The Game of Gömök

My story of the buöh gömök has resurrected many ghosts and brought many memories to many people. I reproduce here (with translation) an email I received from my friend Mat Mbong of Kuala Trengganu.

"Mase kecik-kecik dulu adelah jugak mmain buöh gömök tu.

"Buoh ning ade jugok orang panggil buoh gandu atau buoh ipei. Name lain, tapi buoh tu lle je. Kalu nok mmain buoh ning ade macang-macang care.

"1. Lukis satu bulatang atah tanoh lebih kurang besor beseng, pah tu wat satu garisan lebih kurang 20 kai dari bulatang tu kemudian bbadi lepor (jangan plekong) biar die sserek (slide) masuk ddalang bulatang tu. Kalu dok masuk kire 'out'. Orang hok buoh die ade ddalang bulatang buleh ambik buoh dia (ikut giliranglah) dang gi lluar bulatang pah tu uting buoh sape die nok pakoh. Kalu duoh hok die pakoh tu klecat keluar orang tu 'out'lah dengan syarat buoh tukang pakoh tu dok keluar dari bulatang. Pah tu orang kedue pulok ambik giliran. Sut sut tinggal se je buah ipei ddalang bulatang. Hoh, orang tulah dikire benang.

"2. Budok-budok hok tinggal ttepi sungai, dia pilih buah gomok hok leper-leper kemudian die bbadi lacor ke atah permukaan air. Dok leh golek, kene lacor wi jadi dia nnopk cakting-cakting atah air. Kite bilanglah berape kali dia nnocat. sape banyok dia benang. Pah tu jerba ke dalang air brenang gi ambik buah gomok masing. Kalu byuoh gomok tu hanyuk jauh dok dang ambik, nasib tuang dielah. Kalu tuang die hanyut, nasib buöh gömök lah die takdok ttuang doh.

"3. Kadang-kadang budok-budok ning, nye cari buah gomok besar dan leper (flat) bukang kepek (dented) kemudian nye tebok lubang ttengah lebih kurang besar pitih lima seng, korek buang isi habis, masak timoh sampai cair (timoh boleh cokeh diwayar burok (zamang dulu die orang dok pakai casing, die pakai jalur timoh lebih kurang lebor ssuku inci dang dipaku kiri kanang wayar supaye wayar tu kemas. Hoh, timoh tu lah, ambik banyok-banyok, bile massok doh cair teruh tuang ke dalam buaoh gomok tu. Nok molek tanang buog gomok tu ddalang tanoh biar timoh derah sejok. Doh siap molek boleh mmain gambor. Sorang-sorang wat tubek 2 atau 3 keping gambor kemudia tanang gambor berdiri atah tanoh. Wat satu garisang lebih kurang 30 kaki dari gambor kemudian sserek(slide) buöh gömök tu ikut giliran. Kalu buöh gömök sape hok kene gambor tu danggambor-gambor tu kelecat hanyarkkubang, make semue gambor tu boleh ke dielah. Kalu dok kene, orang yang kedue pulok cube. Kalu nok wi panjang sikit mainang tu, cacang gambor macang pagor, hoh nok wi tebalik semue tu ppeluh lah.

"4. Care yang lebih popular lagi, tanang gambor macang tadi tapi wat urat atah tanoh lebih dekat, lebih kurang 15 kaki. Letok buöh gömök di belakang urat, berdiricre mengiring (misalnyya pandang ke kanang dang gambor berade sebelah kiri kite), kaki kirilangkoh satu langkoh kedepang (mase tu tubuh jadi ppewenglah), letak buöh gömök tepi kaki kanang dekak ibu kaki kemudian twis kaki kanang anti-clock wise supaye buöh gömök tu sserek ke aroh gambor. Mung tengoklah, kalu boleh buah same sedah, macang orang mmain golf hole in one lah. Boleh angkat tabek!"

I used to play with this buöh gömök when I was small.

This seed is also called buöh gandu or buöh ipé. Different names, but the same seed exactly. There are many ways of playing games with it.

1. Draw a cricle on the ground, approximately the size of a basin, then draw a straight line about 20 feet from the cricle. Then you compete with each other by tossing (not hurling) the seed in such a way that it will slide into the circle. If it fails to enter the circle, then you're out. The player whose buöh gömök is in the circle can now take it out of the circle (according to turn of course) and then take aim to hit whichever one he pleases. If the buöh gömök that he hits is pushed out of the circle, then the player whose seed is out leaves the game, the condition being that the seed that pushes it out comes to rest within the circle. And then the second player takes his turn and so on until only one buöh gömök remains in the circle. And that is the winner, of course.

