REMEMBRANCE 78:UNDER THE KETAPANG TREES

Smaller blades for the younger rubber trees

Bigger blade for older rubber trees

When Nana’s Indonesian maid seek my help in buying a set of tapping knifes for her mother back home in Indonesia, I thought it was only simple task. Indonesian made tapping knives are not that durable as compared to the Malaysian made. It turned out to be a gigantic task for me when I found out that not a single hardware shop in Pekan China sell any tapping knife. On Wednesday 16 March 2011, I went down to Kubang Pasu District Office, Jitra with Shiwar driving with Nana as the other passenger.

I enquired from Pak Non, the District Office driver where should I look for the tapping knifes. Pak Non told me hardware shops at Pokok Ketapang were still in business and I could get the tapping knifes in any of the hardware shops there. Nana was worried whether I knew about the location of the shops. I told Nana that there were a lot ketapang trees along side Jalan Ibrahim and we used to enjoy our satay and laksa under the ketapang trees. With the widening of the main road, most of the ketapang trees has got to make way for the road widening. Only aging Jitrans would know about the ketapang.

Another surprise awaited Nana when she asked for the tapping knifes. The hardware vendor asked Nana whether she needed for younger rubber trees or for older rubber trees. To meet the technical requirements, Nana bought both types of rubber trees tapping knives. The difference between the two types of rubber trains was the variable sizes of the blades. For the older rubber trees, the size of the blade is bigger than those for younger rubber trees.

Three haruans under captivity

Under very tight security

Another surprise awaited us when we arrived home, when Alya told us they have caught live fresh water fishes from the drain. As there was no heavy rain that day, we wondered how on earth the fishes were found in our domestic drain. The riddle was answered when Zam told us that our neighbour, Kamal Ariff's fishes that he has caught the previous night has escaped form their basin.