THE ORIGINAL- ASAM PEDAS

Papa called Squire Bobby, he answered in a hurried voice, papa asked whether he wanted to go for breakfast at Parit Jawa, The Squire said, he, will call back as he had to attend to an emergency. An elderly neighbor had fallen down at her home and he had to be sure the ambulance had arrived and she was already on her way to the hospital before he can go anywhere, he promised to call back in about twenty minutes time. Papa resumed his search for the elusive multi point socket at ten past eight in the morning. Upon turning to the left and crossing a main street, further up, he found a small shop sharing half a lot with the other half still not opened yet. To his amazement, the shop was an electrical store and the multi socket- was neatly, arranged, inside a glass shelf with the shopkeeper: an elderly Chinese man standing beside it. Papa tried to insert the slanted albeit flattened metal road protruding from the plug that in turn was attached to the re charger cable of his two little boys’ ‘Game boy’ thingies, to the multi socket. Lo and behold- it fits.
Papa could see Squire Bobby’s, chunky Toyota Hilux, about one hundred meters ahead, making a turning into Jalan Sisi. He, waved at the Squire, Bobby stopped his truck right beside papa, of whom, was waiting near the intersection between Jalan Sisi and Jalan Ali. Having climbed into the front passenger seat, the two, sawit men proceeded to Parit Jawa Via Jalan Suleiman- straight on, through the archaically exclaimed, Jalan Darat.
The drive to Parit Jawa was quiet and rather uneventful, there were not that many cars on the road and only a few trucks, driving past, Compared to K.L, the, traffic here, was, literally, heaven sent. Added to the balmy morning, the circumstances, was, in a peculiar way, truly ‘serene’, if only a better word be appropriate. Papa, verily loved, this part of Johore, his late father’s birthplace and dominion, whence the oldman, was in his ‘impressionable’ years. There was, whenever papa’s in Muar, that certain ambience, an ‘atmosphere’ that verily tugged at the heartstrings, but not a ‘foreboding’ presentiment, yet ‘snug and homely’, as if, knowing that one is veritably ‘safe’ here, compared to any other ‘locales’. Papa would really like to ‘settle’ here, perhaps, in the not too distant future, Insyaallah, however, for the time being, K.L is still his home, having stayed there for more than 30 years.
Bobby parked his pick-up in front of an ‘up market’ kopitiam, an appropriately named, The Q1, establishment, apparently the ‘White Coffee’ trend had even caught up in little, Parit Jawa town. The elusive ‘Asam Pedas stall was only a few meters away, situated inside an authentic, old style, kopitiam- The Real McCoy. The tables were all full except for one, papa and Bobby, rushed to it with papa immediately sitting on a chair beside it, there was a customer at the table but he was just about to leave- having paid the bill. Bobby set about ordering what was best, papa left it entirely to him as this was his first time there. Bobby really liked to ‘breakfast’ here, driving down every two or three days, a ten or so minutes drive, from his house, in Muar. All, the more, so, whence, the stall operator called him ‘Abang’ the moment, he saw ‘The Squire’.
Bobby scooped four cuts of ‘Ikan Pari’ or skate, two, fried Ikan Cencaru- a Trevalli like fish and ordered two plates of ‘egg ommelettes’. There really were not that many dishes available, for the ‘Asam Pedas’ was good enough on its own, thenceforth to order that additional ‘plate of rice’ would not be recommended. Just, eat more of, the fish, they are fresh, most of the times, recently caught and ‘obtained’ straight from the fishing boats, ‘docked’ at the jetty nearby. That, was the thing, that make these asam pedas fishes, succulent, much tasty and sweet, they were ‘genuinely fresh’, coupled also, with, the extra thick ‘asam gravy and the quintessential albeit a bit more than required ‘pedas’ or ‘Spicy ness’ – integral component. Papa ordered two cuts of the ‘skate’ asam pedas for ‘tapau’or takeaway, with, Bobby, joining immediately after, ordering the same, also.

