Go East, Young Man! :: Part II

SEBERANG TAKIR ON MY MIND

When I got off at the Kuala Trengganu bus terminal, my classmate Nasir Majid was already there waiting for my arrival. Another Nasir, but the two of them were miles apart in many ways. We were later joined by Syed Yusuf who lived somewhere in town. The two of them gave me a brief tour of the town, perhaps saving the better sights for later. Kuala Trengganu then was a quaint seaside town with old buildings and narrow streets. That was all I could remember of the town as impressions of subsequent return visits have sort of, in computerese, overwritten the old files.

(For a better description of the town and life in those days or earlier, you just have to read Di Bawah Rang Ikang Kering or Jalan-Jalan!)

Nice town nevertheless, but I subsequently realised that my fake Kelantanese dialect was of little use here. I concluded that the only way to survive and have meaningful conversations in this town was to switch to the usual southern dialect, and add the obligatory g's after words ending in m and n.

Next, we went to the jetty to take a boat to Seberang Takir. A boat ride, how exciting! Seberang Takir is not an island but a village on the other bank of the rivermouth, so the quickest way to get there is by boat even though the village can be reached by other forms of land transport. So Nasir and I hopped on a waiting boat and I braced myself for the boat ride of my life.

As the boat moved away from the jetty I observed that the rim of the wooden boat at where I was sitting was only inches from the water. And as it gained more speed, sprays of seawater began to come in, wetting the legs of my jeans and the floor. I began to look around making mental notes of the things that can be used as flotation devices, just in case. The other passengers didn't seem to be worried at all, their faces as bored as those seen on city buses. Halfway through the trip, waves from the South China Sea began to be felt as the boat rocked about. That was no place for a cowardly landlubber like me so I told Nasir that maybe we should've taken the taxi instead as I held tight to the seat.

After what I thought was an eternity, we arrived at the Seberang Takir jetty. Ah, land at last! Was I ever so glad to climb up that jetty. There was a wakaf at the end of the jetty where some men were engaged in what seemed to be the major male diversion in the East Coast -- playing draughts and watching people play draughts.

Nasir's house was only a short walking distance from the jetty and his parents were already on their verandah waiting for us when we arrived. His mom made us some tea and we sat in a circle dunking biscuits in the fragrant tea as I told them about my family and my village. And all that while, Nasir's kid sister -- a very pretty girl with fine brownish hair, a family trait -- would just sit behind her mother and smile without saying a word at my exaggerated stories.

The next day, I got to see how the famous kropok lekor was made. Nasir's mom, sister and some helpful neighbours were gathered in the kitchen to make that unique Trengganu specialty. I reckoned those meter long concoctions were not very pretty to look at so we went out to explore the village. Of course, there was nothing much to see so we went to see the most exciting thing in the village: people playing draughts in the wakaf!

When we got back to the house, the ladies had set up a stall in front of the house, selling freshly fried kropok to the village folks. Nasir's mother gave us a plate of kropok with some home-made chili sauce to eat and we sat on the verandah enjoying what I thought was the best kropok in the world. Of course, I had never eaten the thing before in my life. Later, Nasir's sister made some fragrant tea to wash the kropok down. She was, as usual, smiling without saying a word. There was an unwritten law about falling for your friend's kid sister, so I didn't entertain the romantic thoughts and channel all that energy at the task at hand -- the fried kropok.

That night I saw a lot of lights at sea and I asked Ustaz Majid, Nasir's father what was happening out there. He told me that the fishermen were catching squids; the lights were used to attract the mollusks to the surface and they would just scoop them into the boats. The following day we had, well, what else but, squids for lunch. They were the biggest I have ever seen on a lunch plate, each about the size of a small mineral water bottle. The squids, stuffed with glutinous rice, were served in a white sauce. I didn't know that at first and thought the stuffing were squid eggs, much to the amusement of my hosts.

Once, we went to Rantau Abang to watch turtles laying eggs. To get in the right mood, we sat in a food stall and ordered nasi lemak with boiled turtle eggs. The nasi lemak was fine but trying to force down the gooey thing down your throat was a real endeavour. After the meal, we joined the crowd at turtle ogling. I couldn't see all the fuss about turtles laying eggs; after two or three eggs I moved away from the crowd and went to rest in the sand instead for the rest of the night.

One night, Nasir told me that he was taking me to a movie after dinner. The nearest cinema hall was of course in KT. I told him that we should just go the next day as I don't fancy taking a boat ride at night. He told me that we would be watching the movie in the village itself. Right, a fishing village with a cinema, I thought. I didn't remember seeing a building in the village big enough to be used as a cinema. Anyway, after dinner I just tagged along with him until we came to an enclosure made of corrugated zinc. That was the village cinema!

We paid eighty sen for two tickets and entered the roofless enclosure. There were rows of coconut logs for seats and each log could seat about ten people with enough elbow room. Of course, it was free seating; so we sat down in anticipation, without the slightest idea of what was going to be shown. When there were enough people squatting on the coconut logs, the movie came on the screen and everybody cheered. I didn't remember the title but it was an old Hindi movie which we enjoyed very much, given the circumstances.

I was beginning to blend in with the locals when my one week was up. We would have to take the bus from Kuala Trengganu and join the others to board the train at Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Somehow the boat ride didn't seem to intimidate me anymore, maybe it was due to the heavy diet of kropok, squids and fresh fish for the past one week. I thanked Nasir's parents profusely for having me and they reminded me to come again. As I was picking up my bags, the kid sister who was not smiling this time said something to me from the verandah. It was "So, you're going already!" or something to that effect in a regretful tone.

She actually spoke! I just smiled dryly not knowing what to say in reply. Whoever invented that unwritten law ...