Stop Press

I was watching Jimmy hendricks on youtube when I suddenly heard my youngest daughter laughing her heart out and when I turned and saw what triggered the outburst I nearly dropped off my chair.

Channel 108 or better known as Zee is a dedicated hindi channel and I have observed that they got atrocious BM subtitles but non beats this. This mind you is not a joke. it is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Get ready for this.

The singer sang:

Rock me baby.

The translation:

Batu saya bayi.

Muhammad Ali The Greatest Boxer To Ever Grace The Ring

I have always been a fan of boxing. My favourite boxer? I think the title of this post is a give-away.

My first recollection of Muhammad Ali was when my Indian neighbour was trying pathetically to impress upon my father that Sonny Liston went down from a karate chop. "No la uncle, he gave a karate chop on the neck la uncle". My father just laughed it off. Anyway, would a karate chop be a lethal weapon when you are wearing thick gloves. You see they, those in the west, and the non-Muslims in Malaysia, at that time couldn't accept the fact that a Muslim is the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

What impressed me most about Ali is that he blended lightning speed with grace. He was an entertainer extraodinare in the ring. Yes, he got the gift of the gab and that got to many of those who hated him especilally when he proved in rhymes what round he would floor his opponents and his predictions were cunningly true.

As to whether he is a true Muslim, that is not for me to say. If he was taught to be the Muslim that he is, who am I to say that he is wrong. He may be wrong in someone else's eyes but not to his.

Well lets leave that aside. If I am not mistaken his first fight with Frazier was in 1971. The school rented a tv set and all were ushered into the hall. I think they did it more because the teachers wanted to watch the match then anything else. It was very evident. The Malay/Muslims were all for Ali and the rest, including the teachers mind you were all for Frazier and the Malays left the hall dissapointed after the unanimous decision to give Frazier victory which was justified.

His biggest victory must be the Ali-Foreman extravaganza in Kinshasa Zaire and The Thriller in Manila against Frazier.

When Ali took on Foreman, most fans including me thought that Ali was going to be humiliated. I have seen Foreman's previous fights and he was actually Bullman. In one of his earlier fights he even broke the hand of an opponent who blocked his blows. Such was the awesome power of this boxer turned preacher.

When Ali resorted to leaning against the ropes and allowed Foreman to bomb him with massive blows to the body only to come alive in the last minute of each round, I thought, it won't be long. I was right but in a pleasant way. The rope-a-dope tactic paid off. By the last minute of the 8th round Foreman was a spent force and the rally that Ali produced that hot and humid night was a classic. Foreman hit the canvass and was only up to his knees by the count of 9, a second too late.

The Thriller in Manila which many saw as the contributing factor to him contracting Parkinsons, do you get Parkinsons that way, was a fight between 2 colourful heavyweights. Frazier who incidentally lost his 2nd fight with Ali on a decision, and who was obliterated by Foreman, landed heavy and telling blows on Ali but Ali the master entertainer did not dissapiont. He rained punches and Frazier's corner threw in the towel.

Like many others, Ali could have believed that he was invincible. He went on to fight a few fights too many at the age of 40 and above. He paid the price.

Whatever it is, Ali is, to me, the best boxer to ever grace the ring. The only boxer to ever come close in entertainment value is Sugar Ray Robinson and not surprisingly he adopts an identical fighting style to Ali. A bad eye forced him to retire early.

Bruce Lee?

And they say that PAS is full of stupid uneducated lebais and ignorant people.

Mai Agar Kahu Song from movie om shanti om

Call me a hopeless romantic but this song really gets to me. I just can't have enough of it. It tugs at my heart though I don't understand the lyrics.

Roti Benggali Anyone?

I got up at about 3.00 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so what better way to while the hours than to surf? I go blog hopping and as usual would visit Shah of cakapaje. He has a nice piece today but the second part of his entry is of special interest. It is about 'Roti Benggali'. To those from Penang, 'Roti Benggali' is nothing new and since Shah said that he ate his in Melaka, I guess it is a normal fare there too.

Damn it, I don't have any pictures of Roti Benggali but I would like to share with you some of the ways I like to eat my RB. My most common way of eating RB is to finish off a loaf (its not that big really but very filling) with 2 fried eggs. The eggs must not be fully fried. Sprinkle some ground black peppers and salt and dig in or 'cicah' as we say it here.

