Mat Spröng Kelecak Barak V

Bètèng ddepang kuala napök panjang bila tèngök dari tengöh Padang Malaya . Mat Spröng tarék cölök dua tiga batang dari ddalang kötök, Cap Lada, buatang kilang Kemaf, Kelatang Match Factory. Bila tökang masok sebuöh ke tepak tedoh dari ömbök bbalék bètèng, ddalang pelabohang kawasang Syöhbandör, dia letök seputong cölök atah bedél ddepang Istana Maziöh. Dari jauh perahu besör Wang Mang masok dok tengöh pèro mmuka kuala, menuju ke Pata Telok. Mat Spröng letök sebatang macis lagi atah bedil.

Burong mura ccakak bising bbangor sama mura laing ccelöh daung pohong pinang gata atah ppala Mat, telinga dia masih dok bengang lagi masok air hök Lijöh simböh ttepi telaga hari tu. “Siok!” Mat kata, cuba nök hala burong, tapi bunyi mura making galök. “Siok!” kata Mat lagi, suara dia tinggi sikik, tapi burong-burong wak dök je ke dia.

Mat senyung ssörang, tangang dia tunjuk ke batang cölök, lepah se, se.

“Nasib baik aku,” suara dia keluör macang dia ccakak denge örang laing, tapi örang laing takdök ssörang masa tu, cuma Pök Löh Tuk, dok mmusing ttepi bangunang Posöpéh* dekak jalang besör; Pök Löh Tuk pulök dök léh wak lawang ccakak sebab dia kurang sèhak di bahagiang ppala dia. Sambil ngilling Mat akat sebatang cölök dari bedil. “Out,” dia kata. Dia ccakak orang putih sekali sekala bila siasatang dia napök macang nök jjaya.

“Munöh bukang kena susuk di hantu,” Mat kata, suara dia kerah, tegah. Ccelöh jari dia dia repéh batang cölök nömbör satu. Pök Löh Tuk mmusing making ligak ttengöh jalang ke aröh Tanjong Pasör.

“Nömbör dua, out jugök!” Mat kata. Jari dia repéh batang cölök atah bedil hök nömbör dua.

“Susuk di hantu pong dök, jjadi pelayang keda pong dök,” kata Mat. “Kalu dia kena paksa jjadi pelayang keda köpi tetu Cik Kalèh tau sebab takdök pelayang hök dia dök kenal.”

“Mung jangang ccakak pasa pelayang-pelayang keda köpi pagi-pagi Jema’ak ning, Mak,” keluör suara dari belakang bucu pagör istana. Ppala Ustaz Lèh napök dulu, paka semuta kaing ssahang burok, kaki dia paka selipa Jepung warna dök sama. Bila badang dia keluör, dada dia hitang llegang sebab lama ddö’öh dok kena bakör panah matahari. Pakaiang dia macang biasa, sehela sepinggang, kaing pelèkat cak Gajöh hök orang beri ke dia barangkali masa jamang Pök Mat dök ngammök lagi.

“Mung jangan buak aku kkejuk ggitu Ustaz Lèh, aku dok tengöh mmikir ni,” kata Mat sambil dia selok köcèk, kötök cölök dia letök ddalang seluör.

“Mung dök jjua öbak hari ning?” dia tanya bila dia napök Ustaz Lèh dök bawök akör kayu.

“Aku keluör petang sikik ari Jema’ak ning, pah örang semayang asör.” Mata Ustaz Lèh tenung Mat dök kkelik; pah tu dia tanya, “Guana budök Munöh mung tu, dök ttemung lagi?”

Mat ssedök air lior, batok köh-köh dua tiga kali.

“Macang mana mung tau pasa Munöh tu, Ustaz Lèh?”

“Kuala Teganung ning Mak, pagör buléh ccakak, anging macang surak kabör, bedil buléh beranök, burong mura bawök cerita,” kata Ustaz Lèh sambil dia tarék senyung bbira bibir.

“Kalu ggitu buléh aku tanya mung sikik: di mana gök kalu kita nök tau ha kegiatang budök-budök kita le ning?” Mata Mat tengök jauh aröh pata.

“Maksud mung kalu ada sape-sape napök Munöh?” jawab Ustaz Lèh. Cepat.

Mat anggok, mata dia tundok ke tanöh selok kerah Padang Malaya.

“Kalu ggitu mung gi tanya budök hök nama Ku Ali lepah Jema’ak hari ni, dia ada di semejid sökmö, dekat orang timbong kayu tu. Jjuruh budök nye, buléh mung wak nnatu. Lagi pong dia sekauk**, dok kkèmöh sökmö ngatta tepak, banyök dia tau ha ha luör,” kata Ustaz Lèh lagi.

Mat tarék kaing batik lepah dari bahu, dia apör atah tanöh. “Aku nök jerèngèng sebetör, pah tu aku gi,” dia kata, mata dia napök kuyu.

* * *
Sörang budök muda ddiri ccegak ttepi kayu setimbong, di bucu jalang ddepang Mansor Press, keda cètak bok hök besör sekali di Kuala Teganung. Rambut dia luruh kkilak denge minyök Brekering***, mata dia ceröh belakang cerming mata putéh bbika hitang.

“Tu dia Budök Nama Ku Ali,” kata örang dari semejid hök bawök Mat Spröng ssitu.

Masa Mat gi ddepang dia Budök Nama Ku Ali akat ppala dari bok hök dia dok baca. “Scouting for Boys,” Mat Spröng baca dalang Bahasa Inggeris pèlak Teganung. Tangang dia pegang bahu Budök Nama Ku Ali.

