I used to think that it’s supposed to be pronounced as ’Hobbers’ back when I was a kid, actually I secretly still call him that as I feel it sounds cute, I guess I subconsciously miss being a kid.

Below we observe the genesis of a masterpiece.

The origins of Hobbes has never been clarified by Watterson, it is a mystery just like his existence. Judging from the syndicate one can only assume that Calvin either had Hobbes as gift or he indeed trapped him with a can of tuna.

As the comic progresses we see the world of Calvin and Hobbes on a canvas styled in different platform of ideas. The scenes are usually the places where one would find Calvin but despite staying strict to a particular landscape readers can thank Watterson for denying us boring repetition like Jon Davies’s Garfield (I lost count seeing pictures of Garfield sleep in a box, watching TV or having coffee)

The many scenes that’s portrayed in the comic consists of ;

• Calvin being asked to wake up for school – We all can relate to this one. How I dread waking up for school as a kid.

• Calvin in the bathtub – Being forced to take a bath by his mom

• Calvin waiting for the school bus – I’m sure we all can relate to that too, with a lesser language proficiency that is

• Calvin eating in the cafeteria – Usually has something to do about grossing out Susie Derkins, or being mauled by his own lunch)

• Calvin eating at home – There’s seems to some issues with the mom’s cooking’s, this was even validated by ‘Dad’ in a later episode.

• Calvin being his dad’s so called Political Analyst/Secretary advising him on his polls – This polls on popularity of holding office as ‘Dad’

• Calvin getting bullied by the school bully Moe – The less entertaining segment of the comic but the lettering fonts and monosyllabic of Moe in the dialog bubble indicates his level of intelligence (Jock)

• Calvin and Hobbes playing sport (e.g. American Football, Baseball, Tag, etc. ) -

• Calvin and Hobbes on a sled or sometimes on a wagon – This has to be Bill Waterson’s favourite edition of his skills. Though the humor is not physical despite moving in high momentum, Watterson manages to slow down time and explain to us the story in a frame by frame conversation between Calvin and his tiger. Personally I would say a 50% of the sled and wagon editions are serious and does not involve comedy. It emphasizes more on nature and spiritual thoughts.

• Calvin in class (Usually involves his teacher Mrs Wormwood or Susie Derkins, usually ends up having to meet the Principal)

• Calvin getting back home after school and getting pounced by Hobbes

• Calvin and Hobbes forced to be under the supervision of Rosalyn the babysitter when his parent are away.

The name Calvin was chosen by Watterson from a French Theologist/Humanist named Jean Calvin and Hobbes is named after an English Philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Now we know why did the strip often signals anti-capitalist and socialist values trough the dialogue bubble.

As a kid growing up I failed to realise that children Calvin’s age did not know some of the words that he often used. I was always under the assumption that my knowledge in English wasn’t enough to digest this comic. Now that I am older I realise that Calvin and Hobbes is also aimed for adult reading. If you were an adult in mid 80′s and you never got even slightly attracted to Calvin and Hobbes, you probably need a ‘lobotomy’, ha another word I learned in the comic corner !

The morphing of Calvin

The kid had an imagination as wild as a tiger. Often we see Calvin imagining himself as a certain entity or one of his alter egos. Some of this are ;

• Spaceman Spiff
• Stupendous Man
• Tracey Bullet

• Calvinosaurus
• Calvin (60′s Magazine Art Adult)

Strip Mystery

So is Hobbes real ? or is he Calvin’s imaginary friend ? He is surely not real in the eyes of the mom, dad, Mrs Wormwood, Susie Derkins and the rest of the cast of Calvin and Hobbes, however Calvin interacts with this life-size tiger that is able to reason, humour and no to mention pounce !

The only people who are capable to see Hobbes as a real tiger and not a stuffed toy is only Calvin and the readers of the strip.

It’s definitely not important to know whether that cat was figment of a child’s imagination as the whole comic was fiction anyway but my concern is what was in the mind of Bill Watterson as he created Calvin and Hobbes ?

