Long long ago when I was young and growing up in Terengganu, I had to walk to the only 2 cinema halls in town - Capitol and Sultana. My cousins and I usually caught the afternoon shows. Our route would take us through Kampong China. When we reached the titian (the short bridge) that spanned the big drain and the river, we would often came across a balding middle-aged Chinese man in shorts and Pagoda singlets carrying a bamboo tray on his head and crying out "Pulut lepa juak juak!".
One of my cousins insisted that "juak juak" is the Chinese equivalent of "jual, jual" (for sale). Indeed the man was selling pulut lepa because we saw him stopping at several shops along Jalan Kampong China/Jalan Bandar where hungry customers were waiting with fistful of coins. Later on, when I got to Merang, I found out from my Tiah and Ee (they sort of adopted me) that "juak, juak" is the Hokkien equivalent of the Malay "panas panas".
Most food should be eaten hot. But chances of getting pulut lepa hot off the grill in KL is quite remote. It is a different story if you are in Terengganu. There is a place in Sungai Rengas Kuala Terengganu, near the jurunikah's house where you can wait for the pulut lepa to be grilled. And what wonderful pulut lepa they are. The generous filling is made of fish. The colour is whitish. If it is orange, it is not Terengganu's pulut lepa. There is ginger in the filling but never turmeric. Do not confuse pulut lepa with pulut udang or even pulut panggang. The filling should be fish and not some curried coconut. Note too how the daun pisang (banana leaf) wrapper is fastened. The real MacCoy uses sharpened lidi NOT the office staples.
If you are curious to see and taste the real pulut lepa, you are in luck. Come to the foyer of Mayang Sari Ballroom, JW Marriot KL on Sunday 20th Dec between 11 am and 5 pm. There will be limited pulut lepa for sale as well as rokok arab. Awang Goneng and Kak Teh will be in line to get rokok arab, which, in spite of the many Arabs in London, are scarce. There will be songkets and other Terengganu stuffs too at the bazaar in conjunction with the Official Launch of "Kulit Manis: A Taste of Terengganu's Heritage". Come and enjoy yourself. Get the book and get the tastes of Terengganu too. Admission to the bazaar is free. A handshake with Awang Goneng is free too, if you smile nicely.
Awang Goneng and Kak Teh came back to Malaysia a few weeks ago. There was no sequel to GUIT so Awang Goneng was not rushing from one book-signing session to another this time around.
I managed to see the lovely couple twice so far. Once at a wonderful dinner hosted by Puteri Kamaliah & Pak Abu at Lake Club and the second time at lunch in Amcorp Mall. Tomorrow, Som is giving Awang Goneng & Kak Teh tea at Renaissance, KL. I hope I can get there.
Last year, when AG and KT came back, Atok (a blogger friend in Reading, England) missed AG so much that he posted a poem on Youtube. I just discovered it today while trolling for Sajak Terengganu that Ibrahim (Baliklah Wok, Aku Orang Ulu etc) told me were posted on Youtube. Here's Atok's sajak:
Terengganu- speaking folks use panah sok oh to describe uncomfortably hot weather. What is sok oh? The answer will come later. First, my question: How often do you see your Class Monitor after leaving school? Our friendly and likable Class Monitor was Hj. Mohd Nor Bakar affectionately known by all and sundry in our school as Mat Nong Jawa. How he got his "Jawa" tag remained a mystery. Some of my classmates have not met Mat Nong since leaving school. Some met him at our Class Reunion over 10 years ago.
Thus when Mat Nong came down to KL from Kuala Terengganu we decided to have lunch with him. Only 6 of the classmates made it to the Lake Club on Saturday. Since Mat Nong was also part of my first band "The Arjuna" (he was the drummer), I invited another member, Adnan Othman, our junior, to come along.
(Back rowL-R) Kolonel Bersara Shafieq, Shamsuddin Jaafar (School Head Boy), Adnan Othman, Mohd Som (Front row) Mat Nong, Shamsudin Zahid, Yem Al-Qudsi, TMA.
During lunch Som asked me why my blog does not deal with Terengganu words any more. I did not tell him that the primary reason was that Awang Goneng is already doing an excellent job in that area. When not giving us insightful peeks into the history of Terengganu, Awang Goneng explained Terengganu words precisely and elegantly. For someone as inadequate as I am, it would be foolhardy to duplicate what he is doing.
