Memory of Abah

My father whom I called ‘Abah’ passed away 22 years ago. So my siblings and I dah jadi yatim since then. At that time I had just get an offer to further my studies in I*UM. I was supposed to register myself to the university in a month’s time. He knew about the offer and was very happy as I was the first to enter university in my family. At that time he was 84 years old. He was no more able to drive the car and only managed to ride his motorcycle to go back and forth between our house in Kuala Sialang and Mak Tua’s in Kuala Jempol. The way he rode the bike pun was not that smooth… a little bit shaky at times. That could be due to his eyesight yang dah agak kabur. Kadang-kadang suspen jugak kalau membonceng dengan dia. He being himself memang tak boleh duduk diam. Ada je yang dia nak buat.

Abah from my perspective is such hard headed person…kalau putih kata dia putihlah… payah nak menang kalau argue dengan dia. Dia paling tak suka kalau orang tak tetap pendirian, cakap berbalik-balik i.e. kejap cakap A, kejap cakap B. Bila dia tak puashati, dia akan marah or bagitahu masa tu jugak. Dia tak simpan dalam hati. I think it is a typical orang dolu-dolu. Kita sebagai anak kena ikut cakap mak bapak tanpa banyak soal jawab. Agak warak, orang kampung hormat dia. Dia pandai cakap omputih and Arab. Kalau dia argue memang siap dengan dalil Al-Quran. Abah did not really expressed how he loves his children, grandchildren directly. But we know he loves us. In my opinion, typical people zaman tu memang tak reti tunjuk kasih sayang diorang…is it? That’s how I felt. Tak pernah la bergurau senda dengan dia. Cuma we really respect him. He always encouraged us to study hard. Bak kata Akak, Abah pernah tanya dia: “Kau nak kawin ko nak belajar laie?”. Kalau still nak belajar he’ll find the means to finance the education. Akak pernah cerita that Abah pernah jual tanah sebab nak hantar Embong sekolah ke Singapura. I do not really know cerita-cerita lain di zaman Embong, Akak, Alang and Acek. Adik and I were not around YET masa tu. We were the generation after them. That’s why tak banyak cerita yang kami tahu…Cuma some of it. Bila kami besar (sekolah dan kerja), diorang semua dah kawin dan tinggal di tempat lain. Jumpa pun sekali-sekala macam weekend, kenduri, raya or cuti panjang…That’s why bila I had the opportunity to further my studies, I was so grateful when my siblings (you know who) agreed to finance my studies. Alhamdulilllah also sebab dapat pinjaman pendidikan dari JPA.

Those time (early 50s) memang susah. Abah had 2 families. Mak Tua gave him 9 children and with Mak he had 7. He has to feed both families. Education wise masa tu mana ada banyak loans and scholarship macam sekarang. Embong and Akak jadi cikgu after their secondary school and every time cuti sekolah, they will have their teacher training course at SI*C at Tanjung Malim to obtain their teaching certificate. Alang joined Royal Malaysian Army. Acek plak after MCE (or HSC) got the offer to enter university but had to turned down cos lack of financial support. He then worked in D**L in Kuala Lumpur.

Every night after solat Maghrib, he will read to us the stories about the Prophets (Sirah). Those are the stories that I still remember until now. I think if he had the opportunity to learn like now, he must be somebody big… He was very intelligent in his own way. His Jawi handwriting is very beautiful. When I was in S*F, I normally wrote letter to him in rumi and he will replied in Jawi. Hmmm, I should have kept his letter. Tak tau dah mana perginya.

