Aside from reading, I enjoy travelling. I have been backpacking since I got my license to travel from my parents. I have backpacked to Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and Nepal. Each time I travel, I bring stories of my travels home to my family, friends and students. I was inspired to write ‘Tuti and I’ after I scaled Mount Rinjani in Lombok with my husband last June. We climbed the mountain with great difficulty given that we were not experienced climbers. But we went up anyway. And what we saw at the summit was amazing. No words could describe the volcanic eruption that was happening before our eyes. We could only stare in awe at the wondrous sight of the eruption, every second taking in that magical moment.

Throughout our journey up to the crater of Mount Rinjani, Tuti was with us the entire time. Tuti was our guide. He lives in Sembalun Lawang, a small village that is near the mountain. He was the one who shared with us the love he has for the mountains and how often he and his friends would climb up the mountain in his younger days. He shared with us stories of the mountains and his job as a guide with so much passion that I felt ashamed of myself. I was ashamed because I did not know if I could ever tell someone about my career with such spirit and passion as Tuti did. I was ashamed because I did not know if I could ever tell someone about something I love so much like how Tuti expresses his love for the mountains.

My husband and I have since forged a strong friendship with Tuti. After we said our goodbyes, we adjourned to Gili Meno, one of the three Gili islands not far from the coast of Lombok. It was there while watching the beautiful sunset that the words for ‘Tuti and I’ came to me.  I wrote the story with ease. Everything came to me most naturally. However at that point, I had no intention to write a book but my husband urged me to do so.

Before I knew it, ‘Tuti and I’ was published in Malaysia. It was launched officially on 20 March at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fest 2010.  ‘Tuti and I’ is my stepping stone to writing children’s books. It is my first and hopefully not my last work to share with children and adults, of a friendship so dear and so strong between a man and a mountain.  Finally, after all the stories I have read in my life, this is a story that I can call my own, my very own story of ‘Tuti and I’.
'


Meet Jaslina at the launch of 'Tuti and I' this Saturday, 8 May 2010, 6.30 pm at Earshot Cafe, the Arts House. This book launch is held in conjunction with the Asian Festival of Children's Content from 6-9 May 2010. The book will be sold at a special price of $15 during the launch, and will be available at bookstores soon.

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