Just to soothe Som (he is the only classmate in KL regularly following my blog) I asked him whether he knows the origin of panah sok oh. Som, like many Terengganu folks had no clue whatsoever. So I told him.
Panah sok oh is when the weather is so humidly hot and uncomfortable that you want to divest yourself of all clothings. You want to strip down to your kain pelikat (sarong) or, depending on your company, to your underwear, be it a Jockey thongs, boxer shorts or striped seluo katok ( a home-made version of the boxers). It is that hot. But where does the sok oh come from?
Just like mat salleh came from Mad Sailors and ropa came from rolled pie, sok oh was attributed to Englishmen who had to endure Terengganu weather. Being prim and proper, the only thing they dared to take off in the sweltering heat were their socks. So there were shouts of "socks off!" from Kemaman to Kuala Besut during the hot season. Thus, to their Terengganu eavesdroppers "sock off" became sok oh and became assimilated into the Terengganu vocabulary.
I credit this discovery to my good friend Mat Jali, who as far as I can remember, would never wear socks. He is a cool dude.
My Dear Pak Idrus, Even before you phoned me about politicians "gate-crashing" GUIT Signing in Kuala Terengganu, I was already upset. The GUIT Signing do was going on as I was discussing the book with 4 old Terengganu veterans (Dato' Omar Khalid, Dato' Mohd Nor Alias, YM Raja Zainal & his brother YM Raja Iskandar Zahid) over lunch at Cosy Corner, Ampang Park. I got a blow by blow account via handphone from Pok Od. Pok Od, the person assigned to assist Awang Goneng and Kak Teh in Kuala Terengganu had to top up his prepaid phone many times that day.
Let me reassure you that Awang Goneng did not plan for politicians to be a part of the book signing.They were there as part of the general public. They saw the opportunity and they seized it. You cannot blame politicians for that just as you cannnot blame kambing neruk for having very bad BO. AG's disposition towards politicians is probably what he reserved for pizzas, only worse. You only have to read his first blog Jalan-Jalan to be convinced of this. You might like to know that parts of Growing Up in Trengganu first appeared in this award-winning blog. The blog won an Asia Blog Award (Best Political Blog) the same year as Di Bawah Rang Ikang Kering. Although the politicians dealt with in Jalan-Jalan are from a different kettle of fish than the Malaysian variety, I am sure that they smell the same. Rest easy Pak Idrus. What you read in the papers did not give the true picture. Do you know that not even one reporter/journalist(except the STAR) mentioned the significance of holding the signing in Keda Pok Loh Yunang? The big story for them is AG posing with infamous politicians which, knowing AG, I do not think is something desired and desirable.
To TLady who commented in my post, I am all for more people speaking more English as much as I would like more people to learn Trengganuspeak. I would love to help those graduates learn to speak better English as soon as I get some teeth. Right now I am turning into The Meng With The Golden Gums. I still can help though. Where do we do it? In Kuala Terengganu? In KL? Get the logistics ironed out and let me know. First and foremost we must be convinced that those hapless graduates want to learn English as much as they want lawful employment. I believe in A.S.K. (Attitude, Skill, Knowledge). We can impart Knowledge. Knowledge with ample practice will turn into Skill. Nothing can be achieved without the proper Attitude. So make sure that the learners have the right attitude to avoid wasting our time.
Dato' Omar Khalid (a decent English speaker from Terengganu) told Awang Goneng and I that he first learned English by asking "How many o'clock now?" I am sure we can do better.
I booked my favourite table at DOME KLCC for a Sunday lunch with Awang Goneng since I would be at KLCC that day for Mimi's choir performance with the MPO. Awang Goneng could not make it and suggested tea on Monday instead.
On Saturday, Pak Idrus vehemently insisted that I show up for lunch at his residence. I didn't bring wine but a copy of S.Effendi CD instead. I am a teetotaller but I did have a pleasant conversation with a young wine merchant who was one of Pak Idrus's many guests. Among the guests was a talkative old gentleman who looked quite familiar to me. I could not place the name to the face until Pak Idrus introduced us. I was both surprised and embarrassed to know that the gentleman is from Terengganu and very close to my parents, my auntie and my cousins. He even married a schoolmate of mine. He also mentioned that my late uncle (mother's side) was brought to Singapore to be schooled there. He remembers things that I have forgotten and he is a good 17 years older than me.
