The Tiffin Carrier Award

There are tags and there are tags. Some are straight forward tags requiring mundane information. No need to think doubly hard about what you want to say. This is the easy tag.

Some masquerade as awards. Pi Bani says it's like multi-level marketing (MLM) for the cascading effect it has. I call this bestowal Hadiah Mangkuk Tingkat because just like the sia (tiffin carrier), it is multi-tiered and you have to stack and stock up all the tiers to get the best effect.

I am the hapless recipient of a Sia Award, doled out by Naz in faraway Norway. She may be nun jauh di sana but her tentacles reach far and wide, sparing no mercy despite the distance.

These are the three tiers:-

1. Five interesting facts about the person who gives you this award.
2. Ten interesting facts about yourself, on whose lap the award has now landed.
3. Choose the next victims.. eh.. recipients, and get your own back (it's payback time!)

Tier One - five interesting facts about the person who gives you this award.

1. She has a keen sense of humour and it reflects in her writing. Her accounts of her 'headwind' (kepala angin) younger days always have me in stitches. Imagine giving an 'up yours' finger to someone, only to find out later that he is the husband of your ustazah colleague!

2. She has not forgotten her roots and this is something I admire greatly. It is easy to drift away from home and hearth once you are living so far away. She has not been 'orang-putih'nised; her thick Kedah twang rings loud and clear uber the North Sea.

3. I have not met her personally, but judging from her writings, I have no doubt she is a loving wife and concerned mother. I am glad she ensures her children adapt well to their multi-culturality and that those kids can speak their mother's tongue (literally) with as much ease as their paternal mother tongue.

4. She knows her limit in blogsphere. There are things best untold, especially those concerning the private lives of others, and she seems to be very aware of this. I have yet to read an entry of hers that is overtly critical of anyone, in a malicious way that is. Even when she criticised, it was always done in a good-natured way, tempered with humour.

5. She and I are both Scorpios! I think we share many common traits, one of which is loyalty. Scorpios are deeply loyal, especially in love; that's why they can't stomach betrayal. Betray a Scorpio, and you are done for.

Tier Two - ten interesting facts about yourself

1. I have never liked, and thus don't use, make-up. The only cosmetic item I can't do without is lipstick. For powder, I have always used baby talc. The last time I was fully made-up was in 1974, at my wedding. Cosmetic companies will fold if they depend on my custom.

2. Foodwise, I prefer seafood (prawn, squid, mussel) to meat. I'm not into fish and have never been able to eat ikan terubuk and ikan parang for the bones. My favourite lauk is pajri nenas while dessert I like best is bubur kacang, something I have in common with Pak Abu. I prefer Thai food above everything else (must be my maternal side's Kelantan heritage).

3. I am not a fashionable person. From before, my standard dressing has aways been baju kurung. In the past few years, however, I have taken to wearing blouses and long skirts as well. I am not into jeans and trousers although I do own a few and wear them occasionally. My family and I also do not keep clothes we no longer wear. We spring-clean many times in a year and give away items of clothing to whoever need them, usually relatives, the cleaners and maids.

4. I don't accessorise because I'm not into jewellery, costume or otherwise. I wear a wedding ring and an anniversary ring on one finger, and a bracelet, and that's it. I prefer platinum to yellow gold and jade to diamonds.

5. Of all household chores, the one I dislike the most is cooking. But this statement I have to qualify; I don't mind cooking if all I do is cook. What I find tedious is the preparation and the washing up. Although I am not in love with the kitchen, I still cook - mostly weekends - when everyone is available. If there is one labour of love on my part, this definitely is it.

6. Bright colours put me off (I dislike red intensely, it looks so menacing). Pastel shades are my choice and my favourite remains lilac and sea blue. I am not into handbags and shoes. My favourite handbag is a roomy wicker basket (I simply love bakul rotan of any kind) and my most comfortable footwear is a pair of Scholls flat-heeled sandals. I do not own a single pair of stillettos (can't walk in them). I do keep a couple of stylo-mylo clutch bags (all glamour and glitter giteww...) for formal functions.

7. I suffer from mild claustrophobia and get dizzy in a crowd. Because of this, I don't go to concerts and sales. In fact, my biggest worry before going for the Hajj was this; could I cope with the millions of pilgrims? Allah is so great, I could. But upon returning home, I'm back to square one. I do my grocery shopping by going to the supermarket at opening time and escape before the crowd builds up.

8. Among my hobbies are singing, playing Scrabble and volunteering. I used to sing in a band eons ago (as a teenager); now it's just karaoke three times weekly at Lake Club. For some six years from 1996 I was a member of an NGO, Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur North, and was involved in a lot of voluntary projects and activities. I left due to increasing workload when I joined the newly privatised Royal Mint of Malaysia in 2001 (it used to be known as Kilang Wang Bank Negara) to help set up its corporate affairs division. By then, my time was no longer my own.

9. I don't suffer fools gladly. I have been known to rebuke people publicly for jumping queues and such. I rarely hold my horses if I see injustice done, especially to animals. I can be opinionated, obstinate and as stubborn as a mule when the occasion calls for it. But I think I have mellowed a lot in my old age.

10. I am not afraid of heights but terrified of water. I am hydrophobic; I can't swim and am afraid of open waters. I was dragged by strong undercurrents a long time ago while splashing about in the sea in Dungun. Since then I have always steered clear of large expanses of water, so much so that I am afraid to even dangle my feet in the condo's swimming pool.


Tier Three - the next recipients..

1) Zendra
2) Mrs Nordin
3) Ida Hariati
4) Kay Leeda (walaupun dia di Tanah Suci)
5) Farina (Salt & Tumeric)
6) Edelweiss

(Aaaahh... Legaa!)