Friday, July 2, 2010

Macam sama, tapi...

When I was studying in France, the seniors used to organize usrah sessions regularly for all the Malaysian students. Usually the usrah will be held in an appartment that is large enough to hold 15-20 people and with at least two rooms to separate the mensfolk from the ladies. And sometimes some of the Indonesian students will be invited as well, as they too make up the ''rumpun Bahasa Melayu'' community in the town where I was studying.

After one such session, it was time for makan-makan. Since the ladies were all in a room across from the kitchen, all the food and plates and glasses were passed to us by one of the men sitting outside. Kebetulan pulak masa tu saya yang berada di muka pintu bilik dan yang menghulurkan makanan dan pinggan mangkuk adalah seorang daripada abang-abang Indon yang sedang belajar di salah sebuah sekolah kejuruteraan terkemuka di bandar Poitiers. He didn't know how many of us were there in the room so he kept asking if we had enough of everything.

While he was passing the plates to us, I realized that it we needed three more. Jadi terpaksalah saya memberitahu kepada abang Indon itu (yang rupanya ada ala-ala Broery Marantika sewaktu muda). Dan konon-konon nak tunjuk yang saya pun bisa berbahasa Indonesia maka saya pun cuba-cubalah ngomong di dalam telo bahasa mereka.

-Pak, pinggannya nggak cukup!
-Oh iya? Butuhnya berapa?
(Alamak. Amenda abang ni cakap? Mencarut ke ni? Tapi tak nak tunjuk tak tahu jawab je lah)
-Butuhnya satu saja pak!

Dari jauh kedengaran suara senior saya memberitahu:
-Ko nak pinggan berapa Ti?
-Ohhh. Nak tiga. Cakap la pinggan.

Jadi pengajaran yang dapat diberikan melalui penceritaan kisah ini (terutama sekali kepada para pelajar yang ada membaca blog post ini) adalah: Jangan malu bertanya. Kalau tak tau, tanya.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Isi minyak

This morning I stopped by a petrol station to fill up. It's the one that I go to because it's in the way thus convenient, I have a loyalty card and sometimes they serve free coffee in the morning. Tapi yang buat slacknya adalah layanan sub-zero dari the cashier atau pump attendant mereka. I always wonder why do people with no communications or interpersonal skills work at the counter. If you plan to live the rest of your life sulking and being nasty to others (tanpa mempunyai alasan kukuh seperti PMS ataupun menderita water retention disebabkan oleh PMS) then please do everyone a favor and go work in a place where you don't have to meet people. Like in a store, doing stock-checking. Or in a aquarium, as the one diving into the huge tanks to feed the sharks. Memang confirm tak boleh bukak mulut untuk mengeluarkan kata-kata yang kurang menyenangkan kerana nanti tertelan air.

I get annoyed with the pump attendants because they keep trying to sell you wipers and engine coolant even if you tell them that you don't need any at the moment. And be cockily arrogant when you start questioning them.

-Akak engine coolant ni kena tukar ni. Nanti brake hose pecah.
-Adik, apa kena mengena engine coolant dengan brake hose?
-Alaaa...akak perempuan, mana tau.
(Rasa macam nak backhand kan budak macam ni? Tapi saya hanya senyum dan suruh dia pergi main jauh-jauh)

Anyway today I went to that petrol station as usual and as I was queuing up I saw that budak ''engine coolant/brake hose'' at the cashier counter. Aisey ini mesti akan ada adegan siut sebab budak ni memang suka buat hal dengan aku. In front of me there was an old man standing to pay as well. Di dalam lingkungan 60an, berpakaian kemas, berambut putih. He was counting and mumbling about the rising price of petrol. And looked at me. I just nodded and agreed with him. He took out a loyalty point card which was not the one to be used at this petrol station. So I told him gently that he got the wrong card out. He looked at me and thanked me. And got out the right one. He smiled at me. I smiled back.

When it was the old man's turn to pay, he took some time to take out his money. Everybody in the line didn't seem to mind and just waited patiently. But the budak siut had to open his mouth and say something nasty.
-Cepat sikit pakcik. Ramai yang nunggu tu ha.
-Kejap ye nak. Pakcik nak keluarkan duit ni. Kunci kereta pun tak jumpa.
-Haiiii....pakcik ke tepi la dulu nanti beratur balik boleh tak?

At this point I had to open my mouth (sedikit sahaja sebab tak cakap banyak sangat) and told the kid to take a chill pill. I said to him that when he gets to this man's age he might just behave in the same manner as well. So rilek je la. And he glared at me.

Anyway by this time the old man had taken out some money and the loyalty point card in his right hand. He gave RM10 to the kid and said ''Merah." Budak siut bertanya kepadanya, ''Pam berapa?''. The man replied, "Entah. Tu ha yang tersadai kat luar tu.'' And grinned at the kid at the counter.

He was showing at his basikal Raleigh tua yang berwarna hitam. Kalau di kampung mak saya di Kuala Sepetang basikal jenis ini dipanggil basikal jantan sebab ada palang.

Oh. Orang gila rupanya.

Everyone queuing up was either smiling or laughing quietly or trying hard to hide one. But I just cannot tahan la. Terpaksa gelak terbahak-bahak bila melihat senyuman aku tidak bersalah pakcik tua tersebut and the kid's red face. Entah menahan marah entah menahan malu.

My day really started with a big smile!

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Hello again!

I haven't been blogging for the past week if you have noticed (has anyone, by the way?). I had attended a 4-day training in Bukit Bintang (berkenaan Bahasa Perancis, nevertheless, but all the participants were more interested with the after training hours activities yang merangkumi lawatan sambil membeli-belah ke BB Plaza, Sg Wang Plaza, Lot 10, Pavillion dan tidak dilupakan Plaza Low Yat). We stayed at the Capitol Hotel which was located right smack in the middle of the Bukit Bintang area. Very easy access to anywhere. And one thing that I realized when I was there was that I felt like an alien in my hometown. Sebabnya everywhere you go, you see women draped in black and all covered up except for their eyes and chubby hairy men wearing tshirts and seluar katok. Seriously, our capital city has been invaded by the Middle Eastern people. They have outnumbered the local population in the BB area by 1 to 5. The 18 year-old Pakistani girl who does threading and waxing at my spa has brothers and sisters in KL, India, Pakistan, the UK, the US and UAE. Now that seems like a more plausible strategy for world domination, don't you think? Plant your seeds in every possible corner of the planet and spread the roots of your origins far and wide. It's all in the name of globalization anyway.

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