Inventively naming kids the Iban way
Have you heard of fancy names such as Helikopta, Engkabang, Bilun and Jipun? These are products of inventive, sometimes humorous Iban parents when it comes to naming their kids at…
Author Archives: Valentine Tawie Salok
Shocking encounters and inspiring dreams
When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become…
Learning from womenfolk gossips
People gossip. People are insecure, so they talk about other people so that they won’t be talked about. They point out flaws in other people to make them feel good…
A frog once saved me from a king cobra
There were many unforgettable experience in the ‘ulu’ part of the Melupa river basin, my familiar childhood territory in the 60s. Brought up by farming and rubber-tapping parents, I was…
Full enjoyment of carefree ‘ulu’ life
Our group of boys in the ‘ulu’ (remote hinterland) of the late 50s through to the 60s had to be contented with our surroundings as our playground and source of…
Should I say have guitar will travel?
A Chinese movie in the late 60s/early 70s entitled ‘Have Swords Will Travel’ starring David Chiang and Ti Lung provided me with some inspiration with the title of this article…
Historic date for Sarawak and its USM freshies
July 2, 1975 was historic in various ways. One, it was the first time Sarawak had her first TV broadcast. Secondly, that was the day Muhammad Ali fought Canadian Joe…
Simple man with intricate Iban designs
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day. – Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic Iban traditional…
Sickening hospital stay for patients, relatives
I have found out who are my real friends, thanks to the illness and hospitals. – Chris Rea, British singer, songwriter Hospitals — they are where life begins and where…
Potentially fatal durian experimentations
It smelled like you’d buried somebody holding a big wheel of Stilton in his arms, then dug him up a few weeks later. – Anthony Bourdain, American celebrity chef, author,…