Ibrar Multani

Swiss Co. is an OK company laa.

It pays me reasonable enough, so I can afford a grass cutter every couple of months, on the couple quadrat~meters lawn we have at home.

Our regular grass cutter is Ibrar. He's from Multan, Pakistan. With his big hazel eyes, piercing stares, bushy eyebrows, thick hair, high cheek bones, and tall lean body, he can be easily mistaken as Multani's version of Richard Gere. Serious !

Sorry for my limited vocab, but in other words, he's one handsome young man. Betool !.

And I like him..

Not because of he's good-look, but more on him being reasonable. He's reasonable enough not demanding any higher fee for his grass cutting services. There's never been a situation, where he complain on my offer.

"Ini rumput potong pendek chantek-chantek,.rata-rata,. enam ploh boleh kaa?"

"Booooleh-Boooleh.."

And, to top it up , be it heavy rain, hailstorm, or striking sunshine, he never say no, whenever I call him, he will show up.

"Booooleh-Booleh.."

*****

Naturally, when Maam's friend asked, do we know any good grass cutter around, we offered Ibrar's h-p number. About a month ago, I heard Maam's friend's sister's would also like to engage Ibrar, for Grass cutting services laa.

But in-between, and during his grass cutting actions, these two middle-aged sisters went berserk, shrieking like teenagers meeting their Superstars, oogling over Ibrar.

"Piahh.... Awat laa hang tak habarq maii,, bangla tuu,, punyaaa la Hemsem.... Awwww.."

*****

woo ho hoo. Lemme tell you this. I really dun mind cutting grass while listening these 2 ladies wooing and oogling me over. But then, I'm no Ibrar Multani.

With me-pot-double-girth belly, and squint-slitted eyes, I'm more like Tokeh Bak.., Ah Yap from Sekinchan. Nok wat guaner

*****

Talking about 'be careful on what we wish for,' earlier, lemme re-phrase what i said.

Ok. I don't mind Ibrar's job, but I must say, with the current crunchy credit and slashing headcounts, yes, I do mind his pay.

I hope I state my self clear. Hopefully this'll do it.

Long Lost Friend, Found.

Dua ribu lapan tolak sembilan belas lapsn puloh satu tu berapa ? 27. Whoaaa..


Dua puloh tujuh tahun lamanya aku tak jumpa dengan Ustad Zack. Weeii, lamaaa tuu.


Ustad Zack dengan aku satu sekoloh dulu. Satu asrama. Walaupun aku tak dok satu dorm dengan nya, masa aku jumpa dengannya baru2 nii, cara gelak tawanya tak ubah. Tak ubah macam 27 tahun yang lampau. Sengih pun sama. Gerak-mata-ceria pun tak ubah. Wajah Ustad Zack pun berpancar-pancar macam lampu suloh. No judgement here, but, macam wajah orang berimanlaa. Aku suka.

Sekarang nii Ustad Zack seorang berdakwah bebas yang selalu keluar di Radio. Cara dia berkata-kata amat rapi. Cara dia berbicara amat tertib. Cara berhujah amat berperihatin. Pada aku, muliabudi dan me-nga-gumkan.


Aku nii,. just a blardy putau-alam jurujual perkakasuis voltan sederhana. He he..


If you would like to hear Ustad Zack berbicara, turn on Radio Ikim. Ninety One point Five eff mmm (91.5 FM) on every thursday at seven thirty aaayy ammm (7:30 AM). Rancangan Darul Hikmah ker Nurul Hikmah, telinga aku ni haaa, dah tak berapa pikap dah...

I feel wonderful, just hearing his voice.

Al Fatihah

I'm sad and out of words.

One of my best friend passed away on Saturday.

He is 41 years, 7 months and 7 days old.

Al Fatihah.

***

"I'm ruefully reminded of the fun we had in school. Fond memories. We were close and he's a brilliant person.."

Choices

"2-3 harii nii aku kemarok Roti John. Entah apasal ntah, bila ker Pasar Ramadhan tuu, mesti nak sebat ser. Kenkadang aku beli sebab tengok cara diaorang buat, macam sedaap ajer. Ramuan ayam, telor, dan rencah dimasak dulu, kemudian Roti di tempek di atasnya. Bila aku nak order satu, barulah sayuran liberally, di tabor diatasnya. Kongdian baru dipotong.

Tapi, kenkadang tuu aku beli sebab tengok anak kecik yang jual tuuu, baaanyaak lagi yang tak abis kat situ.. and taste does not really matter."

***

I'd comfortably say that I'm a planner, but not as good as Laki Maklang kat Kerteh tuu. 3rd quarter 2008 pun diaorang dah plan somethin'. Bagus la tuu..

And lemme tell you, now, I'm planning for this year school holiday break.


Pada tahun nii, kami planned something special. Something extra-ordinary. Something mebbe a bit luxurious. Tetapi, memandangkan ramainya ahli keluarga (9 termasuk bibik), we have decided that we would divide into 2 groups.


The first group is Me, Maam, Dilla, Afiqa & Anne and the second is Me, Maam, Dilla, Pipa, Arip, & Ajim. In this sense, Me and Maam can get the most out of it (tak aci kata Pipa) (I'm paying whaaat) and at the same time, save some (ser-pelepuk, one lump sum) money!. Voleykaan..


