Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Stubborn Iwe

There are two horses. One is a black beauty Ayu which is thin and easier to ride. And the other is a handsome white horse, named Iwe. Both are my favorites. But Iwe, his stubborn really stimulates my curiosity. Plus, Iwe's back is broader than Ayu and this does make him so comfortable to ride.

Sometimes, Iwe can be so naughty. It is very hard to tame him to put the bridle on. He knows what we are doing, saddling and bringing him to the paddock. He also knows who is new and afraid of him. As we get closer, he will be pretending not to finish eating yet. But as we give up, he stops eating. Such a naughty horse. To be honest, when it comes to groom him, Kiru will take over it. She is much braver than me. She calmly approaches him and put the bridle on his face. And I, cowardly stand on the far side.

Iwe can be restless too. There was one day when only Ayu was joining us for practice. From the paddock, we could see him inside the stable, lifting up and down his head as a sign of how much he eager to join us. But we just ignored him. Suddenly Dina shouted, "Iwe escaped!". All of sudden, Iwe already galloped wildly in the compound. He scooted around trying to get away from us. Luckily, Mahyas was there. She then sowed dried grass on the ground and tied a rope around Iwe's neck while he is eating it.

Once in a very blue moon, Iwe can be as fleet as deer. I just have to held the rein steady and do not hurry him. I ride him first slowly. When we are on the common I gave him a light touch with my whip, and we have a splendid trot.

Last Sunday, while cantering, I accidentally rolled down on the ground after Iwe suddenly fell down. Alhamdulillah, there was no serious injury. But, the incident did wake me up. Mas Doni told me that Iwe was still tired. He went for an enduring jungle tracking yesterday. After all, I believe that horse riding is just not grooming nor riding a horse. It is far more than that. It starts with mutual respect and trust between horse and human. We do rely on each other.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Nasi Lemak

It was another bright and sunny Thursday at Faculty of Cultural Sciences. And yesterday was an oppurtinity for me to try out different kinds of food from all over the world. I am no food connoisseur but I do love food.

Many countries participated in this International Culinary Festival. There were Korea, Japan, Thailand, Madagascar, Germany and many more. And each stalls was selling their traditional food. From Australian stall, I have had a scrummy Australian brownies. Those brownies do look gorgeous, beautiful and moist on the inside. And the cookies from Spain, they had a nice crunch!

But how could I forget the delicious cuisines of my country, Malaysia. The taste of appetizing home-made egg tart, toothsome vedu and scrumptious nasi lemak really reminisced me my hometown. As a multi-racial country with her three most-populated races; Malay, Chinese and India, I have always been fascinated with the food, especially nasi lemak.

I have an unforgettable experience with nasi lemak when I was seven. Every early in the morning before going to school, my aunt Mak Lang provided us two packets of nasi lemak. She used to sell nasi lemak during those days. And her nasi lemak was delicacy!

Teacher asked us to place all the food on the special table at the back of the class. We just can have it only during recess time. One day, after hours of tiring classes, we hurriedly rushed to the table to get our yummy nasi lemak. Surprisingly, we could not find our food. We were so sad but did not know what to do. So we went to the school canteen and bought keropok lekor and drinks. Few minutes before the bell rang, a girl came to us and handed us a plastic with one nasi lemak inside and said, "Sorry, I mistook your nasi lemak, I thought it was mine"

I looked at my cousin. And, we did not say a word. Are you serious?

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Anatomy

"This is the prepuce of clitoris" recalled the doctor during an anatomy class on reproductive system. Like prepuce of penis, prepuce of clitoris is the external fold forming a cap over the clitoris. "And this is the part that is excised during circumcision", he added.

I remember at fourteen watching my few-months niece, Aida cried out loud when my late grandmother, Tuk Wan 'circumcising' her clitoris. As a male and young, I was not allowed to watch the procedure and waiting outside the room with my first niece, Ainur. As I heard Aida crying, I looked at Ainur and jolted, "It is your turn next" which made her bawled louder than her sister.

