Catur and Taking up chess

These were two chess books for beginners that I put out in the 1990s. Not to say that I was particularly proud of the quality. In the days where computerised type-setting was still primitive enough, I noticed to my consternation lots of typographical errors when the books were published eventually. 

The Bahasa book came out first in 1991. What happened was that sometime in 1990, three of my old mates came a-visiting. And pretty soon, the conversation turned to how I could take my chess column - at that time, I was already writing a chess column in The Star newspaper for a few years - up another level. One of them suggested that I could write a beginner's book on chess, and another suggested that I write it in English and he could then translate it into Bahasa.

So that's how it eventually came to pass that my first book came out in 1991. To be fair to my two friends, I proposed adding their names as co-writers since it was the idea of one of them and the translation work of the other. By the way, I've to put on record my initial uneasiness when I saw my friend, Jimmy Liew, featured on the cover. He was the best player in the country at that time but at no time during the book's production was I ever shown the proposed cover. The decision and approval were all the publisher's to make. Was it their attempt to sell the book? I don't know. Over the years, I shared the royalty with my two friends. Then in 1995, we decided to issue the book in its original English version - but updated - and the publisher was quite agreeable with it. But I did insist that we should have a neutral cover design this time.

But as I said, I wasn't particularly happy with the errors that appeared in the books. I had to give the publisher my draft and they had to retype it to suit their format. Nobody knows how many errors were made in my typing and theirs too. Thankfully, they are now out of print. Suffice it to say that this was an achievement that I would rather not have. But for the record, I have to mention the books here in my blog. 

Thank you

Real vs make-belief

I've come to the end of that Netflix mini-series, The Queen's Gambit; watched all the seven episodes and also come to the conclusion that despite my initial scepticism the show was, after all, very well-made and worth your time to watch. The final episode was especially good, worthy of the cost of subscription to Netflix itself. In fact, I even watched the final 30 minutes twice, fascinated by the tension and quality of the featured game. 

But why should this seventh episode be so good? Firstly, there was the emotional tug that the protagonist had to deal with: the demise of the one man that uncovered her potential and made her dogged ambition possible. Then, as I had mentioned before in another post, chess had become this extension of the Cold War, East-West conflict and the Communism-Democracy ideology; all rolled into one. Those things apart, this was also a mini-series about chess players overcoming their personal internal demons to triumph at the end. After all, doesn't chess mirror life, and life chess?  

In The Queen's Gambit, it was about a fictional American teenage female prodigy beating a fictional Soviet world chess champion in a game that mattered most to her after two previous losses in past years. Nothing like a loss-loss-victory sequence of results to give the show its final feel good stir-up.

That crucial game in the seventh episode had my wife and I -- and she's not a chess player....well, perhaps a very, very rudimentary understanding of the game -- gripped to our seats but as many chess commentators have already revealed, right up till the 37th move the make-belief Elizabeth Harmon-Vasily Borgov game had mirrored the real-life game between Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Patrick Wolff of the United States, played in 1993 at the Biel Interzonal in Switzerland. By the way, Ivanchuk was a famous ceiling watcher. During his games, he is known to seek answers by staring at the ceiling.

After 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nc6 4. Be3 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. d5 Ne7 7. Bxc4 Ng6 8. f3 Bd6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. Nge2 a6 11. Bb3 b5 12. a4 O-O 13. O-O Qe7 14. Rac1 Nh5 15. g3 h6 16. Bc2 Rab8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ra1 Ra8 19. Bd3 Bb4 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Qc2 Bc5 22. Nd1 Bd6 23. Nf2 Nhf4 24. Rc1 Qg5 25. Kh1 Qh5 26. Ng1 Nxd3 27. Nxd3 f5 28. Nc5 Bc8 29. Rf1 Ne7 30. Qd3 fxe4 31. fxe4 Qg6 32. Kg2 Kh7 33. Nf3 Ng8 34. Nh4 Qg4 35. Nf5 Nf6 36. h3 Qg6, the following position was reached:

Ivanchuk chose to bolster his knight's position with 37. g4 and the game went on for another 35 moves before both the players agreed to a draw: 37....Bxc5 38. Bxc5 Ra4 39. Rf3 Rc4 40. Be7 Bxf5 41. Rxf5 Rd4 42. Qe3 Rxe4 43. Qf3 Rf4 44. Rxf4 exf4 45. Bxf6 Qxf6 46. Qd3+ Qg6 47. Qe2 c6 48. Kf3 cxd5 49. Kxf4 Qf6+ 50. Kg3 Qd6+ 51. Kf3 b4 52. h4 Qf6+ 53. Kg3 Qd6+ 54. Kf3 Qf6+ 55. Kg3 g6 56. Qe8 Qd6+ 57. Kf3 Kg7 58. g5 hxg5 59. hxg5 d4 60. Qe4 d3 61. Qb7+ Kf8 62. Qc8+ Ke7 63. Qb7+ Ke6 64. Qe4+ Kd7 65. Qb7+ Kd8 66. Qa8+ Kc7 67. Qa7+ Kc8 68. Qa8+ Kc7 69. Qa7+ Kc6 70. Qa6+ Kc5 71. Qxd6+ Kxd6 72. Ke3 Ke5 1/2-1/2

Whereas in the mini-series, the fictional Harmon chose 37. Ne6 and got an immediate advantage after 37....Ra4 38. b3 Rxe4 39. Nxd6 Bxe6 40. dxe6 cxd6 41. e7 d5 42. Bc5 Qe8 43. Qf3 Qc6 44. b4 Qe8 45. Qf5+ Kh8 46. Qxf6 gxf6 47. Rxf6 Qh5 48. Rf8+ Kg7 49. e8=Q Re2+ 50. Kf1 Qxh3+ 51. Kxe2 Qg2+ 52. Rf2 Qe4+ 53. Kd2 1-0

It must be said that The Queen's Gambit had its credentials boosted as the producers had even gotten Bruce Pandolfini and Gary Kasparov as the special consultants for the series. I heard that they had coached and choreographed Anya Taylor-Joy and her co-star, Thomas Brodie-Sangster. And I suppose they must have also come up with the choices of master-level games that appeared throughout the series.

The only exception that I can take in this final episode of the mini-series is that when Borgov requested for an adjournment, it wasn't even the 40th move in the actual Ivanchuk-Wolff game. That was an artistic licence that the producers took, and it had happened in an earlier episode too, but in the context of The Queen's Gambit, I suppose it was needed to justify the storyline. But it won't happen in a real chess tournament back in the 1960s or even until the 1990s. With the advent of computer analysis, adjournments were eliminated from chess games. Back in those days when adjournments were the order of the day, they were time for the seconds to thoroughly analyse the positions overnight while the players slept off their mental exertions. The next morning, their seconds would report their findings -- the best defences and the best attacks -- to the respective players.

DON'T be a hero

I have seen more artefacts from my old Ban Hin Lee Bank days in the last one month than I've ever cared for previously: items ranging from red packets, paper weights, ash trays, corporate ties, calendars, diaries, key chains, coinboxes, photographs, employment letters, correspondences....the whole lot! 

Even the range of operations manuals, correspondent bank arrangement manuals, services standard procedures manuals and data processing manuals, I have flicked through them all. But nothing surprised me more than to see a stack of pink manuals for those banking operations deemed more sensitive. Among them, steps for the branches to take during a robbery. Among the Do's and Don'ts that the staff were required to remember was this gem, which brought a big grin to my face:

The queen's gambit

(Image: Netflix)

I'm being reminded of my youth; my own obsession with the game of chess. I've been watching that Netflix original series, The Queen's Gambit, and am now at the end of the fifth episode. Well, it is not exactly an exciting series to follow but it intrigues me as an amateur chess player and former columnist. Plus, there's good Sixties music here: Mason Williams' Classical Gas, for example. 

But I wonder why this series is Number One on Netflix currently, or why it is Number Two among the Malaysian subscribers. Are there so many chess players out there with Netflix subscriptions? And who are the non-chess players that are watching?

There are enough names being bandied around to enthrall the chess players. Most seasoned chess players will recognise the heavyweight names that have been dropped: Morphy, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Reshevsky, Rossolimo, Alekhine, Capablanca, Philidor. Tal? Korchnoi? I might have missed their names. So much name dropping to give the average chess player-in-the-street a thrill; to give them the chance to turn to their partner or companion in triumph and beam with delight, saying, "See? She knows of all these important chess players." 