I have explained this to the Kids, and are they spoilt for choices ? Now, the ball is back to Fiqa and Anne. It seems that they cannot decide where they're going. Pipa nak pergi kat semua tempat yang Mama dengan Abah pergi. Fiqa and Anne kata 'tak fair' kalau Pipa dapat pergi kedua-dua tempat.

Arip has no idea where we're going. I showed him the pictures in the web.


The easiest is Ajim,. "Ajim nak naik kapa-tebang yang ada mei-nan.."

***

Petang nii kang, for the first time ever, aku buka puasa kat luar with some old friends. Pokcik2 and mokcik 2 satu skoloh dulu. At this age, one does not request for a permission (in my line of work we call this, PTW, Permit to Work). One hint for a permission. From Maam's body language, I think I got lesen besarr (Again, in my line of work, we call it 275 kV).

Yahoo !!

Professional Friends, Personal Friends.

I have a friend, Bu. He's my personal Friend. I know his family. I know his wife. I get along with him well.

And, he is also my professional Friend. I think his Bussiness Model udah tak boleh diguna-pakai lagi. I dunno, I think, getting Overriding Commission because you-know-who is no longer workable in Malaysia. Not in this Industry anyway. Maybe it was, during the mid through late 90s. Sekarang nii, pada pendapat aku, sudah kurang seswai laa.

(Kalau ada satu Mala'un tuu kata dia kenal some big Guns yang boleh cut a deal, most of the case, si Mala'un tuu yang sebat.)

But then, I have another friend, Jad. He's also my personal Friend. I know him since meebe 27 years ago. Long time agoo. Likewise, his bussiness Model is a mirror image of Bu's.

3 weeks ago Bu called. He said he met Jad. Jad told Bu that he's my friend. My personal friend. Midway thru the conversation, Bu asked me "How's Jad ?". Hmmm. I just kept quite.

That same nite, Jad called and asked me "How's Bu ? Boleh percaya ka mamat nii ?". Wooopss.

Apparently both of them are partnering for some businesses in this region. Jad told Bu he's quite influential in Indonesia. Bu, pulak, told Jad that he has some great contacts in Susilo's Government. Padan laa Korang. Buku bertemu Ruas. Berus berjumpa Kain. And in my heart, I wish both of them - Best of Luck.

***

I had lunch with both of them, yesterday and boy, did I tell you that enjoy immensely the wholesome theatrics. Best tau. :-)

Blogger-Runner

Hari Ahad lepas aku attend Alumni skoloh aku..

As per normal laa, batch aku memang sporting. 18 orang turned up and we won the most number, attending. One came all the way from Langkawi. 3 from Jeghan-terk.

Masa aku mula2 register tuu, ada jugak aku tanya kat counter registration tuu, Kak Tipah ada ?

Kak Tipah nii Blogger-Runner aku ter-serempak site dia, lama dulu. Lately, dia pun ada contributing some rapuans to our group. Bila aku nampak nickname dia kat dalam Group aku tuu, aku rasa sohih dah dia nii sememangnya laaa Blogger-Runner tuu.

Check nama dia memang dia dah ada kat dalam meeting room tuu. Aku rasa nak terus ajer jumpa dia, walaupun ada rasa malu2 dan segan sikit. Tanya dengan Committee Member tuu Kak Tipah yang mana satu. Diaorang tunjukkan aku ke arahnya.

"Hi Kak Tipah, apa khabar ?"

Dalam 5-6 saat tuu aku rasa Kak Tipah cam blurr ajer. Muka dia macam berkata-kata "Sapa ler pulak malaun manis nii..?" Bila aku perasan muka Kak Tipah macam tuu ajer,. Baru ler perkenalkan diri aku yang sebenarnya.

"Kak Tipah, saya Jo laa," sambil menunjukkan name tag tertempek kat dada kiri aku.
"Jo dari Kontan." Hati kecik aku ada teringat, Kak Tipah nii pernah la sekali-dua singgah blog aku.

Baru lah muka Kak Tipah berubah terus. Dari separa-blurr kepada macam dah kenal lama...

"Laa Jo, u punya blog yang ada gambar anak2 dan babies-babies tuu kan.."


He he,.Terus ajer aku lajuu jer bborok dengan Kak Tipah. Borak punya borak sempat aku tanya "Hubby Kak Tipah kat mana ?. Dia yang kerja kat Negara yang banyak ... stan-stan tuu kan.

Haperkernama..Hindustan, Tajikistan.."

"Aa ahh, kat situh laa. Hubby Kak Tipah nii kenkadang balik. Tapi boleh kata jarang jugaklaa. Tapi,. kalau pikirkan Jo,. best jugak dia duk kat sana. Kalau tak,. hmm,. puas Kak Tipah nak tepis dia, nak tolak dia, malam2 tuu." Selamber jer Kak Tipah gelak2 dengan member sebelah dia. Yelah makcik2 memang selamber. He he.

Aku yang dengar tuu kira macam terkedu, terkujat, laa kejap. Takdork teringat nak cerita sampai kat situh. Tapi dalam ser-dua saat tuu, baru ler aku dapat tangkap. Kah kah kaah, aku join sekali gelak dengan Kak Tipah dengan member dia.


Agaknya, dalam hati aku, aku rasa, macam tuu laa Maam rasa kat aku, kenkadang tuu..


"Eiiiiii naik ghimas ler saya dengan awak nii.." Keh keh keeeh..