The Ten Commandments

In the past few weeks, my daughter’s class has been studying religions of the world. They’ve been visiting a synagogue, a mosque and several churches. For her homework, she had to find out and list the Ten Commandments.

I thought I should help her. But not in the way she expected.

My daughter naturally wanted to jump onto the computer and google it. But I suggested we go down to the local library instead. Fortunately, it was near my office and so we strolled there.

In the reference library, I showed my daughter how to locate books on different subjects and we got out several tomes. We sat down in a different environment, surrounded by books and other people and searched through the contents and indexes of each book. We read all kinds of interesting stuff. Finally, we got what we wanted and photocopied the information.

The entire process took more than an hour.

Later, I goggled it. It took 30 seconds.

A Library out there …

Although it took so much longer and required a lot more effort, I was confident that going to the library was the better thing to do.

This was because we got out. We saw other people in the street and in the library: a man in a wheelchair, a helpful librarian, folk reading magazines. Although we didn’t speak to anyone, we interacted with them: a nod, a smile, and people saw us too. We were out there in the community.

It’s a pity that our computers have taken us away from other people. These machines have chained us to our desks.

Perhaps the First Commandment should be:
Thou shall not be seduced by your machine

I’m going to stop typing this second and head out there into the world.

If you could get off your computer now, where would you go?

The Shining

Last night, the 1980 movie, The Shining, was on TV. I’d seen it a couple of times before but not for several years. So I thought I’d just watch the first 5 minutes. I ended up watching the whole thing!

The Shining is not only an example of superb book, but one that’s been made into a captivating movie. It stars one of my favourite actors, Jack Nicholson (I just love As Good As It Gets) and it’s directed by the renown Stanley Kubrick who also directed 2001 A Space Odyssey. Stephen King was not too happy with the movie adaptation of his book, but I don’t think a JK Rowling “word of word” adaptation of Monsieur Harry Potter would have done Kubrick’s cinematic skills justice.

Yes, The Shining is a horror movie and was written by Stephen King at the height of his writing powers. Both movies and book rely on suspense. Not blood and gore like so many movies nowadays. I’ll have to admit that I’m no fan of horror movies. (Yes, you heard me right … Tunku Halim, the horror writer!)

There doesn’t seem to be any finesse or skill involved in today’s horror films. You know what’s going to happen. You know there’s going to be lots of blood, so and so is going to stupidly enter the spooky house all alone (calling out “Hello? Anyone Home?”) and is going to be slaughtered … it’s all so very boring. There’s no story. No character development. Ultimately, you don’t care.

Not so with The Shining. If you haven’t seen it, please do so … it’s great. It’s a movie that …. errm, just shines!

Obama’s Election Victory

A week has passed since Obama won the US elections. So much has been written. So much has been said. There will certainly be more …

I truly hope Barack Obama makes a great US President. Certainly, it is a triumphant moment for those seeking equality of blacks and whites. It is a time which many thought would not come.

I wish that my father was alive to see this resounding victory.

Half a century ago he had visited the US and saw its racism up close. He also met Donald Stephens, first Chief Minister of Sabah, and they became firm friends. Here’s an extract from my dad’s biography, Tunku Abdullah – A Passion for Life:

After the divorce, Tunku Abdullah was invited by the State Department of the United States to tour the US in his capacity as prince, a leader in the youth movement and a civil servant. Not one to drown in his sorrows, he jumped at this opportunity.

So in April 1958, he arrived at Honolulu airport. Whilst queuing at immigration, he heard a big man ahead in the line ahead talking to himself in Malay, complaining about the ill-mannered Americans not behaving in the queue. The prince wondered who this man was and so after passing through immigration, he asked this man where he came from since he spoke Malay. The man asked “How do you know?” The Tunku replied, “You were talking to yourself, I heard you”. The man then told the Tunku that his name was Donald Stephens and he was from North Borneo where he ran a small newspaper called the North Borneo Times – furthermore, he also happened to be in the US at the invitation of the State Department. A real coincidence!

The prince introduced himself and said that perhaps they should meet for a drink that evening. So that evening the thirty-two year old prince and the thirty-seven year old business man sat down in a bar and, as they found they enjoyed each other’s company, they decided that they should tour the States together and so, once it Washington D.C, asked the State Department to put them on the same travel itinerary.

So the pair visited Washington, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, even Puerto Rico. The Tunku was then a lowly paid civil servant, but and Donald Stephens had deep pockets and so paid for much of the merriment …

During the two month visit, the pair visited New Orleans in Louisiana, and were feted to a sumptuous lunch hosted by the Governor. After the meal, the prince said he needed to use the washroom and an official took him down to a landing with two signs one said “Whites” the other “Coloreds”. The official led him toward the Whites’ restroom but the Tunku protested saying: “No, no, I am coloured”. The official insisted that he use the restroom reserved for the Whites but the Tunku was adamant that he was a person of coloured skin. The official gave up and allowed him to use the Colored’s washroom. Donald Stephens was pleased when the Tunku told him of what happened, saying he would have done the same. The Tunku felt that if the southern Whites insisted on segregating the blacks then this would only lead to their ultimate embarrassment.

This is only part of my father’s story. He had seen a lot in his life. I wish he was here though, to witness Obama’s victory.

Corned Beef and Eggs

Monday was my turn to cook dinner. But guess what, I had not bought my ingredients. Normally, I’d hop out the day before and shop for some food to cook but this time round I didn’t get around to it.

So I delved into what we had at home and conjured up my Corned Beef and Eggs special.

Here’s the recipe:

Fry chopped up garlic (2 cloves) in a 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan for 30 seconds. Add chopped onions (1 onion) for 2 minutes. Put in contents of 1 can of corned beef and fry for 2 minutes until soft. I added chopped up tomatoes and spring onions as I had these handy. I would have added in sliced chillies but my children can’t take spicy food yet. Break two eggs (do not break up the eggs but keep them whole) into the mixture. Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until eggs are cooked. Add pepper and salt. Serve with rice or toast.

Believe me, this is no fancy recipe but it does use what you have at home. Often we can be satisfied, even happy, with what’s available in the house without having to go shopping. Contentment can be found in what’s immediately around us. So, you may have guessed, this post is not just about cooking, it’s about our attitude to life and happiness …

What can you cook now without having to go food shopping?