........ one sad truth in life

The following is by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American poet :-

There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
we please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.

As Yours Sincerely ( Y s ) reads this poem stirring thoughts flash in his mind :-

1. How parents can forsake their children.

2. How children can forsake their parents.

3. How siblings can forsake each other over the most minute and trivial matter which are of no importance.

4. How we so easily apologize to strangers we bump into in public places.

5. How we trouble ourselves and lavish our hospitality to acquaintances we hardly
know.

6. But we unnecessarily hold grudges against our very own flesh and blood

Family is above all else.

.......... of longevity and those forgotten by God

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) was an faithful subscriber to the National Geographic for ages before the advent of the Cyber Era where almost anything is now available on line. This old copy attracted Y S' attention when he was packing the old issues of NatGeo to be given away.

You see, of late Y S is again repacking his baggage. Y S hopes to leave this planet without troubling his survivors with all the unwanted things that clogged up the store room and cupboards. ( Mind you, there are also litter that clogs up the memory and emotion that needs to be removed occasionally. Well, this is for another of Y S ' blog)

This copy of NetGeo is about longevity. An old issue which plagues Kings and Queens.

What if I said you could add up to ten years to your life?

" A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer. So what's the formula for success? ..... .... ..... In Sardinia, Italy, one team of demographers found a hot spot of longevity in mountain villages where men reached age 100 at an amazing rate. On the islands of Okinawa, Japan, another team examined a group that is among the longest lived on Earth. And in Loma Linda, California, researchers studies a group of Seventh-day Adventists who rank among American's longevity all-stars. Residents of these three places produce a high rate of centenarians, suffer a fraction of diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world, and enjoy more healthy years of life. In sum, they offer three sets of "best practices" to emulate ...... ...... .....

Sardinians : Drink red wine in moderation. Share work with spouse. Eat pecorino cheese ( and other omega 3 food.)

Okinawans : Keep lifelong friends. Eat small portions. Find purpose.

Adventists : Eat nuts and beans. Observe the Sabbath. Have faith.

What are their common denominators?

1) Don't smoke

2) Put family first

3) Be active everyday

4) Keep socially engaged

5) Eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains

Many of the seniors still believe the wide spread delusions about our mental capacity declining as we age. Do you think your brain cells die off daily throughout your life? That your brain power diminishes as you age, until finally, if you live long enough, you decline into " senility" ? Think.

...... of a green new world

Having obtained a full handicap, Your Sincerely ( Y S ) has been transported into a new world - a green world of manicured turf, grass, ferns, bushes, shrubs,hedges, woods, trees, ponds, lakes, bunkers, etc etc that delight the eyes. Y S has also been recently acquainted with a wide variety of creatures - birds of all colours and sizes, monitor lizards ranging from a foot to several feet, grass snakes, bugs, ants, beetles, creepy crawlies ( that drop on you from the leaves ), tadpoles, frogs, toads etc etc. Hope to get some shots for you to see in my next blog.

Like squash, golf can be played alone. It is you and your handicap. So, Y S is free from the hassle of waiting for friends. Well, if they do turn up, good enough. You go into the course in two, three or four.

When you think of hockey or football, you think of massive men decked out in tons of equipment, get sweaty and aggressive in the name of their respective sports. And then there is golf, the sport that most athletic men ( ahemmmm..) take up when they are on the off-season or retired. It is probably the most " chilled " sport out there, which begs the question - are golfers really athletes???

......... of Father's Day

Today, 20 June 2010, Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) received Father's Day cards and SMSes. Father's Day cards like other greetings cards tend to have lots of flattering words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs of good fathers. Sometime you really wonder what do your children think of you ???

Y S comes across the following on what children at various ages think of their father : -


4 years old : My Daddy can do anything !!!

7 years old : My Dad know a lot ... a whole lot.

8 years old : May father does not know quite everything.

12 years old : Oh well, naturally Father does not know that either.

14 years old : Oh, Father ? He is hopelessly old fashioned.

21 years old : Oh, that man - he is out of date !

25 years old : He knows a little bit about it, but not much.

30 years old : I must find out what Dad thinks about it.

35 years old : Before we decide, we will get dad's idea about it.

50 years old : What would Dad have thought about it?

60 years old ; My Dad knew literally everything !

65 years old : I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.

So, follow NIKE : " Just do it ! " Our Parish Priest said something touching last Sunday: " Most

children only claimed that they love their parents at eulogies ! "

Anyway, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to you fathers.

.... of golf handicaps

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) got his 24P golf handicap in 2009 after months of intensive practice, and Y S cannot say coaching because the supposedly "pro" that Y S engaged by the name of "Rizam" absconded with Y S' payment. Silly Y S paid him upfront and after some sessions he disappeared. He is only worth RM 450.00. What to do ?

The many months of practice that followed at the driving range enabled Y S to come across, meet, acquaint and make friends with a good number of golfers. All of them happened to be very, very generous with their advice, and sometimes these were unsolicited and could be irritating, too.

