Ka-Ching $$$$

Ever since he knew what money can do, Imran has always wanted to be a 'Property Manager'.

Perhaps because he saw how much fun there is in collecting the monthly rental income from the properties.
He thought that all those rolls of dough is to be spent on whatever he wishes, after all, there will be more coming in the next month!

He has not been exposed to the capital recovery, maintenance costs, tax payable, tenant harassment, etc..

He aspires to be like Donald Trump. He reads some of The Donald's books on my bookshelf.

Imran already has some basic ideas on how to develop my existing land bank.
Yesterday he asked "How do I get money to build real estates, mama?"

I told him that most of my properties are compliments from the stock market.

Imran: How do I get my hands on it, too?
mama: You can start by either trading as an investor, becoming a remisier or a stock broker....
Imran: What's the Bursa Saham thingy?
mama: That's a place where all traded stocks are listed.
Imran: How do I get them into my stock broking firm to enable my clients to sell and buy?
mama: There is this thing called a CDS account.
Imran: What can a CDS account do?

Aaiyo, Imran, go read the book on 'Pasaran Saham Malaysia' at the study room.

Imran: I've read it. Whatever term I don't understand, I looked it up at the glossary, I was confused with even more terms used to explain it in the first place ...

mama: never mind, go take your PMR exam first, then SPM, then A level, then do a degree in perhaps 'Financial Engineering', then only think about making big money on your own!!!..

I was wondering whatever happens to all the easy, frequently asked questions posed by children his age, once upon a time? ...
And why can't they just be happy with a 'Harry Potter' instead? ...

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14 years ago, it didn't make any difference whether it was a resort or just a sink full of water!

8As, it was!

Ikram managed 8As in his SPM examination result..

We were invited to the announcement of the exam result event last Monday at the school's hall, and I can say that it was a nerve wrecking experience for both parents and students.

After the occassion was over, Ikram hugged me and apologized for the less than perfect set of results.

Ikram: I'm sorry mama!

Both papa and me shed tears, not because we were disappointed in him, but we realised that he really tried so hard for our sake!

I told Ikram that I'm really happy with his achievement. I suppose that's the best of his ability, especially I know how much effort he had put into it.

Since then, we have done some research, discussing with a few student advisors from various colleges and Universities. We have decided to support whatever that is Ikram plans to do next.

Next Monday, Ikram will start his life as a student doing GCE A level (pre-Med) at Taylor's University College.
We pray hard that in 18months, Ikram will qualify to pursue his studies in Medicine at the International Medical University (IMU) in Kuala Lumpur.
That's the road map for him to focus on for the time being.
This time it's for his own sake.

Congratulations Ikram!
And thank you teachers and tutors who have guided Ikram along the right direction..

Kong-Fu-Wa

The fact that I've always been mistaken for a chinese girl is not something new.

I remember as a young teenager, while taking a bus from Simpang Pertang where my father used to work, to the town of Kuala Pilah, the bus conductors often amused me with:
'lei heui pin-to?'
(where are you going?)

I usually ignore them, or, if insisted for an answer, I will embarrasingly say I don't understand chinese.

Over the years, I encountered a few more misunderstandings, that I made a conscious decision to join an adult cantonese class in the evening after office hours.

As adults, the first few words that we learnt were naturally either bad ones or how to curse and swear at other people.
The lou-si (teacher) usually obliged.
I have quite a vocabulary of them, however, my all time favourite is still that single Tamil quote.

Scenes from our hillarious cantonese class sometimes went like this:

lou-si: 'Ceng man, nei kiu mi ye meng?
(may I ask, what is your name?)
student: Ngo hai Ahmad.
(my name is Ahmad.)
lou-si: 'yi-ka, nei mhou sam?
(right now, you are not very happy?)
student: 'lou-si,toi-m-cui, ngo msyui fook'
(sorry teacher, I'm not feeling well)
lou-si: 'lei yau heui tai yee-sang?
(have you gone to see the doctor?)
student: mei, ngo hai keng par tar djam!
(not yet, I'm scared of big needle!)

Lou-si was so happy that her student could string simple sentences out of some words learnt in class that day and turned to another lady.

lou-si: 'Aminah, nei hau mah?'
(Aminah, how are you?)
student: 'Hou, yau sam.'
(I'm well, thank you)
lou-si: 'Nei hai kit mkit fan? Kei to sai lo kor?'
(Are you married? How many children have you?)
student: 'ngo mkit fan cor..myau sai lo kor'
(I'm not married yet..., don't have any children)
lou-si: 'tim kai nei mkit fan'?
(why have you not gotten married ?)
student: 'ngo hou keng par tar djam'!!
(I'm so scared of the big needle!!)

Although our answers sometimes caused red faces, lou-si was happy nevertheless that we could be innovative with whatever few words that we could remember.

Of course now that I go around wearing the tudung, no one speaks to me in cantonese anymore.
As a result, I've forgotten (mkei tak cor) most of what I've learnt.

However, I could miserably practise my dribblet of kong-fu-wa at the night market by asking:
'sin saang, ceng man, niko kei to lui?'
(Mr., may I ask, how much is this one?).
The usually enlightened hawker will say:
'wah, nei sik kong kong-fu wa!!!'
(wah, you can speak cantonese!!!)
mama irma: 'ngo sik kong siu-siu lor....'
(I can speak only a little bit lah...)

With that, I never failed to get a spontaneous discount , no matter how small, from the night market hawker..

The mistaken identity

Last Sunday, I went to Sg.Buloh with papa.

One can really get oneself lost at the nurseries of Sg.Buloh.
The plants sold there are dead cheap, up to 50% lower than the prices sold elsewhere.

Kumar, the gardener, had just cleared a large patch of a heliconia colony at the side of the garden facing my dining area.
I've decided to replace them with aromatic flowering plants.

So, I was there at my favourite "lengcai's" nursery again, collecting the 'kesidang', 'kemuning', 4 varieties of 'gardenia' , 'jasmine' and 'lady of the night' . I've purchased huge plants of 'Bunga Tanjong' and 'Kenanga' from him last month and hillariously sat on one of the branches in the car on our way home for lack of space.

By the time the "lengcai" (handsome boy) finished arranging the plants in the CRV, papa's car transformed into a perfumed garden.

I came across and excitedly bought a very beautiful and intricate 'teratai bali' with leaves interestingly arranged in an array of colourful mosaics, which needed to be placed in a pot of water. Papa was obliging enough to make another stop at the pottery seller.

I returned to the packed car later with a pretty sandstone pot, cursing the salesgirl.
Papa asked why the sour face.

mama: cilaka budak yang jual tu, I asked for a discount, she said 'tak boleh lah ahmoi!'
papa: You should be pleased that she called you ahmoi, what if she addressed you as 'ahsoh'??
mama: 'mou kow cor!' (don't try to be funny!) ,I would have pretended to accidentally drop the pot and left! ha,ha,ha...
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The beautiful cluster of teratai bali's leaves.