Bahulu, anyone?

The presentation was about to begin. Displayed onto the white screen, from the LCD projector.

“Bahulu? What has this got to do with engineering?” hissed a male student, who walked past from behind me.

I turned my head and gave him an icy stare. He shot his way and disappeared through the door of the prresentation lab.

“Right! Let us get started,” I said.

My two students i.e. one named Ng was fumbling with the keyboard of the PC while the other by the name of Nor, was straightening her clothes. Both were were standing a few feet from the wall.

And the presentation began with Nor saying:

“Bahulu is a traditional delicacy amongst the Malays in Malaysia. It has now been a favourite amongst the other races too i.e. the Chinese and the Indians. Especially during festivities. Apparently, the sweet cake originated from a place called Bangkahulu, Southern Sumatera, Indonesia and was brought into Malaya by the Javanese. Originally, it was pan-shaped, just like the pizza because the dough was baked using the pan-cover. Another version as to why the dish got its name was, it created by the people who stayed high up where the rivers began (‘hulu sungai’). The delicacy was often brought by them whenever they came visiting their kins at the various other places. The people then would often say, gifts from up the river (‘buah tangan dari hulu’). Hence, its name.”

Ng elaborated further saying that although the sweet cakes used to be prepared the traditional way, it is now much more convenient using the modern methods. Using machines and ovens. And there are much more flavours available. Even strawberries and cappuccinos!

“We could not find any resources where the bahulu was prepared traditionally. So we had to settle with a small scale industry in a remote kampung up north. We have videos of how the bahulu is prepared the modern way. Here it is!” said Nor.

Our eyes were transfixed on the wall, enjoying the video.

I asked, “You want to know how it was prepared the traditional way? My late mum used to sell this bahulu and also other traditional kuih nearly every day, to earn some extra income.”

Ng and Nor nodded their heads.

So I began, “I used to help my mum prepare bahulu when we were little. We took turns beating the eggs and sugar in a huge ceramic jar using a big egg beater until our hands were sore. Because, as time passed, the dough became heavier and heavier. But when she started baking, all the sores were gone. That was when the real fun began. Her oven was special. She used a clay pail with fire from charcoal and husks at the bottom. Then an uncovered pot with sand underneath it was put in the pail. Meanwhile, iron casts with different shapes were oiled and the mixture of dough was mixed with fried flour. Yes! Fried beforehand on a big wok for a few hours a few days earlier. That was why mum’s bahulu was so mouth watering, fragrant and long lasting! The dough was then dropped onto the holes. Then in it goes into the pot. The whole thing was then covered using a cut-out side portion of a large, clean biscuit tin. More burning coal and husks were put on top. The fragrance which emanates indicates that the bahulu is cooked. The first few rounds of bahulu would disappear into our tummies i.e. the ‘workers’!”

Nor’s brows were raised. Ng was mesmerized too.

“Well then! What have you learnt while you were doing this project?” I asked.

“A lot!” said Ng.

“Tell me! I want to know” said I.

“First of all, how to get into the kampung to talk to people while trying to find information,” said Nor.

“I learnt the name of the kuih. Before, I only knew how to eat them, without even knowing its name and its origins,” said Ng.

“Good! You two speak from your hearts!”

Ng said, “We made a survey. Most of the participants prefer the modern bahulu. Because of the variety of flavours available.”

“Whom did you ask?” I said, frowing.

“Just us, amongst students from first years to final years,” said Nor.

“You should have included the staff. Like me for example, in the survey. Then you would have came up with a different conclusion. Nothing beats bahulu prepared the traditional way. If only you had the chance to taste them!”

They grinned and then they delivered a surprise! A box of bahulu from them as a gesture of thanks to me as their supervisor for the subject SHE 101.

Last night, after dinner, I brought out the box of bahulu. My other half seemed to enjoy them very much because this morning, when I peeked through at the container, there were only six left!

PS. SHE 101 is a 2 unit course entitled Ethnic Relations. Students would have to complete their projects within 3 weeks.

On Science and Technology Fiction Novel Workshop..

Little did I know that my presence at the Science and Technology Fiction Writing Workshop up north in Alor Setar for the whole of last Saturday, would leave me all worked up and full of excitement.