When I was in primary school, if Adik and I go anywhere with him, people will mistakenly recognized us as his granddaughters. That was because the age gap between me and my brother before me was 13 years. Dan Abah pun dah berumur 70an masa tu. Bak kata orang, Adik and I ni tersesat and baka tua…. Ye ke? Kadang-kadang boring gak bila orang kata we all ni macam cucu Abah. Malu jugak bila Abah marah kat orang bila makan di pekan. Whatever it is, we are happy to have such an understanding Abah. Masa kami di sekolah rendah dan giliran Abah di Kuala Sialang, Abah akan hantar kami ke sekolah dan jemput waktu tengahari naik kereta. Abah kerja sendiri iaitu juru ukur persendirian. Bukan la macam juru ukur glamer zaman sekarang. Gaji dia tak sebanyak mana dan tak tetap. Ada kerja, ada gaji. Tapi cukuplah untuk menyara kedua-dua keluarga. Kalau ada rombongan sekolah kemana-mana, Abah tak pernah melarang kalau nak pergi. He will allow me and Adik to go. He himself liked to travel. When I was in Standard 5 and had obtained 5As in my Penilaian Sekolah Rendah, he brought me to Sumatera to search for his families (roots). We went to Pekanbaru, Bukit Tinggi and Padang. Tulah pertama kali berjalan paling jauh seumur hidup. Masa tu we all naik flight kat Batu Berendam Airport. Naik Fokker which can accommodate 45 passengers. The travel took us 45 minutes to reach Pekan Baru. Bergegar-gegar je dalam flight tu…suspen gak.

In June 1987, I was still in kampung, Mak told me that Abah had gone to Seremban Hospital to undergo eye operation. Just nak jadi sebab orang kata. He was allowed to undergo the operation without much problem. Unlike as we know, if a person needs to undergo an operation, there were various checks and tests that the doctors need to do. But in his case, boleh buat cam tu je. Pelik tak? What more he was 84 years old at that time. So the next day, Mak and I went to Seremban. We went to Acu Amat’s house first. Acu Amat is Abah’s youngest brother. Then Acu drove us to Seremban Hospital during the visiting hour. When we reached his bed, the bed was empty. We asked the nurse there but the nurse told us that he was still in the OT. We waited there for a couple of hours. After much waiting, I asked the nurse again. This time is a different nurse. The nurse seemed lost and went somewhere to search the whereabouts of Abah. When the nurse came back, she told us, “sebenarnya tuan haji ni dah meninggal di bilik bedah” (actually this guy had passed away in the OT). We were so shocked as nobody came to tell us. When we asked baru dia nak bagitahu. Geram, sedih bercampur. Mak pun tak tau nak buat apa. I called Acek who were in KL and Akak and Alang in PD.

When Acek came baru kami uruskan the necessary documents to bring Abah home. It took us about 2 – 3 hours to get the jenazah out of the hospital. Emak and me ikut sekali dalam kereta jenazah. Kami sampai di kampung masa dah nak dekat Maghrib. Malam tu semua anak-anak Abah dah sampai di kampung. Esoknya selepas dimandi dan dikapankan Abah disembahyang sekali di rumah dengan diimamkan oleh arwah Embong Borhan. Jenazah Abah kemudian dibawa ke rumah Mak Tua di J*mp*l sebelum dibawa ke Masjid J*mp*l untuk sembahyang jenazah di masjid selepas solat Zohor. Kemudian Abah dikebumikan di kawasan perkuburan Kg C*c*r. Abah meninggal pada 25 Jun 1987. So this 25^th June genaplah 22 tahun Abah pergi meninggalkan kami.

They also gave me moral support and took good care of Mak when Abah was no longer around. Rasanya sebab didikan Mak dan Abahlah yang menjadikan kami adik-beradik boleh bersatupadu dan menanggung aku dan adik sampai habis sekolah walau diorang tak hidup mewah. Adik-beradikku bukanlah CEO di mana-mana syarikat besar atau pegawai tinggi kerajaan yang bawak kereta Mercedes tapi Alhamdulillah mereka berjaya dan hidup bahagia dengan cara masing-masing. Embong (bekas guru agama), Akak (cikgu pencen), Alang (askar pencen), Acek (masih bekerja di Majlis Daerah *P) dan Adik (di T*). Kami masih boleh berkumpul di rumah di mana kami dilahirkan…terimakasih pada Akak sebab masih tinggal di rumah itu. Masih punya tarikan untuk pulang ke kampung… ke tempat asal kami.

