Saser Namamu Teratas

Kasturi, Jebat, Lekir, Tuah were the four hostel blocks we only had in Sains Seremban (SaSer), there was no Fatimah, neither Tun Teja nor Hang Li poh as the school was merely for boys. These four blocks were divided into two divisions which were blok depan (front division) that contained of Lekir and Tuah dwellers and blok belakang (rear division) for Jebat and Kasturi. Hence, as we can see here, the school boys were automatically distinguished by these divisions which finally would produce a few peculiar words to determine the boys’ citizenship such as budak blok depan, / front division boy, and budak belok belakang /rear division boy. As east coat boys would call, sek blok blake, sek blok depe. Actually, these two divisions had their own advantages. For rear division, the DM, dewan makan / dining hall was close enough to them so the dwellers needed not to worry about tired of walking for some distance, or maybe time as the school really ought its students to adhere time management and period scheduled. Mean while for Lekir and Tuah, they were the closest blocks to the admin and class blocks. Therefore, it was fair enough.

I would love to remind my mind and yours’ about nick names given to certain juniors by the seniors or maybe among junior themselves. Let’s recall it together, the first to come is ganu, pilah, letot, shin chan, a can, pok jat, comel, ikan, banting skem, weezer, vegi, kokrain,tengau, joko somemore? yeah help me....But some nice names came from seniors, such as Jaya, Maple,basah, iki ,black,anas,chulan. i bet the juniors would never forget these names as they would punch you at your stomach if you could not pronounce their nick names even their real ones correctly. I was once threatened by these guys when i was naive to recognise them in a bus in my trip to Seremban (Terminal one seemed to be the first place of course) for outing. Iki and anas would say “ ko budak mana?..aku tak pernah Nampak pon ko..,dorm mane?...ok..malam ni aku datang”. / “who are you, ive never seen you before, which dorm are you from, okay,...i will be at your dorm tonight”. Thank god they didn’t show up that night and after. I have heard a lot of stories about their violence, even my classmate Mape was beaten by them, and I suppose you still remember the case which finally has ended up with Iki, Basah, Anas, Shake, chulan and another name that belongs to a teacher’s son that i cannot remember, expelled from this science school. We could take a long relieve breath as we didn’t have to worry about any threat anymore even though the danger was always there, it would not be as violent as theirs’.

In DM, we were required to queue up to get rice and its gravy. How nice we were, how patient we have been, it would explode anyway when a bunch of senior loudly chatted, made some rough jokes toward juniors and casually got in front of you when you just a step from the rice container. What could have we done the best was modestly smiling to them as if we were pleasing them nicely. We would do the same thing when we became seniors. The best things about DM were its cold drink and Saturday desert, ice cream. Every Friday, after we have done our Friday obligation, my friends and I would run a hundred metres from DM, push the DM’s front door, and run to be the first guy to taste air soya /soybean. It was worthwhile after we had been walking to the nearest Masjid in the khariah ( Masjid Sikamat) all the way from our school. Yet, DM’s supper were never being enough. The best answer for this matter was NLCK, Nasi Lemak Cikgu Kahar. Cikgu kahar was a Kasturi warden that had his wife to prepare a bucket of Nasi Lemak for always-hungry-student almost every night. I occasionally ran to Cikgu Kahar’s dorm to buy a packet of them before the prep ended.

Two hundred metres from DM, that is exactly in front of school gate was the place where we have always been poked by Tengku Ampuan Durah’s girls as we started to step out from school heading to Masjid Sikamat.”pewweet...” they would sing. Sometimes, a mouse sound echoed when the girls closely shut their mouths and suck the air to produce the sound. On our way to the mosque, the chance would never be taken for granted. For lovers, this was the time for them to buy some phone credits so they could massage their couples and hoped the credit would last for a week as they had to wait until next Friday came. For smokers, this day heavenly brought them to freedom as they no longer needed to hide. 60 cent was an enough provision to produce some smokes from their mouths. For the internet lovers, they could have stopped to the near cybercafé to update myspace, frienster,check email. There was nothing such facebook back then. For roti canai eaters, Mamak reastaurant would be their choice to stop by. I can recall that i usually had one to two roti kosong, yet my friend would have three to four. The school ended at 12.15 every Friday and we were required to get back in school approximately at 3 o’clock. The prayer would start around 1.20. Hence, the time given was happily adequate for the boys to play around.

