A traveller, not a tourist

Everyone has a dream job and I'm no different. Once upon a time, I imagined that I would like to be a travel writer. To do three things I love - writing, taking photographs and visiting other countries - and make a living out of it would be absolutely brilliant!

My Kiwi friend Peter Anderson is a travel writer and he shares the many wonderful places he has been to in his blog, Peter's Adventures. He is also a professional photographer, so you can expect to see some fantastic shots. To Peter, it's all about being "a traveller, not a tourist"; his journeys have taken him off the beaten path to the Khyber Pass, Piran in Slovenia and Lake Banani in Bangladesh, amongst others just as exotic. With much encouragement of those around him, he compiled his stories into a book Cons, Fools and Friends - 25 Years of Travelling the World, which was launched at an intimate gathering of family and friends on 29 September 2009.

In his introduction to the book, Peter tells us what travelling means to him: "... the more I travel, the more I want to photograph my feelings of the places and sights I am journeying through. Also, I want to write stories rather than articles... Now, when I travel, I tend to ponder more. I don't want to rush off to the next town; I want to become a native of the area I am visiting, even if it is only for that brief period. Travelling is for the involvement and engagement of oneself with the local ambience and nuances of life, within the culture, the cuisine and most of all, the people."

The stories he relates take us around the globe, encompassing some of the 75 countries he had visited in Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Oceania. I do wish he could have included some of his fabulous photographs (in colour, of course) but the format of the book didn't allow it.

With Cathie Muker, one of my Kiwi friends, at the launch of Peter's book.

This is not the only travel book by Peter on my shelf. So very many years ago, in 1994, he had come out with a book Discover Malaysia, written jointly with his Malaysian wife, Farida Shah. They had driven the length and breadth of this country, not just on highways and main roads, but also along tracks that took them to some interesting spots. These routes are explored in detail in their user-friendly travel guide, complete with directions to follow, sights to see, food to eat and places to stay. 

The front and back of the travel guide.

It was during that time, in the late 1990s when I had just chucked my corporate job, that the idea of travel writing came to me. A believer in being prepared, I even bought a how-to book, Travel Writing - A Guide to Research, Writing and Selling, by L Peat O' Neil. This practical book succeeded in setting me straight on a number of things. One of them is that a travel writer should carry only a sports duffel bag and a suitcase, both small enough to fit in the overhead luggage rack or under the airplane seat. "Real travel freedom," O' Neil says, "is never waiting at the baggage carousel." With such a restriction, this means packing smart, bringing only the necessities and no souvenir-buying!

The life of a travel writer may be exciting but it's certainly not glamourous. O' Neil tells the wannabe to "dash your illusions of a pampered lifestyle in luxury hotels and the first-class section... The average travel writer preparing a story for a regional travel magazine drives to a motel, tours the destination and snaps pictures, all the while asking questions and writing down information." She echoes Peter as she advises, "Fully participating in your immediate environment will open a whole new spectrum of experiences."

There are exercises at the end of every chapter. In one of these exercises, she asks to list a dozen creature comforts that the reader considers important, e.g. daily hot showers, regular meals, air-conditioning, freshly brewed coffee. "Think about how deeply you would be troubled if you had to forgo any of these habits or comforts," she warns. 

I listed, I thought and I realised that I haven't got what it takes, especially bearing in mind that I get really stressed when I take a wrong turn. Ask my husband; he's learnt never to have me along when he decides to check out a new place!

Source: msnbc.msn.com

Photo-break #9

A table setting that reminds me of days gone by. 

We had lunch at this food stall in Padang Besar, Perlis, on 30 April 2011. 

Cutting, soaking, stacking books... into art

I have earlier posted about what you can do with books you don't want to keep, either because you don't like them or won't be reading them again. Well, there's another thing you can do with your unwanted books - sculpt them into works of art! It's amazing what a creative mind can see in worn-out pages, turning them into intricate sculptures.

Brian Dettmer's book sculptures are works of unbelievable precision. After sealing the edges of a book, he "cuts into the surface and dissects it from the front using a range of tools that includes knives, tweezers and surgical tools" (The Guardian).

