Tinidewi: Sana Sini Celoteh Suri

In a Foreign Land.

hdksudiyrhjgvajhtruyrolhdjkruytuirgdjkhjjkasdjweiur..

Dah sudah! Apa dia cakap kat aku nih?

"Uh-oh, aa aa."

Senyum. Angguk. Sengih.

Harapnya aku tak nampak dungu.

xoxoxo

Pelayan KFC: Tingge aye saja ke?*
Aku: Huh? Aa.. ni dah ada dah Air Milo Ais.
Pelayan KFC: Dok, aye. Aye saje ke?
Aku: Aa aa. (Kontrol malu)

Adeh. Aye tu ayam la Cik Tini oi! Muehehehe gagal, gagal.

*Tinggal ayam saja kan?

xoxoxo

Kota Bharu has always been a fascinating place to me. To some, KB might be boring and lifeless, well to some extent it is boring and lifeless hehehe, but I believe that there are lots of things to explore, and understand. Especially their people, language, and culture. And its shopping haven :D

The different thing about KB this time around is that, there's effort to modernization. I saw many new buildings and development. There's also a new shopping mall in the city, KB Mall.

Off course development is good. It brings wealth and perhaps, health (that is, more people are able to pay for their medical but at the same time, more people are getting the rich people disease). It provides jobs for the Kelantanese, and able to woo those out stationer who works in bigger city like KL, JB and Penang, to come back and work in KB instead. All that will make the economy of the state prosper.

But, there's a tiny voice in my head that say, I don't really want the modernization to happen. I heard,"Aiyoh, not another city develop, and lose its soul? Please not KB".

I keep questioning myself, what will happen to the people, and their values? Most Kelantanese that I've met there, are humble people. They might be wearing sarong and baju melayu most of the time, but you might be talking to a millionnaire. The pakciks you met at the surau looking like mere kampong folk might be a high-ranking officer.

In KB, your status, the well beings of your pocket and what baju you're wearing may not be important. It's your down to earth personality that matters. It's family values that matters. And religion, that what matters the most.

(This generalization may not represent all Kelantanese. My opinion is based on the people who live in Kelantan I've met so far, especially relatives. Out station Kelantanese may also differ.)

History tells us that modernization diminishes some of human values, especially the important ones, such as family institution, moral and ethics, and societal roles. Therefore, while it may be fruitful to modernize a city, it is mega vital to maintain the human values. Can that be done? I leave that to the governing parties :D

I hope the development in KB will not create individualistic and plastic people, like most of KL-ites. Let's just hope.

xoxoxo

Like I've said, there's a new shopping mall, KB Mall. Mega HUIYOO!

From my many visits to the mall (where else to go eh? hehehe), I've realized that the place became crowded as the closing time approached. Kenapa ye?

Well, the answer is that, most Kelantanese will either solat jamaah for Maghrib and Isya' prayer or pray at home first before doing anything or going anywhere. That's why they'll get to the shopping mall around 9.00 - 10.00 p.m. and rush to do their shopping, or for some people like me, eye washing (direct translation for cuci mata :D)

They don't go merambu during Maghrib and Isya', like we do in KL. I think my mother in law will shook her head hard if I do so. When I first travel to Kelantan on my own in 2000, I was surprised when the crowd suddenly disappeared few minutes before Maghrib. I was like, hey, where did you all go? Orang kelantan ni ada magic ke? And I stood there in the middle of the city like a puzzled tourist from faraway land. Luckily my hotel was nearby :D

And funny thing is, after jamaah in surau / masjid, some of the men went straight to be shopping mall with their sarong hehehehe. That is priceless. You won't see that in KL, or anywhere else.

Perhaps, the management of the shopping mall should take this into consideration, and extend the closing time to perhaps 11.00 p.m.