So, today is the 22^nd year Abah left us…Abang-abang, kakak-kakak, anak-anak buah, cucu-cicit, marilah kita sedekahkan Al Fatihah dan doa buat Allahyarham Hj N**u yang kita sayangi..Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas rohnya.

Antara Anyer dan Jakarta…..

Derusan ombak bersilih ke pantai
Disambut alunan nyiur melambai
Rembulan megah di atas mahligai
Tersenyum melihat kita berdua

Angin membawa lagu cinta
Sejuta bintang bermain mata
Seakan rela dua insan
Di dalam senarionya

Antara Anyir dan Jakarta
Kita jatuh cinta
Antara Anyir dan Jakarta
Kisah cinta tiga malam
Kan ku ingat selamanya
Antara Anyir dan Jakarta

Kita seakan mimpi yang buruk
Ku alami setiap hari
Cinta yang sudah tiada lagi
Tinggal memori membawa kembali

Sumbangan Ija's Collection

Tu dia lagu yang dinyanyikan oleh Dato' Sheila Majid. Kalau tak silap lagu popular di tahun 80an. Hari Sabtu lepas kami sekeluarga ke Anyer. Perjalanan tu memang tak dirancang. Masa sarapan pagi, borak-borak dengan cik Abang nak ke mana hari tu…terkeluarlah ke Anyer. Lepas ke pasar beli ikan dan barang basah yang lain, kami pun bertolak dari rumah lebih kurang pukul 9.30 pagi. Dari Jakarta kami ikut jalan tol (lebuhraya) Jakarta – Merak. Sepanjang lebuhraya tu dikelilingi sawah padi yang terbentang luas. Rasa macam di lebuhraya Butterworth – Gurun. Dua jam di lebuhraya, kami keluar di 'exit' Cilegon. Perjalanan ke Anyer melalui Pelabuhan Merak. Jalan tak berapa elok. Berlubang-lubang. Mungkin disebabkan oleh lori-lori yang banyak lalu di situ. Lori banyak keluar-masuk kerana di situ terdapat Kawasan Perindustrian Krakatau. Perjalanan jadi perlahan sebab jalan tak elok. Boring gak…Lepas satu jam baru sampai ke kawasan Pantai Anyer. Semua tempat masuk ke pantai kena bayar. Kawasan pertama yang kami singgah, pantai dia agak berbatu. Kempunan la Adlina nak main pasir. Kami cuma turun sekejap, ambil gambar dan teruskan perjalanan untuk cari lokasi yang lebih menarik.

Memandangkan dah tengahari dan perut pun dah lapar, kami pun singgah makan tengahari di Restoran Sop Ikan. Kami 'order' sop ikan, ikan bakar, ayam goreng dan kangkung seafood. Sup dia sedap, ikan bakar dan ayam goreng boleh tahan la. Lepas makan dan solat kami pun meneruskan perjalanan. Di sepanjang perjalanan banyak kelihatan hotel, motel dan chalet untuk pengunjung. Lebih kurang setengah jam dari tempat makan tadi kami pun sampai di satu kawasan perkelahan, Pantai Carita. Seperti biasa la, nak masuk kawasan pantai kena bayar. Kat sini ramai orang, macam ada pesta…yang berjualan pun ramai. Barang yang dijual, pisang, ciku, durian belanda, keropok belinjau dan beberapa jenis keropok lagi.Ada juga gerai-gerai menjual cenderahati dari siput. Kat sini kalau datang berkelah tak bawak tikar pun tak pe sebab banyak sekali tikar untuk disewakan…jangan tak caye…tikar untuk disewa. Kami cuma jalan-jalan di sini dan ambik gambar. Pantainya taklah cantik sangat…pasirnya warna kelabu….pantainya banyak batu. Cantik lagi Pantai Port Dickson dan di Pantai Timur.