Extro

I was friends with a lawyer who knew a little about palmistry during my 1st year in college, he read my palm and suggested that I was too imaginative for own good, I’m guessing that Calvin too falls under the same class.

Grandma : So when are you getting married ?

Me : Huh !?

Grandma : You shouldn’t postpone these kinda things, you’re gettin old, it’s gonna be tough to find for you someone if you’re too old.

Me : Ok, I’ll get married soon, maybe next year.

Grandma : I can introduce some nice girls to you, we have to go back to my hometown to find them.

Me : But you are bedridden, don’t worry about that much, here are your meds.

Grandma : I already took my meds.

Me: Ok have this glass of water then.

Grandma : Do you have a girlfriend ?

Me : Huh? (oh lord!) Yes I do

Grandma : Is she Indian ?

Me : Errmm No

Grandma : Long silence ….. Can she speak Tamil ?

Me : HUH!? How do you expect her to speak Tamil, she’s not Indian.

Grandma : You better teach her then, cause I cant spik Inglish very well.

Me : Ok, I’ll try

Grandma : So When are you getting married ?

Me : I gotta go, I think I need a drink.

We hardly saw him after he started college, word on the street is that he was in love with this girl in his class and they often spent a lot of time together.

I Saw him once during Christmas, he was still very skinny, we were chatting for a bit and he spoke about his girlfriend, he said that she and him were on a long distance relationship as her family moved out. He seemed okay, the usual quiet stance … nothing out of the ordinary

Love was on everyone’s mind that year, I guess it was being on that bridge between adolescence and adulthood puts lots of thought into ones mind, most of the boys had girlfriends, some of them were single, some was always in and out of relationships, nothing was serious though we knew that love somehow had a place in our lives.

We were getting into our football gear when we saw coming, he sat on the bench with that pale look on his face, we knew something was wrong.

Turns out our quiet boy just broke up, he said that “she doesn’t like this long distance relationship thing and wanted something more serious”, he took up 20 minutes ranting about how was really in love and upset is he about she leaving him, he never spoke about anything that long before, in fact it was the first time he had something to share.

It was the first time we saw sadness in his eyes.

It’s been 7 years since the day we heard him pour his heart out, it’s been 7 years since he killed himself that night. Some of my boys said that they saw it coming, I didn’t know he had it in him. Turns out she left him for another guy and our little friend just couldn’t get over the fact that she loves someone else now.

We blamed ourselves for the 1st few weeks after the funeral, but then it hit us late that he never came asking us for help and he was never there long enough for us to see the signs of condition.

People in my area refer to him as ‘that skinny boy that hung himself’

Then I realised that we hardly knew him, he never had an opinion, never had a particular interest of conflict to make him different, he just blended into the background. He had nothing to share, he never had a story to tell, in the end he became the story.

I asked myself was he even alive when he was around ? this was all I could recall, and I realised now that I cant even remember his name …

I don’t usually put up personal things here, but since this is considered like an historic event I couldn’t help myself from writing, and also I’m not by any way affiliated to any political party (but there was this time when I was younger when I had to put on an MIC T-Shirt, I would like to apologize to mankind for that) My intentions on going for the rally was purely on supporting to the rakyat (people) and being the voice of the voiceless

tangkap

If you are against the movement let us not have no beef. We both want to achieve world peace in our own terms, if you have an opinion that strongly differs I would like to apologize in advance so that if we were to ever meet up someday we can sit down and have tea, chat like how friends do.

Lastly, I wrote this in bullet forms to simplify things and sorry there’s hardly any time stated as I did not go prepared (hp battery died and I don’t own a watch). I also included some personal things/thoughts along the way, hope you guys can bear with it.

• Woke up, saw the time 2:50 pm, Panicked! Had a turbo shower [regretted on drinking the night before with my colleagues & bosses]

• After shower, realised that the time earlier was actually only 10:10 am [f**k$&%^]

• Took dad’s bike to Kelana Jaya LRT Station via the Glenmarie, Shah Alam road, didn’t drive or head to Federal Highway as I was afraid of the roadblock/jam.

• There was a roadblock in Glenmarie! but they let me through, I guess they have been posted there since the night before and they we too tired to check everyone 1 by 1.