But of course, Vasily Borgov, like Elizabeth (Beth) Harmon, are completely fictional characters. Borgov happens to be the world chess champion from the Soviet Union. Typically, his KGB minders are following him every step of the way. And Harmon is the teenaged female prodigy from the good old United States who works alone almost all the time. The anti-hero of this television show. Cold War. East versus West. Communism against democracy. You get the drift. No Bobby Fischer here, not even a whisper of his hallowed name yet, but there is a fictional Benny Watts who steps in as the reigning US champion and who offers friendship and guidance to Harmon.

The Queen's Gambit is a novel by Walter Tevis. I had read this book about 35 years ago but naturally, the story line's been forgotten. Book has also been misplaced. It's somewhere in the store room and I'm too lazy to search for it. Thus, watching this series is like watching it with a completely fresh mind. 

But I think the climax of this show will be pretty predictable. We can see that beating Borgov is her obsession and ultimate goal, and I sense that by the time this series ends - and I've two more episodes to watch - Harmon will achieve just that. Already in the fifth episode, it already hints at that. She will go to Moscow and play in the international tournament there and she will use the occasion to beat Borgov on his home turf.

An Halloween tale

Actually, I have a good Covid-19 Halloween tale to tell but I was too lazy to write about it yesterday. But here I am today, all ready to put pen down on paper to recount my ordeal of living through some self-inflicted ordeal in the last two weeks or so. As you know, I was in Taiping just a day before the town was declared a red zone by the Health authorities, although I never did get to know where in Taiping the infections were detected. Could have been far away, or it could have been on the same road that I was moving about on.

Anyway, that was on the 15th of October. A week later on the 24th, I met up in George Town with an ex-colleague from my banking days. We had an assignment: him taking close-up photographs of some souvenir items. For almost three hours, we had interacted within six feet of one another. We had then agreed to meet up again on the 29th to complete the session.

On the 28th afternoon, he telephoned me to say that the session had to be postponed. Reason was because he had been called by the Health authorities through contact tracing to present himself for medical investigation. The day before our initial meet-up, he was having a departmental lunch with his colleagues at the TGIF restaurant in Queensbay Mall, Penang, and the news had spread like wild fire that someone infected with Covid-19 had dined there as well on the 23rd.

You can imagine the alarm that spread within my family. If he had been exposed to the virus, here I was in a difficult position. I felt rather uncomfortable. If he was infected, the three hours I spent with him could be dangerous too. The only factor in my favour was that I was wearing a mask throughout the whole time and that would have cut down the odds a lot.

It was a waiting game for him to keep me informed of further developments but I was prepared to go into self-isolation should the need arose. Not only me but my wife too. Meanwhile, my son had been instructed not to return home until the coast was clear. I had an appointment on Saturday, which I had to postpone to later.

Finally, i received a call from my ex-colleague on the 29th afternoon. The Health authorities had given him the all-clear. His was at a departmental lunch at the TGIF restaurant while the infected person had ate there in the evening. Their paths had not crossed at all. So he was clear, and so was I. Big sigh of relief.

But this close shave brings a thought to me. One cannot be too careful with our movements nowadays. Everywhere looks like a place for a potential booby trap. Every person you meet is a potential source of infection because you can never know where he has been or whom he has been in contact with. The onus is on everyone of us to take care of ourselves as best as we can. 

Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands often, discard your soiled clothes every time you return from an extended trip outside your home. Most importantly, make use of the MySejahtera app on your mobile to record your every movement and facilitate contact tracing. 

Hainanese chicken chop

Well, it has been a fortnight since my trip to Taiping and Kuala Kurau with Saw See and Wong Hiong Wah. Mana eh chai, the day after our road trip, Taiping was declared a red zone for the coronavirus. That really put us in a bit of a bother since coming back because we really didn't know which part of Taiping was affected. The MySejahtera app on the mobile proved particularly helpful, in retrospect. I keyed in Jalan Pasar, because that was where we went for brunch. No reported cases within a kilometre, it said. I keyed in Antong coffee factory, because that was where we made an unscheduled stop before leaving Taiping. Also no reported cases. I heaved a sigh of relief. I guess my friend would have too.

