I sat with my laptop at the Kopitam table not knowing what to write today. It has been somewhat a depressing weeks made worst by the extreme weather where the heat is intense like never before. Where the Northern Hemisphere is getting the worst snowfall, we in the tropic are getting the heat that is not normal at this time of the year. It look like this is the cause of the global warming that scientists had warn us would happen. Yet there are folks down under in Australia who still do not believe on the global warming. On Australian TV news I saw an Australian politician making a joke of this warning. Their forests are burning, the rivers dried up and the land cracked without moist and yet they still did not believe in global warming. How naive could they be?
Anyway as I had said earlier this has been a rather depressing weeks; first about two weeks ago a friend from the neighborhood die after been sick for sometimes. The late Chong [85 years old] would stop in front of my house whenever he passes by in his minicar driven by his spouse and we would chat and jokes to pass the time away. He was always cheerful and now he is no longer with us. His two kids have migrated to the west and now what left in the house is the late Choy spouse. Last Friday our next door neighbor popularly known as the Ustazah Zainun [75 years old] who teaches Koran to the kids here passed away too. When the ambulance came I went to have a look what was happening and soon found that she was already taking her last breathe. She passed away at 5:40PM that Friday afternoon. She and her spouse CheGu Amin has been our neighbor from our youth; first when we were living in Kuantan in the early sixties and then when we move to KL. Somehow we bought a house adjacent to them and thus continue to be their next door neighbor. CheGu Amin is now eight five years old and has not been really well either. And two weeks ago Amylia Chong the friend of one of our daughters who lives in the neighborhood told me that her dad [83 years old] drove the car to Ampang Point which is just three kilometers away and could not find his way home. He had taken a wrong turn and drove all the way to Kuantan on the Highway and then turns around. Somewhere at Mentakab a lorry driver saw a car zigzag on the Highway, stop his lorry and help the old man to get connected with his home. In the meantime his daughter had reported to the police of his missing. Anyway to cut the story short he eventually arrived safely home after an ordeal of teen’s hours. What a turn of events it has been for the weeks.
As I write this I saw that elusive squirrel came around to enjoy the fruits that I had regularly put on a plate about the fence for it to enjoy. I have been feeding the squirrel with cut fruits for years and it seems that little animal is enjoying its regular feed. In return it gave life to my little garden and I enjoying its presence. As I wander along I saw a yellow butterfly flew by trying to find a spot to land. It was really nice to see this yellow butterfly flying around between the plants with ease. I was hoping it would find a place to land and perch on the leaves long enough for me to photograph it. But it seems not to want to stop flying and eventually flew away from my sight. Then I notice a spider web above the fishpond with the spider clinging to it and continuing to wave the delicate web. I took my camera and this time I managed to take a snap of that tiny spider in action.
Soon it was evening and the light began to fade away. With that the weather began to cool down. I turn on the lamps at the patio/Serambi and enjoy the cool breeze as the wind blow over. One of the most interesting parts of a traditional Malay house is the Serambi or patio; an outside space in front of the house that are special add-on to the house. It is part of the house but at the same time it is separated from the main house. The wisdom of having the Serambi is that it allows the space to be use for chat or yarn among friends without disturbing the folks in the main house. It is also a place to relax for the elderly folks in the afternoon when the weather is often hot and humid. In modern house the patio have been left out completely by the architect, perhaps due the influence of the west where most of our early architect went to study, so one would hardly see the Serambi in modern Malay or Malaysian home. Sad indeed but that is what happen when planner did not take to the wisdom of the old in their thinking? I grew up in a house where there was a Serambi and I found it to be a very useful space indeed. So when I bought this house I had a Serambi built as seen in the image above. Have a nice day.
Anyway as I had said earlier this has been a rather depressing weeks; first about two weeks ago a friend from the neighborhood die after been sick for sometimes. The late Chong [85 years old] would stop in front of my house whenever he passes by in his minicar driven by his spouse and we would chat and jokes to pass the time away. He was always cheerful and now he is no longer with us. His two kids have migrated to the west and now what left in the house is the late Choy spouse. Last Friday our next door neighbor popularly known as the Ustazah Zainun [75 years old] who teaches Koran to the kids here passed away too. When the ambulance came I went to have a look what was happening and soon found that she was already taking her last breathe. She passed away at 5:40PM that Friday afternoon. She and her spouse CheGu Amin has been our neighbor from our youth; first when we were living in Kuantan in the early sixties and then when we move to KL. Somehow we bought a house adjacent to them and thus continue to be their next door neighbor. CheGu Amin is now eight five years old and has not been really well either. And two weeks ago Amylia Chong the friend of one of our daughters who lives in the neighborhood told me that her dad [83 years old] drove the car to Ampang Point which is just three kilometers away and could not find his way home. He had taken a wrong turn and drove all the way to Kuantan on the Highway and then turns around. Somewhere at Mentakab a lorry driver saw a car zigzag on the Highway, stop his lorry and help the old man to get connected with his home. In the meantime his daughter had reported to the police of his missing. Anyway to cut the story short he eventually arrived safely home after an ordeal of teen’s hours. What a turn of events it has been for the weeks.
