The History of Punggek

Many has asked me this question "What is Punggek?" and to be honest, I never gave it a lot of thought.
But i remember my mother told me few years earlier that when I was small, I used to say the word a lot with my sister but the meaning it represent was not a good one. In the olden days, it was a taboo for kids to say bad words and we were brought up in a world where no bad word existed except the word "bad". We weren't even introduced to the word "beat" although we always got a good beating from our parents almost everday. So my mother told me that me and my sister created the word Punggek to fill the 'void' in our already limited volcabularly.

"I punggek you afterward!" is one of the example that would come out from our mean mouths. So the original meaning of Punggek is "beat". However, concerned with our creativity, my mother introduced us the the word "beat" and the word faded as suddenly as we invented it when.
But when i received a 'revelation' during SALT 1 in Brothers Bungalow to rejuvenate the word. Like in Genesis, when God breathed into Adams nostrils the breath of life, the word Punggek started to wake up in a totally different environment. Full of love, the word took another meaning in its second life.

Compassion.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

A treasure hidden by the dust of memories...

Long ago was the time that I started to picture my thoughts by juggling around with words. Little did I know that it was just a spark before a lighting storm in my life of composing modern literature.

Odd as it may seems, brought up speaking Shakespeare's tongue, I composed in the Polynesian language of Malay. Looking in the mirror, I see not an emotional person but a very practical one. A paradox in the beginning? What might be the end?

My infant 'talent' was spotted by the most unsuspecting person I might have imagine and it began oddly, by an instruction no one cared about. A task no one took serious about. I did it also out of pure ignorance. Lavender was the title...

She saw my thoughts through Lavender. She saw me through Lavender. All she asked me to do was to write more.

I was hesitant since it was a less than a game, more like an assignment to me. I shrug it off my mind like a mosquito on my shoulder. But then I did as she asked me to do.

A few months ahead and about 50 poems later, I received a call from DBP. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. I was chosen from among thousands of literature students in Sarawak to represent in a 2 week conference in KL. All expenses paid by the government. A science student representing the state for literature. Hmm... Another paradox maybe?

I was thought by the best teacher there is in this field. Rahimidin Zahari (Arthur of Anak Laut, Faisal Tehrani (Arthur of Kerana Manisnya Epal), Ramli Sarip (Artist known nation wide by the name Papa Rock) and A Samad Said himself. 2 weeks in heaven for literature students. I came back a Sasterawan Muda.

I got a few hundred dollars by writing to magazines. Got some published in Siswa where my friends found and kept dearly as their prize possession.

But sadly, my literature life was short. A very very short one. Before I was 17, I was back to a normal science student struggling with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Add Maths.

Not too long ago, my dear friends who knew me started writing about my past. One urged me to dust over my thinking hat and flick on my literature fingers. We joked around and fondle with our past memories. I didn't know I have people admiring my work; or one might call it... fans. But yes, I do have. Maybe not as many as Justin Bieber or Super Junior but I do have some. As little as the number 1 maybe, I still have it.

It came to me that I might not be as late as I think I am. I might still have the spark that can turn into a lightning storm.

Maybe, I can still find my treasure and dust off all recent memories to relive my past and maybe, relive it permanently this time...

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