The paper-cuts by Su Blackwell are just as intricate. She "cuts out images from old books to create three-dimensional dioramas." Her work, she says, "reflect on the precariousness of the world we inhabit and the fragility of our life, dreams and ambitions."

Cara Barer, a photographer, approaches this art form differently. She soaks a book in water for several hours, after which the book takes on a new shape. She then photographs the book, creating a vivid image of pages that seem to take on a life of their own.

The works of Jacqueline Rush Lee are more deliberate, "utilising the pure components inherent in the books themselves, such as inks, covers, pages, binding threads, and reconfiguring them."

On a bigger scale, Jonathan Callan uses screws to combine books into a huge mass and, by clever positioning of covers and pages, turns them into mastepieces.

But if all these just seem too difficult to do, Paul Octavious shows that a book sculpture can be as simple as just stacking books on top of one another.

So... if you have piles of the Yellow Pages or volumes of that outdated encyclopaedia set taking up valuable space in your store-room, you know what you can do with them now. Let them bring out the artist in you.

It's that time of the year again...

... the time when design companies are pitching to produce annual reports for the hundreds of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, the country's stock exchange. An annual report helps shareholders understand how their investment in a particular company is doing. For those not yet invested, it gives them a good idea of the company's progress and performance, thus helping them in deciding whether or not to buy its shares.

An annual report provides information required by company law, stock exchange requirements and accounting standards. It usually begins with the chairman's statement and review by the managing director or chief executive officer. The operations review follows next, which is a detailed report on the company's performance for the financial year. The company also needs to make a statement in regard to its corporate social responsibility. There are then various sections on the company, its corporate and organisational structure, board of directors and senior management as well as corporate calendar. Before the financial statements are presented, there are the corporate governance statement, audit committee report and statement of internal control.

The annual report then is a strategic communications tool, providing the investing public with an insight into a company's vision, mission, direction and, just as importantly, its future. It is the single most important document produced by a company for the year, which is why its design and presentation are important. It must command attention and be easy to read. In Malaysia, the National Annual Corporate Report Awards have been held since 1990 to recognise corporate financial reporting.

Having been a company secretary before, I've been called on by design firms to provide writing and/or editing services for the annual reports they are producing. Sometimes, I'm approached directly by the companies. My corporate experience has certainly helped me in this area. In the first few years of my writing life, I took on way too much, doing four or five annual reports, all of which needed to be delivered within the same short time frame. It was crazy, and I had to be careful not to mix up the companies! Now I don't take on more than two a year.

Malakoff was one of my direct clients back then, and I wrote their annual report for six years. They were comfortable with me and trusted me to do the job without hand-holding. On my part, I found them easy to work with; they were professional and responsive.

Another regular client was Puncak Niaga; in this case, I provided my services to the design company that produced their annual reports.

There were other companies. One experience I wouldn't want to repeat was that of working on the annual report for Malaysia Airlines. I was the writer on a team brought together by the design firm. There were really no problems but, to finalise the design and text, we were required to work non-stop at the client's premises for 48 hours, with breaks for meals and prayers only. It was mentally and physically exhausting, and I was aching all over. When I got home, I took a nice cold shower and slept for hours.

You don't have had to work in a particular industry to be able to write the annual report of a related company. My clients included financial institutions as well as property developers and a healthcare provider. In writing an annual report, you will be relying on write-ups and other information provided by the company's business units. There will also be interviews with key people, such as the chairman and chief executive officer. Additional research on the industry is necessary because that provides the context for the company's performance. Of course, it helps if you can digest economic data and is up-to-date with what's happening in the global economy.

Writing annual reports is not for everyone and it goes without saying that, not only do you have to write well, you also have to write with confidence and conviction - because your words will be conveying what a company is all about.

Photo-break #8

Meet Chomel, the older of our two cats at home, who has been with us for over ten years. 

She was an abandoned kitten rescued by my friend, Marie Van de Panne. 

Marie couldn't keep her and brought her to Bukit Kiara Equestrian Centre, where I was asked if I would like to be her new 'mum'. Well, who could say 'no' to a face like that... 

her name was given by another one of my riding buddies, Esther Liew.

(This photo was taken by my son, Amir.)

