Monday, November 10, 2008

A Rare Specie (and Nov29 Update).

Many, many years ago as a child of 7 or 8, and like the many of the same age in the early 1970's, my brothers and I did not have many toys to play with, and usually immersed ourselves with games and toys of our own. One of the games had Emi and Din put some planks together in a drain where it became our 'submarine'. That, off course, was the time when the TV series 'Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea' was a big hit. Over the short period after our 'submarine' was built, we had to scuttle it as the family moved from one house to another. But what a great time we had then. Kids, never let their mind go idle. And so it was with my 2 elder brothers who taught me quite a bit about games, as well as life.

There was a time when we went back to Melaka Pindah during one of the school holidays, and was bored like no other. Emi and Din, both who were very 'lively' children, found a new game for us to play with. They captured a dragonfly which they tied it with a thread to one of the wooden poles in the garden. They would then blow the dragonfly to make it fly. Fly it did, in all directions as it tried to escape from the naughty children there, who, like that cakapaje, stood with mouth agape, looking in wonder at the beauty of the insect. Cruel, yes. But we were children, and the dragonfly does look like a helicopter which we had never seen up close before. Many year later, I was reminded about the dragonfly epidose when, at Nursara's birthday (Emi's daughter), I spotted one which to my mind, may just be a rare specie.

Initially, I thought it was a wilting flower, but its shape and colour begs me to have a closer look, which I am glad I did.
The Dragonfly, was seeking shelter under the leaves of a small tree, from the heavy downpour which lasted quite a while. I was sitting on the ledge of a corridor, when I noticed something peculiar about the 'flower'; its shape and colour seem unnatural for the tree, and had a closer look at it. SubhanAllah! Never have I seen such a beautiful Dragonfly before. Its wings were in red, the head a top part of the body in purplish-red, and its bottom was black, as can be seen in picture below, where it later flew and perched itself atop a large plastic butterly.
As a child innocent to the ways of the world, dragonflies had me spellbound for quite a while. Later, when I learnt that beautiful creature is a predator who eats other small creatures and insects, I began to hate it. Off course, very much later as I grew into an adult, I've come to accept the natural world as it is. And this Dragonfly is by far, the most beautiful I have ever seen. A rare specie, perhaps. But since I am not a naturalist, I'll leave it as that. This, however, brings another rare subject to mind. Not a specie definitely, mind you. But something which can lead a growing concern.

A friend emailed me the below. At a glance, I did not think much about it. But when I remember the Crooked Bridge episode, I wonder if this could be a new trend in business. Rare as it may be, the tendency does seem to point towards the direction where the best way to make profit is by sueing the authorities for an abandoned project, quite like the Crooked Bridge affair.
The Star, Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008

Now, I am not jumping the gun here by blaming anyone in this suit. I, however, question the amount, and whether a contract had been signed by the 2 parties. If so, then had the department in question made a feasibility study on the issue beforehand, or are they merely being a yes man to some unseen hand. If cases such as this are left unchecked, then billions more of the rakyat's money will go down the drain for a project that never took off. Let's hope I am wrong and that this, and the Brooked Bridge scandal, are mere business rarity.

Oh! Did I forget to mention the scrapped Cougar as well?

***.***

Nov29 Update:
The below have been invited either through comment box, or via text messages.

1. Rocky bru
2. Sam Harris (have noted the date and most likely come)
3. Datuk A Kadir Jasin
4. Shirzad Lifeboat
5. Faizal Mustafa (PKR)

20 comments:

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

hey yea la, dragonfly does look like a small helicopter hovering over your garden.

and 'voyage to the bottomof the sea'...goodness la shah,that was so old school. i'm not that old but during my time the tv series was shown, maybe it was a re-run. how about Daktari shah? remember that show? it was our favs la...hehe...

*spoke to Unker Bernard and he'll keep that date (29th) in mind. he said he'll try to get RPK to join too.

ZABS said...