As I write this I saw that elusive squirrel came around to enjoy the fruits that I had regularly put on a plate about the fence for it to enjoy. I have been feeding the squirrel with cut fruits for years and it seems that little animal is enjoying its regular feed. In return it gave life to my little garden and I enjoying its presence. As I wander along I saw a yellow butterfly flew by trying to find a spot to land. It was really nice to see this yellow butterfly flying around between the plants with ease. I was hoping it would find a place to land and perch on the leaves long enough for me to photograph it. But it seems not to want to stop flying and eventually flew away from my sight. Then I notice a spider web above the fishpond with the spider clinging to it and continuing to wave the delicate web. I took my camera and this time I managed to take a snap of that tiny spider in action.
Soon it was evening and the light began to fade away. With that the weather began to cool down. I turn on the lamps at the patio/Serambi and enjoy the cool breeze as the wind blow over. One of the most interesting parts of a traditional Malay house is the Serambi or patio; an outside space in front of the house that are special add-on to the house. It is part of the house but at the same time it is separated from the main house. The wisdom of having the Serambi is that it allows the space to be use for chat or yarn among friends without disturbing the folks in the main house. It is also a place to relax for the elderly folks in the afternoon when the weather is often hot and humid. In modern house the patio have been left out completely by the architect, perhaps due the influence of the west where most of our early architect went to study, so one would hardly see the Serambi in modern Malay or Malaysian home. Sad indeed but that is what happen when planner did not take to the wisdom of the old in their thinking? I grew up in a house where there was a Serambi and I found it to be a very useful space indeed. So when I bought this house I had a Serambi built as seen in the image above. Have a nice day.
19 comments:
Salam, Pak Idrus!
My condolences to the families of Chong, Ustazah Zainun and Amylia Chong. How very sad, and in the case of Amylia, tragic. My deepest sympathies.
It has been an oppressively hot week. The plants are withering in the heat and the animals are lethargic. The weather is going crazy these days, and yes, global warming is a reality. People are suffering because of changes to their environment, and there are policymakers who are still debating the existence of climate change as though discussing Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
Wishing you and Makcik a good week, Pak Idrus!
I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link
Pak Idrus,
Just like to highlight recent news regarding global warming attributed to mankind activities. The "hockey stick warming curve" proving that is been shown to be based on suspect data. One article regarding that here, http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1713 . And this news report http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html summarizes
* Data for vital 'hockey stick graph' has gone missing
* There has been no global warming since 1995
* Warming periods have happened before - but NOT due to man-made changes
wassalam,
sabre23t =^.^=
~Covert_Operations'78~ , Ee Lynn thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting. Well, those happening are part of life and they are my friends and neighbor, so they are truly missed.
As for the weather I believe it has changed. It was not like that before. When we move to Ampang Jaya in 1974 the place was cool and at time we had to put on sweaters in the morning. We could sleep without fan and now it is so hot and humid that without the air conditioning it would be uncomfortable to sleep.
Thanks for the wishes. Have a nice day.
Anonymous[12:42PM], thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
I do not understand what you are talking about 'the leakers'. Appreciate if you could explain further.
Have a nice day.
Hello Idrus,
Your serambi is such a pleasant place. No wonder you get inspiration for your writing when you sit there with your laptop.
Condolences on the passing of your acquaintances.
The uncharacteristic weather in so many parts of the world should persuade any rational person that climate change has to be taken seriously but we still have politicians and business people who have buried their heads in the sand. Here in Seattle, although we had some days of record cold in December, the rest of the winter has also set a record as being the mildest recorded. Odd.
condolences to your true friends.Abt the climate change, i personally think that the sun radiation gets varies from year to year or centuries to centuries. Why do you think Greenland is called 'Greenland'?
sabre23t, thanks for the visit and sharing information and your thoughts on the subject of global warming.
I have live in this country all throughout the years and know for the fact that the weather has changed. When we first move to Ampang Jaya in 1974, the morning was so cold that we had to put on sweaters and at night we need no air conditioning to sleep. Now the average temperature is 35 degree Celsius. Kuantan on the East Coast where I grew up, during the monsoon the temperature would goes down to below 22 degree Celsius and the coconut oil which is use for cooking at that time would solidified but now one would never be able to experience such cold weather even during the monsoon.
I believe this changing weather is of our doing, like building of high-rising buildings with glass wall in the bowl of the Kelang Valley and these bounce back the light to the outskirt of the Kelang valley, thus it increases the temperature of the areas. If nothing is done I am afraid we would continue to destroy our environment with the increase in temperature of the planet.
