Monday, 8 April 2013
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Munir's Engagement ... 30th March 2013
Kak Zizah had been estranged from the family since years ago ... more than 20 years I think. Not due to any arguments or dissatisfaction or anything specific in particular ... She just preferred to be left alone with her family and became reclusive in most family events or gathering. We are such a family that respects and accepts however you wish to lead your life. Yet, we always welcome you back with open arms. Justification or reasons are not necessary. For what it is worth, we are still family. Whatever happens, we are still siblings. However far one has wandered off or become reclusive, we are still of one father. The Aziz clan. Noor met her a couple of times when we first got married and Munir was still a child. They have only one son.
Allah swt works in strange ways. He knew better what were to become of us. Out of the blue, Abang Long called Noor (he never called me) and told him that Kak Zizah would be coming up north next week (30th March) for Munir's engagement. Imagine my surprise when Noor told me. He became the middle man between us. Maybe after more than 20 years, Kak Zizah was not sure of my response. Well, I am a very accepting person. For better or for worse, she is my eldest sister of the same mother. Thus, we told her we would be honoured to be part of the engagement entourage and for the first time, Munir met me again after a long hiatus. He is already working with Petronas now. He is 27 years old. :-))) A nice pleasant young man.
His fiancee was from Jitra and we were happy to oblige them. We went to visit her the night before the engagement at their homestay. Kak Zizah and I talked the night away catching up the missing years. The total acceptance on my part and the warmth of our siblinghood, melted whatever apprehensiveness she had about my welcoming her. We finally left them at almost 1:00 am with the promise that we would come tomorrow and be part of the entourage.
It was a simple, happy and close ceremony. Zuhanis, the fiancee, was very friendly and her family very simple and welcoming. The wedding is set in November this year, insyaAllah.
I told Kak Zizah I would be honoured to be the host for the wedding in November. We may be far apart ...we may not have met since Mak's death .... we may be busy with our lives ... but we will always totally accept one another again wholly. Whatever our parents had done, they had done it right by instilling the strong bond of family, love, respect and honour among siblings. Thank you Allah swt for allowing us to get back together again.
Maka nikmat Allah manakah yang kamu dustakan ? :-)
Allah swt works in strange ways. He knew better what were to become of us. Out of the blue, Abang Long called Noor (he never called me) and told him that Kak Zizah would be coming up north next week (30th March) for Munir's engagement. Imagine my surprise when Noor told me. He became the middle man between us. Maybe after more than 20 years, Kak Zizah was not sure of my response. Well, I am a very accepting person. For better or for worse, she is my eldest sister of the same mother. Thus, we told her we would be honoured to be part of the engagement entourage and for the first time, Munir met me again after a long hiatus. He is already working with Petronas now. He is 27 years old. :-))) A nice pleasant young man.
His fiancee was from Jitra and we were happy to oblige them. We went to visit her the night before the engagement at their homestay. Kak Zizah and I talked the night away catching up the missing years. The total acceptance on my part and the warmth of our siblinghood, melted whatever apprehensiveness she had about my welcoming her. We finally left them at almost 1:00 am with the promise that we would come tomorrow and be part of the entourage.
 |
| The future mother in-law |
 |
| The simple hantaran - 5 trays |
 |
| The two rings as requested - one for" merisik " and one for the engagement |
 |
| The girl's side return hantaran |
I told Kak Zizah I would be honoured to be the host for the wedding in November. We may be far apart ...we may not have met since Mak's death .... we may be busy with our lives ... but we will always totally accept one another again wholly. Whatever our parents had done, they had done it right by instilling the strong bond of family, love, respect and honour among siblings. Thank you Allah swt for allowing us to get back together again.
Maka nikmat Allah manakah yang kamu dustakan ? :-)
Friday, 29 March 2013
Forever in our hearts and memory ...
The dead never really leave us - physically, yes. They are no longer with us. Emotionally - we are still attach to them. We still think of them with sadness, happiness, longing .... they still live in our hearts. We never really let them go. Every race whether as a religious celebration or culture - they celebrated a day for remembering and honouring the dead. The Christians have their All Souls' Day, the Buddhists have their Cheng Beng festival. The Hindus have them too. As for Muslims, it is always a must, if not an obligation, to visit the dead on the eve of Hari Raya Puasa.