Salam,
Saya dulu suka main ulat yang kita panggil "spedo", yang boleh dilaga2kan (zalimkan!!!), tapi masa kanak2 mana terfikir pasal tu.
"Voyage to the bottom of the sea" yang membawa saya "join the Navy and see the world". Tapi sayang kapal selam baru sekarang TLDM nak dapat. Itu pun sampai ada orang yang kena letup.
29hb ada rancangan yang telah dibuat lebih awal. Maaf tak dapat nak join. Rugi...

Anonymous said...

kesiannya dragonfly yg kena ikat tu :\

Ydiana said...

Salam Shah

What a coincidence! I just killed a bug! I'm not proud of it but its eating my pandan bare!

But thank you for not capturing it and tie it to a rope anymore. :)

Anonymous said...

salam shah,
count me in. and abang lan too. the kids tak ikut this time. thank you shah.

cakapaje said...

Salam kerpie,

Great! RPK did not reply my text as perhaps, he was busy.

VTTBOS, that bro, was the show back in early 1970's! And off course I remember Daktari. I mean, who would not! What, with a double vision lion, and a chimp that stole the show.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Pak Zabs,

Hehe...masa kecil, ramai yang zalim tanpa menyedarinya. InsyAllah, setelah dewasa, kita buang perangai yang keji itu. Namun, sayang ada pula yang samada tak mahu bertukar atau baru belajar erti kezaliman, seperti kata Pak Zabs, sehingga ada yang diletupkan.

cakapaje said...

Salam ::aku::,

Memang kesian. Tapi kecil dahulu sebagai budak budak yang belum berakal, itulah jadinya.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam ydiana,

lol! Bugs and pest are synonymous, and we are allowed to kill them if they threaten our life or belonging :)

As for the Dragonfly, well, I did capture it...but only on camera lah.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Accia,

Alhamdulillah! Lebih ramai lebih seronok! :)

Apa Kau Nak said...

Salam CA, I love dragonflies too as a kid. loves them most because of it's colors. And my mum said I'm crazy about 'voyage to the bottomof the sea' masa kecik2 - is this the one with the puppets? dah lama benar, tak ingat dah. rerun jugak agaknya...

Big gathering ya, :)

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Intan,

They are absolutely marvelous, aren't they? The Dragonflies, I mean.
Regarding VTTBOTS, well, perhaps its been too long for you; the puppets show is...goodness! I have forgotten the name. It was only several years ago they made a live movie on it. VTTBOTS, was about a submarine that explores the deep ocean, with an Admiral something and a Captain Crane, in the lead role.

About the meet, do come ya. Drag hubby along.

hegira said...

salam shah.

dulu waktu kecil, semasa tinggal di kangar. rumah kami sebelahnya padang rumput. banyak betul pepatung. saya suka tangkap pepatung. tapi tidak lah sampai sanggup ikat. hehe.

CelloTape said...

Salam...

apasal kes ni tiada masuk local news ehh??

or aku yang x follow sebenarnya ni??

hhmmmm...

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Alina,

Er...kalau tangkap pepatung tapi tak ikat atau jadikan mainan, Alina buat apa ngan pepatung tu?

Alina kat Kangar dulu ek? Kat Taman atau Kampung Guru ke?

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam cellotape,

Hehe...The Star tu local news le. Tapi yelah, munkin ramai tak perasan kerana berita dia kecil je.

Cello, kalau ada kat KL Nov29 nanti, datang ye ke perjumpaan nanti.

Monster Mom said...

Those were the days huh!!

Check out the latest toy in my town... Kepala Batas, PP that is...

More info in my blog.

CelloTape said...

Yups...memang local news...i means local Sabah...hehe...

owh...that day aku memang tiada di sana...x dapat pegi jawapnya...

cakapaje said...

Salam MM,

Hmm...the good old days. But shouldn't it actually be 'those good young days'? ;)

Regarding the 'toy', it is actually an old concept, now reproduced again. If I am not mistaken, it was banned some 20years ago.

cakapaje said...

Cello,

Silap silap, that news appeared only for KL edition je. Maybe that's why you and many others did not read about it.

Nov29, moh le! Suruh je Air Asia bagi you free ticket :)