When I mentioned Growing Up In Trengganu, he lamented the fact that despite asking a few people to get the book, he had yet to read the book. So I invited him to meet the author in person and I promised him I will get him a signed copy of the book. He did try to wrest away Pak Idrus's signed copy but the owner is younger and stronger. I assured the Dato' that he will get his own copy on Monday and as a bonus, meet up with his MCKK schoolmate and fellow Terengganunese, Dato' Wan Nik.
On Monday I picked up Dato' Wan Nik and since we could be delayed by the traffic, I suggested that we use the LRT. It was the first time on the LRT for the first Proton CEO and he thoroughly enjoyed the journey from Taman Jaya to KLCC (and back).
AG, Dato' Omar Khalid, Dato' Wan Nik
Dato' Omar leafing through GUIT and giving his input
This time around AG autographed the book in Jawi.
Dato' Omar is a humorous gentleman and although he is not presently residing in Terengganu, his home state is very close to his heart. He lamented that "Teganung rama orang panda, tapi tadok orang bijok". Try translating that yourself.
When two old friends like these two dato's meet, there are bound to be interesting stories recalled. Enough for AG to start another book. Personalities like Minoh Rakit (a famous lady of the evening), Minggu (the unforgettable usher of Capitol Theatre) and Mamat Pala Kerrah (Kuala Terengganu's most recognizable toughie) were regaled. Secrets inadvertently leaked. These two friends dispensed with protocols and used "mung, aku" with each other throughout the afternoon. Their stories, their banters and their teasings made AG and I roared with unbridled laughter, much to the puzzlement of other DOME customers. I have never seen AG laughed so much that day. Did he laugh that much when he was cooking up Awang Sprong stories?
Yesterday Awang Goneng, the author of Growing Up In Trengganu had lunch with a few bloggers/fans at DOME, KLCC. First it was only Awang Goneng, Kak Teh, Riza, Helmi (Aku Tak Reti Cakap Omputih), Pak Adib, Mimi and I at around lunch time. We were later joined by Honeytar, Pak Idrus, Jiwa Rasa (all the way from Bukit Mertajam) and Ruby.
We got our copy of Growing Up In Trengganu duly signed by the author after clearing out all the copies in Times Bookstore downstairs. Ruby had to make do with a copy out of Awang Goneng's backpack. Guys, keep the copy under lock and key. It will quadruple in value one day. I heard from a reliable source that the book will be reprinted soon. Way to go Awang!
You can see how happy we were here. Somehow my comments were lost because I am still dok ngoppong (not adept) where JAlbum is concerned. I just downloaded it today. Click the first thumbnail and click the last arrow top right if you want to watch the slide show.
Many thanks to Pak Adib for footing the lunch bill. We wanted to contribute but he insisted on "deflowering" his new Platinum credit card.
Update: You can see the slideshow with comments (and back ground music) here.
After 2 weeks of "something that could develop into pneumonia" I needed something to cheer me up. One SURE thing was dinner at Paulo's (SURE Pizza at Plaza Damas). The other was getting Awang Goneng's latest book which I put off getting simply because I was waiting for the KL Launch. Daud came from Kuala Terengganu bringing Po's plea for a copy of the book since he could not find it at Pok Loh Yunan's shop or any other bookshop in Kuala Terengganu. So I called up Times Bookstore, BSC who took some time to confirm that they had the last 2 copies left. I had wanted more copies. Maybe I can get them at the KL Launch.
I have read most (if not all) of the chapters in Awang Goneng's blog, Kecek-Kecek. But the book (or blook, if you want to be picky) had the advantage of an editor. Just imagine gems being polished to perfection. Brilliant diamonds of the first water are the results. Dr.Annabel Teh Gallop, Head, South and Southeast Asia Section, British Library noted that "Awang Goneng does with words what Lat does with pictures". Beautiful (and humorous) prose flows throughout the book so much so that even if you do not care much for Terengganu, you would still enjoy the book very much. I told Daud that if Awang Goneng were a singer, he could bring people to tears by just singing the telephone book.
Students of Terengganuspeak and lovers of anything Terengganu should not delay any longer. Go beli selalu (buy at once). This is a modern classic.
( Pic from mamawandiha, terima kasih!)
