Chapter 14 Never Pick Wild Flowers Along The Way

The Boss had two other properties in Kerling,both very much smaller rubber plantations and both were put in Alex control.To go there on the highway was quite a distance away.There was a shorter route through plantations belonging to Socfin,a French company.

The first plantation to go through was Minyak Estate and the other was Nigel Gardner Estate.Alex knew those Manager and Assistants of both plantations and most of the time meeting them along the way.Passing those plantations he will next have to cross into a stretch of jungle reserve.There was also a gate controlling the passage through and the Manager's approval had to be sought first.As he knew the Manager there was no problems,still as a courtesy he requested for it and was promptly given.However there was a time limit for going through that gate for they usually closed before 6.00 p.m..

One of the smaller plantation was before Kerling Estate from the jungle reserve while the other was after Kerling Estate and passed through Kerling town, then the plantation.Both plantations were matured rubber,having their own smoke houses.His job here were simple only to see that the tapping contractors does their jobs and to see that all cured RSS were sold to a single buyer from Kerling town.

Along the way through Socfin the roads were very good but in the reserved it was laterites road and extremely bad.Of course when they arrived at the boundary of Kerling Estate the road was good road.Traveling along these roads was always monotonous but Alex usually brought along a driver to drive him.

Along the way Alex apparently met many charming girls but he was always careful not to involved himself with these wild flowers as the saying goes'"Never plucked wild flowers along the road".Alex was human ,as human being surely had his follies and subjected to be attracted to the other sex along the way.Well no harm in fooling around and no serious encouters.

Taking for example,the beautiful girl in Kerling town.She was a lady barber,a devil in disguise and he was immensely attracted by her beauty.Just a passing infatuation,nevertheless he had a soft spot for her.No harm having a hair wash and a little bit of chatting after going round the fields.This sexy lady barber tried to seduce him with her charms,soft talks,sexy looks and approaches.Well,without a doubt she was very attractive,tall slim, and voluptuous.

Well he only got acquainted with her after one or two trips and no serious dating as he was on a hurry to go back most of the time.Time was not favorable to him as he always had to beat the time the the gate at Nigel Gadner closed.The woman was gamed but he he could meet her demand.So it was just an off thing and nothing more materialized.Good for him.That was the dame in Kerling Town just another passing frame.

Another passing frame was another young black beauty from Kerling Estate.That dame was always around the plantation's sundry shop,must be a relative of the proprietor just assisting around.An Indian beauty,very young and attractive,always wearing a very sweet and charming smile.That apparently attracted Alex.Part of his heart was almost lost there as he made stops at that sundry shop every now and than for another tea break.So many tea breaks little wander he later acquired diabetics.

Problems were also following him around.The contractor at the first rubber estate had difficulties in paying the wages of his tappers and they lodged complaints against him to Alex.With no alternatives he had to settle the issue with the contractor,Initially the contractor would not corporate but later had to abide because Alex threatened to have him remove.Finally its was agreed he tried to settle their wages before the 7th.of each calender month.Nevertheless the contractor adhered to that instryctions but it was just two to three months only and later revert back to the same old tricks.

Here too a nice and soft spoken tapper headed the complaint to him.Well he just did his job.That woman was also from Kerling town.It seem she had to cycle very early in the mornibng to tapin that plantation.Many of the tappers were also from the same town.Alex had also to look into the smoke house there to verify all were in order.Fortunately the smoke house watchman was not a drunkard.

Those days workers never seem to mind doing extra work,controlling the temperatures of the smoke house,those single room wooden smoke house,plus the collecting of firewood for the smoke house.Residing within the plantation, guarding of the smoke house cum rubber stores.Only wages was only for the firing of the smoke house plus a small allowance.It was never exploitation of the worker but because this old worker had no where to go,his sole means of survival was the plantation that was why he was so obedient.

The second smaller property was just after Kerling town,s road side property.Kerling was a slow developing area thus I wander that place is now under development.Tapping as the previous place was under another contractor whose tappers were all from town.Alex did not see much of the tappers accept for the the old man in charged of the smoke house.

Thereafter he must see the buyer of their rubber,checking his figures etc.All payments were directed to the head office.Here it was very much simpler as the Boss himself came and dealt with the payments of contractors.Thus on we less bortheratiion.

Traveling to these two plantations was quite tedious and he usually came in the afternoon.He also arranged for the sheeting batteries to be replaced in the first plantation with mechanics from Batang Berjuntai.It ran smoothly thereafter while he was attached to St.Andrew Estate,but a few years after he left there was a fatal accident with this sheeting batteries where a helper of a tapper was fatally injured and succumbed to the injuries. Poor thing died of serious injuries.Being a helper I doubt she was subjected to any workman Compensation.What a tragic lost.