THE MARK OF Z

Forgive the pun, but the mentioning by papa, of, some, celluloid typecasts that typically albeit very much clichéd, portrayed the ‘chauvinistic’ propensities of peoples’, much ignorant, do not, in any wise, insinuated, any of, his close compatriots. However so, papa’s contention, was, only, to highlight the littlest ‘aberrations that might, still, be inherent in certain groupings, even though, their numbers may be, much, dwindling, each and every day- the ‘rednecks’ in a certain continent – for, example. The fact that Hollywood, most of times, played up, along with, their ‘sentiments’ is quite ‘academic’. It, can be, said, that, even in their own realm or their confederation, they are not taken that seriously although their ‘spending power’ is much coveted.
Hollywood is mostly about business and money, so, whatever that sells, must be paramount, what do they care about, being, politically correct. Howsoever, there, are the ‘messaged’ films that are fast getting acceptance. All, in all, people are, much, more aware- now, together with, the reality that, the global village is getting more accessible, as time passes on.
Kindly forgive papa, Honorable Senor, should papa’s last post, offended your much, elevated person, in whatsoever way, for it, was never, intended, nor pre meditated, it was just papa’s inconsequential ‘rambling’, on and on, to no end. Somehow or rather, tact and diplomacy, do escaped him, most of times, perhaps, due to ‘being cooped under a sawit tree for too long in Bukit Tengkorak and too ‘engrossed’, in trying to be what he is not- a Dangdut King. At the end of which, after all, he is just a ‘stammering village idiot’-from, Skull Hill.
If papa could remember, Errol Flynn did play Zorro, a character that far from being a Hollywood stereotype, was, verily a Popular Hero, alongside the fact that Errol Flynn was a ‘Legend’ in his own time and, until, present day, veritably!

MUCH OBLIGED

Papa did not anticipate such instantaneous response from The Honorable Senor Zorro, along with, the fact that he had to rush to his neighbor’s hacienda just to get the ‘commentary’ translated. Papa, is truly indebted to these, veritably, ‘Illustrious Gentlemen’. Personages, of, whom are, verily endowed with such remarkable abilities. Papa is truly humbled, for, he, without doubt and unquestionably, admire people who are able to communicate in multifarious languages, for to speak a language is to understand its culture.
Customs and savoir-faire that magnificently defines civility and fine breeding as regards an archetypal ‘group of people’, rather than, the ubiquitous ‘mimicking’ of Hollywood stereotypes- a very much, degrading, exercitation, notwithstanding the notion that, the said actions, could be construed as ‘malicious’ and ‘racialist’ in the very least.
Papa abhors any postulations that run in line with the, above, mentioned abstractions. Inadvertently he had digressed, yet, again, papa must reiterate his deep most gratitude to The Honorable Senor Zorro and his equally ‘Esteemed’ adjoining property owner for the ‘magnanimous’ enterprise that they partook, in getting the, comments; translated.
Even though, mere words could not describe his innermost gratitude, reiteratively papa has to say ‘Thank You Very Much’ to The Two Honorable Senores. Papa will follow your advice, in highlighting this ‘incidence’.

AN EARNEST REQUEST

Salutations to all of papa’s friends, especially, The Honorable Senor Zorro, HRH The Prince Guy and The insuppressible JinAir for taking their time putting together their cordial comments into the latest post on the ramblings blog. The title of which was the loosely termed, cerita-cerita, or ‘small talk’, only, if, a more appropriate phraseology be applicable. Papa, was truly elated, he seemed to, be getting a increasing number of rapports, as regards his inconsequential postings in, the equally- irrelevant ‘digressive’ blog.
Having anticipated comments from his regular, yet ‘accustomed’ commentators, he was quite surprised upon receiving ‘annotations’ from a ‘cresceNet, or proverdorcrescenet. All, the more bewildering whence the entire text except the few words at the end being, written in Spanish or was it Portuguese, papa, just could not be sure.
As papa, jinair and Putera Guy are not at all familiar with Spanish, we would earnestly, beseech, The Honorable Senor Zorro to translate, the reason being, he had, in a previous posting, commentated, in the ‘irrepressibly romantic’ Latin derived language. If only, The, Honorable, Sir, could kindly view, the comment format in the ‘cerita-cerita’ post, once more.
Last, but not least, papa would like to extend his humble gratitude to Senor Zorro and awaits with unabated anticipation his ‘transliteration’ of the said ‘crescenet’ commentaries. Cheers! Senor Zorro..

CERITA-CERITA

Asalamualaikum bros dan selamat sejahtera, papa merasa terlalu seronok hari ini sebab post terbaru di ramblings blog menerima banyak komen. Kemeriahan yang menjurus kepada perasaan yang amat teruja sekali. Pertama sekali, papa ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada anonymous yang memberi komen yang ada menyebut sedikit perihal makam. Sebenarnya tak ada makam tinggi mana pun. Makam, nafs al amarah saja.
Cerita- nya, masa menulis blog tu, bila ada perkataan yang tiba tiba terfikir, terus saja refer ke Thesaurus, cari perkataan yang bunyi nya pelik sikit tapi mempunyai makna sama. Lepas tu cuma, sambung- sambung saja, konon nya nak cerita pasal ‘siasah’, itu lah banyak gunakan bahasa bunga-bunga sikit, supaya bunyi dan makna nya samar- samar saja…he..he..he
Salutations to Senor Zorro, of whom, maybe riding into the sunset, against the desert wind, the aftermath of a day of adventuresome exploits, helping the littlest ‘rakyat’ any which way, he could. To his sprawling hacienda he rode, an able, Horseman of wholesome repute, a gallant knight, ever slaying the evil dragons of, the three C’s, whilst a petite senorita awaits somewhere, truly beautiful in every aspect, veritably, a loyal and virtuous girl, who is very much in love with the masked hero.
Peace, be, upon you, HRH, The Prince Guy, truly a Prince among men, an amicable personage- having innermost- a gregarious personality, sincere in intent and honorable in purpose. All, the comentators, of whom, are papa’s sahabahs, even though, there- maybe a few he, may- not ever meet. However so, do keep on blogging!