2. Children who live on the riverbank select the buöh gömök that are flatter in shape. Then they compete by skimming the seeds on the surface of the water. You do not roll it on the water, but throw it in such a way that it will skim on the surface of the water. You count how many times the seed skims and jumps on the surface, the greatest number wins. And then we dove into the water to retrieve our buöh gömök. If the seed drifts far away and is irretrievable, tough luck. If the owner of the buöh gömök drifts away, then tough luck for the seed, now an orphaned buöh gömök.

3. Sometimes the children look for a buöh gömök that is big with a flat but not dented surface. A hole is made in the centre of the seed, approximately the size of a five cent colin, and through this hole the kernel of the seed is dug out. Molten lead is poured in through this hole (the lead can be taken from old wiring (in those days we did not use casings for electrical wiring, but wires were held in place by strips of lead of approximately a quarter of an inch wide). Yes, that's the one, taks as much as you need, heat them, and then, when they have melted, pour into the buöh gömök. To obtain the best result, bury the buöh gömök in the sand so that the lead will cool down quicker. When it is ready, you can play "Photo Cards". Each player produces 2 or 3 photo cards that they stick in the stand. Draw a line about 30 feet from those upright photo cards and then take turns to slide the buöh gömök in the sand to hit the cards. The player who hits the cards, throwing them helter-skelter all over the place takes them all. If a player misses, then the next player takes his turn. To lengthen the game, stand the cards upright like a fence. It will take some effort to topple them all in a throw.

4. A more popular way of playing this game: stick the cards into the sand as above but draw a line closer to the arrangement, about 15 feet away. Place the buöh gömök behind the line, then the player stands there, facing another side. For instance, the player stands looking to the right while the cards stand to his left hand side. Take a step forward with the left foot (your body will now be twisted), place the buöh gömök by your right foot, near your big toe, and then, twist your right foot anti-clockwise to send the buöh gömök sliding towards the cards. See if you can topple the cards in one shot, the way golfers do their hole in one. If so, Salute!

A Long Way From the Shore

While walking in West London this morning something astonishing appeared in my footstep. I recognised it at once as the buöh gömök of Old Trengganu, as we used to collect from the shore of Ujong Tanjong among the debris brought down by the waters from upstream, and then washed ashore by the waves at the kuala.

I don't know how this buöh gömök came to West London, but looking at it closely I saw that an eyelet had been embedded into it to take a string or lanyard. In fact, if you look closely at the photo you'll see there a bit of string still, so I suspect that this seed has been swung around, served as a pendant, or has knocked many times against another in the manner of ye old British conkers. It may have been brought here by someone from the West Indies, or it could have dropped from the pocket of a passing East Coast Malaysian (Pak Zawi?), or someone who's been to a US department store.

The buöh gömök is what's called buöh beluru in Kelantan (as I was told by Pak Zawi), and in Trengganu I suspect that mighty gömök trees grew along the riverbanks, upstream in the ulu where nobody but woodcutters and the Sang Kelambai ventured to go. If you see woodcutters in the wild, do, by all means, say hello, but if an elderly woman crosses your path in the woods, never give her the time of day, as she may be the Sang Kelembai whose glare will petrify you. And there you shall be, under the gömök tree, immobilised and unrescued, for ever more.

This gömök seed is a native of the old world tropics that embrace parts of India, the Philippine islands and the Nusantara, as well as some parts of China. Botanically it is known as Entada phaseoloides, and it has cousins and brothers in Africa (where it is known as E. rheedei) and in the New World (E. gigas). The gigas variety is hard and shiny brown just like our gömök but is also intriguingly heart-shaped. The entada comes in seed pods, much like our petai (Parkia speciosa ), and the Entada gigas holds the record for having the world's longest pod, some stretching to six feet in length.

Entada seeds must be among the world's most resilient. The heart-shaped gigas, coming adrift from South America, are carried by the currents to shores as far away as Norway. The phaseoloides visited us in Tanjong after being knocked about in the spiralling waters in the monsoon months, and in the United States, phaseoloides and rheedi seeds are sold in department stores, for use as anchoring base for dry flower arrangements, and as playthings for young minds uncorrupted by computer games and the telly. In Trengganu we picked these seeds from the shore, we spat on them and polished them and filled them with lead, and we used them as our kör.

The kernel of the gömök is used for medicine in many cultures, and the African variety, the rheedei, is also known as the Dream Seed for the hallucinogenic inducing properties of its kernel. In Tanjong we used to bore a hole on the side of the E. phaseoloides with a gimlet (ggörèk) and we'd leave the seed out overnight for ants to feed on and probably get high to the eyeballs on the kernel. The empty shell is then filled with heavy metal, long before heavy metal became the anthem of the sozzled.

Kernel Note: Please don't try anything suggested in the last paragraph at home as the results may scare you more than the petrifying stare of Sang Kelembai.