But what were we doing in Taiping in the first place? Actually, my first intention was to visit Hiong Wah to borrow some of his Ban Hin Lee Bank stuff. But days earlier, I had also invited him to follow us down to Taiping and Kuala Kurau, and he readily agreed to join us. So after picking him up, we scooted down to Taiping. "There's a place there that I want to eat," I told him, "it serves the very best Hainanese chicken chop. Even better than the ones in Penang or Kuala Lumpur."

I've written briefly about the Yut Sun restaurant in the past but I don't mind repeating here that this Hainanese restaurant has survived more than 100 years old. It's probably the second or third generation running the place now. Where we ate was at their traditional location in Jalan Pasar but they have a newer branch just across the road. Air-conditioned and probably the food is a bit more expensive. 

But why go there when I can sit back enjoy some old-world charm with the overhead ceiling fans slowly turning? A group of Malay customers were enjoying their meals nearby as we walked in; so obviously the food must be halal. And during the course of our meals, I observed other Malays and Indians flitting in and out of the restaurant. 

Coming back to the Hainanese chicken chop that we ordered - we all ordered the same - nothing much has changed since my last time here in July last year: a portion of chicken breast meat bathed in a delicious gravy and served with chunky potatoes, a slice of tomato and some green peas. Isn't that what Hainanese chicken chop is all about? Yes, of course, but we all agreed that this one was the best ever. And that it has to be cooked in a small town like Taiping makes it an undiscovered gem among all the Hainanese restaurants I have known.

Old red packets

These old angpow long harks back to a time when red packets were simpler and less pretentious. And you could still stuff a RM50 note into any of them...easily 😆. I happened to unearth these red packets from a friend when I was searching for some from the old Ban Hin Lee Bank as I've embarked on a project. I'm sure many people would have come across them too. They are now collectors items. The question I asked some other friends were: which design was your favourite?

Hutchings commemorative service 2020

Amidst the second surge of the Covid-19 (or third surge if you believe the government authorities). a scaled-down commemorative service for Robert Sparke Hutchings was held at the old Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road, George Town, Penang at seven o'clock in the morning on 21st October 2020, attended by six senior prefects and the Senior Assistant of Penang Free School (Hutchings founded the school in 1816), the Red Crescent members and a school teacher of Hutchings Secondary School (named after Hutchings, obviously), several Old Frees, parishioners from the St George's Church (which Hutchings had a hand in its establishment in 1819) and other well-wishers, thus making this year's attendance surprisingly quite decent. But we kept our social distance throughout the service and after.

The six senior prefects from Penang Free School at the commemorative service

The Penang Free School prefects laying the wreaths at Hutchings' grave

Very nice of Inesh Dillon, last years School Captain, to turn up too.

The Old Frees at the commemorative service. Missing from this picture was Sean Ho.

The boys from Hutchings Secondary School.

Me with the prefects from Penang Free School.

The grave of Robert Sparke Hutchings. The smaller grave happened to be that of his grand-daughter, Marian Isabel Macleane, who died in 1852 at the tender age of seven months.

 

Threesome?

Had a terrific storm in Bukit Mertajam yesterday morning. The gusts of howling wind blew open my partially-closed window and there was rainwater all over my bedroom floor. But luckily, no damage to the bed or table. 

After the storm was over, I went to my flower pots and noticed several snails chomping away on my greens. Yucks, snails. 

Got to eliminate them or else they'll continue to infest my plants. So I placed them aside on the road while continuing to search for more of these garden pests. No more to be found except for these four. 

Found that three of them were now enjoying an orgy of sorts while the disinterested fourth snail decided to slime itself away.

 

Revisiting Sitiawan

Since the movement control order was imposed in mid-March this year, my wife and I haven't been anywhere outside of Penang. Not since the 18th of last month, anyway. As my wife had an appointment in Taiping, we took the opportunity to revisit Sitiawan too. Somehow our schedule was too tight in Taiping and we had no time for lunch there. After a quick visit to a fast food joint, we set forth for the coastal Hockchiew town in Perak, arriving there after a leisurely two-hour drive.

