Eid Mubarak!!!

Today, we will celebrate Eidil Fitri, a very happy day indeed for all. It is a day of gratefulness on the accomplishment of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, syukur pada Allah SWT kerana memudahkan Ramadhan yang telah lalu. Semoga all the ibadahs diterima oleh Nya.

We are already back at Mom's place. The drive from Shah Alam to Seremban was a breeze. Traffic was smooth as predicted. Most folks of the city had gone back earlier, some as early as last Friday.

After Iftaar just now, we went to visit ABE's family. His sister, brothers and their resteptive families had arrived earlier. It's been a practice all these while that we'd visit MIL on the eve of Raya and then head back to my Mom's place to put up the night (since distance from both houses is pretty close)

From the distant mosque, the takbir is heard. Betapa ianya memecah keheningan malam, betapa syahdu nya memuji kebesaran Tuhan Maha Esa.

"Allahu-Akbar. Allahu-Akbar. Laa ilaaha illallah. Wa-Allahu Akbar. Allahu-Akbaar. Wa lillaahil-Hamd"

(Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest. There is none who has the right to be worshipped except Allah. Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest and to Allah belongs all praise.)

And this morning, together with the rest of the congregation we'll perform solat Eidil Fitri at Masjid Sungai Landak.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri kepada semua. Maaf zahir & batin.
Semoga Syawal ini memberi kita nikmat dan keberkatan dari Nya.

Macam-Macam Kerjaaaa.....

Manis, the visiting cat

Our house was buzzing with activities, even Nissa’s visiting cat, Manis felt it. There was cooking to do and also some last minute things to get for Faris Raya preparation. My trip to the market was extra early. By 7.30am, I was already at Man’s gerai ayam at the Seksyen 6 Market in Shah Alam. Very quickly I told Man to prepare me two birds, the usual way I’d have my chicken done – potong kecik and buang kulit. I signaled to Man to pass the chicks to ABE as I wanted to go get meat pulak. Man said, “OK Kak…settle”. Before I walked away , I wished him Selamat Hari Raya.

Next was to the meat gerai. I don’t have any special one that I frequent. However, there was this boy who surely knew how to get me at the corner of my eyes. Tak tau lah budak ni Indon ker local. But from the way he spoke, he sounded like Indon. Tak kisah lah…Indon ker local ker…semua nye ada di bumi Malaya ni nak cari rezeki. Got the guy to cut me about 3 kilos of meat, paid for it and off I went to get the santan. So far so good. I didn’t have to stand in long queue to get my provisions.

After the santan, I headed to my usual gerai ikan. The owner, Yong (as in Buyong) was a student of mine before. So everytime when he sees me, he’ll tell his budak-budak to give his cikgu some discount. At times sampai, I sendiri rasa segan. Forever lah getting discounts for my ikan tenggiri or prawns and the other what have yous. But I could see he was ikhlas. Thanks Yong, ingat kat cikgu dia ni lagi.

My last stop was the vege gerai. Picked our usual vegetables, paid for them and went to meet up with ABE who was waiting for me at the centre of the market. OK…let’s go, I’m done here.

And as we walked out to the car, suddenly droves and droves of cars were making their way to the market. The parking bays which were empty earlier have now been filled. Fuuhh…nasib baik lah we were early. Just a 10 minute delay, would have put us together with the rest of Shah Alam folks.

Upon reaching home, I asked Bibik to get prepare barang-barang for making rendang, well you know, the usual stuffs like onions, ginger, garlic, serai etc. Bibik being Bibik, told me that everything is ready, just waiting to masak only. Wow, how efficient, what would I do without her around. Gosh, I just don’t want to imagine so. I told her that we’ll make reandang after Iftaar. That way, we can rasa the garam, gula and cili nya. Bibik gave her green light.

Next thing to do was to go get groceries from Tesco. So again, ABE & I berlari pulak ker Tesco. With the list in my hand, I grabbed the necessary items. Managed to be out of there in less than 1 hour, another record set today, I told myself.

On my way out, I got Bibik her Raya slippers from one of Raya gerais in the Tesco complex. Gold coloured low heeled slippers….sure Bibik suka.

Next destination was to the bank. I had to do some quick banking transactions before going on the Raya break. There was a queue, but it was kinda bearable. After the bank, was a quick stop at SACC to go look for a samping for Faris. Unfortunately, there was none which I felt suitable for a young man’s ware. Colours were overly bright and there was none which could match with Faris’ orangy brown baju Melayu. So, tak pe lah. Looks like it will be a repeat samping for him this year plus nobody would know anyway…

Farah's cuppies creation ...before


After...