I had wanted to attend it purely because I thought I could use some pointers and ideas for future writings. Then I realized that the organizers (Kumpulan Utusan and University Teknologi Malaysia) had something else up their sleeves. The workshop was a sort of preparation for writers who would want to be contesters for their Writing Competition, i.e. Science and Technology Fiction Novel Competition. The prizes are really tantalizing!

First prize winner will be awarded RM 15,000 plus equally interesting amounts for others down the line. All that I knew was that the whole idea of the workshop was to bring about the awareness of the importance of Science and Technology in the society – which was why I was motivated to sign up my name about a month earlier.

I learnt many things though…from the various speakers. These are things that I would like to share…

Dr. Amida@Hamidah bt. Abdul Hamid or more affectionately known as Anis (a retired professor in the field of Philosophy, Rhetoric and Thinking Skills from Universiti Malaya, who is still actively giving lectures and evaluating manuscripts) in her presentation entitled “You Want to Write Science and Technology Fiction Novels?”

Ethos, Pathos, Logos are the basic axis for any form of writing, originating from Greek philosophy.

Ethos means our capability as writers. Therefore, our empowerment in the particular language that we will be writing. It should be very powerful then!

Pathos is our target. Who the written material is intended for. Teens? Adults? Or people in the specialized fields that the article is written for.

Logos – is our material i.e. manuscript or articles. In this case, our manuscript would have the approprioate plots, with elements of science and technology.

Only thing is, we should open up the three basic elements to include Our Creator as the origin of the whole written material i.e. a manuscript which would awaken a sense of greatness of God amongst readers.

Prof. Dr. Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar (senior professor from UTM, Skudai, winner of various awards for his creations Dendam Siber and Wira Persona Avatari) shared his experiences in his slot “How to Fictionalize Science and Technology”

Your creation should be based on knowledge, imagination and manipulations of those two. Scientific knowledge is systematic, originating from research, which is tested and proven.

Hard Si-Fi –physical and biological sciences. Soft Si-Fi – social sciences. It is suggested that manuscripts produced should be based upon Hybrid Si-Fi – a combination of both thoughts/ emotions and scientific facts.

Various explorations may be done by writers i.e. self- explore, explore the different worlds (space travel, virtual world), culture and cross culture, time zones, dimensions. In fact, creative writers may coin some new terms and words!

Mohamed Saleeh Rahaad (Vice President, Society of National Writers, Malaysia or PENA, who is also a senior lecturer of Arts, Universiti Malaya) has this to say in his talk “Values, Ideology and Literary Structures in Science Fiction”.

Contents – materials and good plot. Form – approach and Ideology.

Must be in balanced in all aspects. A scientific and technological based novel should not be merely entertaining. It has to possess some form of ideological values as an alternative to combat the advent of western based values which are psychologically imposed on passive minds unabatedly and silently.

We have enough of onslaughts from these western culture, silently colonizing our minds. The Killing Fields, Tarzan, Robinson Crusoe, Tom and Jerry, Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Soloman’s Mines, Rambo, Black Hawke Down to name a few. Our youngsters hearts especially (as passive readers and viewers fo films), are made to accept indirectly that “West is Best!” i.e. ruled by consent.

The Killing Fields, Black Hawke Down, shows the heroic deeds of the American soldiers in Asia, whereas the fact is that, the Americans lost their grip in Vietnam. Malaysian military forces had more rigour in their operational handlings of Somalia. Tom and Jerry cartoon has cleverly entwined the concept of Zionism. Black cat (anything coloured and black) are bad, whereas the tiny mouse, even though small in size (like Israel), is smart. Anything bright coloured are good.

The message of white supremacy i.e. white skinned heroes are civilized and great, if compared to natives. Tarzan embodies this concept, a white skinned man, having the capability to conquer beasts of the forest, including the black skinned natives. Even his wife Jane is white. Why not just marry a native woman of the forest? Was it because of the fear of tainting his white skinned blood?

Citizens of the third world are liabilities (white man’s burden). Colonial writers of Malaya Anthony Burgess in his book ‘Somerset Mom’, has local characters sidelined, ‘made dumb’, voices unheard. Even if they spoke, their voices are those without any significance. White man play tennis, while the locals just watch from the sides of the courts, only having the capability to pick up the balls once in a while.

