masterwordsmith-unplugged

In my younger days, I dreamt of being either a musician, writer or a lawyer. In those days, I would have been penniless had I pursued a career in music although a few friends like Goh Boon Hoe (music producer for many Malaysian artistes including Amy Mastura and is now based in Jakarta), Paul Augustin and Wilson Quah have made it big in the music scene. In time, I studied mass communication and sociology together with Ho Kay Tat (Editor-in-Chief of The Edge), Santha Oorjitham (NST and formerly Asiaweek), KY Pung (Fox Communications), Subhadra Devan(NST), Lim Ai Lee (Star) and many other course-mates who are in the broadcasting and advertising industry. Before I graduated, I received a job offer from The Star but had to turn it down as my father wanted his only child to remain in Penang. Subsequently, I worked as a writer for a environmental NGO and earned a pittance.

At that time, I had a Mini 850 which would break down every week. In the one year that I had the car, I learnt so much about car maintenance because everything that could be changed had to be changed! After paying the mechanic, I think I had only 100RM to spend for each month.

In case you are wondering why I am going on about this, it is because I thought I'd share with you about how one man impacted my life, my work habit and my zeal or passion for writing.

In the 15 months or so when I worked there, I reported to Mr. Rajean who was in charge of the NGO. Each morning, I had to have a one-on-one with him and he would give me a pile (about 6 -8 inches high) of books/papers/journals etc to read. The next day, I had to give him a summary of the main points of what I had read and whether there was any environmental issue relevant to Malaysia.

The workload I had there was worse than any other job I have ever had in my life. I was in charge of writing books on environmental issues and had to see to the typesetting etc to the finished product and the marketing of those books. In the 15 months that I was there, I wrote five books. Unbelievable but I did it. On top of that, I had to prepare press releases, conduct sociological survey research, run two feature services that had famous subscribers including New Scientist and New Internationalist, oversee the publication of the bi-monthly newsletter and even go on field trips to paddy fields (had my first experience rowing a sampan to go to one particular site!), mines etc to monitor the extent of environmental degradation.

My daily sessions with Mr. Rajean were gruelling as he would ask me many questions about the literature that he had asked me to review the previous day. Basically, he taught me how to think and to question many things in life. How did I learn? Simple. He asked me so many questions that dumbfounded me and made me realize how much more I had to learn about life, the environment, animals especially primates, legislation and enforcement and women's issues.

He taught me that it was meaningless to write without feeling the heart of the issue and that nothing is too difficult for me if only I would try to push myself to limits. Apart from that, he showed me what it meant to be a purpose-driven person. His quest for perfection, knowledge and zeal for the cause was simply inexhaustible even though he was suffering from cancer. :-( Often,I wondered how he had the strength to do what he did. By the time I finished one press release, he would ask me what was my next project and then he would outline a long list of issues I had to study. Indeed, even my university days were not that tough!!! In many ways, he was a visionary - way ahead of the times.

There is one habit that will never die. Mr. Rajean believed in monitoring the MSM. Imagine - each of the staff was given ONE MSM to read, and study every weekday. We would have to mark it, cut it out, record the issue in a log book and then file the newspaper cutting systematically after gluing it to A4 sized paper. That is something I still do daily although in a different manner. Each morning, after I switch on my laptop, I will click one folder which will open up all the news portals and then I would read and read to my heart's content after which I will decide on what issue to write everyday.

So for those of you who wonder why I write so much, this is one of the reasons. Other reasons include - keeping myself mentally alert, playing my small and humble role to effect change in Malaysia and also because I love to write and have nothing else to do at home apart from the usual household chores!

Admittedly, there were many times when I wanted to break down in the office because of writer's block. Right opposite me was my colleague, Vincent, a mass comm graduate from UKM. Both of us were competitive in our job functions, each as kiasu as the other in many areas including our creative writing. It was definitely most disconcerting to have him staring at me when I was staring at the typewriter.

Some days, I wanted to throw the typewriter at him when my mind went blank and he went on non-stop banging on the typewriter writing his piece. In such an environment, I learnt to push myself and to take criticisms from others- work traits that I still possess till this day.

When I looked at Mr. Rajean, I saw a man who was completely sold out to conserve the environment. He never went out for lunch or dinner and would ask the staff to buy him packed meals which he would eat in his simple office. He could give a non-stop lecture on the dangers of aerosols or make up or how the civet cat is almost extinct because its urine is used to manufacture perfume etc. Believe it or not, he also slept in his office. I recall seeing a rolled-up mat in the office and wondered if it was used for prayers. Much later, I learnt that he actually lived in his office! In time, he married the love of his life, Karen, and they shared many years of love for each other and complimented each other in environmental activism.

Frankly, I have never been very good at proof-reading because of my high astigmatism. Mr. Rajean could see through every single typo mistake that I missed and would circle these in the typeset-draft and gently reminded me to be more thorough. In short, he was a demanding boss but yet very diplomatic and sensitive in the way he raised issues, never stooping to hurt our feelings.

I worked with many wonderful persons including Dr Martin Abraham, Uma, Mohan, Phaik Kee, Karen, Liang, David etc and it was really like a family there. I went to work sans make-up in jeans and t- shirts, sometimes in bermuda shorts and a shirt and my feet were shod in slippers. What a simple carefree life it was! We went bare-footed in the office, fought over stamps from the mail until Karen decided each staff could collect stamps for one specific day of the week leaving Friday a free-for-all day when we would exchange stamps. We even put our feet on our tables when reading up for our writings and would occasionally strum the guitar and sing at lunch time to unwind. In fact, we could listen to the radio and would even sometimes sing along when doing our work. Simply awesome!

I left after 15 months because I was not earning enough to survive. To this day, I still savor the many lessons and skills I acquired during my stint there. The conferences I attended and also organized helped me to see that earth is indeed a precious legacy which we must painstakingly try to conserve and preserve.

I was deeply saddened when Mr. Rajean passed away years later from his cancer. Amazingly, he left such a deep impact on me in my work habit and personal life.In many ways, I blog and work the way I do because of Mr. Rajean's training and guidance. Truly, I am blessed by him and my former colleagues. I just hope that I can reconnect with my ex-colleagues via the Net in some way. I want them to know that like Mr. Rajean, they left big footprints in my heart and I have never forgotten them. When I moved on to the education industry, I carried with me the lessons learnt there and passed it on to my students. Today, I still live out those many precious lessons I learnt then. What a blessing indeed!