A Happy Place (The Kampong)
It has been a while since the last time I sat down in from of my lap top typing things other than my work. However, today I think I should take a break and start doing something else to relax a little.
I have no complains today. Now I am embarking on a new attitude. Why complain if you do not have the power to change. To top it all, someone told me, if you can’t stop them, then just let them be or worse still just join them. I choose on the former. So, I will just let them be the way some people are. Easy isn’t it? Sheep will always be sheep.
I learn to tone down a little and not to be so critical on matters and learn to relax more. So what is the thing that can make me relax the most? Then I realized that the thing which makes me relax to most is thinking about the “kampong” where a spent part of my life growing up. It was the “kampong” I know 25 years ago. When my granny was still around and most of the granny’s are still around.
At that time, there were little brick houses and most of the houses there still have roof made out of “nipah” leaves. No tile roofing and houses are still on stilts (good for flood though). My granny still cooks from her old stove where rubber wood was used as fuel. I think food was tastier then or it was just me. It was the time where only certain houses have television sets and the whole kampong has only one public phone. That was the time when my cousin whose house is near the phone booth came to my granny’s place to let her know that my auntie wants to speak to her on the phone and my granny would walk to the phone booth to speak to my auntie who is living in the city.
From my granny’s place, you have a “paddy field” background at the back and in from you have beautiful old Malay wooden houses. To the north, we are able to see the Gunung (Mount) Jerai and to the south more paddy field. During the harvesting seasons, the back of the house will be covered with different tones of yellow (depends on the time you are there) and when the sun rises in the east, the paddy field will be covered in a silhouette of golden yellow paddy and how the north eastern breeze gently blows into your face. To me time actually stopped for a while every time I went there and stood behind granny’s place. The view was so beautiful it mesmerizes you and it actually makes you feel like that’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to.
I spent much time at the back of my granny’s place doing a lot of (mischievous) thing. From catching fresh water fish (after the harvesting season) to playing boats before the start of the paddy season (made from coconut husk with paper sail) and some other thing which I think better not the be disclosed here. Who knows, one of my cousins will be reading this entry (which I doubt very much). But better be safe for now.
Other than the paddy field, my granny also owns a small piece of rubber plantation nearby. The rubber trees are not the best thing there but it was the small stream running though the plantation. The water was so clear you can actually see the pebbles that lie beneath. That was another wonder. During the rainy season, the water will fill the stream and that was the best time to take a plunge in the stream. Water was icy cold and we will not come out of the stream until our hand and lips turn blue and to add to that, the area has a lot of “keriang dot” trees. Well “keriang dot” is a small berry like fruit which is dark purple in color and it is very nice and the term “keriang dot” is naturally used up north. So for non-northern people, please find put and tell me what is “keriang dot” in standard Malay language. So, after taking a dip in the stream, we spend some time in the trees (they are usually big) like monkeys.
Besides the view, the harmony in the kampong also makes me want to leave the busy life in the city and just run back to the kampong and settle there. Just imagine, there are people who actually cares about you (in the modern day we call this people nosy but in fact they just care about us) and look after your property. It was just the type of living that I prefer. Come to think of it, who need to go and have a good time at a shopping mall when you can walk around your place and have a good and relaxing time? It were times when in the evening, those who lives around my granny’s place sat at a place (I posted this before long time ago) and talk without having to think about what happen to the world’s economy. We ate, we chat and we go home after that. nobody has to compete with anybody.
The best time was during the fasting month. We have “more” or “moreh” (it is where the whole kampong, well not the whole kampong, come together at the mosque to prepare food to breaking the fast) and neighbors trade “traditional kueh” with each other. So by the end of the day during the fasting month, a house will have at least 3-4 types of kueh served for the family members. My granny was an expert of making traditional kueh. Heard of “lepat liat” before? Or beka (I don’t know whether the name was given to the kueh because you have to bake it or otherwise, but it was nice), serimuka, tepung talam or kueh as simple as lompang or buah melaka (not form the tree). Those are among the few names of the traditional kueh I can remember at the moment. As I said before, food was good and nothing now can be compared to the food then. At the mosque, the cook will prepare various types of food and not forgetting the “kanji” (standard malay language call it “bubur lambuk”). May be I should stop talking about kueh and food now or I will start drooling on my lap top.