As for me, I never wait for any festival. I visit my dead parents' graves whenever I have the opportunity or when I am back in Melaka. Moreover, I love the Peringgit cemetery, situated at my old hometown. I went there the last weekend I went back to Melaka early morning about 7:00am. It was very cooling, refreshing and of course, tranquil. Quiet and serene with a dignity and "life" of its own. I sat among the many tombstones reciting Al-Fatihah for all the departed souls. I sat between my parents' graves and recited the surah Yaasin for them. Then, I slowly and quietly pulled out the weeds and just talked to them. The far away voices from Masjid Al-Azim filtered through the quiet cemetery. In the silence of a Sunday morning, being a weekend, I felt belong and "home" among them. It set me wondering where I would end up one day. It is said that we would end up where our earth was taken from. The last rites were - from dust to dust ... from earth we come, to earth we return .... hmmm ... food for thought :-}
As for me, I never wait for any festival. I visit my dead parents' graves whenever I have the opportunity or when I am back in Melaka. Moreover, I love the Peringgit cemetery, situated at my old hometown. I went there the last weekend I went back to Melaka early morning about 7:00am. It was very cooling, refreshing and of course, tranquil. Quiet and serene with a dignity and "life" of its own. I sat among the many tombstones reciting Al-Fatihah for all the departed souls. I sat between my parents' graves and recited the surah Yaasin for them. Then, I slowly and quietly pulled out the weeds and just talked to them. The far away voices from Masjid Al-Azim filtered through the quiet cemetery. In the silence of a Sunday morning, being a weekend, I felt belong and "home" among them. It set me wondering where I would end up one day. It is said that we would end up where our earth was taken from. The last rites were - from dust to dust ... from earth we come, to earth we return .... hmmm ... food for thought :-}
 |
| Mak, on the left and Bapak. |
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Thank you ....
The satisfaction of making an old friend happy. I guess only those who have gone through it will fully appreciate and understand it. Muna lost her handphone. Thus, she lost my contact number. As it was Allah's will, we still got to meet with each other.
Shah came back to Melaka the night before her daughter's wedding. Since he lived in her area and he knew that she was my friend, he asked if I was invited to her daughter's wedding. Of course I was surprised! I called her immediately but nothing was easy. Nobody picked up the phone. It had a ringing tone but nobody answered it. Thus, after several tries, I called her house fixed number. Finally, I got to talk to her. Of course there were a lot of screaming and accusing of forgetting old friends .... she apologised and invited me to come over. InsyaAllah, I said. she wanted me to come and meet her eldest daughter whom she claimed was an exact replica of me. Seriously ??? Not in physical terms but in her mannerisms, her thinking, style of speaking out her thoughts and opinions ... hmmm... this sounded interesting.
I did not even ask Noor if he could go. I just told him we were going, whether he agreed or not. As usual, he would try to indulge my whims and fancies where my friends were concerned. So, that Sunday, we went to Muar from Melaka. We managed to find her house. She was, of course, busy as it was her daughter's wedding. We were noisy as ever. It was just wonderfully satisfying to hold each other and hug each other tight before we let go of each other as she had to greet other guests. It was not a time for us. I had to share her with the wedding reception's guests.
She thus, introduced me to Hijrah, her first daughter. She is 26 years old. A TESL teacher graduate from New Zealand. She spoke impeccable, fluent English even though both her parents were Malay educated. Muna, being my housemate in college and also a "permanent resident" of my room, learned to speak English due to mixing and conversing with me as I spoke English most of the time. She was a fast learner hence, she polished her language. Hijrah and I got along like a house on fire. It was as if we had always known each other. The age gap of almost 26 years made no difference when we were arguing our points, discussing our points of views on anything and everything. In between greeting her guests and many relatives, she managed to find time and sit at our table. The hour I was there was fulfilling, fun and enjoyable intellectual exchange. I made a friend in my close friend's daughter.
My gratitude and appreciation to Noor, who made it possible for us to meet. Alhamdulillah. For his patience and tolerance in indulging my request. For his understanding how important these people were in my life. Even though he had other errands to attend to, he put everything on hold for a couple of precious hours with my friends. I did not ask for much. I needed him to drive me as I was hopeless in my sense of direction. At least he also enjoyed them and of course, the food. :-)))
Shah came back to Melaka the night before her daughter's wedding. Since he lived in her area and he knew that she was my friend, he asked if I was invited to her daughter's wedding. Of course I was surprised! I called her immediately but nothing was easy. Nobody picked up the phone. It had a ringing tone but nobody answered it. Thus, after several tries, I called her house fixed number. Finally, I got to talk to her. Of course there were a lot of screaming and accusing of forgetting old friends .... she apologised and invited me to come over. InsyaAllah, I said. she wanted me to come and meet her eldest daughter whom she claimed was an exact replica of me. Seriously ??? Not in physical terms but in her mannerisms, her thinking, style of speaking out her thoughts and opinions ... hmmm... this sounded interesting.
