I love you. My Chief Gardener/Planter

Our Man at the Farm.

Ah Ngau with his Baybee

 

Mr. Chin aka uncle Chin. Affectionately known as Ah Ngau. (The Bull) 

He’s my big brother, a father figure for the family at our farm. Most families here lack fathers. 

From the onset in June 2019, I was looking for Bangladeshi workers to work the farm. Not knowing the best candidate had already appeared on our farm. 

He showed up almost everyday in the wee hours of the morning to ferry the ladies residing on the farm to tap rubber and back. This way he helped the ladies supplement their families incomes & be independent income earners. 

One fine day he approached me while I was making my rounds or working haplessly tending to the newly planted herbs. He asked if he could cultivate some banana trees for own consumption as well as sale. I agreed if he promised to share a little of the produce with my family. 

He promptly said ok. 

Then I promptly asked him to help me at tending to our herbs- watering, weeding & fertilising. He agreed for a small monthly stipend.

 

He performed brilliantly! 

He not only carried out his tasks diligently, the herbs grew abundantly under his watch. 

I quickly put him on the payroll in January 2020 and we found the most important person for the Farm. 

I found a great big brother of 74 years young who taught me the rudiments of farming & planting. I lapped up everything he could teach me working with him. 

Best of all were the stories he told me about his encounters in the estates & plantations he worked in all his life. 

He worked mostly in the dark wee hours of the morning. Best accounts told to me were his ominous meetings with a black panther, a king cobra and a tiger’s spine tingling growl late in the night while he was tending a durian plantation in the nearby Rembau hills. 

He recounted that the tiger let out two low “pondok” shaking growls each time she decides to growl. 

He says the tiger is issuing a warning to trespassers nearby to leave. Ostensibly to protect her cubs. 

He told me he almost shit his pants when he first heard the growls and ran helter skelter for his life immediately. 

But he still had a job to do at the durian plantation. So he gathered up his courage and went back. Armed with thick bamboo trunks and loads of carbide, he concocted what is known as bamboo cannons or "meriam buluh." 

Packed tightly with carbide, a kind of combustible powder like gunpowder, he ignited a few cannons that let out loud explosions that rocked the hillside. The king of the jungle growled no more and he was back at his job.

You can imagine how much I look forward to starting and ending my day at the farm in discourse with him. Less at the start but more at sunset. I would inspect every inch of our farm every morning & evening while making my rounds. And at sunset sit him down to discuss progress while ogling & fawning over his littler of weeks-old puppies. 

When our Singaporean herbalist/planters/shareholders came again in February right after CNY, they met, worked with and transferred knowledge to him. 

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. On 17 March I left him after another enjoyable sunset session to return to KL and into a nationwide lockdown on 18 March. 

Least affected by the MCO he diligently tended to the farm and our herbs thrived wondrously as did nature during the worldwide pandemic. 

Our durians & petai trees yielded bumper harvests just in time for our conditional lifting of our MCO. We enjoyed the best durians in July/Aug and are still enjoying the petai harvests. 

On September 16 2020 we celebrated Malaysia Day with a party for family & friends by launching our enterprise HerbTec, at our farm. The most important event was when we introduced our farm crew to our guests- Uncle Chin & his team of super women, to rousing applause. 

He later admitted that during the moment of introduction, his legs went jelly!  Who could imagine?

 

Mr. Chin Mun Choong 74, married with one daughter who is in her late twenties. She has since married a man who lives in Johore. Her mother left uncle Chin to live with her daughter. Leaving Uncle Chin pretty much a bachelor to fend for himself & live alone for many years since. 

One of the main if not the most important reason I took to trusting him was the fact that he is a dog lover. 

I remember in July when one of his earlier puppies died, he took it so bad that he had to be admitted to Kuala Pilah General Hospital for fainting spells aka grief. I visited him and saw a tear in his eye. Good thing I was wearing a mask, I almost cried seeing the softness in his weather beaten tear stained eyes. It did take a while for him to fully recuperate. I quickly doubled his salary and added on assistants for fear he may be overworked. 

He’s back in his element now. Thank heavens.

 

Now he has a litter of six from his adorable & loyal Baybee a fierce female Boxer mix who birthed 2 white male, 2 black male, 1 brown male and 1 brown female- puppies on September 1st 2020. 

What a year it has been. 

Thank heavens. 

I love you Big brother Chin “Ah Ngau”. 

May you live long & prosper.