Where can books go?

What compels me to buy a particular book? Very often it's the writer because I do tend to read books by the same person, an example being Vikram Seth. It could be the subject, particularly when it comes to non-fiction. It could be the style of someone whom I've not read before. The story, of course, is important but there has to be a certain lyricism in telling it.

Sometimes I would buy a book based on a review and this can be a hit-and-miss affair - I'd either like the book and want to keep it or I don't and would like to give it away. I do buy books, thankfully very seldom, to while away the time, books that I can finish very quickly. Not surprisingly, these books don't have a long life on my shelves.

So what do you do with books you don't want to keep? Where can these books go? An obvious answer is to a charity that can then sell them for fund-raising purposes, as I related in an earlier post. Nonetheless, there are other places. What about to a book swap party? You and your friends get together, bringing books to swap, and have a fun time in the process. Great excuse to have a party, something I might like to do one day.

Alternatively, you can release your books into the world through Book Crossing. In Kuala Lumpur, there's a bookcrossing zone at the One-Utama shopping complex. However, you don't have to leave your books at a particular place; you can pass it to a stranger or you can just put it on a bench somewhere, anywhere. To participate in bookcrossing, you need to register your book, get an ID, and download a label to paste onto your book. Hopefully, whoever gets hold of your book will report that your book has been caught by logging onto the bookcrossing website and registering the ID. Although I love the idea of sharing books with total strangers, the process is rather tedious. 

I decided to initiate a simple version of bookcrossing, what I call a Book Box, at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Centre where I used to ride. I've stopped riding but I still volunteer with the Riding for the Disabled-Bukit Kiara branch. A Book Box is an easy thing to start - I filled a plastic box up with some books, many of which I actually like but am not keeping because I don't think I'd be reading them again, pasted a notice on the lid, and left it at the Equestrian Centre Annexe.

Inside the Book Box

All about the Book Box.

The RDA corner at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Centre Annexe.

You can put a Book Box just about anywhere, such as your office. The 'rules' can be made up to fit your intention. You can have a notebook for borrowers to write down their names and titles of the books they have taken - I don't have one for my Book Box, although I think it's a good idea.

Go ahead, start a Book Box, share your books and do your bit to promote reading. Give your books a place to go.

A passion for poetry

Many of us have a passion, an untapped talent that we keep on the back-burner because we're too busy with everyday life. We indulge in that passion as and when we can spare the time. We sometimes keep it hidden, unsure of how others will see it.

Ariffin Mamat is a man with a passion - he writes poetry. On the exterior, the world sees a human resource professional who has been working for several years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he lives with his wife Aishah and family. Within him are thoughts and feelings that find expression in rhymes, which he has been putting down on paper since 2002 and posting on his blog since he started it. All those years, he never thought of compiling them into a book until he was persuaded to do so by a friend.

Given the publishing scene in Malaysia, many have had to produce their own books. My friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah and I did so with our book Hajj - The Humbling Journey. My aunt Kalsom Taib set up her own publishing company to make The Shafee Yahya Story - Estate Boy to ACA Chief a reality. Ariffin has had to take the same route to realise his dream. The fulfilling result is a book of his verses (plus some contributions by family and friends) in the English as well as Malay languages.

It is two books in one. Echo of Silence is the title on one cover, bringing the reader into Ariffin's English language poems. Flip the book over and the cover reads Masih Di Sini, leading to his work in Malay.

The photographs on the cover and inside the book are by his son Haziq Ariffin. In his introduction, Ariffin quipped, "Most people publish books to make money. Well, I made enough money so that I can publish my own book." And then he reveals that "this book is very special to me because it brings together words which I have written to capture my most private and vulnerable moments. These words represent my personal side which is often concealed from public eyes."

Ariffin revealed more of himself at his book launch in Kuala Lumpur on 28 December 2011, which my sister Zawiyah and I attended. What a surprise to find that one of his champions, who wrote the book's foreword, is our Jamak relative, Dato' Zuraidah Atan. The launch was an intimate event in a cosy part of a hotel, during which much poetry was read by Ariffin and his friends. This was followed by the book-signing, as guests tucked into the delicious food spread. Because of the very high commission charged by book distributors, the book is sold online (please e-mail adlilhafiz@gmail.com).