Any way do have a nice day.
Hello Pak Idrus,
I remember last year I didn't have to water my plants that often a day during the month of Feb. This year, no matter how much I watered my plants, they withered. It's getting hot and humid.
I love reading this post. So serene, so calm, so peaceful. That's why when I said when I reach your age, I want to be like you. :-)Take care and have lots of fun, Pak Idrus!
Regards,
YA
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
Pak Idrus
We see deaths. These are normal. But the kinds of murder we read and the strange weathers we are experiencing are something new. East Coast today is no longer that of your yester-years.
louis, thanks for the visit and the good words on my kind of blogging.
As for death, it happened all the time to those good folks when their time are up. Those wonder moment was part of life and it has gone for good. When they were around they do touches one life and when they are no longer around one do miss those wonderful moment. We cannot have it all, all the time for that is life.
I know for sure that the weather has changed. It was never like this before, just forty years ago Ampang Jaya was a cool place but now even the air conditioning does not really help. Well is this the price we had to pay for development? I wonder!.
Have a nice day anyway and take care.
hs, thanks for the visit and the good words on this posting especially on the condolence of the passing away of some of my acquaintances. Well life is like that and we all must move on and enjoy life.
As for the heat, I believe it is our species doing and nothing much we could do about it but to try to acclimatised and go on living the usual life. Yes the earth are evolving as we live and because our lifespan is so short we just would not notice the happening not until it has already happened. Perhaps Greenland was greener than the rest of that islands around there, thus they decided to call it Greenland.
Have a nice day and do enjoy the day. Take care.
everything comes in a cycle. We have abundance of water here and off course at the same time in the south hemisphere, you are experiencing the opposite. Having that in perspective, we have to grow plants (or whatever in this context)according to these changes. We have to follow the rhythm that Nature dictates.
everything comes in a cylce. we are experiencing abundance of water and the south hemisphere is experiencing the opposite. We have to grow plants(or whatever in a similar context) following the changes that Nature dictates. Resistance to these changes will do more harm than good.
Anonymous[Yvonne], thanks for the visit and the good words on my kind of blogging on this posting. Appreciate you love the way I narrate the happening.
Thanks as well for sharing your thoughts on the issue of the weather now. Yes, it has been rather hot and humid now. The plants need more water to survived in this kind of temperature, so extra works for us. Anyway our world is evolving as we speak and since our lifespan is so short we could only see a tiny part the changes that happen in the physical world. In a hundred or thousand of years from now it would not be the same, most probably Singapore would be attached back to Johor and the whole of Peninsular Malaysia would be closer to the Indo Chinese states.
Well, we have to make do what we have got now and enjoy life as we move along, for life is like that.
Our lives on this planet is so short and we must make a point to enjoy every seconds we have got. So do enjoy as we move one. Have a nice day and take care.
Anonymous[7:10 AM] thanks for the visit and the good words on my kind of blogging, especially on this posting. Appreciate very much your good words.
I love to share my thoughts so I blog with a hope that it touches others as well. I am indeed happy that you enjoy my writing.
Have a nice day and take care.
Al-Manar, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
Yes millions dies every day and we only know of those that are closes to us, in our neighborhood, in our family or the one our friends related to us. Life and Death is part of the schemes of thing on this planet, so in a way it is a normal occurrence. We felt for the lost of acquaintances and more so if it is our own, for that is life and we all must take it as the reality of living and move on.
Yes agreed with you of the murder that happen as we speak in distance land done by our own species. Well it look like that it is the culture of our species from day one. But what could we do but to spread love so that such things do not happen in our midst.
Well Sir that is life, so let us enjoy it in whatever way we could. At the same time spread love all the time with a hope that the little thing that we do would help others to enjoy life on this blue planet of ours.
Have a nice day.
hs, thanks for the return visit and sharing your thoughts on the issue of the weather and that changing planet, our world the earth.
Agreed that the earth is changing as we speak, it is going on that evolution since if was formed eon ago. The evolution is going on as the years goes by and agree with you that we have to adept to the change, if not our species would not survived.
From the beginning of the existence of our species we have managed to adept and coexist with the other species that inhibits this planet. It is because we have manage to coexist that our species could survived this far.
The plants, the largest species on this planet convert the energy from the sun and then we get that energy to continue living on this planet. Without the plants, the only species that could convert the sun energy to pass it on to us, our species could not ever survive since our species did not have the capability to convert the sun energy direct for our own use. It is that plants that provides all the energy for all other species to live on this planet. That is why we must give due respect to the plants for without it our species and the other living species would perished.
For the plant to survive it need water. Therefore water is of utmost important and must be given due respect and care all the time. Let us give due respect to Water, the source of our survival on this beautiful blue planet call earth.
Have a nice day.
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