I have no complains today. Now I am embarking on a new attitude. Why complain if you do not have the power to change. To top it all, someone told me, if you can’t stop them, then just let them be or worse still just join them. I choose on the former. So, I will just let them be the way some people are. Easy isn’t it? Sheep will always be sheep.
I learn to tone down a little and not to be so critical on matters and learn to relax more. So what is the thing that can make me relax the most? Then I realized that the thing which makes me relax to most is thinking about the “kampong” where a spent part of my life growing up. It was the “kampong” I know 25 years ago. When my granny was still around and most of the granny’s are still around.
At that time, there were little brick houses and most of the houses there still have roof made out of “nipah” leaves. No tile roofing and houses are still on stilts (good for flood though). My granny still cooks from her old stove where rubber wood was used as fuel. I think food was tastier then or it was just me. It was the time where only certain houses have television sets and the whole kampong has only one public phone. That was the time when my cousin whose house is near the phone booth came to my granny’s place to let her know that my auntie wants to speak to her on the phone and my granny would walk to the phone booth to speak to my auntie who is living in the city.
From my granny’s place, you have a “paddy field” background at the back and in from you have beautiful old Malay wooden houses. To the north, we are able to see the Gunung (Mount) Jerai and to the south more paddy field. During the harvesting seasons, the back of the house will be covered with different tones of yellow (depends on the time you are there) and when the sun rises in the east, the paddy field will be covered in a silhouette of golden yellow paddy and how the north eastern breeze gently blows into your face. To me time actually stopped for a while every time I went there and stood behind granny’s place. The view was so beautiful it mesmerizes you and it actually makes you feel like that’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to.
I spent much time at the back of my granny’s place doing a lot of (mischievous) thing. From catching fresh water fish (after the harvesting season) to playing boats before the start of the paddy season (made from coconut husk with paper sail) and some other thing which I think better not the be disclosed here. Who knows, one of my cousins will be reading this entry (which I doubt very much). But better be safe for now.
Other than the paddy field, my granny also owns a small piece of rubber plantation nearby. The rubber trees are not the best thing there but it was the small stream running though the plantation. The water was so clear you can actually see the pebbles that lie beneath. That was another wonder. During the rainy season, the water will fill the stream and that was the best time to take a plunge in the stream. Water was icy cold and we will not come out of the stream until our hand and lips turn blue and to add to that, the area has a lot of “keriang dot” trees. Well “keriang dot” is a small berry like fruit which is dark purple in color and it is very nice and the term “keriang dot” is naturally used up north. So for non-northern people, please find put and tell me what is “keriang dot” in standard Malay language. So, after taking a dip in the stream, we spend some time in the trees (they are usually big) like monkeys.
Besides the view, the harmony in the kampong also makes me want to leave the busy life in the city and just run back to the kampong and settle there. Just imagine, there are people who actually cares about you (in the modern day we call this people nosy but in fact they just care about us) and look after your property. It was just the type of living that I prefer. Come to think of it, who need to go and have a good time at a shopping mall when you can walk around your place and have a good and relaxing time? It were times when in the evening, those who lives around my granny’s place sat at a place (I posted this before long time ago) and talk without having to think about what happen to the world’s economy. We ate, we chat and we go home after that. nobody has to compete with anybody.
The best time was during the fasting month. We have “more” or “moreh” (it is where the whole kampong, well not the whole kampong, come together at the mosque to prepare food to breaking the fast) and neighbors trade “traditional kueh” with each other. So by the end of the day during the fasting month, a house will have at least 3-4 types of kueh served for the family members. My granny was an expert of making traditional kueh. Heard of “lepat liat” before? Or beka (I don’t know whether the name was given to the kueh because you have to bake it or otherwise, but it was nice), serimuka, tepung talam or kueh as simple as lompang or buah melaka (not form the tree). Those are among the few names of the traditional kueh I can remember at the moment. As I said before, food was good and nothing now can be compared to the food then. At the mosque, the cook will prepare various types of food and not forgetting the “kanji” (standard malay language call it “bubur lambuk”). May be I should stop talking about kueh and food now or I will start drooling on my lap top.
I know that time has changed but I guess a budak kampong will always have this feeling inside to go back and stay in the kampong. May be you folks here in the city may not understand what is there to miss in the kampong but I don’t have to explain it to you guys because you may not get me. Until then, that’s all from this Budakkampong.
posted by Kampong_Boy at
12:18 pm
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