Early 2010, YS tried to get his 24 P reverted to 24 so that he did not have to get into the golf course accompanied by a full handicapper. You see, however friendly golfers are, they do not like to play with those with a " P ." The "P" golfers somehow slow them down and offer them no challenge. You feel like an outcast.

So Y S had to contend himself with only ONE true friend who did mind him tagging along and whose patience is stretchable to wait for balls lost in the trees, lakes and drains to be found. Y S took a second test early 2010, he was given another idiotic handicap captain who expected perfection and would not accept " 4 strokes, 3 putting" for the first hole, and criticized Y S' playing style from A to Z. He refused to remove the " P " and Y S was so frustrated that he had decided to sell all his golfing equipment. However, the Better Half had managed to persuade Y S to give it another trial. That sent Y S to several months of driving range boot camp .

Y S took a third test today 18th day of June, 2010 and ...ta...da........ managed the first hole with " three strokes, two puttings", the second hole with " 4 strokes, 2 puttings" and so on and so forth. Y S had his stinking " P " revoked and given a full handicap.

Hard work does pay off. And who says "old dogs cannot do new tricks." ?

( Y S only hopes that his Better Half does not regret encouraging him and praying for his test as she claims to when she is turned into a Golf Widow !!! You see, there are picturesque golf courses just north of Alor Setar and cross the Thai border. LOL )

Another one from Y S' Bucket List.

Life is for the living. There is plenty of time to be dead.

..... of tear jerking DVD

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) went through his younger daughter's collection of DVDs and found this one interesting since in the not distant past Y S used to have three dogs. There are loveable creatures which sometimes surpass some humans Y S has unfortunately come crossed in this life.

Hachi, an Akira Japanese puppy, was lost at a railway station. It was found by Professor Parker Wilson. Not wanting to surrender the dog to the pound, the professor tried to keep it despite disagreement from his wife. However, both Hachi and Prof Parker developed a rare invincible bond.

Hachi sent the prof to work in the morning and then waited for him to return home daily and in icy cold weather sometimes without fail. Hachi became familiar with the people around the railway station.

One day, the prof had a heart attack and passed over. Hachi still waited for the prof at the same spot and the same time every day without fail and refused to be moved. It slept under old rail trucks and was fed by those whom it knew.

Hachi waited and waited for ten years. It died of old age and also the cold while waiting for the prof !

Y S' mellowed soul was moved by the love and loyalty of an animal, a dog. Y S secretly shed some tears. ( Shamefully)

This movie was an adaptation of a true story in Shibuya, Japan : -

In 1924, Hachikō was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner's life Hachikō saw him out from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return on the usual train one evening. The professor had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage at the university that day. He died and never returned to the train station where his friend was waiting. Hachikō was loyal and every day for the next nine years he waited sitting there amongst the town's folk.

Hachikō was given away after his master's death, but he routinely escaped, showing up again and again at his old home. Eventually, Hachikō apparently realized that Professor Ueno no longer lived at the house. So he went to look for his master at the train station where he had accompanied him so many times before. Each day, Hachikō waited for Professor Ueno to return. And each day he did not see his friend among the commuters at the station.

The permanent fixture at the train station that was Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. They brought Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait.

This continued for nine years with Hachikō appearing precisely when the train was due at the station until its demise..

Today the bronze statue of Hachiko sits in front of the railway station at Shibuya.

Blessed are those with loyal friends for they experience heaven on earth.

..... of trishaws

This is a basic Kelantan's trishaw which is more commonly refered to as " teksi ( taxi) " in Kota Bahru. There are many more beautifully decorated ones which Yours Sincerely ( Y s ) promises to take photos of on his next trip.

Don't you ever hail this mode of transportation as "beca" ( which is nevertheless the most correct in Bahasa Malaysia) If you do so, you will be stared at and NONE will stop for you.
" Beca " seems to be a derogatory term to the Kelantanese "taxi" riders . It only befits the old days migrant Chinese two wheeled sweaty rickshaw pullers with a soiled "Good Morning" towel around their necks, and who ran, hopped and ran.

Y S grew up with this mode of transportation. It had transported Y S with a cousin and later a friend to and from school for six years of his primary school going. When boys rode and performed stunts on their "Raleigh" and "Robin Hood" bicycles, Y S had to be contented with just watching. Y S' Pa was a protective father. Looking back, Pa prioritized safety and getting his kid to go to school in a "taxi" seemed to be the safest. Y S was "taxied" to school by one "driver" for six years !

However, after completing Std. Six, Y S protested loudly and "threatened" not to go to school without a bicycle. So, Pa reluctantly relented but before that Y S had to go through a "riding test." My good elder brother was made to follow me closely,to and fro school daily for a month. Then he followed from a distance and watched like a hawk. Finally he endorsed by "riding licence." And he still spot checked me on and off.