Zawiyah and Ariffin

My signed copy

One poem in the book that I particularly like is 'The truth', penned in Jeddah on 6 January 2007:

I'm searching for the truth

when a smile is not a disguise 

and a disguise is not a lie.

Why would a mirror not tell the truth

that I'm old and long past my youth.

Why would my eyes only see differently

not an old man as I'm often told.

Here and now I shall pause and ponder

the truth shall be spoken, loud and clear.

Who am I, and what do I stand for?

Where am I going, and what is on my shoulder?

Day by day, I shall look for answers

mile by mile, the paths I cover

the loneliness I live as a traveler

the sins I commit and so many blunders.

The pain I feel, bleeding in anger

the hope I dream during my slumber

the time tears roll down my cheeks

the fear I have when I feel weak.

So many secrets, in so many folds

unspoken truth, awaiting to be told.

Poetry is not an easy genre to write. The words cannot be forced, the feelings cannot be faked. People who write poetry, I think, bare their souls more than those who do it in prose. There are no paragraphs and chapters to hide within; much is revealed in the stark lines standing on the page. 

There's also a risk in writing poetry. Will the reader get it or not? Will the reader see into the thoughts underlining the words? Will the reader share in the sentiments? Ariffin took the risk, and for that I compliment and congratulate him. 

Abused and imprisoned... because of his religion

On 11 January 2002, the first group of 20 detainees arrived at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. It has been ten years since then and American President Barack Obama has failed to deliver on his promise to close the infamous prison. His signing of the National Defense Authorisation Act 2012 will ensure that it will continue to stay open. In Washington DC and other cities around the world, on 11 January 2012, human rights activists staged protests to mark the prison's tenth anniversary and to remind us of the fate of the illegally detained people there, "who can only leave Guantanamo in a coffin".

James Yee was a US army Muslim chaplain who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in 2003 - "his duties required him to minister to the prisoners there, and he came to know their situation perhaps better than anyone else." However, his stint there resulted in him being called "a Chinese Taliban" and persecuted by accusations and innuendos. The West Point graduate "found himself faced with capital charges, subjected to abusive treatment, and imprisoned in solitary confinement - without any basis in truth." All the charges against him were eventually dropped but at great cost to his career and reputation.

Yee decided to tell about the "injustice... (which) has torn apart my family and put us into significant debt." His Syrian wife, Huda, "continues to struggle to understand how something like this could happen in America - her adopted country." His story is told in his memoir, For God and Country - Faith and Patriotism Under Fire, which was published in 2005.

It is a frightening story and makes you wonder - if the US could subject its own citizen to such injustice, what is it capable of doing to non-Americans?

In an interview with Democracy Now, an independent global news channel, after his book came out, Yee explained the reason for the book: "My story is one of principle and value, and why the values of diversity and justice, religious freedom, are so important to all people living in this country. And I hope in writing this book that if I can in any way help prevent what happened to me from happening to anyone else, then I think that is going to be my greatest contribution." He ended, "If it could happen to me, a third-generation Chinese-American who graduated from West Point, patriotically serving his country, being praised and awarded and recognised for great contributions, could land in prison for 76 days with these huge death penalty charges, it could happen to any one of us. And this is why we have to stand up for justice." 

  
Unfortunately, for these people, the future is very dim.

Photo-break #7

A porcupine? A durian? Depends on your imagination. 

Shot this in Adelaide, Australia, on 26 January 2011 during the Australia Day parade. 

We were there early and happened to stumble upon the participants 

as they were getting ready.

A suitable writer

I like Vikram Seth's writing. It's crisp and precise. Without wasting words, he is able to create a character, evoke a mood, set the scene. Although he doesn't ramble and dawdle, his books are not short. The first book by him that I read, A Suitable Boy, really needs a great deal of commitment on the part of the reader - the soft-cover version is 1,488 pages long. It is considered one of the longest novels published in a single volume in the English language. With four families at the core of the book, it tells many stories that weave into one epic tale of love. I lent my book to a friend; she must have found it so taxing that she put it down, forgot about it, piled other stuff on it, left it buried, never to be found.