Dalam perjalanan pulang kami ikut jalan lain…sebab kat tengah jalan nampak papantanda jalan alternatif ke Jakarta. Ikut la jalan tu. Jalannya agak sempit….jalan kampung. Kata cik Abang, macam jalan ke Ulu Jempol. Sebab melalui kawasan kampung. Di kiri kanan ada sawah padi, hutan. Rumah-rumah kampung di sini ada yang masih berdindingkan buluh yang dianyam. Jalannya kurang berlubang dari jalan kami datang tadi. Pemandangan memang cantik. Asli pemandangan kampung. Sawah padi berteres masih menggunakan tenaga kerbau untuk membajak. Antara tempat yang kami lalui Cinangka, Citasuk, Batu Kuwung, Cikoneng dan banyak lagi tempat yang bermula dengan Cixxx.

Kami masuk semula ke lebuhraya berdekatan Pejabat Propinsi Banten. Kami sampai di rumah pukul 7.30 malam. Badan dah penat, tak larat nak masak. 'Order' saja lauk dari Kedai Sop Buntut Bang Hadji…Sup lagi…Hentam sajalah labu… Dah makan tidur…Ponek.

Groceries Shopping and Haircut Weekend

Today is the final day of May 2009. It is almost 4 months since we left our beloved families in Malaysia. But almost every week we called or contact them either via telephone, Facebook or emails. Thanks for the current technology. My sister yang kat kampung pun dah reti berFacebook. Jangan tak cayo. Bravo Akak. In short the whole family dah boleh connected via Facebook. Kalau macam zaman sekolah dulu mau sebulan sekali baru dapat surat…..those were the days. Yesterday we did the grocery shopping at Carrefour Lebak Bulus. Since duduk sini we seldom makan kat luar…selalunya masak sendiri…kuih-muih pun buat sendiri….jangan tak cayo. Sekarang ni dah pandai buek karipap (tapi tak sesodap karipap air tangan K. Ana). Bulehlah…Kalau makan kat luar pun menu selalunya kalau tak masakan Padang, masakan Sunda or fast food…so macam dah boring. Since masak sendiri the groceries pun kena beli lebih dari selalu. Tepung, gula, butter harga lebih mahal sedikit dari Malaysia. Cam semalam one month groceries' yang muek 2 troli Carrefour costs us almost Rp 2 juta lebih kurang RM700.00. Kalau selalu shopping kek Tesco Kota Damansara sebulan lebih kurang 350 henggit je.

Pagi tadi lepas breakfast and after mengeluarkan bahan-bahan untuk masak for lunch, hubby, Hariz, Adlina and me went to the salon we frequent i.e. I**e H*r Salon at Cipete Selatan. Hubby and Hariz went to second floor to the men's section while Adlina and I to the first floor to the ladies' section. When I reached there, turned out the ladies' section is full house and we had to wait for another 30 – 45 minutes. Asked them to reserve the place and off we went to the second floor to see Hariz. Sampai je, Hariz dah botak. Then hubby's turn. After about 30 minutes wait baru Adlina's turn then myself. I did the haircut and cream bath. Dah lama tak buat…almost 2 months. Rasa best sangat bila the cream reached the scalp…sejuk, wangi and lega. Did the carrot cream bath. What more when the head is massaged with the cream. Then the lady urut sampai ke tengah belakang. Rasa lega semua urat-urat belikat, tengkok and bahu…best, best….

Hariz - before & after

Adlina - before & after

Petang tak ke mana…duduk di rumah…relax…..