One of the reasons why we had Sitiawan in our minds was to seek out some local Hockchiew food. On top of our list was the red yeast wine chicken meesuah soup, the sweet and sour fish maw soup and their crispy oyster omelette. We would have ordered their homemade tauhu but we were stuffed: after all, there were only a party of two at the table.

Lunch over, we headed over to an unnamed timsum shop behind the Yee Si Restaurant but as luck would have it, it was closed or otherwise we would have loaded ourselves with their crushed peanut-filled mantou. So it was with some reluctance that we went to the nearby Chop Wah Seong to pick up their dried meesuah, bottled red yeast wine and also the famed Kampong Koh chilli sauce. 

This is the sweet and sour fish maw soup.

The Hock Chiew red yeast wine chicken meesuah soup.

And the fabulous fried oyster omelette.

The Settlement Museum is possibly one of the most interesting attractions in Sitiawan. Located right next to the Methodist Church, the museum chronicles the history of the town's people and activities, and especially the Methodist Christian movement in the area. 

I've visited this place a rather long time ago but for my wife, it was a first occasion for her. During our previous visit, the museum had been closed for upgrade. It now open, of course, but visitors now have to pay a fee to tour the premises. The museum is quite well laid out with lots of exhibits and there is a new wing at the back of the old building. I was quite fascinated with the displays of old radiograms and record players. The place is well worth a visit.

Mooncake festival

Yesterday was the 15th day of the Chinese lunar month. Traditionally on this day, we would celebrate the Mid-Autumn Mooncake Festival. There are legends surrounding this festival, mostly centering on the fairy in the moon but for too many years already, the Chinese people are now more realistic. There is no life on the moon, let alone fairies. Yet we still celebrate this festival today but it is more of a cultural tradition than anything else. So there I was again at the Swee Cheok Tong (Seh Quah Kongsi) to worship at the altars of our resident deities and also the ancestral tablets. As per our practice, each of us - the trustees and committee members that attended - were given a box of mooncakes. This year, I requested the Treasurer to include a Ngor Jeen or assorted nuts mooncake in my box. This mooncake flavour has become out of favour in the past years as more imaginative and innovative fillings take over. These newer fillings are not to my liking though, as they do not taste any better than the traditional ones, Yet if the mooncake festival needs to survive, there must certainly be revamps to the mooncakes themselves.

UNESCO biosphere reserve for Penang Hill?

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/19/cabinet-approves-penang-hill-bid-for-unesco-status/

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/19/unesco-recognition-for-penang-hill-expected-in-two-years-says-phc/1904807

From the Free Malaysia Today and The Malay Mail websites come this story about Penang Hill Corporation's bid for a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status:

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Hill and its surrounding areas could be accorded recognition as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve within the next two years, according to the Penang Hill Corporation (PHC).

PHC general manager Cheok Lay Leng said the Cabinet has recently approved the paperwork for the application submitted by the energy and natural resources ministry.

“We have been informed in early September that the Cabinet has approved the paperwork which will then be submitted to the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco where they may take about two years to evaluate,” he told reporters today.

Cheok said the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve will include the Penang Hill as a central park, Teluk Bahang National Park and Marine Park with an estimated 12,481 hectares of land. He added that PHC had defined the core zone, buffer zone and transition zones clearly, and areas that need to be preserved.

The Penang Hill area contains virgin jungle reserves which have been found to house 85 species of orchids, more than 100 species of birds, three iconic species of monkeys, as well as several plant, ant and spider species unique to the hill range.

Chow said Unesco recognition would benefit all Penangites and become another selling point for Penang Hill to attract more visitors. “I hope it will have the same effect as the Unesco recognition of George Town as a World Heritage Site. The tourism sector is still in its recovery stage, the Unesco Biosphere Reserve recognition will come in timely,” he said.

According to the Unesco website, biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.

At present, Unesco’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves lists 669 sites in 120 countries, including 20 transboundary sites. There are currently only two Unesco reserves in the country, Tasik Chini in Pahang and the Crocker Range, south of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. They were accorded Unesco reserve status in 2009 and 2014 respectively.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/09/19/penang-hill039s-unesco-application-may-take-one-to-two-years-to-be-approved-says-corp?