• Noticed that fuel was nearing ‘E’, told myself “can make it lar …” Reached KJ, met up my colleague and took the train to Pasar Seni as one of our friend was already there

LDP unusually smooth ...

• Reached KJ, met up my colleague and took the train to Pasar Seni as one of our friend was already there.

• There was at least 1 policeman/policewoman in each and every platform and train. Was glad I didn’t wear anything yellow.

• reached Pasar Seni station and the crowd was f**kin immense, could see them sitting along the road at Pos Malaysia, KTM & LRT Station.

• A big ass Police & FRU squad was posted in front of Central Market blocking the road.

Intimidating

beneath the Pasar Seni LRT

journos or activists or maybe both

• As we were checking out the crowd, some bunch a guys started riling up the people with chants such as ‘Hidup Rakyat!’ & ‘Takbir’. After a while that small crowd became approximately 1,000!

before ...

After!

• At 1st we were merely bystanders, they asked us to join the march, but before I could ask my colleague “should we join now?” he already jumps over the barricade and joins them marching. I followed.

• There was a slight decline in the speed of our movement, I’m guessing that’s the front liners were facing the authorities in Central Market, and some yelled “Pergi Masjid” (go to the Mosque)

• We headed to Masjid Jamek, majority of us were Malays, Chinese but hardly any Indians though.

• We were in front of Masjid Jamek and was instructed to sit down on the road, we covered each and every spot on the street. Made friends with some bunch a guys who were dressed up like Rastafarians (not that Rastafarians have an official way of dressing but you know what I mean lar)

• We were sitting down and Chanting the ‘Hidup Rakyat’ & ‘Takbir,’ after a few minutes we stood up and sang Negaraku, it felt great!

ready, aim ...

• While singing Negaraku, without warning FRU fired tear gas onto our direction! And the scramble began, there were almost a stampede but there were some veteran activist were among us and they yelled ‘jangan lari, jalan cepat cepat jer’ [dont run, just walk fast]

• Those damn tear gas were nasty! It was my first time and I did not come prepared despite living a house filled with surgical masks and protective eye wear (mom works for a manufacturing company). Once the smoke goes trough your nose everything inside will feel like comin out, once it hits your eyes you start crying a river and the toughest part is it temporarily paralyses your lungs. Somehow I recovered quick, I’m guessing all these years of jogging finally paid off.

• I was separated from my friend and thought I’ll call him later a bit as I realised the battery was so freaking low [was too wasted to charge the phone the night before]

• In the midst of running an elderly man asked if it was my 1st time? Another veteran activist, he made it sound like askin a kid whose goin on a roller-coaster ride in the theme park.

• We did our 1st run and some of us ran our asses off to the HSBC Jalan Ampang area. I was across the road from the small clock tower. Thats when I took off my shirt to wipe my tears off and pulled out my Malaysian Football jersey which I carefully rolled and stuffed into my pocket! HARIMAU MALAYA MOTHF**KAZZ!!!

• We headed to Petaling Street (in front of Kota Raya) there were more protesters coming from all direction, the crowd was building up even more.

• I called my friend and got reunited with him in front of Guardian, he received a call and soon a cousin of his joined us.

• The group wanted to march to Stadium Merdeka via the road along Kemayan ATC but that road there too we were blocked by authority.

• Later we were asked to head out to the other side of the block, as the crowd was moving someone yelled that the ‘PATRIOT’ group was there and they were purposely misleading us. The reason why? I don’t know but I doubt that they wanted a confrontation as we outnumbered them like HELL!

• At this juncture I saw Malaysians from all walks of life participating in the demonstrations. Malays, Chinese, Indians, East Malaysians, old people, really really old people, young teens, disabled people, gay people (I swear this one dude was checking me out!)

• We Sang Negaraku! I never been so happy singing the National Anthem.