Sometimes, we wanted to indulge ourselves by choosing Masjid Ampangan to perform Friday prayer. This is because the mosque was situated a few yards from Ampangan super market. In front of Tengku Ampuan Durah school, we would take left junction to find a dozen of houses including my classroom teacher, Miss Hilma. But be careful before you hit the next road because there was a dog ready to bark if you choose the wrong path. We would take a path which looked mysterious and we would always hope to find any loving couple chatting quietly near the bushes, go straight, you would find a half settled flat house building that i suppose some of them have been tough to pay the rent. Then finally you would find the highway. Visiting super market by wearing school’ national clothe, baju melayu and songkok, we did not really care about it. As long as we can enjoy the ayam seringgit, /one ringgit fried chicken and one ringgit burger as well albeit we were actually not quite permitted to perform Friday prayer there.

There stood the tallest building in the school. The building was frightening me as a lot of stories have reached my ears about those who have been there. I once heard that those who climb the water tank tower will be instantly expelled because the crime was heavier then flying out of school/ school escaping. I myself have been up there for several times. My first was invited by my classmate, Yoda. I still remember when i slept in my class just to wait the night getting darker and we were waiting for warden to get sleep. But actually when we were up there, we saw our maddest warden Cikgu Sharul on his way to DM. Being delinquent is something fun when i was a young boy. Watching Jalan Sikamat from up here really touched my heart and almost pulled my tears down.i was fascinated...

Night by night, meggi / instant noodle would always accompany SaSerians because they would stay up late to study and sometimes just for fun. The problem emerged when we were no allowed to bring any electrical household. Therefore, school water coolers and heaters would be the alternative. These unreliable water tanks always broke. The water that was supposed to come out hot, coldly streamed out and poured on maggi cup/cupped instant noodle. There you would have noodle porridge. I can still remeber the aroma of meggi sedap when I approahed one of kasturi dorm that instantly kicked my stomact and forced me to ngepau / testing the meaggi. Apparently it was Pian, a junior who would definitely boil meggi sedap every night.I was astonished to see the way he ate the noodle. Like the wind.

Ramadhan came; it was time for us to get up early in the morning for morning breakfast before we stood strongly in day without food and water. I got up early to have tasteful fried rice joined with fried chicken and a few pieces of fish snacks. This menu merely can be found in Ramadhan as we all knew our taste bud were helpless in the morning. My hardworking friends would not sleep after having breakfast, yet to seize the time for study instead. For me, i climbed up the stairs, the bed and pulled my blanket to cover my body to have another great dream. The year we became seniors, we have to perform maghrib prayer and hajat prayer first before we could have a real dish for evening breakfast/iftar. After we have done terawikh prayer, Ko’op / school convenience store would be a pit stop for us for money spending to pay back what we have not bought in the early day. In the middle of the night, the stomach would go empty again. My friend and i were ready to call an outside restaurant to order fried rice. Using merely one phone (cell phone was not allowed in school), about ten dishes could have been ordered in one message or a short call from the caller. The restaurant would deliver the foods by van and stop in front of pak gad/ guard booth. Occasionally, they could not deliver the food, hence one of us had to fly out/ escape from the school. This happened in kasturi house only.As the result; we could never save our money in ramadhan.

Sodom was a familiar word if you were a student from boarding school. It wasn’t a good thing actually yet not a real crime to be committed. Sodom in standard speak solat dalam dorm/ performing prayer in dorm was a wrong manner in the school as the administrators wanted us to pray in flock in school mosque. The sodomer could get a can swing to hit his butt just after giving salam, the last manner of prayer. Yet, the punishment was not as hard as getting caught for kantoi suboh, /Sodom for dawn prayer. For that, water splashing would be waiting for you.

