Look who is among y’ol, Penangites

 

Not stalking, but following. I did that to this elderly man, who I value his creativities and his enthusiasm on Arts.

By purely coincidence, nothing to do with cheese nor burger,  my internet browsing pointed to his blogsite http://cheeseburgerbuddha.blogspot.com/

I started reading and reading more, but could not finish my reading as I had to also read and figure out the meaning in between the lines. Lots of them, which at times I could not understand. Somehow, there is something in his illustrations that makes me keep on wanting to follow his journals, other than liking his sketches and paintings.

This Penangite is an international Artist. His name is Shamsul Bahari, which doesn't mean anything.

Who..??

He is just an ordinary mixed up kid, singing Rudy toot-toot to the moon. He said that as part of his intro about who he is. I don't know if he was referring to the song lyrics, which I’ve never heard throughout my younger age,  or does it express an untold story about him. That keeps me continue visiting his blogsite, searching for the answers. As I was planning to visit a few clients up north the peninsular. I decided to give it a try. I emailed to him about my intention to visit him.

Due to long lingered prior meetings, my business partner and I reached the Pearl of Orient, Penang Island at dusk. It was too late to meet. So we agreed to meet on the following day.

There he was, dropping everything he was working on, spending his valuable time, showing me his art works. 

Who would believe that he has captured everything that I could think of, about this nostalgic place, Penang Island. Tricycle, temple, the oldest mosque, the clock tower, Komtar, Gurney drive, bubur cha-cha hawker stall, the ‘Songkok’ maker, Chinese Opera, famous local celebrities, just name it, you will find it in his 100ft long drawing block. He did it all by himself. Salute you, Sir.

Such a valuable master piece of Penang heritage.

Still in the making, he is also sketching all his sights, seen from his previous experience working in a heavy industrial fields

More and more of his art works were shown to me. I am touched, Sir. Thanks for your time.

I felt guilty a ‘lil, but I enjoyed my journey through all his creativities. And I wanted to see more. He even brought me to where he meditates through his blogging activities and  does his paperworks.

He showed me volumes and volumes of his early sketches.

They should be preserved properly and stored in a safer place. But, where?

They should be known, but by who?

I reserved my thoughts. We continued our walk to the next building, where had his work pending due to my arrival.

        

It was past lunch time. He skipped his lunch waiting for me to come. I agreed to accompany him for lunch. He took me to the port. What a nice scenery, but there is nothing for him to eat there. The restaurant was still closed. We made do with only drinks and chips.

I’m married to wonderful Penangite and I had been to the island many times. Somehow, that was my first time sitting by the ocean, overseeing ‘Pulau Jerjak’ (Jerjak Island) right infront of me. I was there with Shamsul Bahari, the Penang owned International Artist.

I witness the picturesque beauty of the Pulau Jerjak, located about 20 minutes ferry ride.

After a short chat , sharing a little expression about our lives and socialization concepts, we headed back to the museum of Universiti Sains Malaysia, where we met initially.

It was time to depart. I had to return to where I left my colleague. USM library, where the presentation was held. In fact, I was there to provide a moral support to the business partner of mine, in her presentation, instead, I chose to detour my direction, in order to meet the artist.

To my pleasant surprise, he got me something valuable to carry.

Oh my God..!!!!!  Its for me..????

I didn't know what to say other than THANK YOU….once again… thank you very much, Sir.

To the librarian, I mentioned and suggested a preservation method on all the paintings that were shown to me not too long ago. She was surprise that I knew what were there behind the wall of the museum. She admitted that she had never been there. After listening to my story, she planned to make a visit, someday. I hope she will bring the matter to her management. I mean… about ‘preservation’. Its not a jargon word to libraries on the other side of the world.

Look what we have and who we have. Appreciate them while they are still around. Don't wait until there is  nothing else to say, but ‘Sayang’, which in this context, means  ‘what a waste’.