Busy Weekend

Last weekend is quite a hectic weekend. On Saturday, had nasi lemak for breakfast…Kalau makan nasi lemak surely mengantuk and end up tidur sampai Zohor. After solat Zohor we (hubby, me, Hariz & Adlina) we went to Gramedia Bookstore @ D’Best to find some ‘kitabs’ which F**zi asked our favour look for. Managed to get a few out of the whole set and ordered the rest. Jalan-jalan sekejap and then off to CITOS (Cilandak Town Square). Gi makan roti canai at Malay Village Restaurant kat situ. It served Malay and Thai food. To me the roti canai and kari ayam met my expectations. Then F**zi called that he has checked out from the hotel and he was at Senayan City at that time. After beli barang-barang sikit, we all pun terus ke Senayan City to pass the kitab as his flight will be at 8.00 pm. We reached home at around Maghrib.

On Sunday hubby and I pegi beli ikan di Pasar Santa as usuallah. Reached home terus masak…menu for the day was Ayam Masak Sos and sayur campur goreng. Menu biasa je. Siap je masak hubby’s friend who is also Malaysian working with Petronas here, jemput datang makan-makan kat rumah dia. Went there after Zohor. Rupa-rupanya they lived not far from our house. They are in Cipete Selatan while we are in Cipete Utara. Cilok sana-sini ikut jalan dalam, in 15 minutes dah sampai. The wife (Zana) pun I have met before, once, at Anita’s house in March. Rozee and Mas were also there. Makan-makan, borak-borak , we reached home at 4.00 pm.

This morning baru had the opportunity to read Saturday’s and Monday’s newspapers. On Saturday’s, there was an article on first-class cab in the Jakarta Post. What is first class cab? It refers to helicopter taxi or helimousine. There are two operators for helimousine i.e. Air Pacific Utama and Derazona Air Service. With the mega traffic congestion and sometimes of bad flood, this service really needed especially by those important business people for whom time really is money. The best thing is they just go straight to the departure hall. The rate? Well it is a hefty US$1,550 per hour. But if you think of it, what is US$1,550 as compared to your billion dollar worth of contract. It is just a small hole in your pocket. Their pick-up points include some hotels and residential estates which are equipped with helipads. Heli taxis are also proved useful during emergency situations. Among others are the recent Situ Gintung dam tragedy and transferring critical patient from one part of Java to the other.

Another premium taxi services are the luxury Alphard and Mercedes C-Class operatd by Tiara Express and Silver Bird respectively. The Alphards are equipped with wireless internet (Wi-fi), a plug for charging mobile phones or laptops, and LCD screens. They are also equipped with GPS. The best thing is if we do not have enough cash to pay for the fare, we can pay it using credit or debit card. An Alphard can carry up to 6 passangers. So if you are stuck in a traffic jam, you can do other things such as surfing the net or watching movies. Just topped up the fare above the normal taxi fare i.e. Rp5,000 per km plus Rp10,000 charge for flag fall (Alphard) and Rp4,5000 per kilometre plus RP7,500 for the flag fall (Mercedes).

Me? Have yet to try both services. Macam mahaaaal sangat…selalu guna the normal taxi Blue Bird je….

Coretan Hari Ibu

Walaupun Hari Ibu dah dekat 1 minggu berlalu rasa terpanggil nak meluahkan apa yang aku rasa terhadap Mak selama ini. Mak meninggalkan kami pada hari Jumaat 13 September 1991. Masa tu aku di tahun akhir pengajian. Aku masih ingat lagi malam tu lebih kurang pukul 8.00 malam, aku ke Puduraya menghantar Adik yang akan pulang ke I*M Dungun kerana cuti semesternya dah habis. Balik ke asrama, solat Isyak dan terus ke bilik tv bersama kawan-kawan melepak sambil menonton tv. Adik pun ada bagi tau yang Mak demam sikit. Kebetulan aku pun memang dah beli tiket untuk pulang ke kampung keesokan harinya. Sedang lepak-lepak, ada announcement yang mengatakan ada visitor nak jumpa aku. Hairan jugak sebab dah tengah malam sapa pulak yang datang. Bila keluar kulihat abang tiriku Abang Fa**h datang.