In Sains Seremban, we had 5 times of assembly per week. The first is weekly assembly in Monday which we sang school song, Negaraku, and state song, recited vow, and the school principle would take the microphone to say a few words. The next three days would be mediocre assemblies including English day for Wednesday. For English day the chosen English set would present some performance. It could be a poem declamation, drama, singing or whatever it could be as long you were using English. We should gather at certain square in Thursday assembly according to our respective houses. Today, we were to discuss on house / hostel problems, mark gained and to remind the school rules. For Friday, it was going to be an academic assembly or maybe they would have called it curriculum assembly. Our school senior assistant teacher would repeatedly remind us about achieving school target. ‘1.45!’ he would urge. ‘1.45!’ we would mock him. Every day was not calming day as one student would be called in front to publically speak in English. Hence, we had to prepare the text earlier.

Weekend was the best day of the week. We paid 50 cent per movie if im not mistaken to watch it beneath the stars in Saturday night. School projector emitted the movie toward Form 4 block and we would gather on basketball court with bare butt. Some of us got effort to grab a chair. In front of canteen, a ko’op teacher would sell a few snacks what i can remember the most is Float/ coke topped up with vanilla ice-cream. Not forgotten, a nice simple roti john. The movie ended, yet the night has just begun. The boy needed to play some sports which seemed basketball court would be the first to be filled. The next day was outing day. Hooray.

Sekolah Menengah Sains Seremban,
Sekolah yang berwawasan,
Berbakti penuh cekal,
Harapan nusa bangsa,
Bersemangat waja berpadu tenaga,
Ilmu dituntut sepanjang masa,
Tingkatkan iman dan taqwa,
Membentuk generasi mulia,
Semua pengorbanan dihargai,
Semua usaha dicontohi,
Pemangkin kemajuan masa hadapan
Memartabatkan Sains Seremban,
Memartabatkan Sains Seremban,
Kamilah putera harapan!

Enjoy the world

Humans and fine creatures (jinn) are existed to perform religious obligations and worship Allah, no doubt. Because that is what Allah has said in the apocalypse that delivered to Muhammad by Gabriel. How do you define Ibadat / religious obligation? Certain people interpreted them as pray 5 times a day and fulfil all the Islam and iman / religious faith commandment. But some of us have given way too different definition which saying that a life is an ibadah. For the fist opinion, it is for peculiar one and the second is not. Hence, based on the second opinion, i understand that all the good things we do are ibadah if we are intently doing it for Allah.

But when we were born onto this world, we have seen a lot of things. We found happiness, sadness, fun, games, money, poverty, richness, properties, prosperities, win and lose, foods, water and many more that cannot be defined easily. These are what we call ni’mat / Allah’s gift. So, can these things be ibadat. Eating for example is an ibadat because naturally we have to eat and we would die if don’t. Therefore, its a sunnah alam / nature act which also Allah’s command. Now we understand that ibadah involves everything including sport, teaching, and reading. Reading Quran is a peculiar obligation for Muslims but reading science book, history and some knowledgeable books are counted as general ibadah because we would gain knowledge from them. The importance of knowledge is emphasized in the first apocalypse which is Iqra’ as we all know the meaning as read.

From my personal point of view, we are made to enjoy the ni’mat which is also one of the ibadah. As simple words, Allah made us to play. That is why He made earth full of green things that later we would call them as trees, then we start gardening around backyard and lawn, the variety of foods that we can indulge ourselves by exchanging recipes with our neighbours or friends from other states, He made young boy in a small size so that we can happily play with our children, smile when they laugh even for nothing, he made pet which always entertain our souls and we would embrace them because of their cuteness. He creates happiness which comes from the example that i give above. He made love so we can love Him and his messengers, love to live, love to enjoy the world He made , love human being, love animals and plants, love to play. All these things that i state here are for playing (to enjoy the ni’mat)

One thing you have to remember, all these ni’mats would be nothing if you cannot enjoy them for Him, it would not be ibadat. But how can you playing football for Allah. Let’s talk about the ball that you bought from providers. They would make the ball from rubber three. Rubber tree could live by Allah‘s permission. There fore, just thank Allah for giving you the ball and a great body so you can strongly kick the ball and make goal. Thank Allah for making your taste buds functioning well so that you can eat pizza, Mamak noodle, Chicken Mc Deluxe, Zinger burger. Thank Allah for providing you adequate eyes and ears so you can read, girl seeing, listen to your favourite songs. Thank Allah for great body parts which you can use your legs to drive and dive, use your fingers to eat the meat. Alhamdulillah.