I did not even ask Noor if he could go. I just told him we were going, whether he agreed or not. As usual, he would try to indulge my whims and fancies where my friends were concerned. So, that Sunday, we went to Muar from Melaka. We managed to find her house. She was, of course, busy as it was her daughter's wedding. We were noisy as ever. It was just wonderfully satisfying to hold each other and hug each other tight before we let go of each other as she had to greet other guests. It was not a time for us. I had to share her with the wedding reception's guests.
She thus, introduced me to Hijrah, her first daughter. She is 26 years old. A TESL teacher graduate from New Zealand. She spoke impeccable, fluent English even though both her parents were Malay educated. Muna, being my housemate in college and also a "permanent resident" of my room, learned to speak English due to mixing and conversing with me as I spoke English most of the time. She was a fast learner hence, she polished her language. Hijrah and I got along like a house on fire. It was as if we had always known each other. The age gap of almost 26 years made no difference when we were arguing our points, discussing our points of views on anything and everything. In between greeting her guests and many relatives, she managed to find time and sit at our table. The hour I was there was fulfilling, fun and enjoyable intellectual exchange. I made a friend in my close friend's daughter.
My gratitude and appreciation to Noor, who made it possible for us to meet. Alhamdulillah. For his patience and tolerance in indulging my request. For his understanding how important these people were in my life. Even though he had other errands to attend to, he put everything on hold for a couple of precious hours with my friends. I did not ask for much. I needed him to drive me as I was hopeless in my sense of direction. At least he also enjoyed them and of course, the food. :-)))
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Why wait?
Noor and I went back to Melaka for some wedding obligations of family and close friend. We arrived Melaka on Friday early morning so that we had an extra day before the obligations started. We decided to visit my family when he lamented about some close friends. Thus, I told him "Why wait? Just go and visit them now. For all you know, we may never get the chance to meet up with them. We don't know what tomorrow brings but we have today. We have now." So, he turned the car to visit a friend at Kerubung whose husband had just had two toes amputated due to diabetes. We last met her I think three years ago.
After that, we went to another friend's house near Air Molek whose mother passed away last month. We knew her mother quite well. So, it was not only an obligatory visit but a fulfilled wish to meet up and express our condolences personally. I could just held her close and tight for a long moment. Without saying a word, she understood how I felt for her loss. She is the only child and her mother was her whole life. At least she has a husband who is also a friend. :-)
Today we fulfilled a wedding obligation of Noor's cousin. It was my old friends' house. I got to meet up with Mail. We had not met for almost what ... 10 years? His brother, Kamal, was my classmate at night class. He had gone totally blind. We do not know how much time we have together. When he heard my voice and recognised Noor, he asked about another old friend. We got to meet Abang Hashim, Halim and Ahmad, their brothers. We spent almost two hours there as Noor met up with some of his other relatives.
Later, we proceeded to the late Zali's family house. He was also related to Noor. He passed away last month but we could not go back to pay our last respects. Thus, we met his parents and paid a courtesy call to pay our last respects personally.
Tomorrow we are leaving for Muar before going to KL. This is also to fulfill a wedding invitation of my ex-housemate in teacher training college. Her daughter is getting married. We were and are very close. I hope to meet up with some ex-college colleagues who are invited to the wedding reception. Those living around JB and Muar. InsyaAllah, this wish will also be fulfilled.
After that, we went to another friend's house near Air Molek whose mother passed away last month. We knew her mother quite well. So, it was not only an obligatory visit but a fulfilled wish to meet up and express our condolences personally. I could just held her close and tight for a long moment. Without saying a word, she understood how I felt for her loss. She is the only child and her mother was her whole life. At least she has a husband who is also a friend. :-)
Today we fulfilled a wedding obligation of Noor's cousin. It was my old friends' house. I got to meet up with Mail. We had not met for almost what ... 10 years? His brother, Kamal, was my classmate at night class. He had gone totally blind. We do not know how much time we have together. When he heard my voice and recognised Noor, he asked about another old friend. We got to meet Abang Hashim, Halim and Ahmad, their brothers. We spent almost two hours there as Noor met up with some of his other relatives.
Later, we proceeded to the late Zali's family house. He was also related to Noor. He passed away last month but we could not go back to pay our last respects. Thus, we met his parents and paid a courtesy call to pay our last respects personally.
Tomorrow we are leaving for Muar before going to KL. This is also to fulfill a wedding invitation of my ex-housemate in teacher training college. Her daughter is getting married. We were and are very close. I hope to meet up with some ex-college colleagues who are invited to the wedding reception. Those living around JB and Muar. InsyaAllah, this wish will also be fulfilled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)