His friends along the way in Minyak estate were several Superintendents of the divisions with most of the time dropping at their offices should they be around,just simply courtesy calls.Well have to,as he was using their road.These friend very often got transferred off and thus he met many newer ones.Most notable was Ranny Tan.

Ranny Tan was a very good friend and he was later transfered to be his ommediate neighbor at Sg. Rambai Estate.There were times they enjoyed themselves together,going to Kuala Lumpur and had dinners.Those were the days.One funny event in one of their outings went wild with Alex getting drunk and Ranny got drive him back.Yes.yes those were the days.

Men on their day's off could easily go hay wired and hell broke loose.One little secret was that Alex when drunk also kissed the beautiful proprietress of the restaurant who propped in to join the happy dinner table.With most of them very tipsy and in the procee of "yam seng" hailing all round,the unimaginable could happened.True or not the friends in Kuala Lumpur had been cracking it as a big big joke.Asked Ranny,he denied any knowledge of it.Ha,ha,ha.Without a hitch of doubt that proprietress was lovely and slightly over friemdly.

Then in Nigel Gadner Estate he also met with many Managers as most of the Managers here were Malausians.Of course it was here he met another lovely Indian beauty,a school teacher.Every time he passes by she would waved to him andhe threw flying kisses to her which she responded.So it was fun all the way.There were times that he gave her a lift to town and then send her back later in the evening.It was a lovely encounter with another black beauty.

They continued to keep in touched for quite some time,even extended till he came out and ventured into business years later.Unfortunately that relationship did not blossomed any further otherwise Alex would be in trouble.Alex wander where is she now?

Coming back to St.Andrew Estate,his staffs were always incapable of giving good performances all the time that was why he had to work doubly hard.Of course there a few good ones he trained but had to sent to work in plantation ,like in Kajang where he must have some one he could trust.He placement of a man he personally trained was an out standing example.

That man although an Indian with little education was able to perform up to his expectations,honest and extremely obedient.That was why within a short period he was able to convert that plantation from rubber to Oil Palm.Back at the plantation proper he had to select and reselect.In the end he trained a cousin brother and he taught him many tricks of the trade.He learned well and after he left years later he could managed a plantation in his own capacity.Yes a plantation in Teluk Intan.

With the extra hand he had a freer hand to travel more to the rest of the plantations.Even that he was pretty cautious as to see that all things were in perfect order before he left for out station performances.
It could be said that he almost single handed replanted almost of the plantation into Oil Palm.At the time of his performances the prices of Oil Palm was fantastically good and rising.It was telling because of the big grin of the Boss whenever he visited the plantation.

He had also to report to him almost weekly at his office cum shop in Kuala Lumpur.He was a Chinese Tea Merchant.This usually in the afternoon.With plantation where the sole labor force was almost solely Indians the Union was very strong ,demanding this and that,never ending problens as the plantation was non MAPA.Alex from here gained plenty of experience dealing with them.

The union were always playing a delaying with most of the time talking rubbish tactics so Alex also had to follow them,well it was a game they played.Alex would never commit himself with them and very often had to refer to the Boss.Whenever there were difficulties Alex had to consult with those experts in labor law.
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That was where he met the I.S.P. Secretary,Mr Rajadorai.He was once a senior executive labor officer so the Boss ordered Alex to meet him to discuss the laws he needed to know.Rajadorai would come to met him at a restaurant with his beautiful and voluptuous female secretary.What was nicer than to have a nice girl around.When the conversation became dull her present certainly lifted the atmosphere beyond descriptions.

At the time this female secretary of his,was a talk among planters visiting the head office of the ISP.
Yes,her sexy put look really attracted many planters those were the days. Going to the head office could be entertaining and end up knowing her better.There was little doubt that she was seductive and Alex had the pleasure in meeting her for a couple of times at her home.

There were times that even Rajadorai 's advice was not good enough so much so Alex was ordered to meet another,a Chinese member of the Union who was supposed to leak information regarding the union requisitions.Alex had to take him out for dinners than discussed but actual to no avail just another bluff,just another hoarse trying to make some fast bucks.The Boss knew him through some friends of his.Actually most of the time Alex spent with him were worthless.But the Boss instructions were orders he had to adhere to.So just go out and enjoyed the dinners at company's expanses.Of all places this guy reside in Petaling Jaya old town where the place was always jammed in the evenings.

At the end it was Alex himself was to deal with all the Union's representatives.Labor cases were many and he had to fight them in Labor Office Inquiries.After many encounters he subsequently became an expert on how to encounter them and made them aware of him.Well,very simple just imitate the ways they performed at the inquiries,that caught them by surprised and thus won many of the cases against them.A Union official even commended Alex for his achievements.Those were his hay days with trade unions.

