Terengganu warmed up to my senses like a scent from a new perfume sample offered to you as you walk by at any mall -- a gentle mix of cautious anxiety and rudimentary judgments. Although molested heavily by politically-driven developments -- rampant and unconsiderable ones at that -- Terengganu laid itself before me as virgin as possible, its vibrant genuineness forcefully revealing itself before my eyes amongst the cracks of pretentiousness.Today, Terengganu is a fortnight ago. Along the way completing our site analysis for our final project --which is placed at Lake Kenyir -- sights of Terengganu ventured into my mind, sometimes as hazy as the smokes hailed from the rempit bikes at Batu Burok, sometimes still as vibrantly tasty as Pasar Payang's nasi dagang.
I prefer to see Terengganu the way Awang Goneng sees it: full of joy and tranquility, just like what he mentioned in his book Growing Up In Trengganu. Yes, Trengganu, just like he spelled it each time he mentions the state in his book, where at the book's introduction, he rhymed the name with tra-la-la. It has always been pronounced that way, he argued. In fact that it is how we pronounce it today, and that is also the spelling that appeared in the Constitution. Of course, just like how once the deep jungles of Hulu Terengganu became the deepest waterbeds of the vast Lake Kenyir today -- things quite took some changes themselves.Easily, Terengganu was once of the of our studio trips ever. It didn't end there, though. The final project, which will deal alot with floating architecture will summarise everything. Submission is a month away, but our lecturers have never failed to remind us to keep up with the pace. Our houseboats in Kenyir maybe are slow, but it wouldn't be the same for our work.
Nevertheless Terengganu has quite some wounds to be healed. The race of who's more into Islam and who's not, has sacrificed so many characters in our already rich culture, and one of them is our architecture. The disease of aspiring to be more Arab that the Arabs themselves is severe, and the results are what you get when you identify what exactly is 'Islamic culture' wrongly. If a 'crystal' mosque is built majestically on an island while it's hardly accessible will it be Islamic? If a mosque follows Malaysian architecture and abandons its typical minarets and domes will it be less Islamic that the one that follows its Middle Eastern prototype?So many things to think, so little time. Instead of bickering, our leaders should take some time and think about this: if, in a thousand years time, future archeologists dig into our soils, what would they find out about us through the ruins of what we have built? Richly-cultured Malaysians with outstanding identity, or some confused racists and ethno-fanatics who are merely copycats?
Stay put, Terengganu. And off to work!
Chris Brown coincidentally punched Rihanna days before she supposedly hold her concert down in KL -- the same day I was in Terengganu. The trip, however did took another toll when I have to miss Mad's send off to Melbourne. The concert was reportedly to be cancelled last week. PHOTO Us at Pantai Batu Burok, Kuala Terengganu, Feb 13. The famous boat maker in Pulau Duyong, shares light moments with us while being interviewed, Kuala Terengganu, Feb 14. One of our houseboats cross the deepest point in Lake Kenyir at 153m deep while on the way to Lasir Waterfalls, south of the lake, Feb 15. More photos at Flickr.
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