Dia kata “Jom balik ada hal di kampung”. Hati dah rasa tak sedap.

“Abang bagi tau sekarang, ada apa sebenarnya ni? Kalau tak L**** tak nak balik” aku tanya dia balik.

Then dia kata “Sabar L****, Mak dah tak ada”. Aku tak tau apa nak buat..rasa macam nak nangis, rasa nak pengsan pun ada. Aku naik ke bilik, ambik apa yang patut, terus masuk ke kereta. The journey yang sepatutnya 2 jam rasa macam lama sangat. Sampai je aku terus jumpa Akak, Acek dan Alang. Abang H****m (my other half-brother) masa tu on the way ke Dungun untuk ambik Adik. Akak cerita that malam tu dalam pukul 10.00 malam Mak mengadu macam susah nak bernafas. Badan pun panas sebab dia demam. Mak pun mintak tolong bawak dia ke klinik. On the way ke klinik Mak kata dia susah nak bernafas lagi and tak lama lepas tu dia menghembuskan nafas terakhir di pangkuan Akak and belum sampai klinik lagi. My brother-in-law, U** terus drive ke klinik just to get the confirmation from the doctor. Bila Akak dah cerita tu aku pun ambik wuduk dan terus duduk di sisi Mak baca Quran sampai waktu Subuh. Bila kehilangan Mak rasa sedih yang teramat (undescribable).

When I was in Primary school, as far as I can remember Mak akan hantar and ambik aku dan Adik di sekolah kalau it was Abah’s turn kat rumah Mak Tua (my stepmother). Bila habis waktu sekolah, Mak akan tunggu kami di bawah pokok manggis tepi pagar sekolah dengan motor kapcai. Itu rutin dia since aku darjah 1 sampai darjah 4. Bila dah darjah 5, Abah belikan aku basikal Chopper sebab selalu dapat nombor 1 every time exam dari aku darjah 1. Lepas tu aku naik basikal ke sekolah sebab bila naik darjah 5 dah ada after school activities. Masa tu after school activities bukan macam sekarang. We all berkebun sayur. Sorang dapat satu batas and we have to maintain our batas. Tanam, bubuh baja, siram and kutip hasil sayuran tu. Games were rounders, football (for boys). Compulsory clubs were brownies (girl guides) and pengakap.

Masa Peperiksaan Penilaian Darjah 5, three of us (aku, Az** and Naz**) dapat 5A. Mak happy tapi taklah seexcited mak-mak sekarang. Dia kata syukur Alhamdulillah. Belajar rajin-rajin lagi. Bila dah habis darjah 6 aku dapat offer ke Sekolah Berasrama Penuh di Johor Bahru. Aku tanya Abah. Abah kata kalau aku nak pergi, pergilah sebab bukan senang nak dapat kesempatan ke sekolah asrama penuh. Bila cikgu datang ke rumah tanya whether nak pergi ke tidak, teruslah aku kata OK without knowing kat mana tempat tu. Masa tu offer came to us unlike sekarang we have to apply. After a week I said yes to the offer, came another offer which was from Sekolah Menengah Agama Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur. Masa tu rasa menyesal pulak sebab accept offer S*F tu. Sebab SMAWIP dekat. Kat KL je and saudara-mara ramai di KL.

When the day came (January 1982), Abah, Mak and Acek accompanied me to S*F. After registration, briefing by the principal the three of them pun balik. Sedih giler sebab tak pernah jauh dari parents sejauh JB. Masa tu tak de PLUS highway. The journey from Bahau ke JB lebih kurang 6 jam. Malam tu rasanya bantal tu basah kuyup dengan airmata aku. Homesick betul in the ‘foreign’ land. Kat rumah kampong masa tu belum ada telefon. So the only means of communication were letters. Bila weekends, most of my friends will be visited by their family members. Tapi we all yang dari jauh ni memang tak de visitor la.