For further explanation, i want you to understand that we don’t need a lot of pressure and tension to live in His world. Just enjoy the world so you can seize or shall i say pursuit the happiness because He wants us to do that. Like a book that explains its title La Tahzan / Don’t be sad. Don’t judge the world, don’t criticize it, don’t make any noise or demand for what you don’t belong. Just be Qanna’ah / happy for what you have had. Be a grateful person and you will be a rich man because you need nothing other than what you adequately have. Dunnia / The world, life and Islam are among the biggest ni’mat He has given to us. Hence, having these should have made you bow and kneel down to the nature creator.

You can play and as a matter of fact you are asked to do that. Play in the confine of shari’ah so you would not stray away or deviate from Islam taught. Play in remembering of Him so it would be an ibadah and raise your taqwa / fear of Allah. Play to stay healthy and to enjoy your life, make friends, know each other, and share the same hobbies cannot be bad and stands in shari’ah confinement. Therefore, don’t afraid to play and enjoy this world. Just go beyond and explore this world, gain knowledge, find some acquaintances, embrace the nature, play some nature games because they are part of ibadah. Wallahu’alam.

An untold made-up true story

Lipak is a familiar word if you are a young man who is living or studying around Kelantan or Terengganu. It is broadly used by young native speakers to describe what they feel about their unreliable friends. The exact meaning of this word is ‘cheating’. It’s not like the cheater doesn’t tell the truth, but when we hope or rely on someone that we have been assuming him as a good friend all these while and he ends it up with letting you down. Let’s just say he doesn’t grant your wish and fulfil the promises.

This peculiar word primarily uttered with another word, saing/friend that stands in the same group which these words have always been spoken to prescribe friendship. Thus, when we put these words together, it would become saing lipak saing which means a friend who has broken his promise. I would love to share a situation which i suppose might be helping you to comprehend the usage of this word, lipak

Situation 1:

One day Useng and Aghu went to Demong restaurant to have a tasteful dinner, chicken chop. These boys were having a great night together like their friendship would last forever. Together, they would have nice soft chicken chests, mango juices, and share the same prize for the dinner that night. Oh, not forgotten to mention that they went there by Aghu’s motorcycle. So, generally speaking, they are like a close mate that closely acquainted.

After they had finished the ceremony, they had found that the motorcycle back tyre was flat. The night was getting darker. No need to mention about workshop because there was no workshop open at night in Besut area. Thus, take it or leave it, Aghu had to pull the motorcycle all the way to their rent house as it was not that far from the restaurant. Accompanied by Useng, Aghu really hoped his friend could help him in this situation.

Quarter way they have gone through, Useng didn’t give any sign of helping yet. He was just sometimes speaking alone. One of his words were, “bahayo kalu lalu sinning ssoghe male-male nih, oghe ssining buke buleh wak kigho.” / “it is quite dangerous to walk alone through this path at night, we cannot take those villagers for granted” The speech that Useng just said made Aghu a little bit relieve because he was assuming that Useng would not leave him alone in this situation albeit so far, Useng had not helped him anything yet. He just nodded saying yes. For Aghu, Useng’s companion was enough

About ten minutes later. A white Myvi car belonged to Pok Nggal one of their friend passed by. Pok Nggal saw them walking with the motorcycle by their side. Pok Nggal stopped by to question what was happening. Aghu told him everything from A to Z, one to ten, Aliph to ya. Pok Nggal nodded to show his concern even though it could not be seen as there was no light. It was just a dim lamp that shined from up above the post. “Kalu muto mung muak blake bonek, buleh la bubuh, hmmm dok tau la nok tulong ggano”,/ “ If your motorcycle can be loaded into my car bonnet, surely i can bring it home safely, ..hmmm i wish i could help you” said pok Nggal in his Terengganuan kelantanese accent. He was originally from Baru Rakit, in kuala Terengganu district, so he hardly could speak in kelatanese slang.