At home, Farah had already started with her baking. She told me earlier that she wanted to make cupcakes for her Grandmothers in Seremban. Ok..bagus lah I said to her. New at baking so, I still had to supervise her attempt. She got a little nervous while at it, afraid that her cup cakes would not turn out as expected. End result nya, ok lah…menjadi and the whole house smelt cake. Nissa was restless as the smell was really testing her determination at fasting. Mau tak nya, orang besar pun keriok-keriok perut, ni kan pula this eight year old.

Working on lil sister's baju

As Farah baked, I went on to complete my bead work. I have completed Farah’s baju kurung two nights back and it was time to work on Nissa’s. Mak datukkkk….juling-juling my eyes dibuatnya. Too bling, bling all those beads….

Bling-bling on my baju

Bling-bling on Farah's baju..yang paling glamour, by the way..

Once Nissa’s baju was nicely and colorfully embellished, it was time to work on my own baju. Two bajus to work on at one go!!! Memang asking for trouble. I did the base beading work for Nissa’s baju and after that Farah continued by just following what I had done earlier. Farah was running back and forth from the oven to the beading station (which was also our dinning table). Luckily for me, Farah managed to get the bead work on Nissa’s baju done in a few hours. Other wise, I'd have to slog some extra hours to get Nissa's baju completed.

By then it was almost Maghrib, time to buka puasa. Yeahh…29 days down 1 more to go. Everyone was so excited. After Maghrib, nak buat rendang la pulak. Ok, ok…better be quick.

It's rendang making time...

To cut the story short, I did the initial work on the rendang. Well you know the part tumis bawang, santan and others. After that Farah, Bibik and even Nissa helped merendang till selesai.

Rendang sudah masak...

By the time we completed all the chores and cleaned up the kitchen, it was almost 11.00pm and I felt as if I had run marathon twice that day. Performed my Isyak and within minutes, I was fast asleep. So did Bibik and my two girls….

Tomorrow, to pack and let’s balik kampungggggggg!!!!

Woody Obsession

One of the subjects ABE took during his undergrad studies was Wood Structures. It was a subject which he put a lot of interest in. And that semester, I learnt quite a bit about wood as well. He shared with me insights about the different types of wood like pine, mahogany, teak, rosewood, maple, just to name a few.

Choices of teak aplenty...filled to the brim

I though this “woody” business had ended after he sat for the finals of that paper at the end of the semester. Dah score dapat good grades tu habis lah kan. But tidak, that wasn’t the case. The attraction and fascination towards wood kept flaming in him even till present. When we first started looking for furniture before we moved into our house way back in the early 90s, most of the places we went to were the “woody” joints. And with that brief intro, we have now accumulated quite a number of wood pieces in the house.

My first piece was a wood display cabinet, bought just after we moved into our home. I remember rummaging through this antique furniture shop in Subang. After sometime of look see look see, I finally settled with a Merbau piece of orange-brown shade with simple floral carvings on the both sides. Unfortunately, the antique shop where I got it from closed sometime back, but I must say the piece still stands proud in our living room. Relatively not long after the Merbau cabinet, we got a dining set which was made from rosewood. Similarly, this set has become one of my favourite purchases. Even after having had it for more than 15 years, it looks very much like how we first brought it home. The six seater may have become somewhat small for our growing family. We ought to consider getting a bigger set but I simply don’t want to part with it just yet.

What's your fancy? Wall mirror??

And today, we went “wood” hunting again. A couple of weeks back, we stumbled upon this shop which sells teak furniture somewhere in Sunway. The shop, well more like a warehouse I should say, had like so many pieces of teak, mahogany, acacia wood furniture. Most of the furniture are simple in its design, nothing too gaudy nor too complicated and so very much to my liking. How lah to resist???

Bayar time... Gesek (swipe) aja Pak...encouraged the shop owner

So what was the outcome (damage pun iyer jugak) from the hunt?? Heh..heh…a mature coloured teak console cabinet. Its price was pretty reasonable and the shop will deliver tomorrow evening. In the meantime, I’d do some clearing up of the space where the cabinet is to be positioned. Hai…bercabinet baru lah pulak saya Raya ni nampak nyer ;-)

Summer of 83

The streak of hot and hazy days in the past week is indeed a test of one's determination at performing the fast. I drag having to go out at midday as it would be blazing hot and by the time I get back into the office, I’d usually end up with a splitting headache. It’s a wonder how those construction workers cope with the heat. I would have melted away in just minutes, that’s for sure.

