M.A.L.A.S. is Not the Word...

I was trying my best to update my blog as frequent as I can, and I always had something in my mind to share with you readers (if any), but time was not by my side. Every time I tried to sit in front of my laptop and type something, there would always be work to do. With everything going online, teachers like me could not even properly sit at a table marking pupils work or planning tomorrow's lesson. I laughed at the time when I was still planning two pages of lesson for a class when it is clear that today I don't even have time to write a quarter of a page.

Do not mistakenly take my comments as a sigh, I do love my job as a teacher, but doing clerical work is not actually included in my definition of 'teaching'. Yet, it is this task which prevails in any teachers scheme of work nowadays, and some of them have even mistakenly take it as the main task by putting the classroom lesson behind. Admittedly, the task is important, but is this the way forward for our education system?

The albino buffalo is on the right

In the Midst of Hardship (Original Malay version)

My friend shares the Malay version of "In the Midst of Hardship" by Latiff Mohideen which was written in 1978.

In the Midst of Hardship

Dalam Bencana
Mereka pulang ke rumah
waktu subuh hari
dengan pakaian robek basah
menghampiri api tungku
lengan mereka penuh calar
kaki mereka penuh luka
tapi di kening mereka
tidak kelihatan rasa kecewa

Sehari semalaman
mereka mengharungi banjir
berendam antara bangkai ternakan
dan serpihan kulit tumbuhan
kerbau balar si buyung
masih belum ditemui.

Mereka dilahirkan dalam bencana
tidak ada keluhan dan kutukan
kini mereka berjenaka di dapur
sambil menggulung rokok daun.

Latiff Mohideen
1978

Gua Musang Stop

I was on my way from KL when I stopped at the Gua Musang Stop. I don't mean the RNR near the Sungai Asap, but rather the one not far from the Gua Musang roundabout. It is a new stop with facilities such as a musolla, toilets and also food courts. There are also parking lots for buses. All in all, I like the stop because it is an alternative to the RNR stop where all the cars coming and going to KL stop by everyday, especially during the holidays. However, there is something which they must improve on, that is to prepare more foods during the holidays when there will be more customers coming by. I found it hard to buy food when I stopped that day, and I had to settle for a burger only because other foods were already finished.