“Rasa macang pernöh tengök ning, kkeda kerepok Awang Hitang Ppaya Tok Bèr,” kata Budök Nama Ku Ali.

Mat Spröng anggok selalu, “Benör tu, Pök Mak selalu gi ssitu. Ning Pök Mak ada ha sikik nök tanye mung.”

“Ba’pe yang dahi Pök Mak tu napök macang bicuk sikik?” Tanya Budök Nama Ku Ali, belong apa-apa.

Mat Spröng kisör kaing hök dia paka atah seluör dia dua tiga kali. Mulok dia ssengèh antara kkejuk denge malu.

“Ning takdi Pök Mak jenera bbawöh pohong pinang gata Ppadang Malaya. Ada dua tiga èkör mura dok ggalöak cceloh daung, jatoh pelepöh kering ddamör ddahi Pök Mak. Tèngök jang döh puko dua, Pök Mak mari jembe selalu nök buak Jema’ak tapi dök dang setabok, takdök satu sa döh, pisang pong döh habih takdök ssutér.”

Budök Nama Ku Ali selok köcèk wak keluör tikèt mèröh Teganung Bah Kömpeni. Dia selik tikèt ccelöh muka surak, dia tutop bok, masok ddalang köcèk baju Melayu.

“Ada ha apa Pök Mak?” tanya Budök Nama Ku Ali bila bang waktu asör keluör dari serömböng di pucök nnara.

[Ssambong lagi...To be Continued]

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* Post Office
** Scout (Boy Scout), also known as ngakkak.
*** Brylcreem™

12. How to...röcöh, cöcöh, rödök

‘Oh’ to be in Trengganu when the sutong* meets the ccandak** people!

But that’s not the oh that we’re interested in here.

A true Trengganuian will know where to place his or her ‘oh’ when push comes to shove, when it’s time to röcöh or cöcöh . This is the öH that goes up the nose like the wasabe on your sushi, not that usual glottal burst of outgoing air.

But first let’s rödök our way into this whole quagmire, armed with the knowledge that no one rödöks without meaning to hurt. It is the course of the jouster, coming at you with a long rod, albeit blunted with a pineapple, but a hurtful act nevertheless — throwing you off your horse, sweeping you clean off your verandah, face flat on earth and all that, nursing a deep wound in your anterior. Sorry about that, life wasn’t all roses in days when these words held sway.

There are things you should not rödök though, not with a barge-pole. A hornet’s nest is one, a person bigger than you is another (unless you’re absolutely certain that’ll spell ‘finis’ for him for the while). The rödökers in those times of alfresco warfare were the spear wielders, the long kris bearers and anyone who could grab a sharp stick that happened to be nearby. Now you’ll gather from these acts that to rödök one has to be in control of the piercing implement throughout, because the implement has to be guided by the hand towards the intended object, and then pushed into the same with the might of your soul. Needless to say, you’ll need a long, preferably sharp, object, such as the said spear, or a galöh. A galöh in peacetime is used to pluck fruits from a tall tree, and that’s galah in standardspeak or in the hands of posh people.

For reasons best known to the arbiters if this kind of protruding activity, you can only rödök with a long stick, but not with a toothpick or your finger. So a poke in the eye is cöcöh, with the nasal terminal. You’ll have to speak to a Trengganuer to know how that’s done, the nasal part I mean, as it’s difficult to know it without an utterer. If, when you’ve meet a Trengganuer, you poke your finger in his/her eye, s/he will — if anging dia molek — say, “La, ba’ape pulök yang mung cöcöh mata aku tu?” which, roughly translated, means, “Now, why on earth did you poke my eye for?” Cöcöh like röcöh is nasal terminalled, and is an act of well-meaning people.

That is the way it is in the monsoon land of Trengganu, it is in the winds that is the direction of our temper. Kalu anging dia mölek, if s/he is well disposed, or, literally, “If his/her wind’s favourable.”

Sometimes when mother bakes a cake, she’d pull the steaming cake from the kerosene tin oven and poke the cake with a lidi to see if it’s ready. The lidi is, by definition, a thin stick, but too thin to be an implement of rödök, so a cöcöh it will be, with a lidi. Tied together in a bunch of fifty or sixty, the single lidi turns into a collective noun, which is also a lidi, but the latter is a broom, used to brush the detritus from the floor. If the latter is used to hit the floor it gives an enchanting sound, a swashbuckling like effect , used perhaps by the wife of a wayward husband who comes home at an indecent hour. The sound of a bunch of lidi hitting the floor is also much feared by cats, and is a signal for them to keep away from the grilled mackerel.

The single lidi comes from the spine of the coconut leaf, and is the single most useful item in kampong life. Shortened and sharpened, it is used to staple together the punnet made from the coconut leaf that holds our tepung pelita. In Makyong or Rodat (I’m not sure which now) that used to be performed on a stage built on oil barrels on Padang Malaya, a tarted up lady would appear with a lidi in her hand and a tiara on her head. She’d sing a lillting ditty and then use the bunched lidi to whack the picaresque character, normally a man under a semutar. Errr, errr, errr.... she would go (for such was the tone of her ditty) and then Whack! Whack! Whack!, the lidi would land on the male character.

She was entitled to do so, I’m sure, for there came just mild protestations from the male. She was, after all, the Leading Lidi.
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* squid
** Multiple hooks for catching squids. Musing ccandak sutong. Squid catching season.

NOTE: All acts mentioned in this blog may be dangerous and where required, have been done under controlled conditions or between consenting adults. Please do not try them at home.