Meanwhile, here is the report from The Star newspaper:

GEORGE TOWN: It will take between one and two years for Penang Hill and its surrounding areas to be recognised as a Unesco biosphere reserve, says Datuk Cheok Lay Leng.

The Penang Hill Corporation general manager said his team started the whole Unesco biosphere reserve application process about three to four years ago.

“We completed the first version in 2017 and subsequently, we missed the deadline for submission because we had to go through a long process of approval. There are many agencies that need to sign and have to be approved by the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry before we can submit to Unesco.

He said that in recent months, the corporation has managed to get it through the whole process and the ministry has signed the application. “The ministry will have to submit the application to the Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO (MNCU), ” he told reporters at the Hillside Retreat Bungalow launching ceremony at Penang Hill on Saturday (Sept 19).

Cheok added that the corporation had met the deadline for submission, which is at the end of September. “We have to wait now. It may take one to two years and the experts from Unesco may come and visit Penang Hill and then we will take it from there. The area is about 12,480 hectares covering Penang Hill as a central park, Teluk Bahang National Park and Marine Park, as well as Penang Botanic Gardens, ” he said.

He said the wait could take longer, as Unesco might not be able to send anybody to look at Penang Hill immediately due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We will be following up very closely to speed up the process, ” he said.

According to the Unesco website, biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. At present, Unesco’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves lists 701 in 124 countries, including 21 transboundary sites. Malaysia has two biosphere reserves – Tasik Chini and the Crocker Range. Unesco biosphere reserve is recognised by how human and economic activities can coexist with nature.

Walking

I still remember how, occasionally when the weather was fine, I used to walk from the Menara BHL Bank to the ferry terminal in Weld Quay after work. That was after the bank had moved from Beach Street to Northam Road in 1995. A one-way journey could take me an hour at a stroll and stopping to cross the busy roads and looking at life around me.

63th

I was at the AEON shopping mall in Bukit Mertajam this afternoon. Was getting to walk back to the car when I strolled past a restaurant. Noticed their promotional banner but the message didn't quite register in my brain immediately. Then it hit me. I couldn't believe what I hoped I did not read. So I turned back to take a second look. Sure enough, I wasn't mistaken. How embarrassing. The depths our command of the English language has dropped. But how do you pronounce it, anyway?

Hungry ghosts festival

Ever since we've been using this new Android television set, our main preoccupation is watching movies and TV series on Netflix. Presently, nothing is more absorbing than to watch the old BBC television series, Merlin. The series is quite absorbing and it ran over five seasons in Britain from 2008 till 2012. It can be said that my wife and I are eight years too late in watching the series. 

Right now, we have just started watching Season Four. Ever since a young age, I've always been fascinated by the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. How many times have I watched that animated Disney show called The Sword In The Stone? How many times have I watched Camelot in the cinemas and listened to the soundtrack of this movie? How many times have I read The Once And Future King by TH White? And how many times have I read Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory? Too many times, indeed. That is why I'm sat in front of the television set every evening to watch an episode from this series.

Today, we were watching the first episode of the fourth season: the episode called The Darkest Hour. The story is about a sorceress tearing open a veil that connected the living world with the dead. When the veil was torn, ghoulish creatures from hell were released to cause deadly havoc in the land of the living. Quite a coincidence, I commented to my wife, that we were watching this episode during the Chinese seventh lunar month, otherwise known as the Hungry Ghosts Festival. The Cailleach in the Merlin story was their medieval equivalent of the Tai Su Yah (大士爷) in Chinese culture. Interesting that some aspects of different cultural beliefs have some similarities.

During the Hungry Ghosts Festival, as we all know, the gates of hell are opened to allow the ghosts to roam among humankind. It is during this lunar month that the Chinese will pray to the unseen inhabitants of this earth. On a certain day during the month, up to each family to decide, the spirits of our ancestors would be invited to the household and offerings would be made to them. My family practice a strictly vegetarian offering of fruits or sweet desserts to my ancestors (my paternal grand-parents, my parents and my aunt); many others would prefer a non-vegetarian offering that included chicken, roast pork and other cooked dishes. 

