variousness of everything

Recently my colleague commented that i always write on family matters.What do you expect..regardless of the ups and downs,family always stays close to my heart.So this time i d like to write on something different...

Lao Tze once said "a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step".Yes ..my single step began somewhere in Sept 2 nd 1981, where i first left my sleepy little hometown for the States to pursue the American dreams .From that moment i ve never stopped travelling.I come , l learn and i see the variousness of everything, from language to culture, from practices to taboos .Some i took n practised but some i ignored.In Malaysia itself,small though it may be, we can see the variousness in everyday casual language.All Malaysians speak Malay, but dont be too confident to understand all that being said.Certain states use different term for the same refered thing. In Johor, the most southeren tip, we use 'LARI' for run,but if you follow the North south highway n end up in Kedah or Perlis , they use 'LIGAN' while the east coast adopts the word 'HUNGGA'.See..you might get a bit confuse if u first arrive in the place, though it is in Malaysia.We are rich in words and expressions...

Another word is "cemar" meaning pollute.We use it everywhere in Msia,but in diffrent context.In Johor cemar is related to pollution but in kelantan cemar is anything that's dirty..You can say "tangan cemar" when your hands are dirty which of course totally awkward to the Johoreans.However, my kids have gotten use to this language.One day while we were in a market in Johor, I bought some vegetables from a chinese .The uncle held the vege and put in a plastic bag,so my kid spontaneously commented"tak cemar ke ma?" or isnt it dirty?He is so used to buy things from the Malays (cause there re seldom chinese sellers in kelantan market)that he thinks buying from a non malay is not right or rather is not clean.A Johorean who has been Kelantanised!

What about the word sumpit.When I heard my friend using it, i thought what an ancient language.The last time i heard somebody using it was from my late grandmother .It belongs to the old school.Here they use it everyday.But watch out if you are in Sarawak..sumpit can totally mean a different thing..

The word "you"is another example.In modern English it is YOU, and if you are a shakespearen fanatic you may use thou or thee but it s a bit strange to use this day.But in Malay, there are awak for the prim and proper, kau for the street language.And there are more..the Kelantanese is more comfortable to use mu while the northern prefered hampa or hang.What a choice you have!

So for me and kids, we have a storewide full of terms to choose from.Sometimes we use our Johorean language and when we are with friends we switch to Kelantanese coloqials but when the father is around all the northern terms come in.So, our language is like rojak now and I m afraid for as which identity we should take at the end of the day...

We are moving, adapting and changing as days pass.However , one thing i know that remains the same is my nostalgic hometown.Everytime I go back,passing that little countrytown, the same old delapidated pre- war two- storey shop houses are still there as if faithfully waiting for us and the same hailam coffeeshop at the end of the row which has seen its better days is still operating, slow it may be. But surprise...surprise...surprise.. at the end of the shophouses, on a wide plot of land stood majestically an intricately designed wood carving house..the house of our Johor Chief Minister..well he is from the same hometown , from the same school and from the same neighbourhood as I...and i hope he could bring some changes to my kampung one day for d betterments of the village folks