NOTHING IN MIND

At times there are instances when absolute nothing enters the mind, ideas just did not come, likened to a block inside one’s brain, compressing every single thought that could, like, most of times, prior- initiate a volley of impressions. Sparking, a narrative that depicts a situational happening, an eventful happenstance, a, serendipity, that only papa found portentous. A salient, after thought, that does not illuminate anything. Verily, an insignificant consideration, a something, that is wholly irrelevant, particularly so, in a situation that requires passive reactions. A, perpetual ‘myopia’- that is encouraged, incessantly, lest the irksome, albeit universally sanctioned criterions be unleashed into mindsets, that were shackled all along.
Papa is at it again, he is venturing into something that is beyond his comprehension. Plunging in, tune with, an expedient although judicious realm that has the propensity to rummage, into the esoterically disposed proposition of ‘polity’: a, demagoguery that does not, harbor any dissent, nor brook any restraint. A, ‘statecraft’ that has been ‘mercenary’ for too long, a, reprobate, quiddity that quid pro quo, was disquieted, by a saffron hued insurrection, comprising of a citizenry that, simply put, was, satiated with ‘disgust’.
Papa should stop now, he has digressed much, he has been too far from his comfort zone, dangdut and its ‘wretchedness’ somehow, evaded him that while back. By, and large, he is as seedy as the ‘infernal dangdut’ he so loved, he should not really be ‘dabbling’ into things, he did not really ‘quite’ understand. He would not want to upset his ‘conservative’ friends, for the truth being, he is much localized and a bit ‘rustic’, to all intents and purposes, thenceforth, any ‘internationalist’ proclivities, on his part, would only effused an incongruity that will inevitably, lead to a ludicrous ‘state of affairs’. F….k you, papa, what were you, thinking of ?

WHAT IS WITH DANGDUT?

Having blogged, much about dangdut , mostly skewed to what his worldview encompassed, with respect to this, infernal musical genre, papa, as must be told, is not a champion for it. He is just a storyteller, one who weaved platitudes about things that invoked his littlest mindset. Inconsequential elements, that do not really- shoulder any weightiness. Circumstances, that, does not move the earth, neither provide avenues that could supplant the impending world’s energy crisis whence forth, fossil fuel, depletes.
Dangdut to all intents and purposes is just a type of popular music however so intertwined into the collective psyche of the inhabitants of a said locale, as a domicile for all that is undesirable for a situational consociation. In other words, it is a place, where most of the bad elements, in society- meet, particularly so, in Kay El. The fact that the notion is not far from the truth is indisputable. Dangdut, is seedy, it is a place where people gets drunk, got into fistfights and frequent destinations for the local authorities to come check, continuously monitoring its’ activities, lest, the less than desirable aspects, go- out of control. Intoxicants are parts and parcels of its’ notoriety, people come to exult, make merry and to become light headed. Dancing, should arrive, natural, after all that. Much spirited: about anything can happen during those archetypal, jubilations.
Without doubt, the logical consequence of which, the ubiquitous, yet, much powerful presence; of club ‘bouncers’- prominent in any dangdut club ‘worth its’ salt. Come, to think of it, the above, mentioned scenarios pretty much depict popular music club backdrops around the world. Infamous, sites that equally, invite- ignominious happenstances.
Not, so for the Dangdut Kings, in turn, they prefer these, kind of settings. To them, they are truly exclusive, mainly, due to, the fact that not everyone wants to patronize the dance halls, forasmuch their ‘wretched’ connotations. They do not need alcohol to strut their stuff, nor do they want to chase after the girls. They only want to make manifest their ‘seni’ or ‘art’, to practice their craft in front of the few and dispersed, albeit ‘appreciative audiences’. They abhor glamour, preferring the ‘quiet yet elegant’ and much, subdued, appreciation of the enthusiastic although esoterically inclined dangdut exponents. They prefer dangdut to be at the fringes, basking, behind its’ infamy, for their ‘seni’ is too controversial and too unconventional to ever receive any formal recognition. The Majesties only want to continue ‘twirling’ and ‘swirling’ to their hearts’ content.