in the eleventh century and it was profoundly shocking to native Christians and Moslems of the Near East who for generations had learned to live together in mutual respect.

Alas, history has a way of repeating itself.  And who controls Jerusalem today?

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But with all my blessings : with my cats, my books and food on the table and all my home comforts. I cannot obliterate the sufferings of so many in the Middle East and especially in Palestine.


The following image and extracts are from Mondoweiss 13 December.

What's it all about, Rusty?

We have an uncanny cat.

When we moved to our house in Setiawangsa, a black cat we would call "Poppy" seemed to be a part of the place.   A stray cat, she hung around, very warily, and we fed her.    Poppy had kittens, and when she disappeared after a neighbour's wedding, the four offspring stayed.    One of them was called Rusty.

When we were back in Leicester 2 years ago, Rusty was taken ill and our niece Maria had to take him to the vet at Wangsa Maju.  We were of course dreadfully worried and concerned.  And then something very weird happened.

The spouse picked up the phone and dialed the Vet's KL number.   Suddenly, through the French window, he caught a fleeting glance of a black cat that looked exactly like Rusty.    That was odd - we had never had a cat in the backyard before.   Occasionally, at night, a fox.   But never a cat.

The spouse called me to look.      The black cat  gave  a piercing and long stare at the both of us as we gasped, "It's Rusty!!"    After doing a little 'job' in our back garden plot,  Rusty's double climbed the wall and disappeared.   And we never saw him again.

The spouse carried on with the call to the Vet.   Rusty was fine, she assured us, and was responding to treatment.      We didn't tell her, then, that we had already seen Rusty's agent!!

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.  (from Shakespeare's Hamlet)

Since then poor Rusty has been in and out of the Vet's - taking up medical residence for 1 month, then a few weeks and on our last sojourn in Leicester he was in for 3 months until we got back.  This time the Vet suggested that Rusty may require an operation to remove a part of his flabby colon.  Since June, we have been carefully tending to Rusty's health and diet and finally today we bit the bullet and decided to take him to Jalan Gasing Veterinary Hospital for the operation.

Two things worried us.  Firstly Rusty's operation.  Secondly, getting to PJ.   During Hari Raya, we had visited some friends in Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Kampung Tunku.   We got lost before we got to TTDI, and then must have spent forty-five minutes going round and round Kampung Tunku's 'mulberry bush' to look for the address we wanted.  To get home our host kindly offered to lead us to DUKE highway in his car and get us back on our way.   It was that bad for us!

This time we turned to Google maps for the route to Jalan Gasing.

From Setiawangsa to Jalan Gasing - The Guide and Map.
NB - We don't believe in SatNavs.

With our hearts in our mouths, we made the journey to Jalan Gasing and back to Setiawangsa.   In the end, it was fairly straightforward.

But most thankful of all, the Specialist Vet did not think an operation was necessary.    He had seen far worse cases, and Rusty, he said, could be managed with a proper diet and plenty of liquid.

And here's Rusty melepak-ing in the garden after the trauma of the car ride.

He has to be kept on a harness and leash to stop him scavenging for food around the neighbourhood.  Rusty has a stomach like a bottomless pit - that's why his colon is in the state it's in.

Here are a couple of snaps to show where Rusty used to look for snacks.

This is a frequent scene in our neighbourhood - rubbish which are chucked and tucked away from the houses with the Mercedes, BMWs, Hondas and Toyotas.  And it's just beside our fence!  Nimbys - a proud aspect of this Malay middle-class suburbia!

The discards from suburbia deposited near Osman and Aisha's work trolley.  This means additional work for them.  Note the Clarks shoes in the blue plastic basket.  In its condition, that could be sold in our charity shop, Leicester Animal Rescue.  No wonder Malaysians are worried sick about the depreciating ringgit!

Aisha chatting with her favourite stray cat next to a pile of leaves that she had just swept together.

So Rusty's days of rummaging and snacking on rubbish are over.

We also notice the population of stray cats in our neighbourhood is growing.  (They are being fed by some of us and by Osman and Aisha - our road sweepers -  who between them earn just about MYR 2,000 per month ).There's one particular one, ridden with mange.  It took the spouse two months to coax it into a cage (on the first try, it actually picked up the saucer of food with its teeth and carried it out of the cage!) so that it could be treated at the vet's to rid it of its miserable discomfort and  before it could infect the other cats in the vicinity.

The two geriatrics too had a fair share of falls this time.  Ash had it on the first of Ramadan and the spouse said he had never seen such a graceful fall.  Six weeks later it was his turn.  After a lovely dinner of ikan tiga rasa we discovered the car's battery had given up the ghost (because we forgot to turn off the lights).  So we walked in the semi- dark, for about one km along Jalan Setiawangsa to get the mechanic.  Iain tripped and fell, grazing the knee and elbow, ruining a pair of trousers.  But he fell like a pro, making sure his bionic hip was not affected.

So that's the Story of Ash for the last few months - a bit woeful but we're luckier than most.