The whole month of June has been jam packed for me with no breather at all! And I have to admit that this article was written some time ago and stored into my unpublished vault. It’s good to have a vault to pull stuff out from for days like these when column deadline is looming and you’re out shooting on location with no time to write.

Excuse me, Datuk, one teh tarik please!
By Zan Azlee

JULY 1 — There I was drinking my teh tarik and minding my own business at my friendly, neighbourhood mamak shop when the phone went off. I reached for my pocket and put the phone to my ear. There was silence. Then I heard a loud booming voice from behind.

“Ha, Tok! How are you?” said the voice, almost shouting.

Oh, so it wasn’t my phone ringing. It was that guy’s. The one with a weight problem wearing a beige long-sleeved shirt, obviously on his way back from work. No, I’m not writing about mamak shops. Neither am I writing about what a nuisance people on mobile phones are. So what has this got to do with my story, you wonder?

Well, the fat guy’s loud and proud voice really got to me. It was as if he wanted us to think, “Wow! That guy has friends in high places.” This got me thinking that the “famous” saying is really true. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of it. It goes a little something like this:

“If you were to throw stones into a crowded room filled with Malaysians, not only will it hit a Datuk but it will ricochet off him and hit another Datuk”. [Click to read the rest of the article at The Malaysian Insider]