Meanwhile Useng, without any sound, pulled the car back door’s knock and casually got into the car. He closed the door. Aghu was speechless to see what was happening. Useng was just looking at the front screen without any feeling. The car started to move slowly as Pok Nggal softly kicked the paddle forward. The car was leaving Aghu and his beloved unroofed motorcycle.off they went. With the ruthless face, Useng turned his head toward Aghu smiling. Again, the speechless Aghu looked at him and gave the ‘unbelievable’ response.

Alone in the dark, Aghu could not leave the bike alone. The situation got worsened. Continuing to pull his motorcycle, the words uttered by Useng ten minutes ago was still in his mind and could not easily be demolished. "AAArrrggghhhh...!!! saing lipakk saingg!!!!". He exclaimed!

Fixie

Fixie ought me not to introduce it to Malaysian as we can see them along almost all the ways in town. It is designed coulourful by the rider so it would look contrast and attractive. But nowadays, it needs not any effort or should i say “do it yourself” anymore because we can get the bikes fixed instantly by the providers and shoppers. This happens because the fixie riding has become a trend and this is a chance for the capitalist to have money by making them (the riders) forget about DIY thing and the satisfaction, and easily could purchase the bike and when you get home, just put the bike on the road and ride proudly with your blink bike.

For Terengganuans, they should have known fixie more then others have. Terengganu is a country where you can find all trend followers committed to their things including, sek punk/ punkers, sek vespa/ scooter riders ( mods), sek sking / skin head, sek muto dan mak rempik,(riders), sekk kkete/ car fans and the newest, sek piksi / fixie riders. I suppose this is happening because they are still daghak / (someone who has never seen a new thing, and when he sees it, he jumps excitedly). Technically speaking, they would anxiously explore a new thing and when they acquire it, they would spread the trend to who is still daghak and knowing nothing about it. The spreader would proud of his new finding and gladly invite his naive friends to join him. He would say, “mu maing fixie ar bijok skek, sementare dok ghama agi maing ning, kayuh tengoh bando tengoh panah ddeghing,..kang bijok tu” / “Im suggesting you to join me riding the fixie while there are still few followers taking part, riding in the middle of the town...beneath the sun, ..yeah, sure you look smart.” Now it is the Daghak's turn to feel proud of his new finding and spread the news. This is how the trend moves.

I didn’t really like this phenomenon at first because for me they are kind of poyo/gong / poseurs to be proud of what they have been following on., for me, they follow the trend, they are naive,...the one who creates the new thing is superb. At first, i felt yacks, don’t they feel ashamed riding the bikes in the middle of the road with their flock? Speaking of which, the bike they are riding on would be the physical obstacles to the drivers because they move in group. With the traffic problem they created, they feel proud. It makes me hate them. But then, i realized it is okay to play with your friends and together to have same hobbies.

Recently, with the uprising of fixieist tribe, little by little mak rempik have gone becoming the fixie riders. For me who lives in the middle of the town really thank them for the transformation i guess. Mak ghempiks are really annoying. With their typical styles, long hair,baju glebeh /baggy shirt , muke koto / dirty face, wak muke bekeng/ making the fake angry face and riding like a drunk man with one side of his butt on air and another side on seat. And because of riding like that, the body would be extremely side bent. They like the exhaust that momentarily death because it is too noisy and the gang famous with traffic problem makers.

By riding the fixie at least, it doesn’t make any loud sounds that always pull me back from putting my head on the pillow at night. There will be no more motorcycle stealing, no more broken legs because of collision and no more illegal race. Riding this fixed bike could make them maintain their health albeit they do not really care about it. For the traffic problem makers, just bear with it. We can find these people everywhere. Just give any ride to this kind of people even a lorry, for them they are still the king of road.