On the 14th day of the seventh lunar month too, I would make my way down to the Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi in the morning for worship, this being one of the cultural traditions that we have been observing since the early 19th Century when the first clansmen arrived from the Ow-Quah village in Hokkien Province, China. We would be praying to our resident deities and also to the memorial tablets of deceased clansmen.

Normally, it would be a challenge to find a parking space for the car along the road but it was pretty easy this time because there wasn't any makeshift outdoor stage erected along the road to celebrate the occasion. In fact, all over Penang, both on the island and the mainland, there was hardly any outdoor stage seen. No open celebration of the Hungry Ghosts Festival due to the coronavirus pandemic. No massive outdoor stages, no giant paper effigies of the Tai Su Yah, no stage shows, no open-air Chinese dinners and hence, no traffic jam on the roads. Quite a muted affair. Quite sad how the pandemic has put paid to a lot of Chinese festivals this year. Unable to go for Cheng Beng in April this year and now, unable to celebrate the Hungry Ghosts Festival in August/September. 

Of course, the absence of the roadside stages has economic ramifications beyond the Hungry Ghost Festival. The stages provide an avenue of income for the Chinese opera performers and entertainers. Normally, the stages are not removed immediately at the close of the Chinese seventh month. The Mooncake Festival of the Chinese eighth month also provides these performers with an extended opportunity to earn a living, which doesn't look forthcoming this year. It also remains to be seen whether the traditional Nine Emperor Gods processions during the Chinese ninth month can proceed this end of October. 

Self-service

This is my wife's laptop. Bought five years ago to enable her to work from home. At that time, it could boast of an Intel i5 chip and a 1TB hard disk, although a bit lacking in internal memory, what with only 4GB RAM. Solid state disks weren't popular yet and besides, were expensive. So I had plumbed for that configuration. Value for money, I thought. 

The laptop served her well enough. As she used it mostly for word and spreadsheet processing, it could be considered under-utilised. But for whatever reason, it began slowing down. Took a long time to boot up and to open programs. Sometimes, had to wait almost five minutes before she could start any work. No prize for guessing correctly who was pressured to do something about this. 

Sometime last year, I bought a 512GB solid state drive. Had wanted to replace her hard disk with it. However....every time I wanted to take away the laptop, she was hogging it. So I deferred the moment to a better time, which never came. But finally, the frustration got to her recently and she implored me to do the upgrade as soon as possible.

At first, I took the laptop to a nearby computer shop along Jalan Maju in Bukit Mertajam, which shall remain unnamed. Showed them the laptop and asked for a quotation. The shop assistant texted me on the next day. The cost for a 512GB SSD, formatting it and installing Windows 10, and setting the old hard disk into a new external casing would cost me RM698. How much was the 512GB SSD, I asked back. The reply: RM400.

I knew that I was being ripped off. They had no qualms about ripping off this old uncle. RM400 for a 512GB solid state drive? The last I checked on Lazada, this SSD was available for abour RM210. Okay, so the price has risen very slightly over the past year but it doesn't matter much. I would willingly pat RM210 for a new 512GB SSD today if I had not already have one. If the computer shop was going to charge me RM400 for an SDD that could be bought online for RM210, I wondered what other inflated prices they were going to be thrust on me.

Back to some self-research. First, it was possible, I found out, to download an officially sanctioned copy of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website. Next, YouTube showed me how to open up the laptop and do the replacement. And that's what I did. Removed all the screws. But then I hit a problem. Tried to remove the DVD drive but couldn't do so, no matter what I tried. Looked so easy in the video but I really couldn't figure it out.

Resigned, on the next day I took the laptop and the SSD to the ph&co (formerly known as PC Depot) outlet close to the Pacific Megamall. The technician took a look and asked me, "No formatting required?" "Nope," I replied. "Then it will cost you RM20 for the labour charges," he said. "Okay," I said, "please proceed. And while you are at it, please also put in another 4GB of RAM." Everything was done on the spot and the bill came round to RM119. So together with the RM205 that I had paid for the SSD last year, the total cost came up to RM324 only. 

At home, I installed Windows 10 on the laptop and then added in the old Microsoft Office 2003 (yes, I'm still using this old version!) and Kaspersky Internet Suite. That's all she really needs on her laptop. No need for any other urgent bell-and-whistles program. And it is now working fine. No more complaints from her. 