Tapi yang paling sedih masa aku Form 2. That particular evening we all baru lepas sukan tara (qualifying round) sebab masa tu dah dekat nak Sports’ Day. Petang tu rasa seram sejuk nak demam. Malam tu aku muntah-muntah and sakit perut. The next morning aku ke ‘sick bay’. Ingatkan nak ambik ubat tapi Kak Normah (Supervisor sick bay) advised me to go to the hospital. Kat hospital, I was diagnosed dapat Appendicitis. So the doctor kata aku akan dioperate petang tu jugak sebab takut the Appendicitis tu pecah. Memang seperigi airmata tumpah sebab takut and sedih tak ada sesapa kat situ except Kak Normah. After the operation, aku sedar dah tengah malam. The next morning Kak Normah datang visit. Petang tu masa visiting hour, when tengok orang keliling semua ada orang visit, aku menangis sorang-sorang. Kat sebelah katil aku ada sorang makcik tu. Dia tanya aku sakit apa pun aku nangis sebab terharu. Just imagine at the age of 14 aku dah menghadapi semua ni di tempat orang. But I fully understand that bukan senang my family nak datang ke sini within that short period of time unlike NOW. Aku stay kat hospital 3 hari 2 malam. Bila dah keluar dari hospital, aku kena stay kat sick bay sebab luka operation belum totally healed. After one night kat sick bay, the following morning Mak datang alone. Dia kata, dia datang naik keretapi. The telegram sampai kat kampong the day after aku operate. Aku nangis sebab susah payah Mak datang naik keretapi sorang-sorang. Adik tinggal ngan Abah and Mak Tua. Masa tu Adik dah darjah 5. Our age difference is 3 years. Mak balik ke kampong petang tu jugak naik train. Tak taulah pukul berapa dia sampai di kampung.

Setiap hari Sabtu akhir cuti penggal (masa tu di Johor sekolah start hari Ahad), Mak akan hantar aku ke stesen keretapi Gemas lepas solat Subuh dengan kereta yang disewa dari U** Y*s*f. Masa tu kalau balik cuti penggal memang selalunya naik keretapi sebab semua students dapat tiket konsesi. Mak akan tunggu sampai keretapi jalan baru dia balik.

Throughout my 5 years aku kat JB rasanya hanya 4 kali je ada family datang. Masa registration, aku kena apendiks, Embong ambik aku masa Mak nak pergi Haji and masa ambik barang after SPM. Kalau nak ikut memang macam kena dump je kat situ. Tapi it is understood that the situation at that time memang tak mengizinkan untuk my family datang visit aku and aku tak pernah menyalahkan sesiapa unlike sekarang, segala macam kemudahan dah ada. Anyway, I enjoyed my teenage years kat sana dengan kawan-kawan dari setiap pelosok Malaysia. Bermacam pengalaman yang pahit dan manis.

Abah meninggal pada 25 June 1987. Masa tu aku dah dapat offer masuk II*M and Abah pun dah tau about that. Abah ke Hospital Seremban for an eye operation the day before. Tengahari tu Mak dan aku ke hospital nak jenguk Abah but the bed was empty. We asked the nurse where Abah was tapi nurse tu kata dia still dalam OT. We waited lebih kurang 2 jam. Nobody came bagi tau the progress. Aku pun tanya lagi… Tetiba nurse tu boleh kata sebenarnya Tuan Haji tu dah meninggal kat OT. You just imagine betapa terkejutnya we all. I called Acek who worked in KL, Alang and Akak in PD. We waited there sampai Acek dan yang lain-lain datang. After abour 2 jam menyelesaikan all the procedures, aku dan Mak pun accompany arwah Abah naik kereta jenazah hospital pulang ke kampung. Kami sampai di kampung when it is almost ‘Isyak. Abah dikebumikan the next day di Kampung C*c*r.