Having enjoyed the book, I was on the lookout for others by Seth and found his first book, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet. The travelogue won him the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1983. In his foreword, he describes the book as "an account of what I saw, thought and felt as I travelled through various parts of the People's Republic of China as a student." He was studying at Nanjing University from 1980 to 1982, and in the summer of 1981, returned to Delhi via Tibet and Nepal, a hitch-hiking journey that took him "from the oases of northwest China to the Himalayas (crossing) four Chinese provinces: Xinjiang and Gansu in the northwestern desert; then the basin and plateau of Qinghai; and finally Tibet." His succinct style and astute observations bring us into an intriguing world and draw us into the lives of people who exist on a totally different plane.

His third novel, An Equal Music, also found its way onto my bookshelf. At 381 pages, it is not a massive book. A story about love of a woman and of music, it is set in London and Vienna and shows that Seth is a versatile writer who is able to get into the hearts and minds of non-Indian characters as well. His choice of subject could be because, as he says in his Author's Note, "music to me is dearer even than speech." The research for the book had him talking to string players and other musicians; makers, sellers and repairers of instruments; teachers, critics, agents and managers; the list goes on. All that work has given readers "a story rich with music, art, humour and emotion."

  

I have one more book by Seth on my bookshelf - his memoir/biography of two people who would seem quite unlikely subjects to hold a reader's interest. Two Lives is about Seth's maternal great-uncle Shanti, who ran a dental clinic in Hendon, North London, and his German wife Henny. Two really ordinary people, both then 60 years old, with whom Seth lived when he went to England to study at age 17. Initially a guest, after a while, he "stopped being a guest for Aunty Henny, or a project, but became a sort of companion. I was still 'my husband's nephew' when introduced to strangers. One evening, however, she introduced me as 'my nephew', paused, but did not correct herself. After that, she used the terms interchangeably. For Shanti Uncle, I became 'Sohnchen', or little son." 

Two love stories, a travelogue and a memoir/biography - each book different from the next. Seth moves from one genre to another, an accomplished master of the craft of writing. In an interview, he says that he had first been drawn to economics but then, "I was finally distracted by writing my novels and poetry. I'm enormously happy that was the case." And so am I.

Not just a bookshelf

I love books. And I have many. In our previous home, where we lived for about 18 years, I didn't have enough shelves to put them, so there was a lot of stacking books on top of others on my limited shelf-space. Three years ago, we moved into our present home and top on the list given to our ID guy was - I must have bookshelves, lots of them.

So we have shelves in the TV room downstairs for my large-sized and coffee-table books, although I do have a few on the table behind the sofa in the living area as well. In our family dining area, there are shelves for cookbooks. Upstairs in the family room, our TV is surrounded by shelves for my fiction/non-fiction. Reference and work-related books are housed on shelves in our home office. In my bedroom, there are shelves for books waiting to be read. And here and there, about the house, are books I'm currently reading.

Many of us think of bookshelves as just pieces of wood nailed together within a frame. There's more to a bookshelf than that - it can, in fact, be a design statement. Just look at these:

Source: designsdelight.com

Source: cube.com

Source: design-milk.com

And if you spend your time reading all day, well, there are bookshelves out there just made for you...

Source: likecool.com

Source: bornrich.com

This bookshelf will surely be a conversation piece if you have it in your living room... plus it shows your commitment towards recycling.

Source: poetichome.com

Clearly then, a bookshelf is much, much more than just a place for books. How it looks really depends on your imagination. And as there are thousands of people out there with creative ideas on how a bookshelf can look like, it's no surprise that there are blogs dedicated to the bookshelf. This one, 'the home of  interesting bookshelves, bookcases and things that look like them', has become so popular that it is coming out with its own book! I wonder if you get a bookshelf to go with it.

Bugis roots and books

Once upon a time in 1850, Abdul Jamak Majok of the Bugis tribe of Wajo was born on the island of Sulawesi. He came to the Malay Peninsular with his father and later married Aminah Derima @ Dirwa, also a Bugis and descendant of Raja Chempa and Daeng Pabitah of the Royal Bugis Council of Johor. Living in Parit Bakar, Muar, Johor, Jamak and Aminah brought up a family of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining eight, one of whom was my great-grandfather Andak, eventually married and gave their parents 52 grandchildren (the second generation). By 2008, the Jamak clan was down to its sixth generation with 1,550 direct descendants.