 

Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony

I never realised that I owned six versions of Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony in E Minor until I was looking through my compact disc and vinyl record collection this afternoon. But this is a piece of music that I can never get tired of listening to.

The first compact disc was from The Classical Collection which I was subscribing to in the early 1990s. Every week, a new compact disc featuring works by different classical composers would be released with a magazine. I was collecting diligently but never knew how many compact discs would be there in the series. I only stopped when the numbers proved too many for me. (I stopped at No.45 but should have continued till No.50.) Anyway, this version of the Ninth Symphony was played by the Philharmonia Slavonica with Henry Adolph conducting.

The second compact disc featured the modern American composer, Leonard Bernstein, who was the musical director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. I remember watching Bernstein on black-and-white television in the 1970s. Young People's Concert, I think his programme was called and through his explanations, he made classical music so interesting. Anyway in this compact disc, he took his New York Philharmonic Orchestra through their paces.

The renowned Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker were featured in the third compact disc. A check through the Amazon website revealed that Karajan recorded this work many times; once a decade throughout his long career, so I'm told. I don't know how this 1977 version I possess would rank among the rest of them but it is impressive.

Then there was this version by the Minnesota Orchestra with Sir Neville Marriner conducting. A serious enough recording BUT with a difference. At the start or end of each movement, sonic paintings of nature were inserted, inspired by the Song of Hiawatha. So instead of the silence between movements, there would be soothing sounds of nature like water running through a stream or a thunderstorm or birds chirping. A much welcomed change but purists would certainly baulk at this compact disc. Who cares? 

And the two final versions of the Ninth Symphony were on vinyl records.From The New World was performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Karel Ancerl conducting at a time when there was still a state called Czechoslovakia, while the New World Symphony was played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their musical director, Arthur Fiedler.

 

Looking down Seang Tek Road

This is Seang Tek Road. Looking down from the Dato Kramat Road end. My old neighbourhood. Had been staying on this street until 1980. If you look at the double-storey terrace houses on both sides of the road, well, they haven't changed much, if at all, except that some have been converted into businesses where once they were all residential. Even the house I used to occupy has been converted into a restaurant. 

Looking further down the road, there are several new taller buildings, built in the last 30 years or so. Three-storey buildings, four-storey buildings, one apartment building further away, even a pseudo-heritage-looking office block. And that high-rise in the background? No, that doesn't belong to Seang Tek Road. It's located at faraway MacAlister Road but obscene enough to barge its way into the picture. That not withstanding, it's always a nostalgic walk along this road. Can't help it; I spent 26 years of my life here.

Rockwills turns 25

Today happens to be the 25th anniversary of the Rockwills International Group, the leading private estate planning company in the country. Rockwills was formally established on 23 August 1995 although it had begun operations at least a year earlier.

I can still remember that my association with Rockwills began at about the same time. This was while I was still working in Ban Hin Lee Bank or BHLBank. At that time, I had already been transferred out from the ATM Centre to the Systems & Quality Control Department of the Information Technology Division. Part of my role there as a Unit Head in SQCD was to be responsible for the development of the Operations Manuals which were used as reference materials at the branches.

It was in 1994 or 1995 that the staff was informed that the bank was going into will writing to augment its range of financial services on offer and a representative from a company called Rockwills would be giving a talk to brief us on how they would work together with the bank. SQCD as the operations manual people was required to sit in and learn from the briefing, and afterwards start to work on the manual.

We did come out with the manual on will-writing and this was first used at the Prai and the main branch on Penang island before the will writing service was extended to the Petaling Jaya and Johor Bahru branches. There could be one or two other branches throughout the country that offered this service too, but I am no longer sure.

Interestingly when my wife was working on her Diploma in Management, she used the banking procedures my team had worked out at SQCD for her thesis. I left it to her to write out the whole thesis and only came in to fill in some blanks and confirm the details. 

By the time I left the banking industry in 2001, I was already armed with a considerable amount of knowledge on the will writing service and it was a no-brainer that I decided to sign up as a franchise holder with Rockwills Corporation. I'm still in the business today although the scope has expanded considerably well beyond will writing to include offering trust services too.