Funny though, how the present differ from those days when I was a student. Being out in the sun was never a problem and didn’t have much effect on me. I could walk half of Seremban town and still had the energy to pay netball till late afternoon. In fact during my first year of studies in the States, fasting was observed during the hot summer days.

It was the summer of 1983, our first experience berpuasa di perantauan. Had mixed feelings actually and the “scary” fasting stories our seniors told us didn’t help much. The seniors told my friends and I that fasting was longer than back home. We wondered how it would feel fasting for more than 10 hours as Imsak was at 4.00 in the morning and iftaar was at 8.00pm. Fuhh….lamanya nak puasa tu, we thought to ourselves.

Lake Mendota Terrace...place where we lepak-ed a lot, fed the ducks, went boating and also "pak-taw" a lot here too :-)

Then when we actually started fasting, it didn’t feel as bad as how it was put to us. Tak terasa pun the long hours of fasting. Of course we had classes to attend since most of us were enrolled in summer school and masing-masing pulak took like the most number of credit hours we could (which could be a killer to the CGPA if you just bummed around and played Frisbee all summer long).

My summer time routine was class from morning till midday. Then I’d rush home on my bicycle to catch my favourite soap, General Hospital on tv. Lepas tu gi library and bila dah selesai with the assignment baru lah balik apartment and terkial-kial fikir nak masak apa for berbuka. On days when classes were not so mind boggling, ABE (who masa tu baru nak men-tackle I) and I would walk to the University Square and go watch an afternoon matinee. Jalan kaki tu…pulang balik like almost 2-3 km. There were also times when we would lepak by the lake and fed the ducks. Punyer lah so free and easy nya life back then. It was study, lepak, makan and study lagi.

Ice cream...the biggest temptation during the fasting

The average temperature during summer days in Madison, Wisconsin was 36˚C and at times it even went to as high as 40˚C. It was hot and dry and if we were not determined at fasting, mau hanyut. Nak-nak bila tengok most of the folks around us were merrily slurping away. Hai sabar je lah….

I must say that was a very memorable summer for my friends and I. Not only we became closer as roommates and friends, through the ups and downs of the summer days, but also experienced the toughest will power in upholding our faith and worship towards God Almighty.

Nissa's Raya Cards

It’s 23rd Ramadhan today. Raya is slightly more than a week away. Radio stations have started airing the evergreen Raya songs of M.Nasir, P.Ramlee, Rafeah Buang, Sanisah Huri, Uji Rashid & Hail Amir, just to name a few. Once in a while, I'd hear some rather weird sounding Raya songs. Bila dengar betul-betul, ahh they are tunes dari negara seberang. With the influx of Indonesian singers into our music industry today, I guess, it’s inevitable that this happens. But my personal favorites are still those which I could associate to my budak-budak school days.

Synonymous with Raya songs are Raya cards. I have stopped sending Raya cards a long time ago. I blame my not so nice handwriting these days (due to doing more typing than pen on paper scribblings) coupled with my laziness in organizing the required stationery as reasons for my not sending any more Raya cards.

My oblivion to Raya cards came to a halt about a week ago when Nissa showed me a Raya card she received from one of her friends. She asked me if I could get her Raya cards to balas her friend’s card. Ummpp….it’s been ages since I last bought Raya cards. Nak beli kat mana eh? Memory Lane ade kot…

So Mother and Daughter dengan confident nya walked into a Memory Lane outlet in Subang Parade and canvassed the display racks for them Raya cards. I told Nissa to pick the ones she liked and show them to me before we head to the cashier counter to make payments.

As she browsed through the cards, she picked one sweet floral card which had the words “Kepada Kekasih Ku” written on it. Almost immediately she popped me this question.

“Mama, kekasih tu apa?” asked Nissa innocently. Haiya...ni yang malas nak bercerita panjang lebar dihari-hari berpuasa, dihari-hari yang tekak dah dry up ni. I was somewhat lucky as a simple explanation about love and loving someone did the job.

Then she picked up another one. “Kepada Suami Ku” were the calligraphed words on the card. This time she made a different remark pulak. “Suami and isteri are supposed to stay in the same house kan, Mama…so kenapa need to send Raya card pulak?” Alamak…lagi mau kena cerita lah pada ini budak.

I told her that not all couples are fortunate enough and are able to stay together under the same roof. The husband could be working in Kertih, working on an oil rig (thanks to the old friends buka puasa outing last week, I came up with this brilliant example) and the wife could be in Melaka, so it’d be very thoughtful to be sending each other cards. She then responded, “Hantar email je lah. Can say more things, and have animation, music or send sms, even cheaper.”

