One of those cab men

Being a vehicle-less student in PJ and a former vehicle-less-too intern as a journalist, I have many times taken rides from friendly and conversational taxi drivers.

One such is the cab man (I prefer to call them cab men because it doesn't make them sound so much like chauffeurs) my housemates and I had this morning.

From our brief conversation, we found out that he was 45 years old.

Our conversation went like this:

Cab man:"Kamu semua student?"

We:"Ya."

Cm:"Bila habis belajar?"

(Gee, none of his business la - safety and self-preservation instincts kick in!)

Me:" Ada dua s'tengah tahun lagi ."

Cm:" Oh. Semua sudah ada boyfriend?"

(Oi, what's he thinking? What is it to him whether we're available or not?!)

Me:"Yeah, yeah. Semua sudah ada."

(My friend gave me a look. I lied, only half of us is taken.)

Cm:"Aiya, s'karang tak mau cari boyfriend la. S'karang belajar. Belajar sampai Masters baru keluar cari boyfriend dalam Degree! Hah!"

(OMG. Hahahahhah! What la, this fella!)

We:"LOL"

Cm:"Memang kan? Macam ini baru mereka boleh dengar kamu cakap!"

We:"LOL"

Cm:"S'karang macam ini la. Nasib baik I sudah kahwin masa 21, s'karang sudah 45."

We:"Oh..."

And we talked a little more about people giving more than they should for their cab fares- some student, some tourist he had recently.

Cm:"Itu hari satu student, lapan ringgit dia bagi dua puluh. I tak ambil. I cakap itu duit bukan dia punya, bapa dia punya. I pun ambil lapan ringgit sahaja."

To believe or not to believe? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he was a tad more feminist than one of my housemates and me!

Then we're off at PC block (the block I study in) and we paid RM3, as the meter says. We're not going to waste our parents' money unnecessarily too.

In response to a hectic student life

The weekend's getting shorter
as the weekdays grow longer
It seemed only yesterday a Friday
but now a Monday morn.

I long to see the end of such
crammed, hectic schedule
The momentum of work steadfast
while mine dwindling under the heap.

Weary I become of life
in this system of deadlines
Mindful I still am
of the strength I need to find.

And faith be it, oh faith,
that I should walk away with pride
when all storm and dust are settled
and my spirit's vacation is come.

Post-Elections Analysis Open Dialogue

From left: Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, CPPS Director Tricia Yeoh, Zainon Ahmad, Khoo Kay Peng, CPPS Chairperson Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Ramon V. Navaratnam, Malik Imtiaz and Dr Farish Noor.

That was yesterday morning in Sunway University College.

I dunno what exactly to blog about it really except that it was an event I am glad I went for. I almost decided not to because mum and dad was worried people might cause some sort of trouble at the forum (like the demonstration at Komtar, Penang on Friday) so they didn't like the idea of me going there alone.

Luckily there were seniors who are kind enough to give me a ride (thanks to Peiling and Dr Carmen and Michelle Boon! together with the other seniors.

I must say I really enjoyed Dr Farish Noor and Malik Imtiaz's speeches. Malik's eloquence was -wooh!- very very admirable!

I was there mainly to hear what these noteworthy speakers have to say and my, my, I could see that there was a joy in having the opposition winning the elections in time round (from both the stage and the floor). Then again, surely most of the floor was made up of opposition party supporters.

I had an man wearing a yellow t-shirt with Haris Ibrahim's blog URL on it seated in front of me and we had a man in the yellow Bersih rally t-shirt in the floor too.

My seniors say that this forum didn't give as much about post-election analysis as expected but well, in my opinion, what can we predict about our Malaysian politics now that our government for decades is at the losing end? It's clear who's happy and who's not with it but still, personally I think we're in uncharted waters. How does change happen systematically in a society that has not known (but want) change for so long? I thought Dr Farish and Malik gave some good ideas as to what we as Malaysians should now do but no one really even predict what's to happen. (If attendees were expecting some sort of conclusion to our election.)

Briefly, these are few of the things that had me applauding:

Dr Farish spoke about reconstructing our history so that all of us can find our place in our history books; focusing on the years before we were Malaysia when there was healthy racial integration. It's tad further back in time but I'm sure perpaduan was better than in recent years.

Malik talked about having a new language for our Malaysian politics. Something about nationalist (for those in government) and pluralist (for those not in government). Well, think of it this way, in some states BN is now the opposition party so if we were to continue with terms like "opposition party" and the government, there will be some confusion as in who is being referred to.

I'll roughly quote Dr Farish here before I'm out:"(Give the new government some time), they've only been there for a week, after all BN has been there for 50 years and they still couldn't do a good job."

Applause from the floor.

I'd really like to go on actually but my mind's occupied with everything about my assignments and the impending deadlines.

ciao

PS: For further reading, browse Centre for Public Policy Studies for the summary of the event and go Google up any of the five speakers: Dr Farish Noor, Malik Imtiaz, Khoo Kay Peng, Zainon Ahmad and Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria. The people with substance, hmm.

CPPS promised to put some stuff up YouTube too. Check it out!

Some more pics:


The guy with the http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com T-shirt.


Heheh: Peter Chen, the uncle with the Bersih T-shirt and too long a comment (he spoke so much the chairman had to keep asking him to leave the microphone during the Q&A).


The people I went with: Michelle's bro- Peter, Anthony, Kah Joon, Amy, (I didn't get her name, shame on me) and Michelle. Fahmi Reza, the dude in red and Johnny-Depp-specs behind us, was there too!

Oh yeah, my classmate Alex was there!

Stardusty

I finished the novel Stardust by Neil Gaiman today and contrary to the movie which I adore whole-heartedly, the story ended with me feeling melancholic.

I loved the movie so much I wanted to read the real stuff, the original version of the story but now I think I'd happily settle for the movie version.

As much as I find the world of Faerie intriguing, fascinating and magical, I could not find the warmth and longing to be in that world I had felt when I was engrossed in the movie. It lacked the very essence which made me fall in love with the movie in the first place. You know, I came out of the velvety cinema with this perfectly woozy feeling.

I didn't understand how the star, Yvaine could fall in love with Tristran because Neil made it so sudden. Like we were not allowed into these two characters' mind and secret thoughts as readers to understand the characters. I'd have loved to have seen it coming with more clarity. I felt as though Yvaine in the novel was almost obliged to fall for Tristran.

Instead of all the wonderful cosiness, I come out of reading with this sadness because the story ended with a sad note. Dah lah the romance lost its kick, Neil had to end it with the sense of loneliness.

The last paragraph that nailed glumness upon me being:
"They say that each night, when the duties of state permit, she climbs, on foot, and limps, alone, to the highest peak of the palace, where she stands for hour after hour, seeming not to notice the cold peak winds. She says nothing at all, but simply stares upward into the dark sky and watches, with sad eyes, the slow dance of the infinite stars."

Call it empathy but I felt so sad that Yvaine could never go back to where she came from. Plus, she's immortal, Tristran wasn't, he expired. And no one know what she is now. She's likely the only left who knows herself because those who knew had taken the secret with them to their graves. Her family's out of reach, her lover's beneath the earth.

How lonely.

I need to listen to some perky music now. Ciao.