Coming back to the bungalow he occupied,he had a big garden and there was a gardener maintaining it.Alex 's wife did not like much of his work he did daily and altered all of them.She also planted orchids in the garden and before long the garden was known for its beautiful blooming flowers of various colors-then formerly called the Orchid Garden by visiting friends.Plenty of sunshine,watering and good windy atmosphere promoted the better growth of the orchids.

At the back of the bungalow at the extreme end pineapples were established and some fruit trees couple with some tapioca.The Sarawak variety of pineapple proves a sucess as they soon had crops of very big and suculent pineapples.Another proud achievement of his wife.

Initially his wife and him had a daughter,Kate and at that bungalow his wife bored him another daughter,Uky as she was called.Three years later they had another son and because of the only hill in that locality, he was name Wye Fueng meaning glorious mountain.The first daughter was first to attend kinder garden at a Chinese School for a year and also spend another with another kinder garden where she learned to converse in English.When as a child she can even danced and sang Indian songs taught to her by the maid.

The second daughter was initially admitted to the kinder garden at Chinese School but after a few days she refused to attend classes as the teacher was making her sing those kinder garden songs in front of other students which hayed.She knew those songs through her sister a year ago or so.So was forced to enroll her into the other kinder garden where she learned English.She attended that kinder garden for two years.The son was enrolled into the Chinese kinder garden later.

Thereafter the wife was all the time busy sending the first daughter to standard one in a primary school some distance away from town in Kg Kuantan.,and the second daughter to kinder garden.Later both daughters attended the same primary school in Kg,Kuantan.As the school was Bahasa Malaysia medium both girls became well versed in that,partly because many of the school mates were Malay girls.Both of them were also proficient in English.All these proves to be useful in their future under takings.

The bungalow being so huge had to be cleaned every week,so weekly at least three maids had to maintained it.Some of these young maids liked to work in the bungalow where there were not sunshine and they could gossiped as they worked but were extremely quiet when Alex was around.Many a times they played with the two daughters.All nice looking Indian lasses.

His conductors liked to tease them whenever Alex was not around but refrained from the bungalow whenever they saw him coming back.Fortunately non of his staffs got entangled with any of them,But even there was it was behind his back.

Alex was presented an Arowana(golden dragon fish) by a friend while working there.This Arowana was bright golden in color and could only be found in Batang Berjuatai old tin mining ponds and the river passing Nigel Gadner Estate.However due to over fishing and poisoning by unscrupulous people this species of Arowana and some of the beautiful yellow "toiman" (snake head fish) were now extinct.About the Arowana had whose length was about 6" was worth three hundred ringgit.Their extinction were a tragedy.Present days Arowana were no comparison with them.

Alex also bred Alsatian dogs.Initially he had one dog but unfortunately he did not maintained it well so it died of heart worms attacked.Later he acquired a pair and had them until he resigned from that plantation.

At the end of the bungalow were the servant's and driver's quarters which was used only to house a driver nothing more. It was important to have a driver around just in case of any emergency and also stayed around cum guard.There were no known cases of house breaking so far but only an incident where Alex's Alfa Romeo was bunrt away in the middle of the night.No arson was suspected.Must be an electronical short circuit.

The incident could have been worst had not Alex woke up in time at the smell of smoke and rushed down to push it away from the front pouch.He could not put out the fire himself thus allowed it to burn away.The insurance only honor 70% of its damages claim.Having been an excellent performer his Boss gave him a loan to purchase another new one,an Alfa Sud.

The Alfa Sud was lucky gift as its plate number came up first within a month in Magnum's draw.What a free car!!!That was in deed a lucky dip,the car was red in color.Withthe price money Alex brought a new television set coupled with vedeo.That was the time VCD were introduced into Malaysia.Tapes with film shows etc.,etc., were only available in Kuala Lumpur and in limited suppliers only.Later that mushrooms to every corners of Malaysia.

As the electricity was supplied from the bungalow's generator the whole family stayed back till the early hours watching vedeo shows.Yeah,those were the days.

So big a bungalow,was it haunted as per rumour?According to his wife,yes!!! According to the maids,another big,yes!!! There was little doubt the maid saw a white figure in board day light one early morning and yelled at top of her voice.She was apparently stunned thereafter for a few seconds because of that apparition.Being supersticious his wife requested some one to fit at the back of the bungalow under mango tree a tiny alter to applease that spirit which many claimed was a "Dato" or "Kramet".
With that, that apparition was never seen again.

To Alex the bungalow was never haunted,the noises heard in the roofs were caused by some barn owls catching rats and flying bats.But it surely was scary especially deep at night.Especially when the barn owls hoping around in the roof,sounded like some one walking above.Alex's wife and others like visitors were scared of them but Alex brushed them off.

His wife never like the idea of Alex going out at night and returning late,but whenever there was an outing Alex always arranged the maid to stay back to accompany her.Later there was his cousin who was also residying in the same bungalow.No regrets staying there and that experienced will long be treasured by all family members.