Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Lull Before The Storm.

Before the storm begin in earnest (which will be by tomorrow)...

The Hunt for the Red October, is one of the best thriller books I have ever read. It was a gripping drama about the latest (then) Soviet missile submarine and was masterfully written by Tom Clancy, that there were strong rumours that such an event did take place secretly. But when they turned the book into a movie, it was a major disappointment not only for many of the book's fans, but also for the producers of the film.

For the fans of the book, the film failed to live up to the excitement in the book. For the producers though, they fail to make it into a box office movie. This was perhaps due to the film was released soon after the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union came to an end. Thus, most people just could not be bothered about watching it. But as I mentioned, perhaps.

Thus I thought of doing a spoof here. But since I am having trouble keeping my eyes opened now, I shall make it brief so that you too will not have the same problem as I am.

It began early Saturday morning when Makcik Yam and her family coming to the house. And from there, we convoyed in 2 cars and headed to one of the many places I dread to go under normal circumstances. But since many people were still on Chinese New Year mood and mode, I guess it does fall into the abnormal circumstances category. And alhamdulillah, so it was as parking was ample, and the place almost deserted of shoppers.

So, while my Emak, Makcik Yam, Midah (MY's D-I-L), went off for their hunt, Azman and I went browsing at the bookstores along with his kids. Whilst there, I managed to get a pretty decent book as a present for a dear friend. I mean, I could not help it at all - just one look at the book and I was reminded of the friend! Then again, anywhere I look, I am always reminded of the dear friend too! Hmm...scary!

Anway, after some very long agonising wait afterwards, did the 2 beautiful sisters meet us back at the prearranged spot. And soon, we were off for lunch and a funny thing happened. While we had lunch at a shop somewhere near my friend's house, my friend was having lunch in a mall near my house! Well, it was funny to me then...can't say the same for you.

Anyway, since I have been mentioning her quite a bit, I just thought of putting my Makwa's picture up.

So now, the secret is out. On the left up there, is my beautiful 76year young Makwa with her sweet 72year young sister. Amongst her former primary school students as well friend's children, my emak is known as Makwa or Cikgu Hawa. For reasons unknown to me, Azman decided to bring his camera along and just started clicking away.


And that up there, is a corner of my Makwa's garden which she likes to work on. She does have a helper, mind you. There's a Wak Kromo aka Wak Supirman who comes around every morning to the garden to water them, besides being what I jokingly term as 'kuli-paksaan', as a reminder to those Japanese Forced Labour during World War II. And oh, that Wak Kromo aka Wak Supirman also goes by the name of cakapaje.

Back to the hunt. Just like the elusive Red October before it surrendered, the Red Tudung was never found. End of story.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Wak Kromo @ Wak Supirman @ Sean Connery?

tokasid said...

Salam Shah:

Another thing we have in common.
Cikgu Hawa. My mak is also known in Taiping as Cikgu Hawa.
To her family she is MakTeh and to arwah bapak's family she is MakLang.

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

Lol! A'ah...I should have added that: Sean Connery! Yeeha! Wait till my friend MB reads this! He'll be jumping hot! Thanks Cikgu :)

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Doc,

Alhamdulillah, yes we do. You mentioned it sometime early in our acquaintance :)

On my other names, the Maklang title is used by my emak's eldest sister in Klebang. But I think MakTeh is a title predominantly used by oghang utagha as I seldom come across it in the southern states. I may be wrong, off course.

Anonymous said...

To my nieces and nephews,
I am Mak Lee. :)

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

hey, i remembered that yours and doc's mom shares a common name. and there you have docTA confirms it.

orang melake mane ade jawe. kau biar benau, shah...hehehe..

cakapaje said...

Hi Lee,

Funny you should mention that, as my younger sister's nick was Dak Li - Dak as in Budak, and Li for short as her name is Suhaili; it was the way Melaka people like to call the children of their village. But she has since outgrown that name now :)

cakapaje said...

Salam kerp,

Ah! Glad you remembered about Doc's comment much earlier. For a while, I thought I may be going cuckoo :)

Dey...orang jowo ni, cam orang Cina tau, kemana pergi pun dia ada. I am one of the living proof of it! lol!
My father da...he's a pure jowo. Me, I would like to think I am a Mestizo :)

By the way, I just noticed my making more mistakes than usual...sigh. Guess I am just tired and may need a vacation. If only it is that simple.

Unknown said...

For the moment, I don't mind being a negrito sebab dapat banyak bantuan. Nak pilihanraya. Habis GE jadi diri sendiri balik la.

cakapaje said...

Er Cikgu, mind if I join you? :)

Mior Azhar said...

Wak Kromo,
Have to agree with you - The Hunt of the Red October the movie was a major dissapointment. Thank God for the book.
And I must say your mak looks sihat walafiat. Alhamdulillah.
My mom is Cikgu Hafsah. Dekat2 ler tu ye tak. And her good friend masa dulu2 was a Cikgu Hawa too.

Anonymous said...

urm
thriller books?
am not so used to adult thrillers
tapi semasa kanak2 dulu baca RLStine ngan Chris Pike lambang adalah jiwa remaja dan khayalan
skarang more to non-fictional ;P

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

shah,

we didnt notice much about your mistake. just write away (like el), janji kami faham.

*can you speak a few jawa then?

cakapaje said...

Salam Pak Mior,

Alhamdulillah, my does Makwa still look healthy.

Cikgu Hafsah? Say, you are not originally from PJ area, are you? To be more precise, SS1 or SS3 area? And by chance, any connection to Sekolah Rendah Sri Petaling in PJ?

cakapaje said...

Salam Hero,

Lol! Adult thrillers? Some would read that wrongly :)

Non fictional...I get too much of it already! lol! This happens especially when you are connected to the news! Then again, buku agama pun non fictional kan? :)

cakapaje said...

Kerpie bro,

Wes...wes! Wes mangan? Den wurum, lol! That should be good enough kut. Untuk mengira cici, larat...what not, Doc does it better :)

Ala bro, omak den Melayu, manolah den nak belajor cakap jowo. Cakap slang molako camni leh le!

Anonymous said...

buku2 agama banyak terdapat di rak2 buku di mph midvalley
ye kot bawah non-fictional
tp ni da nak exam
menghadap buku pelajaran saje
jua non fictional!

cakapaje said...

Baez bro,

Maybe, just maybe, you'd be lucky to see me walking into any of the big malls at the rate of once a year. Tu pun bila dah torpakso baru den poi. Maksud torpakso tu, bilo my Makwa dah tarik muko panjang suruh den boli baju baru...kalau dok, takdok lah den poi! Kek luar masjid pun ado banyok jual buku la ni. Samo gak kek wisma Yakin.

And oops! Den terlupo pasal buku pelajaran...dah bertahun den tak baco lol! :)