On the other hand, folk tales having elements of confining the minds of locals to stupidity (Lebai Malang, Pak Pandir) were republished and made available in all the libraries throughout Malaya in the 1920’s. Stories of local warriors with their fighting spirits were subjugated and hidden away. It was said that thousands of such manuscripts were sunkened in a ship? However, such manuscripts are available today at the University Leiden (Netherlands) where thousands of manuscripts describing the greatness of local warriors struggles against the colonials.

Therefore, to fight we need similar weapons, cultural weapons. Weapons that are not confined to creativity but must also be intellectually sound. And this is where scientific and technology fiction novels may play their roles.

A creative scientific novel should not only be entertaining but also be able to excite and enrich the minds of local readers with up-to -ate and futuristic scientific knowledge interleaved with psychological and ideological principles in the narration.

Madam Nor Azah Abdul Aziz, Senior Editor Utusan Publications & Distributors Sdn. Bhd. in her presentation “Whoosing on in the Competition Track”:

The competition is analogous to a high speed track. There are regulations that need to be observed. Whatever, focus on winning!

In order to win, you need to –accelerate, accelerate, accelerate!

Hence, you need a good vehicle – your high speed car. Must be in really good shape and your endurance as the driver (in this case, you as a writer). Need to make preparations. Brainstorming and research!

Winners, besides acquiring tropies, monetary gains, will have their work packaged i.e. published, royalty every year, promotions in magazines, newspapers, electronic media, book session on TV, book stores nationwide etc.

Isn’t this the ultimate dream of an aspiring writer? To have this mileage in his/her career as a writer? More coverage means more publicity and more opportunites to get across the messages in their writings. Therefore, more readers!

The aspects that a manuscript would be judged i.e. manuscripts will be scrutinized upon the elements in earlier talks i.e. language, theme, characters, strengths, ideologies, infrastructures (even though manuscripts should embody all these integrated as a whole package).

“Remember! All manuscripts should reach us before the 31st of Ogos 2009!” said Madam Norazah.

“My mind is about to explode!” said S suddenly, who was sitting beside me.

A lawyer by profession, S had attended a writing workshop which I conducted at Seberang Perai Selatan 2 months ago. She was the one who informed me of this workshop and together we went. She drove while I sat beside her all the way to Alor Setar.

“Really? So, something in your mind has been stirred up?” said I, in jest.

”Yes! I have got ideas. So many ideas! Can’t wait to start working on them!” she said gleefully, rubbing the palms of her hands.

While I too, could not help brushing away the visions, flooding up my own mind.

(For more details of the competition:http://www.penerbit.utm.my/www.mybooks.com.my )

The Writing Group....

Today marks my first attempt to form a writing group. As today is a public holiday, in conjunction with the auspicious occasion of our beloved Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) birthday, what a day to start this group too!

As was planned a week ago, Kr and Nm came over at mid afternoon. I did not have the time to prepare anything. But then, plain Earl Grey Tea and Hershey’s Kisses will do!

We sat in the elevated area of my weekend home in Ipoh, the dining section, overlooking the lush greenery. This used to be my favourite spot some time ago, i.e. before we had to move further up north to Parit Buntar, where my working home is.

It was still drizzling outside and the air was cool and beautiful when I began to teach the two of them the basics of writing. Theirs will be a short write-up each as contributions to our up and coming project entitled Semurni Kasih Ayah (Father's Love - Endless and Tender), a project of JIM Perak Branch.

Points were thrashed out and put down onto paper. The framework was laid down. Next, would be the draft, followed by editing and subsequently, the refinement process.

The first few minutes was quite baffling. But as the minutes ticked by, my two mentees were writing away. Their fingers hooked on a pen, moving deftly across the white sheets, with every flow of events awakening in their minds. The warm tea and delicious chocolate kisses may have something to do with it? Maybe!

If only I could gather more aspiring writers to join in! Then the project would be a lot more faster than now. As it is, very slow progress. But still, this is better than nothing. And I am certainly not complaining.

Writing groups are good in the sense that you may learn from each other. To get the ideas going strong. Also to motivate and nudge each other along as the process of writing is very lonesome and you may become weary along the road not often taken.

You can form your own writing group too! Wherever you may be. Or maybe you would care to join me? Next time, perhaps!