Therefore, to all traffic users, don’t really worry about this new damn trend. It has come and will soon subside. Trend is some thing that happens with added by a little phenomenon, lies on consumers, lives temporarily and finally dies. Nevertheless, it may come back with a new style after a few decades. So, just bear with it. Hopefully it will last soon and the most important is hoping that the becoming trend would be something that not involving the traffic. Even though i hate this freaking fixie trend, in anyhow, it gives me benefits and that forces me to like it at certain point. Yea, well done. 'doh nok wak ggane!'

Story of music

If we want to enhance our music experience and skill in listening, do not listen to one genre of them. Listen entirely and as maximum as you can listen. But how does a punker like you listen to a not-punk song? Yup , it is said that a pure punker never listens to other stuffs but punk, so you would be a truly, purely, loyal punker. They won’t listen to any pop, ballad, disco, RnB and damn hip hop. ! This is what we call a narrow minded in adherence. Does that give you adequate? I mean, by listening to the same song everyday, would that make you happy and satisfy you in music? Nah,not for me. If I like a song, I would listen to it repeatedly until blood runs through my both ears, then it makes me like want to puke on my speaker if I listen to that song again. The point here, don’t you get bored?

Well lets take 60 years,you would live for 60 years, imagine your 60 years of living are filled with the same type of your favorite songs everyday..urrggh!! I would rather to spend my bucks to prevent my ears from wasting bloodshed.

Im not saying it is wrong, but here I would like you to open up your mind and stay out of rigidity. I suppose, lets make your punk genre as a root and influence in listening to other stuff. From punk, you can move to rock, alternative, garage rock, and grunge eventually. Not many of punkers bear to put Rnb and hip hop into their ears. They would feel irritated. This is because of their cultures and fashions are definitely different. Punk as we know a little bit emphasizes their rebel for every wrong did by the government. Mean while hip hop stories about money, women, sex and sometimes poverty. Hip hop was pioneered by blacks that apparently differ from punk that founded by whites. Blacks and whites never unite. That is why punk and hip hop would never be united.

Music evolves. Bowie for example has done many songs and albums that have different of genres. He moved from, slow rock which we can listen from his very first album, the space oddity, to glam rock in his Ziggy stardust, disco, soul (which is black’s music), he plays electronica in Earthling, and lately he plays modern songs in Reality that sound like we never listen before. He is an innovative, creative musician that does not put genre as a boarder in music. People would ask him, is that song was composed to seek for fans. Then he would say, nay, I made what I wanted and actually I don’t really know weather the fans would accept the songs.

In Malaysia I would prefer oag, butterfingers, flop poppy. These bands evolved. Let’s see butterfingers for example. Grunge was their root, and they actually have succeeded in making revolution in their career. Who would have thought, louqe plays such a weird song nowadays. I mean it in the song he does duet with ana rafali. I don’t think the song holds on grunge. It was a moronic moment when I first heard that he was composing a keroncong song titled Merdeka. But then I could accept it and supposedly enhanced my courage to him because he actually played kroncong on his very own way.

For me, I don’t listen to rnb and hip hop, but some of their legends really inspired me in music. The big names such as B.I.G, snoop dogs, 50 cent are really not common musicians you can find in this world. The ways they lived and grew up in their hood and fought, crime, involved in street savage are another interesting story to be explored.

To avoid myself from being embraced by rigidity, nowadays i've been trying to listen to Anuar zain, hazami,siti nurhaliza, dang dut and almost all that kind of stuffs, mostly axed rock/rock kapak. Even i myself before this admitted that those music are for gays!..ngeh ngeh. well i found that it is not hard to enjoy the music though. Once you are the listener, imagine you are in their golden years. for example, if you would like to listen to siti's, don't be a punker, you better be sissy instead.(hahaha)nevertheless, i don't do that .haha. Not many of us listen to the old bowie, because the music was made for the past years. so just imagine you are living in those years and enjoying the music, so that you can enjoy the music that came from the past which you think inappropriate to be listened these days.

Music is not all about genres. The messages delivered are another important thing to be noted and understood. Without a good content, certain song just could be enjoyed by it’s merely appearance. No value neither moral in the beauty of the song could be taken. It would not be beauty anyway. Therefore, the moral of this passage is, do not make genre as a guidance to be adhered, and also to distinguish people. Because we all have ears, we do listen and we enjoy!