The Mystery Tree

The tree needs little maintenance.

The first fruit harvested – always an exciting experience.

 

When we first bought the small tree, we thought it was a lemon tree.

I planted it in a big pot. But it didn’t do well at all. So I managed to find a space in the backyard and plant it in the ground. Over the years, it grew fast, but nothing, no fruit.

Just I was standing there contemplating if we had here a non-fruit-bearing tree, I noticed a green bud peeking between the leaves.

The bud grew…and grew. I was baffled. Till I figured out that it wasn’t a lemon, but a grapefruit. It turned out to be a yellow grapefruit, sometimes also known as white grapefruit. The flesh has a translucent white color, and it has a brisk-sour taste. The first fruit harvested recently measures about 6 inches in both width and length.

And it looks like the tree has found its rhythm, after revealing its mystery. There are at least five more fruits and buds on its branches, waiting for the sun and for time to ripen them.

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Thanksgiving

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My Father’s Book

My father’s passion was reading. Our favorite weekend activity as a family was to visit the newsstand to buy magazines.

 

My father’s short stories will be republished soon by Fixi Retro.

I’m lucky to come from a family that loved books and writing.

My grandfather loved poetry and owned a small second hand bookshop in Singapore. My late father Hamzah Hussin, helped him in the shop as a young boy, and he grew up to become a figure in the Malay literary world.

My father became a journalist and writer, penning and publishing short stories and novels.  He then joined Cathay Keris Organisation, one of the pioneer studios that produced Malay films, as a scriptwriter/ public relations officer. He later went to live in Malaysia to continue to contribute to the film industry and also to teach at FINAS Film Academy.

He was always generous with his knowledge, and I knew that he cherished the opportunity to teach, and the interaction with the students and their ideas.

Most of the Malay films of his era are still widely viewed, and thus my father’s screenplays are still intact. However, some of his literary works are not so readily available.

The good news is that Amir Muhammad, Malaysia’s well-known author, filmmaker and publisher, has located three of my father’s published short stories and has compiled them into a book. Amir and his company Fixi Retro will launch the book on November 21 at Ilham’s Gallery in Kuala Lumpur.

I feel very grateful and pleased to share my father’s work with more people, and I’m sure he would be too.

If you’re in Malaysia or Singapore, I would like to invite you to the launch. Amir will also talk about Malay movies in the 60s at the event. More details on the event and the venue are at this page.

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