For years, Tuk Wan helped mothers for the birthing of their child. Being a midwife, she has done a lot of obstetrics jobs including female circumcision. Indeed, after retiring at seventy, she still providing female circumcision service. And she is the first reference whenever her granddaughters getting pregnant. Her 'rasa perut' or 'palpating of the uterus' skills (which in medical terms is called 'Leopold Examination') is at the finest. She simply predicted the due date and it turned out to be concise plus minus 1 or 2 days from the expected date. I have seen the procedure for many times, and the overwhelming smell of 'minyak urut' is still fresh in my mind. Although, I was never allowed to see the female circumcision. But I know, Tuk Wan circumcision procedure was very traditional and far from aseptic. In fact, she used a pen knife to 'cut' it. Surprisingly, none of the complication of genitalia cases has been complained until today.

Well, this is new to me. All the while, I used to believe that female circumcision is cutting part of glans of clitoris, not its prepuce. Hehe.. Plus, I just knew that clitoris itself can be subdivided to 3 parts; prepuce, glans and frenulum. Huh, anatomy is so 'over-acting', right?

Ironically, my sister called me last night. She just came back from doing a 'prepuce circumcision' for my youngest niece, Aminah at the nearby clinic.

Monday, April 7, 2008

The Overlooked Phase

Once upon a time, we had a warm conversation about me which I could not remember when exactly was it. There was my mother laughing heartily and my father laughing too. I was so busy baking kuih-muih, she said, so, I had to put you in a baby-walker most of the time. You just loved kicking the floor and gliding all over the house. My eyes smouldering up at her. You wheeled to your mother, and cried "Nok Uwe! Nok Uwe!" (Want the cake! Want the cake!), he added.

"There was one bright day, when you surprised everyone. I took you out of the walker to the floor, and you, miraculously ran toward us with hand full with 'apam'!" said mother. "We surprised to see you running but never see you crawling!"

Decades ago, the direct selling business was only a part-time business because my father is still active as a pots-and-pan dealer while my mother sells traditional cakes 'kuih-muih' at Pasar Payang. But, it lasted when I was in standard 2, if i am not mistaken.

Well readers, there is a simple phase of very early human development - you have to crawl before walking. It is a human nature to go through those phases. But, did I skip the crawling phase? Or just them who miss that historic event?

After all, I do believe that breaking the 'law of human nature' will withdraw your certain ability. So readers, maybe this is the best answer I could give if people asked me why I am not good in sports. Cheers!

What do you think?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A Favourite of Mine

If ever a band can be said to have gripped my soul, it is an Indonesian band, Sheila On 7. It has started so long ago, when they first entered Malaysia with their phenomenon-Sephia, and I was 15 years old. This urged me to buy their second album, Kisah Klasik Masa Depan (Classical Story for Future) which for me, is the best album of them!

While Duta the vocalist singing with his soothing voice, there is Eross the Genius, with his flawless guitar technics and wonderful melody. The album really hypnotized me with its great words and compositions. I do not know when I officially became enthusiast with this pop-alternative band, but I am very sure that I will not be late to have their new albums. And finally, I have compiled a collection of all their albums.

Pictures of my secondary schoolmates as we used to study together, burn the midnight oil for tomorrow exams while listening to Sheila's songs or when my father starting to grumble about the overplayed Bila Kau Tak Disampingku (When You Are Not With Me) in his car spring to mind whenever I listen to Buat Aku Tersenyum (Makes Me Smile) or Sahabat Sejati (True Friend).

Well, perhaps not many people know that one of the reasons why I chose Jogjakarta, Indonesia to do medicine is because Sheila On 7 is originally from here. Hehe. Unluckily, after almost 3 years here, I have never got a chance to meet my all-time favourite band, Sheila On 7. *wishlist*

Believe it or not, Berhenti Berharap (Stop Hoping) is one of the hardest song for me to sing at Happy Puppy Karaoke. *wishlist*

That's all for today, finger crossed for the wishlist.

 
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