A month after Abah meninggal, aku masuk Matriks II*M di Subang Jaya. Adik pula dah masuk sekolah asrama kat Seremban. Mak tinggal sorang di rumah. Once in a while dia akan ke PD rumah Akak. Bila ada masa cuti or long weekend aku akan ke pulang ke kampung or ke PD jenguk Mak. Aku tak ingat berapa lama after that Mak masuk hospital sebab dapat TB. Aku pun tak tau macam mana Mak boleh dapat penyakit tu. Mula-mula she was admitted kat Hospital PD then transferred ke Seremban. It was because di Seremban ada wad khas untuk TB and better treatment there. Masa visit dia di Hospital Seremban memang kesian tengok Mak sebab badan dia jadi kurus sangat eventhough dia memang tak pernah gemuk. Tapi terlalu kurus because of TB. She was recovered anyway after 1 year plus of treatment. Since then memang dia tak berapa sihat. Selalu dapat demam tapi tak de penyakit yang kronik. Still boleh jalan-jalan ke KL rumah Acek, ke PD and ke Johor rumah Embong. One year before Mak meninggal Akak dapat transfer mengajar di sekolah berdekatan kampung. So akak pindah duduk di rumah Mak. We were quite relief sebab at least ada somebody yang boleh tengok Mak if dia tak sihat.

The semester yang Mak meninggal tu memang results aku teruk sampai ada subject yang fail. Memang tak boleh nak concentrate. The final semester baru lah okay sikit boleh concentrate belajar. Our convocation was in August 1992. Masa tu aku dah dapat keje temporary dengan gaji RM600 and duduk menyewa dengan kawan-kawan sekampus di Kg B**u. The day before convocation semua kawan-kawan serumah keluar dengan family masing-masing. So aku tinggal sorang-sorang kat rumah. I know that my brothers and sisters akan datang on the convocation day tapi entah kenapa rasa sayu sangat petang tu. So aku pun called my sister Embong di Johor. I was so sad sebab Mak tak dapat tengok aku convo as I was the first person in my family yang dapat masuk U. Masa sembang ngan Embong tu memang berjuraianlah airmata. Masa tu jugak semua yang yang aku cerita di atas tu macam jadi wayang flashback. Dah lebih sejam sembang barulah rasa lega.

All in all I owed it all to my brothers and sisters yang dah menjaga, menyekolahkan, memberi sokongan dan pertolongan pada aku dan Adik sampai kami berdua graduated. All of them dah jadi macam Mak dan Abah kami sebab sampai sekarang pun aku still jadikan mereka tempat untuk mengadu, bertukar pendapat, bersembang dan segala apa yang menjadikan mereka macam ibu dan ayah. All of them pun memang dah jadi ibu dan ayah untuk anak-anak buah aku. Aku pun selalu menjadi tempat untuk anak-anak buah aku mengadu, bersembang, mengutuk etc. To Embong, Akak, Adik, K. Lang and K. Ana, Happy Mother’s Day…all of you are special in your own way…thanks for being great sisters, sister-in-laws. I owed it all to all of you.

To anak-anak buah yang dah jadi ibu, mak, mama, umi, mummy (K. Cha, Nikma, Ita, Ati, Faizah, Zura, Lin)…Selamat Hari Ibu dan semoga menjadi ibu mithali. And to Mashitah yang bakal menjadi ibu, jaga diri baik-baik.

Eventhough Mak tak sempat nak melihat aku kahwin dan punya keluarga sendiri tapi aku still ingat segala pesan Mak, which are among others are, jangan tinggal sembahyang, jaga kehormatan diri, jangan menyakiti hati orang. So to all kawan-kawan yang masih ada Mak, spend time when them as much as you can while they are alive. Berbuat baik kepada ibu bapa itu adalah salah satu tuntutan dalam Islam. Happy Belated Mother’s Day…..