Nissa has made her point actually. But why on earth were we in Memory Lane and choosing cards for her friends, beats the daylights out of me. So, I hurried her into finalizing her choice of cards, paid them and headed back home.

That night, we both sat and painstakingly (only I felt this, nak terlelap memasukkan cards ke dalam envelopes dia) organized the writing of the Raya cards. She enjoyed it of course. With so much enthusiasm, she took out one card after the other and wrote her friends’ names on them. She asked me what if her friends didn’t reply her cards. I told her to do this with sincerity and don’t harapkan balasan. Then her face changed and showed little sadness over my statement.

Not wanting her to be disappointed over the hard work, I dengan bangganya perturunkan an old trick I used during my Raya-card-sending-days. Told her to try this pantun dua kerat.

And with that Mama dearest telah shared this overly used (and abused) pantun dua kerat.

Pecah kaca pecah gelas
Sudah baca harap balas

Let’s see if any of her friends get the message yah….

Remembering Abah - Part I

My Abah, Tn Hj Mohd Noor bin Tadin

1936 - 21 Sept 1990

As I wheeled him into the Operating Theater, I whispered to him to remember God and InshaAllah he would be fine and we’d be praying for his recovery. He nodded his head and with a heavy heart, I watched the hospital personnels wheel him into the OT. The nurses asked me to wait outside and they’d call for me later when the procedure was completed.

And that was the last time I spoke to him. “Him”, my Abah left us that night 21 September 1999, moments after he arrived at the OT, even before the surgeons could do anything to him.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un From Allah we come ; to Allah we return.

It has been 9 years since that fateful night at HKL. I still remember my brother and uncle’s faint voices calling out to Abah in the OT. In the beginning, there was silence and then panic voices suddenly broke the stillness in the OT.

“Abah, mengucap Bah…mengucap Bah. La illah ha-illa Allah....” That were the exact words of my brother.

Then there was silence again. Minutes later, my brother emerged from the OT and he said, “Nyah, Abah…Abah dah tak de.”

My aunty who was with me, came and hugged me. My body felt so light as if I was flying. For a while, I thought I saw flashes of light before my eyes. There was no feelings what so ever in me at that time. I stood and stared at my brother. He then said I could go into the OT and say my goodbye to Abah. I remember my other aunty’s strong grip, holding my arm and telling me to be strong.

In the OT, there he was, his eyes closed and he looked so calm. It was as if Abah was in deep sleep. No more pain, no more sadness. I just stood by him and when I felt his body, he was still warm. The whole time I felt blank. Next thing I knew was my aunty telling me, “Ida, you can kiss Abah, Ida. Cium kat kepala dia.” Obediently, I did as what she asked me to do. It was then I whispered my last good bye to my beloved Abah.

“Selamat jalan Abah. Semoga Abah selamat di sana.....”

Nyah or Anyah – the name my siblings call me by.
Ida – how I’m addressed by the rest of the family.

Remembering Abah - Part II

L to R my sis Yati, Abah, my brother Tauffik & me

It was the year 1999, in the wake of the new millennium, when it all happened. I was at my sister’s house in Bandar Kinrara when Mom’s maid called. Her few distorted words had us wondering on what actually happened. The maid was Sumarah, a young plum girl from East Jawa. Gasping in between her breath, she said, “Bapak jatuh masa padam api kat masjid. Sekarang di rumah sakit.”

Huh? Jatuh? Padam api? Those where the questions playing in our minds. Did Abah have a heart attack? Yes we knew that he did have a mild problem with his blood pressure. But it was under control, at least that was what he told us.

Quickly, we organized the children and informed the maids on what they needed to do before we headed back to Seremban. My sister’s husband, Shah offered to drive us to Seremban Hospital that evening.

Abah proudly looking at his 1st grandchild, Faris who was only 3 months then

When we got to the hospital, we went straight to the ward where he was admitted. The moment we arrived, Mom was there and some of our neighbours were also with her. And there was Abah lying on the bed, looking helplessly and in so much pain. Ya Allah….what had happened? That was the immediate question running on my mind.

Abah with my two children, Faris & Farah

Mom looked concerned and we waited eagerly to speak to the doctor in-charged.

