T-Shirts

The photos show 2 t-shirts. The top one is his and the bottom is mine. Both have the same color element and almost the similar pattern. He bought me mine because it matches the color of his. Mine is quite ‘acceptable’, I might say. But his, well, it has skulls printed all over it. The first time we put them on, we were on our way back to Terengganu a couple of weeks before Raya Haji.

As we expected, his parents “tegur” him for wearing that baju tengkorak. It’s not nice, they said. But then again my husband always gets away. He’s the type who is “pandai menjawab”. He said “The skulls represent death. By wearing this skull-T, it reminds me of death. We don’t know when Allah is going to take us. Death is unexpected. So we better make the best out of this life. Hence, this T reminds me to take everyday like it is my last.”

Not so long time ago when we went back to Terengganu, my husband went out of the house barefoot to close the gate. Mama saw him. She scolded him for not putting on any footwear because this would eventually cause the floor and the carpet inside the house to get dirty when he steps in. He answered “Without any footwear, there’s nothing between me and the ground I’m stepping on. I feel closer to bumi Allah.”

A surprise visit

I was working in the office this morning, when suddenly Abah appeared right in front of me. It was a pleasant surprise.

Earlier, I happened to know that he was in Putrajaya for a business trip. I called him up and he told me that he was at the Kementerian Pendidikan. I have no idea what a business man like him was doing in Kementerian Pendidikan. Eventually I invited him for lunch. Unfortunately he informed me he couldnt make it because he was in a hurry.

A few minutes later, there he was, standing right in front of me with a visitor's pass clipped to his shirt. What a surprise!

He told me that he still could not make it for lunch but he didnt want to let me down. So he came to my office, and told the PA not to inform me about his visit. then out of sudden he was right in front of me, flashing his smile (that resembles Harrison Ford's, according to my husband).

He sat next to me, talking to me like we've never met for many years. I miss this kind of moment. Ever since I started working, we havent got the chance to spend time together like we used to do back then. Once upon a time ago, I was his personal assistant (now his PA is my sister, Atak) and his driver (now my sister, Mira). We spent a lot of time together on the road, and at his logging place. I miss all that. I miss him.

Thanks for everything Abah.

I love you.

Aidiladha 2008

Earlier this year we made a pact, which is to celebrate Aidilfitri in Kelantan and to celebrate Aidiladha in Johor. People said that the celebration of Aidiladha is more ‘meriah’ in the East Coast, especially in Kelantan. I had an extremely wonderful Aidilfitri celebration in Kelantan this year. So for this reason, at one point I was thinking of ‘breaching the contract’ that we had because I wanted to celebrate Aidiladha in Kelantan. Surely it’s going to be relatively great compared to the one in Johor. But this was opposed by my husband. He said it is not fair. He said that he should be given a chance to spend time with my extended family. So, okay, I said. We went back to Johor.

We made our way on Saturday morning. We stopped by at my auntie’s place in Bangi so that we all could go together in two cars. After breakfast, we were on the road. The weather was good, The North-South highway was packed with vehicles. It was a long weekend and everybody was going back to their respective hometown. Kindly be informed that I was behind the wheel at that time because my husband was tired after a long, hectic day the day before.

The playful Aqil, fooling around shortly before leaving Bangi.

We reached my grandparents’ house about an hour and a half later. Pak Alang and family were already there. So did Pak Uda and Pak Andak. Pak Itam and family arrived later. I spent the rest of the day at the kitchen, where everybody ‘lepaks’. The kitchen is now huge after being renovated by Abah. Huge enough to accommodate a dining table, a TV set and a queen-sized bed for Achik and her newly-born son to rest. The next evening, we were going to have a kenduri kesyukuran for this newly-born baby.

Amir Faiq

The next morning, we had a gotong-royong for the majlis kesyukuran. My husband woke up as early as 6 am. Immediately after subuh prayer, he followed Pak Alang to buy 10 chickens from a nearby supplier. They also brought back some beefs and fishes. I helped my one and only bachelor uncle, Cik Dan, to prepare breakfast. It’s worth mentioning that Cik Dan is a good cook.

Assisted by Syamil, Pak Itam’s son, my husband took the task of “menyiang” the 10 chickens and the fishes. Pak Alang was working on the beef. And me, I did various jobs together with my grandma, Cik Dan, and my aunties Mak Uteh, Mak Andak, Makni and Mak Itam.

Penyiang ayam - My husband and his sidekick, Syamil.

My grandma and Mak Uteh

Pak Alang marinating the chicken. At the back, Penyiang Ayam are now Penyiang Ikan.

