"Dad Has Gone To The Airport!"

How would one feel if a high flyer suddenly crash-lands? I was a high-flyer once...due to my hard work. My boss frequently mentions my name to other staff whenever he feels I deserve such compliments. No, I have no intention of bragging about my successes in this posting. Instead it is about my burst ego from an embarrassing mistake.

My boss, the CEO of a statutory body plans to participate in a conference in Malta! As usual I was asked to plan for his journey and execute it. He really wants to go to Malta. In those days, flights are booked through travel agents. The agent recommends the best itinerary, first through the (fixed-line) telephone, then the facs.

I was extremely happy when the travel agent confirmed the flight schedules. it was supposed to depart the international airport at 0620 on such and such date. I heard it 'clearly' over the telephone. I duly told the boss. He said OK! when the facs came, the flight was 'written' as departing at 0620.

All the booking documentation went smoothly. In short the flight was properly booked, fully paid and I started to make the necessary preparation. I had to prepare the written guide to my boss for his travel including the information on currency, weather, temperature, places of interests, the nearest Malaysian embbasy or hig commission etc.

The evening before the flight departure, I collected the boss' baggage, flight tickets - yes tickets - and passports from his house and put them in the boot of my car. I woke up at 3.30 am on the morning of the scheduled flight, take a shower, dress myself and by 4.00 am I was on the way to the Airport. I reached the Airport at 4.45 am. Strangely there was no crowd there. All the counters were closed. I told a passing worker there that I wanted to check-in my boss for the flight to Malta.

About five minutes came a staff from the airline and he took the flight tickets for check-in.

"Encik, flight ni dah lepas!"

"Dah lepas? Ni baru pukul 5 pagi!"

"This flight left just after midnight. The departure time was 0020 not 0620 as Encik has just said! "

I stared at the ticket in great disbelief! How come 0620 becomes 0020?

I hurried to the nearest public telephone and dial my boss' home. After like an eternity, a young boy's voice groggily answered.

"Can I can speak to Dato'......?"

"I'm sorry, Dad's gone to the Airport!"

I put down the phone and as I turned around there walked in my boss and his wife! I felt like the whole world has collapsed on me then!

I was embarrassed, disappointed, dejected and my high-flying career crash-landed! Have you ever been in that situation in your life?

Cap Ayam

In one of my recent postings, I talked about the word skodeng, which comes about from the word scout den. There is another word or rather a phrase or a term that originated from my alma mater i. e. cap ayam!

Cap ayam means something too ordinary (koman, from the word common!) bordering on mediocrity. If someone says you are cap ayam he means you are mediocre, incapable of performing up to a certain standard. But why ayam? Everybody takes chicken nowadays, and very few young people take fish. There is nothing fishy here. On the contrary, cap ayam that leads to this phrase was - and I believe still is - a brand of sardine or canned mackerel. It was the better canned mackerel during my schooldays than a few others.

During my schooldays in my teens, sardin cap ayam were served to hostellites who didn't take chicken or other cooked fish. Usually a table was reserved for this susbstitute menu for those picky eaters. The members of the table changes according to the main menu served each day.

In later years, friends joke that one is considered (members or consumers) of cap ayam if he is different from the mainstream and too ordinary in life - and later on in work and any other sphere of life! Recently the term "cap ayam" appeared in a Malay daily hinting at similar non-performance of the Nation's sports team!

Cap Ayam, a good brand but leads to a not-to-be-proud-of meaning!

Skodeng?

Do you know the origin of the word in the title of today's posting? Skodeng means "the act of peeping (toms)". If you look up the Kamus Dewan a few years back you did not find the word in it. I am not sure if it is in now.

Believe it or not the word orginates from my school, the Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School, Kuala Terengganu. The school was, and is situated between the Kuala Terengganu-Kuantan federal trunk road and the South China Sea shore. The Boys Hostel was at the back, literally next to shore. The Girls Hostel meanwhile was further to front near the said trunk road. Very few boys had a chance of going near the Girls Hostel for the simple reason that the classes are on the far side of the school area. The nearest classroom block, during my schooldays, to the Girls' Hostel was block C, a new block then. Then the word "near" was perhaps inaccurate. Nowhere any boy could get a glimpse of the girl hostellites in their hostel from Block C - the so-called nearest building to it - even during our nightly preps hours.

But then there was - I am not sure if it is still there nowadays - a small building between Block C and the Girls' Hostel but slightly closer to the Hostel. It was the 'Scout Den'. Scouts used the small building to carry out their activities during the day and once in a while they had campfire there.

A few naughty boys from the Hostel used that small block as the hiding place to watch the girls in their hostels at night. I was and am doubtful if they were able to catch a good glimpse of the girls unless they brought along binoculars. It was a common phrase among us boys at that time that to "go to (the) Scout Den' means to take a peep at the girls gostellites. If you know how the Terengganuans contrite the Standard Malay words, the "scout den" (pronounced: skaoqdeng) the word eventually becomes skodeng to mean "peeping (toms)". Horh, mung gi skaoqdeng (skodeng) ker tu?" [Ah hah you went peeping?].

I was surprised to read in national Malay newspaper some months back that the word skodeng has been accepted as a standard Malay word. Perhaps I should check the Kamus Dewan now!