The story of the Jamak clan is told in The Jamak Family - Continuation of a Bugis Heritage by Shadida Ibrahim, a third generation Jamak, who had the help of members of other branches of the clan to produce it, including yours truly as chief editor.

The book begins with an overview of the clan's Bugis heritage before relating the story of Abdul Jamak Majok. It then goes on to cover the first and second generation Jamaks, some prominent members of the clan and those of the greater Jamak family. The book even shares a few Bugis recipes...

... and ends with charts of the eight branches of the Jamak clan up to the third generation, an example of which is:

My great-grandfather Andak Jamak and his wife Marjilah Yusof were a bit more productive, with nine children who then went on to add 45 of their own to the clan.

The uniqueness of this book is that it was produced for the First Jamak Family Reunion held on 20 December 2008, when about 800 members of the clan, ranging from those in their 80s to just a few months old, congregated at Puspanitapuri, Putrajaya. Organising the reunion was no easy feat - it took a committee comprising members of the Andak and Abdul Majid branches a whole year to put together. But even that would not have been possible without the detailed family tree drawn up by second-generation Jaffar @ Mohamed Abdul Majid, a man with a priceless sense of humour. After he passed away, the responsibility of documenting the family tree was taken up by his son Jalaluddin Jaffar. 

Jalaluddin, or Pes as we call him, is the undisputed penghulu (chief) of the Jamak clan - he knows everyone and everyone knows him. In conjunction with the Family Reunion, he produced a comprehensive directory of the clan as at December 2008.

The directory is remarkable in that, for each branch of the Jamak clan, the members are listed by generation, together with the names of their spouses and children, marital status, years of birth and passing away, and even house telephone numbers, mobile numbers and e-mail addresses (if provided). Each is also assigned a reference number.

The reunion was a brilliant family team effort, with my graphic designer brother Zaid roped in as well to design and produce the programme booklet. Guess who took the photos for the booklet?

Co-Chairpersons Siti Zainab and Datin Kalsom.

Joint Secretaries Zawiyah and Zuraidah, Treasurer Roslina, and, clockwise from left, 

Mohd Amir, Ungku Shereen, Jamaludin, Ungku Balkis and Noridah 

of the F&B Committee.

Faridah, Hashimuddin and Ungku Marsila of the Activities & Exhibition Committee.

Jalaluddin (Pes), Jalaludin and Hanafi of the Protocol & Invitations 

(+ Pes - Family Directory) Committee.

Clockwise standing left, Normah, Alina, Rafeah and Puan Sri Azizah 

of the Sponsorships & Gifts Committee, and Shadida and Sharifuddin 

of the Publication, Video & Photography Committee.

Hood, Hashimuddin and Pes of the IT & Website Committee.

It was a professionally-run event, which shouldn't be a surprise given the backgrounds of the committee members. Everyone wore colour-coded name tags identifying his/her family branch and generation. And MC extraordinaire Dato' Mahadzir Lokman, also part of the family, ensured the day's programme proceeded smoothly (the pictures below are from the commemorative album produced after the reunion). A highlight was the soft launch of Datin Kalsom Taib's biography of her father, Taib Andak - In a Class of His Own.

Registration desk.

Souvenir tee-shirts for sale.

Lots of food for everyone.

Fun activities for the kids.

Poco-poco, a form of line dancing.

Giving respect to the elders and ending the event with Geylang Sipaku Geylang, 

a Malay folk song of goodbye with the hope of meeting up again someday.

An event this big was bound to find its way into the newspapers, but the committee made sure it happened by preparing a press kit. It worked!

The best remembrance of the Jamak Reunion is the group photograph of those who came (almost all; some were too shy while others were outside busy doing other things). The photograph had to be shot in three sections and then put together into one panoramic image. It could be ordered in different sizes and we opted for the six-foot-long version, which hangs proudly on the wall leading to the dining room of our home.