Later on, somebody brought 3 ayam kampungs (living ones). One of them got away into the nearby bushes. So we were left with 2. Pak Uteh, the “established slaughterer” in my family performed his job on those 2 chickens. Eventually, Pak Anjang took the task of ‘processing’ the ayam kampung. Makni prepared her special rending recipe and Pak Alang later took over the cooking of the rending ayam kampung. We also made kuih koci and ketupat.

Pak Anjang working on the ayam kampung

Teknik menyebatikan ayam dan rempah.

Pak Alang struggling with the rendang.

Banana leaves for wrapping teh kuih koci.

Cik Dan - the specialist.

The gotong-royong continued after lunch. The 10 chickens and the fishes were to be barbequed.

The making of Kuih Koci

Pak Alang getting the ketupat done

Ketupat

Additional fishes to be BBQed

Later after Asar, my mom arrived with my sisters Dibah and Atak together with my trio brothers Azwan, Azri and Anwar. Everybody was quite tired by this time. The only thing which needed to be done was the barbeque.

The barbequing started after Maghrib prayer. This time the gotong-royong crew increased. My younger cousins were very helpful when it comes to membakar ayam. Some of them even placed their bookings on the chicken - which drumstick belongs to who, who wants the thigh, who ‘chop’ the wings, who gets the breast, etc. Some of them even holding empty plates while waiting.

Chicken BBQ

Fish BBQ

Getting hot

The BBQ crowd

Anwar just cant wait

Dibah and Pak Uteh

Pak Uteh working on the BBQ

My twin cousins BBQing

The guests arrived after Isyak prayer.

Abah and my sister Mira, who happens to be his unofficial driver, arrived shortly after midnight. Abah was having some business matter that day, hence he arrived late.

The house was packed with family members that night. And those who didn’t get to sleep in the bedroom slept everywhere in the house, even in the kitchen.

The next day was Hari Raya Aidiladha. It rained heavily. Only Atok Abah, Abah, Pak Uda and Pak Anjang managed to make their way to the mosque in one car. At around 10 am, my husband followed Pak Uda and Cik Dan to Tok Uda’s house, which is situated about 1 km away. Tok Uda is my grandaunt. That was where they performed the ‘qurban’, lead by Pak Uteh. Pak Ngah and Mak Ngah arrived later that evening.

Pak Uteh - Chief Executive Slaughterer

Tok Uda and me

The rain stopped sometime before Asar. Later that evening, we went back to Tok Uda’s place for kenduri. Immediately after the kenduri, we, together with Abah, Mak, Pak Uteh, Mak Uteh, Cik Dan and Mira (Abah’s driver) went to visit my sister who stayed at her father-in-law’s place. At first, my husband refused to go because he wanted to lepak with Pak Alang to watch a football match on TV. I think it was Malaysia vs Vietnam, or was it Thailand? I don’t know, and I don’t care. But I insisted him to come along because he rarely met Kak Long and her husband, Zahir.

We went back to KL the next day. It was a wonderful Hari Raya Haji for us.

Weekend in Terengganu

Last weekend we made a trip back to Terengganu. We left KL around 8 pm. As we reached Tol Gombak, it started to rain. There were thunderstorms as we entered Karak Highway. I was not driving, and I didn’t wish to do so under an extremely bad weather like that. Usually the journey would take somewhere between 4 and a half to 5 hours. But that night, due to the bad weather, we took 6 hours to reach Kuala Terengganu. It was a tiring journey, for the driver.

DAY 1- Saturday
Mama gave us a wake up call around 11 am. About an hour later, my husband and I together with his parents were on our way to meet our batik sutera supplier and to collect our stocks. This is the number one reason why we went back to Terengganu. It was cloudy in the afternoon. The skies were grey, just like the ones we saw in the movie 300. Yes, everything seemed to be grey. By 3 pm, it rained heavily. The monsoon has arrived.

DAY 2 - Sunday
The weather was better, although the day’s theme color remained grey. We went out again, for the sake of jalan-jalan in Terengganu. I managed to snap some photos when we were out in town. By 5 pm, it rained again.

KT Town – It was declared as a City not so long ago, but I refuse to acknowledge that.

KT Chinatown

Keropok Losong Warehouse

Keropok Lekor (Rebus)

Keropok Lekor (Goreng)

DAY 3 - Monday
Both of us took leave, so that we could spend more time in Terengganu. We left on Monday, under a bad weather. As we reached the East Coast Highway, the weather was ok. No more grey theme for the day.