RB goes well with any kind of curry, be it fish, beef or mutton or better still, dalca. As far as curry is concern, day old leftover curries are the best. I am not much of a fish man but a day old leftover fish curry with RB is heavenly. In fact, in Penang there is one small mamak shop that sells RB with fish curry.

Shah likes his with kaya which is quite common but I never like anything sweet with my RB. It must be curried or with fried eggs.

I have here a simple recipe on how best to eat RB with both eggs and curry. Some of you may know it already but to the uninitiated, why not give it a try. It is very simple really.

1. Heat a kuali. (wok)
2. A little cooking oil to prevent sticking.
3. Pour in about 3 quarter cup of curry into the kuali. You can either add or reduce the amount.
4. When it boils, break 2 eggs into the wok.
5. Wait for about a minute before stirring the eggs. Do not stir too much.
6. When it is nearly dry, kill the fire.
7. Good for only 1 person. If you don't have RB, you can eat it with Gardenia Bread.

I don't know how you fieel about it but as far as I am concern, the above could anytime be dinner for me. In fact, sometimes, when I run out of ideas on what to eat for dinner, I prepare the above and it is enough and surely cheap.

The price of RB certainly has gone up though. About 3 to 4 years ago it used to cost 30 sen a loaf but is now 80 sen. Just imagine 80 sen a loaf, 60 sen for 2 eggs and your dinner costs you only RM1.40.

Update
I can't thank muteaudio enough for sending me this caption of Roti Benggali.

Ringtone Anyone?

(Update) After putting up this post I went into screenshot and saw the same service there, so you could also go there for the ringtone.

Are you having a bad day? Are you tired? Are you feeling depressed and suicidal? I have just the therapy for you. Scroll down my sidebar on the right until you find a widget-box under My Song. Play the first song. It is surely to lull you into a slumber. The melodious sound is therapeutic. If for some reason, you would want to download it for your mobile phone go to Tumpang Sekole or click here
Somewhere in the middle of the post you would get the link to download this heavenly ringtone. Enjoy.

It Hurts, It really Does Hurt.

This is a true story. No, nothing Earth shattering or anything to that effect but still very interesting to me. Its about everyday things. I was at a mini-market buying stuffs when , at the counter, I heard a Mak Cik lamenting the price she had to pay for her goodies. Now, this mak cik is an ordinary mak cik. By the conditions of her attire you could safely say that she's from an average income family, maybe in the lower rung of the average group. What got to me was when she suddenly said, "Pak Lah terok! Mahathir dulu pandai ekonomi, Pak Lah terok, tak tau apa".

Now this place, Taman Tun Sardon is one of the last Malay bastion in Penang. The Malays there are fiercely UMNO with a sprinkle of Pas supporters and a few Keadilan. What is interesting though is that the leaders' there are known to be staunch Mahathir supporters. The fact that the mak cik exploded that way could be the brain-washing that she got from her children. Of course her children conveniently hid the fact that everything is going up so prices of essentials would naturally follow. But then isn't that what UMNO is good at? Telling half truth is an UMNO trait. Yes, the children must have told her how Pak Lah had gone against his promises but they also failed to explain about the price of crude and wheat and everything else. Oh, how true they are to the UMNO spirit.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Pak Lah has been wronged? No, far from it, he wronged himself so he deserves all the condemnation.

Well, anyway, being there and witnessing her outburst, I decided to see how she would response to some provocation. I saw that her bill was RM37+ so I interjected and said, " Tahun depan, barang banyak tu nanti kena bayaq RM50". Immediately she answered, "Memang la, depa bukan tau apa orang rasa". Then the shopkeeper quipped "Dengaq kata depa nak naik harga gas RM5". Her answer says it all, "Kalau naik RM1 takpa la, naik RM5 mampoih la".

That answer of hers tells me how hurt the common people are by the increasing cost of living. Maybe the authorities didn't see that for non-government servants, their take home pay has actually declined. Previously they were earning quite a lot in overtime at the factories but those days are gone. Overtimes are rare. Komaq, a well-known factory in Penang which employed only Technicians used to pay their workers well. Now I heard that it is bought over and the new management offered their employees continued employment but with reduced pay. Is this true? Can anyone from Komag confirm this?

I am not saying that the people has lost faith in the government but I am saying that, I don't expect this from an UMNO stronghold.