• We chanted the standard demonstration lines:
  • HIDUP HIDUP! HIDUP RAKYAT!
  • HANCUR HANCUR! HANCUR BN!
  • TAKBIR! ALLAHU AKBAR!
  • MUNDUR MUNDUR! MUNDUR BN
  • HANCUR HANCUR! HANCUR NAJIB!
  • HANCUR HANCUR! HANCUR ROSMAH! (this one is my fav ^_^ )

• We started moving to Menara Maybank, where there was a speech by one of the main protesters. I’m guessing he was from an opposition political party (PKR I think) as he had a microphone and some speakers to address the crowd.

• Couldn’t really hear him but mainly the just chanted the standard lines, he emphasized Rosmah, lol. and towards the end he also said “kita juga ingin manyampaikan terima kasih kita kepada pihak Maybank kerana sudi memberikan ruang untuk kita berkumpul [translate: We would like to convey our thanks to Maybank for lending a space here to gather] (but obviously it’s because they were closed lar)

fist in the air! ... oklar it wasn't candid, i admit, i posed

• The crowd kept waving at the passing trains and the commuters were waving back : )

• There were 2 police helicopters that kept circling the skies at all times, the movement kept showing them the finger.

• A bunch a young Malay girls who wore head scarves made their way forward and was put in the front lines. This was to psych the FRU’s from firing tear gas I think. But FRU’s didn’t bother, they fired again!

• Now the entire crowd has been funnelled into the Puduraya Road. The entrance at Menara Maybank has been blocked by cops and same goes to the end of the road heading to Times Square.

• In other words we were sitting ducks! either we have to battle them and move forward or disperse quietly.

• We heard the bells again, (the bell work like a signal if their gonna do some shit) then we heard that familiar sound ‘tratt! tat!’ damn tear gas again! this time crowd is more composed, they didn’t run like a horses and they all took big steps in their walk.

• I ran up towards the hill, the road heading towards the Bursa building, but the smoke was catching up fast so some of us ran in an alley and ended up in a dead end.

• We slowly turned back and head back to the Pudu road. To my surprise there was a mamak shop which was actually opened, it was in front of the temple. And quite a number the people who ran away from the tear gasses were actually recovering and refuelling on fluids there. I got myself a can of 100 Plus while I was at it.

• I enquired on food, I saw some on display but the cashier said no! (f**K%$^&$& I only had 1 slice of bread in the morning) This was to reduce the amount of people from chilling in the shop I think, and he was probably worried about looting and stuff.

• We all regrouped again in the streets of Pudu and this time the crowd was bigger than ever! We sat down on the road once again *_*

• Then we were being forced back and they started to squeeze us in, had to stand up and do a little walking, the clouds started appearing and we were all praying for rain.

• I was quite exhausted and was in need of something to eat, I sat and rested on the divider, leaned on a lamp post over looking the Puduraya Bus Station and suddenly they fired tear gas AGAIN! but this time not only it came from the front, it also showered from the sides. From above the buildings. (I suspect the FRUs took higher ground on the road that goes along the hotels at the back)

• Despite the brilliant strategy on scattering us, the FRUs misfired and half the canisters landed in to the construction site of the bus station, some even resorted on throwing back the canisters (God bless their burning fingers)

• Among the stray tear gasses some even made their way into Tung Shin Hospital! but into what appears to be the parking compound of the Hospital. I’m guessing that it was not intentional as their handling of the device was not good from start.

• There were some really hot chicz who then started screaming “KEJAM NYA, INGAT LAR TUHAN” [translate: THAT'S SO CRUELL, THINK OF GOD!]

• I ran towards a road leading to a church, at that very moment I realised these houses of God have truly played a unique role in this, as we first said our prayers in front of a Mosque and now our Muslim brothers and sisters actually have taken shelter in Hindu temple and Church.

• We were on the verge of getting back into the Puduraya streets and suddenly the FRUs started spraying the chemical laced water from their canons. A Malay chap told me “yang ni yang hijau punya, kuat punya ni” [translate: this is green one, it's the strongest] Lots of veterans in the house today!

• They were closing in on us, and I saw the numbers drop, quite a number of people have given up and left the scene. Me and the rest of the bunch who took temporary refuge in front of the church now ran towards to Tung Shin for shelter. I was thinking if they will barge in the Hospital with the troops ?