This was the extent of trouble my Pa took. NOW I see "Kampong" ( Village) kids from beside my housing estate as young as 7 and 8 years old riding motor-cycles without helmets and with more than one pillion rider at neck breaking speed and oblivious to other road users on public roads. WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS ?


This type of trishaw is common in Kuala Trengganu. The passengers are in front, get the fresh air and also get a bird-view of the road scenery, and they also unfortunately double up as the bumper in case of an inevitability.

Those were the days .......................

..... of old kitchen appliances

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) recollects his mother's kitchen, way back in the 50s and early 60s. After the ancestral house was gutted down, it is getter harder and harder to recall. Anyway, Mum's kitchen was nothing to shout about. It was just a rudimentary affair, but not the wholesome and sumptuous food it churned out, two square meals daily, day in and day out, without fail.

Those days refrigerators ran on kerosene and only the rich could afford one. You could literally see a flame burning up the condenser to compress the air from behind the fridge. The doors of these fridges closed solid tight to prevent the coldness from escaping and had claimed a few careless fingers. Without this luxurious gadget, Mum had to go to the market every morning. And that was how we grew up with fresh produces from the farms and sea.

This (pic) was one of the appliances in her kitchen. It was a coconut grater or scrapper. The one Mum had was even better designed to look like a wooden horse. This was where coconut was grated for cooking or as a spread or filling for some "kuih" she made. A few fresh coconuts were always available in the kitchen, and you could never imagine the way Mum cracked the coconut shell - with one mighty chop ! Cracked !!!

Sometimes we kids were treated to the overgrown flesh that grew inside the coconut. And if we were down with fever, the coconut water was collected to be used as bath water to lower the body's temperature. And somehow this housewife remedy worked on us children.

As a gracious lady, you should not sit on the grater astride like a horse. God forbid ! You would be considered crude and unpolished. You had to sit sideway with your legs closed, like sitting pillion on a bicycle's cross bar, and uncomfortably grate away the coconut.

Sometimes Mum would sit astride when she offered a lift on the "horse" to my younger brother who is a few years younger than me. Of course, in Mum's absence, we played " Cowboys and Red Indians" with the grater becoming a "horse."

In the old days, we were always warned of the potential danger of the sharp blade of this appliance. Mum would never allow anyone of us to grate the coconut. She would do it herself, saved my eldest sister who had mastered the skill.


Anyway, progress has come a long way. Coconut grating is no longer a chore for the housewives. You have your friendly corner "Chai Tiam Ma" ( Your friendly sundry shop) to grate for you with this machine. You can even ask for grade I or 2 or 3, depending on what you want to cook and how you want to use the coconut.

So, gone are the days of our "wooden horses."

.... of churches

If you visit Europe, either east or west, you are bound to come across churches upon churches. Similarly your China's itinerary will be dotted with temples upon temples of all sizes and history.

This paricular church that Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) was awed by is located in the town square in Krakow, Poland It is St.Mary's. The original was destroyed by the Tartars in the 13th century. Well, invading forces always have the penchant to either loot, rape or destroy.

The present St Mary's was rebuilt in 1397 and it has a new tower added. The two towers, built by two competing brothers, are of different heights. If you gaze at this godly structure for a long, long time over one or two cups of coffee from the numerous outdoor cafes in the square, you can as Y S could, awe at the GREATNESS of our ALMIGHTY FATHER.


Similarly very much closer to home, the St Anne Church of Bukit Mertajam holds a very special place in Y S' heart. It is not a big church, just able to comfortably hold about 100 congregation, but it has the aura of the presence of God as of many godly places. Standing proudly on a hillock, this church commands a bird-eye view of the surroundings. The slope behind the church will lead you about 10 stations of crosses and a grotto that will mellow your soul and make you prayerful.

Her sister's church, a modern super structure of a few million ringgits, standing by her side does not ooze out that holiness as she does. So much for old churches.

Y S likes to pray in this old church. Or course, God is Omnipresent but praying in this old church some how gives you that tap on the shoulder. That assurance that He listens.


This is the hushed interior of St Mary. It is awesomely vibrant with colours. Every nook and corner is carved or gold plated and the stained windows are a sight to behold. The interior gives you an opulence of the elite of Europe in the days of old. We can only thank GOD that communism did not destroy such treasures.

This is the highlight of the St Mary's church - the 15th century wooden altar piece designed by Wit Stwosz. The three piece of panels have 200 carved and painted figures of Medieval life. They are folded into one piece and will open up slowly accompanied by Gregorian chants to show their grandeur before mass. It is another sight to behold !

BUT THE SAD FACT - On the day YS visited, there were more tourists waiting impatiently and armed with cameras to shoot the scene, than worshipers in the congregation. Two thirds of the church was cordoned off for tourists ! Very Sad !!!


This is one of the towers of St Mary. A lone trumpeter appears on each direction of the tower, north, east, south and west hourly and plays "Hejnal Mariacki." The sound echoes through the town square and everyone stops in the midst of whatever they are doing to appreciate.

Very quaint place.

LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING. EXPLORE On .....