I asked Pak Cik Dolah, our immediate neighbour what exactly happened to Abah. He then recollected the incident he witnessed at the mosque a few hours ago. According to Pak Cik Dolah, Abah was trying to put off a small fire which had broken out in the compound of the mosque after Asar prayers. It was a dry day and the fire, which started near the slope of the mosque, was slowly spreading. When Abah was putting off the fire at the steep slope, he lost his balance and he fell almost 20 feet down. The other men found him at the bottom of the slope calling out in pain. The blow from the fall had damaged some of his nerves causing him to be paralyzed shoulder down. He couldn’t lift his hands and neither could he move his legs.

It was then I knew that the whole accident was more complicated than how Sumarah had described earlier in her phone call. We were positive when we first spoke to the doctors. The neurologist explained to us Abah’s actual condition. He said recovery would take a long time, provided there were no other complications. The concerned looks of my brother’s face confirmed my fear. Earlier on, he had a doctor-to-doctor talk with the neurologist, orthopedic surgeon and the physician. That night on our way back to KL, everyone kept silent. The only audible sound was our occasional sighs. We dragged having to leave Abah at the hospital but we somehow had to get back to make the necessary arrangements at our own home fronts. I promised Mom that I’d come back on the next day.

It wasn’t easy those days when Abah was hospitalized. From Seremban Hospital, he was transferred to HUKM, where my brother was attached to. Unfortunately, HUKM didn’t have the special bed needed to treat a patient with such casualty as Abah. He then was transferred again, to HKL this time.

Abah with his teaching colleagues

Abah’s condition was unpredictable. One day he was ok and the next he could be fighting for his live. I remember one afternoon at HKL when I was relieving Mom to take care of him, he suddenly went blue and was gasping for air. He couldn’t breathe. I told myself, if God were to take him at that time, I was prepared, redha dengan ketentuan Yang Maha Esa. I rubbed his temple and read some ayats to his ears. Not long after that, he calmed down and was able to breath like normal. The doctor than told me to gather the rest of the family members. He said that Abah was critical.

Being immobilized had apparently caused other problems in Abah’s medical condition. Ulcers began developing in his stomach. His lungs were somewhat affected too, all the time when he was just lying on his bed. One time his condition was so bad that he was put in ICU for close watch. In ICU he had wires all over his body. It was then I came to terms that I may loose Abah. When he was in ICU we took turns to read the Yassin. I knew he could hear us but he was so in pain to respond. Every time I read the Yassin, my eyes would be filled with tears. I felt so helpless, how else could I help ease his pain.

Abah & Mom - one of their umrah trips

It wasn’t easy for Mom. She had been spending most of her time in the hospital. We took turns to bring her food for her meals. I remember braving the jam to get to the hospital before dinner time. There were also times when I came to visit after visiting hours were over. The hospital guards were hash on me but that didn’t deter me from going up to be with Abah, even for a short while. I pasrah for this was a test from God Almighty, a real test of our emotions, physical and mental strength.

Abah suffered for almost 50 days. Just hours before he was taken to the OT, I remember Mom taking to him about how she had accepted all of God’s test on her. She redha with everything that had happened. What touched me was when she said she loved Abah so much and she minta Abah maafkan all her wrong doings in the past and halalkan semua makan minum all these while. Even though Abah couldn’t to respond to Mom’s words, I knew he heard and understood every word uttered by Mom. Not long after that, I saw my bother taking his ablution, he then took out the Surah Yassin from his pocket, and started to recite the Yassin with tears in his eyes. Being a doctor, surely he had seen such a situation happening to others. Surely, he had all the comforting words for the patient’s family members. But now, it was him being tested by God Almighty, a test of his professional credibility and a test of a filial son's emotions and strength.

Abah all set for his umrah trip - a family send off by his children & grandchildren

Dealing with Abah’s loss wasn’t easy. During the earlier months after his passing, every time I went back to our family home in Seremban, I’d be on a look out for Abah. I felt that he was still with us, present during the family talks and chats. It took a while for me to deal with his death. Most of the time, when I performed my solat, I’d pray alone. And I'd be crying until my eyes were tired, until there was no more tears to shed.

That Ramadhan in 1999, it was through my teraweh prayers I seek solace in God and it helped to ease the sadness in me. My thoughts were so much of him. Each year, Ramadhan comes and Ramadhan leaves but I hold fond and dear memories of Abah so very close in my heart. When I feel especially sad, I tell myself that I am truly blessed to have had such a loving father. And I can never thank him enough for all of the things he taught me, and for all of the wonderful memories he has given me to treasure.

Al-Fatehah.

(More Memories of Abah at my sister's blog space http://notimeoff.blogspot.com/)