from Fictions

Md. Fariq Khir

Artwork by Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee

1.

I stopped a taxi. After I sat, I asked where is he heading? After arriving at the destination, he paid his fare and I returned the balance.


2.

A novel cried reading itself.


3.

A fish died because ideas have dried up.


4.

A couple decided to call off their wedding because no ring can fit their ring fingers.


5.

Ten blind commandos were ordered to search for the wolf that had swallowed the sun.


6.

Seeing his father’s face, a baby crawled back inside his mother’s womb.


7.

A cannibal scientist cloned himself and got eaten by his clone, who then cloned himself and got eaten by his clone, who then cloned himself. . .


8.

The ferry I was onboard sank. No passengers died because the paper ships we made when we were small came to save us.


9.

I told my parents that they were adopted. They cried because I did not tell them earlier.


10.

In a lecture I sat beside a beautiful girl. I gave her a slip of paper to ask for her number. She only wrote 8173. Frustrated, I used the number at Sports Toto and won the jackpot.

translated from the Malay by Ali Aiman Mazwin

Read the original in Malay

Listen to the original read by the author:

This series of absurd-surreal flash fiction was selected from Fariq's Twitter account, where he posts similar bite-sized writings. Some of the writings have been featured in a number of local literature zines over the years. A selection of tweets was even included in an annual best short story anthology, Cerpen Terbaik 2016, published by Buku Fixi. This is the first time they are translated from Malay into another language.

His tweets tend to sound like they came out of nowhere—like they are churned out from a random sentence generator—but a number of them actually serve as subtle commentary on current topics and news in Malaysia’s general consciousness. This ranges from gossip in the literature circle and notes on political issues to brief comments on random news in the paper. When Fariq is not commenting on any particular events, his tweets may be a play of words that is rich in Malaysian context—you have to be Malaysian to understand “the joke.” But most of the time, you do not have to be Malaysian to appreciate their general weirdness.

Another element present in his writings is black comedy. Hence, one may not “get it” either because of its Malaysian context, or simply because they do not find the subject matter funny or are open to Fariq’s mockery. This also poses a unique challenge when translating his writings. As some of us may agree, two forms of writing are the hardest to translate: comedy and poetry. And both components are present in Fariq’s flash fictions, in one way or another.

Md. Fariq Khir grew up in Selangor, Malaysia and is currently studying Data Communication and Networking in a local university. He likes drinking tea and taking walks around the neighbourhood. He posts his absurd-surreal flash fictions on Twitter here and some of them have been published in a number of literature zines. A selection of his flash fictions was also featured in Cerpen Terbaik 2016, an annual anthology of the best short stories, which was published by Buku Fixi, a publisher of urban contemporary fiction in Malaysia. Labelling himself as ‘kutukus sastra’ (Malay for ‘the literary condemner’), he also writes about random and personal matters on his blog.

Ali Aiman Mazwin is a copywriter, editor, and translator based in Kuala Lumpur. He has translated two novels into Malay (Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (as a co-translator)), a series of graphic novels, and other shorter works. He also handles an Instagram account here, translating international works of poetry into Malay for fun. His other passion is street photography.