Sing or Swim, Whatever Takes Your Fancy

1. The other day I looked down from my 10th floor window towards the pool and saw an unusual sight - three tudung-clad elderly ladies in T-shirts and long pants, with a trainer/coach at hand, learning how to swim.

It was a searingly hot afternoon. They had the pool all to themselves and seemed to be enjoying their lessons. Each learner was equipped with what looked like half a surf board, onto which they lie on their belly, paddling furiously.

I wanted to clap and shout "Bravo!" from my perch when one of them managed to tackle the entire length of the pool, but I checked myself. They might just become self-conscious if they knew they had a kaypoh (busybody) spectator.

2. Another day, another burial. The grave diggers were hard at work, in pouring rain too, this morning at the Kg Sungai Pencala Muslim Cemetery. As my unit overlooks the cemetery, I could observe the goings-on discreetly and comfortably from my balcony.

The solemn procession bearing the jenazah (body) arrived at the gravesite around 10.30 in the morning, accompanied by some 30 people. There were a lot of women in the group, judging from the tudung- and kurung-clad figures surrounding the liang lahad (grave).

The rain poured unabated throughout the burial. By eleven, the site was deserted but I could spy an even mound of flower petals on the fresh earth. Al-Fatihah.

3. Pak Abu woke up to a string of "Happy Birthday" messages on his mobile and a card on his bedside table. He turns 56 today and we are taking him to a steamboat dinner later.

But first, there was that MagicSing All-In-One Karaoke System, waiting patiently in One-Utama to be bought and owned by us. Because we are not the kind of people to disappoint, we willingly parted with quite a substantial sum to bring it home.

There are three chips with some 5,000 songs in there - English, Malay/Indonesian and Chinese. So my guess is that after the dinner tonight, it's karaoke time (unless Pak Abu wants to watch the Olympics roundup). Whatever it is, it's the birthday boy's prerogative. It's his day.

[Psst.. I tried out that new karaoke thingy sorang-sorang at home just now. Best giler!]