• I was in the car park and I saw some of our Muslim brothers protesters praying there. I moved away to respect to the ritual and went to the ledge overlooking the road to see what’s goin on.

• We started singing Negaraku! Once again it felt awesome!

• We got back on the streets, and the Bersih protesters were reunited once again, and we also reunited with the tear gas ones more.

• I saw several arrest made far in front of me. This was the hard line supporters of Bersih, PAS and Keadilan I think. These guys probably came prepared, judging from their actions and levels of defiance, I can bravely say they wanted to get arrested!

• I saw an elderly Malay man in a T-Shirt that says ‘Penang’ talkin to a foreigner dude about the tyranny of the BN government. He later gave him the Bersih 2.0 bandana and there you have it! a tourist-cum-activist! Malaysia Boleh!

Our Tourist-cum-Activist Mat Salleh, the only pic that I took myself.

• Several hours on this stand off, it wasn’t high noon any more, my pants, shoes, socks and jersey was wet. I was not in the mood to “Hidup this! HIDUP that” any longer. Then once again we received a combo of tear gas and water canons. This part truly annoyed the shit outta me as we were continuously spearing forward and running backwards like 3 to 4 times.

• This whole episode on moving forward and running back was because we were tricked by the police that they have agreed with the march and will let us go our way, they tricked us twice in fact!

• I was on the verge of leaving the hot zone and was dying for a decent meal and told myself “let’s have one last stand off and call it a day”

• We ran into Tung Shin Hospital. The cops moved in forward and stood at the gates! I told myself “SURES YOU ARE A DEAD MAN !”

• Me and several others ran towards the 1st enterance of Tung Shin but a set of cops ran up the stairs marching towards us! I gave a Theo Walcott sprint and ran toward the ledge of the carpark, most of the others regrouped on the other end and made a formation with a human chain around them.

• A good 20 to 30 people climbed up the hill on the side to make their escape but some of them stood and watched on what’s goin to happen to these superbly defiant ones.

• I was just a good 6 meters away from this circle, I heard a man say to a girl nearby “duduk jer sini, diorang tak kacau” [translate: just sit here and they will not disturb you]

• I sat my ass down along the walls with the 15-20 others as I watched the circle of the last stand hand to hand with their locked arms of a human chain, courageously stood together and said prayers, among the group were Muslim youths and some Chinese members of Bersih 2.0

• From my angle of view I could see 2 units prepared to pounce on these guys. It took them a while to collect their nerve, I don’t really blame them, both parties were to a certain extent afraid of each other.

• It was at that moment which I truly thought “dude you are screwed, you coulda been watching this on Youtube the next day but NO you had to be Che Guevera!”

• The cops moved in and arrested those guys. They didn’t really put up a fight and let the enforcers do their job, I’m glad they didn’t fist it out

• As they were walking those guys out, me and few were sitting by the side and some bunch a cops told us “korang kalau nak dok sini dok lah, sampai malam balik balik nanti” [you guys wanna sit it out? heck do it! you guys are gonna be here till night then!]

• So I figured the trick is to head back but quietly without attracting much attention but its pretty hard to do when you’re a black Indian dude who’s 6ft 2 wearing a yellow in colour jersey.

• So I walked out like “not a single fuck was given that day” with the straightest face. As I approached the exit there were some cops near the entrance! and there was a few behind me with a detained guy! *_* I found myself praying once again

act normal, act normal

How to walk and pray in the same time

• I saw my friend at the entrance, he was there taking pics (explains the pics above)  I have never been so happy to see his face.

• So we left the scene and head the way back to the LRT Station

• On the way to the LRT Station we saw 1 of the guy who got arrested lying on the raod with cops surrounding him. Word has it that the cop who apprehended him tied that plastic handcuff on him to tight and it blocked his circulation.

they were searching for scissors to cut the band off his wrist!

• So we were doing what Malaysians do best, just sit and stare and suddenly some moron next to me SCREAMS: HIDUP HIDUP! HIDUP RAKYAT!

• I turned to search for my colleague and he once again vanishes from the scene and climbs the overheard bridge nearby to get a bird’s eye view (which explains the pic above btw)

• I had to slide from the scene as the heat was increasing with the amount of cops nosing their ass in. I didn’t look like a journalist especially with the colours on. I took a slow walk to Pasar Seni and thought I’d wait for my colleague there.

• As I was walking I saw a familiar face, It was MP of Bukit Lanjan, Elizabeth Wong. She had a nice pair of aviators on, I smiled and she smiled back : )

• While walking along the entrance of Petaling Street and I saw crowd of people surrounding a guy who was lying down on the road face first (not again) I heard some people say “kesian dia dah mati!” [pity him, he's dead] I kinda felt something fishy about it since his cap was on road and his face was resting on it. After a few seconds he got up! He was actually ‘planking‘ (-_-’)

• I thought I’ll wait for my friend in the LRT station and then head back home but then turns out that I had no choice as they closed the shutters and the station inaccessible.

• After a few minutes he arrived with roll of pics of the guy who laid unconscious.

• We decided to have a meal since we barely at shit since the day started.

• With all the people leaving the hot zones we guessed that we’ll be able to meet our buddy who was on the other side of the rally. We met up, chilled in front of Central Market and had a super late lunch in Restoran Yusof.

• The restaurant was filled with demonstrators and cops! Ultimate WTF moment of the day, these bunch a guys were just at it each others necks an hour earlier.

• We took cool picture of us 3 to conclude the day.

Pada suatu hari Ali, Muthu & Ah Chong pergi ke Kuala Lumpur.

• We took the train back KJ and had a chat with some random stranger about the rally.

• Reached KJ, said goodbye to my comrade and rode my bike back home feeling like Che Guevara!

• Bike runs outta fuel halfway! F**k$% FML HMS #$%#^# RATM Fail!

• Pushed the bike for 20 minutes to the nearest petrol station (that’s when I thought of writing this whole thing here) refuelled and rolled out.

Pics courtesy of : Troy 2.0 and Lukman the ‘Rock-Man’ Hussein. Title was inspired by Tranformers: Dark of The Moon and also my friend Nurul Afiah.

-THE END-

Some Interesting Pics from the boys while I was deep in the rabbit hole

where was this ?

matching rain coat

you can always trust Troy to find the best of situations, yes it was Aunt Annie givin a piece of her mind to the authorities!

one more money shot from Troy as he manage to spot Gobind Singh Deo in KL despite the restriction enforced against him, but take a look who Troy missed next to Gobind ?

A little note  to you guys …

Don’t feel down that you did not make it to the rally, I’m sure some of you have your reasons. Obviously you can’t risk losing your jobs, leaving your family to worry, health, safety, etc. We were there on your behalf and thanks to social media, your online presence has help spread the cause.

Just because someone was there it doesn’t make them tough and just because some didn’t make it doesn’t mean they are pussies

A message to haters/hate inciters

You can’t ‘pecah belahkan’ people simply by asking for clean election. It simply doesn’t make sense.

This Rally and this write up is not a diversion from any former Deputy Prime Minister’s sex probe.

Bersih 2.0 agreed to have it in the stadium after meeting the Agung as per the initial request, however the authorities went back on their words (remember the pied piper story?). The entire police and FRU battalion did not have to be dispatched that day, most of them could’ve been with their family and friends that day.

Ultimately if a permit was given, half the crowd wouldn’t have turned up, it would have been a placid event in a miserable stadium and it would not have made to international media on such a scale.

If you have your own ideas on how you can make this country better in a peaceful way, we would love to lend in a helping hand, but if you still think that by sitting in front of your computers and posting negative or racial comments you’re making a difference, then you probably need to grows some balls or some brains or maybe both.

You standin in line, believe in the lies, you bowin down to that flag, you gotta bullet in your head! – RATM

At the speed of light,

Dodging the meteors and speed bumps,

The crashing of the truck’s body on the obstacles of branches,

Showers my space ship with dead leaves,

As I take the right, We part ways,

Another right and I reach the office,

Damn I should’ve taken leave today.