Holiday

That was certainly a very long one week break of doing nothing. I spent it by sitting around, gossipping, eating, sleeping and watching television (kenapa I tak paham tengok cerita pontianak tu, hah?!?)
.....and putting on 3Kg of toxic waste into my system..
It's so counter productive that if I don't start work today, my brain will probably suffer from a permanent damage due to prolonged stagnation.

On top of that, work I must, in order to cover the meteor-sized hole I've created in my Bank account in the name of Hari Raya. Am waiting for the KLSE CI to break the psychological 1000point to recoup my losses....(in the event that no pahala was rewarded out of the act of giving away duit raya).

Meanwhile, both my eyes will be on Ikram for the next 3 weeks as he will be sitting for his SPM.
G'Luck, mate! mama doakan your hard work will ultimately pay.....

Baju Raya

We are so fortunate that we have Mary, the boutique cum tailoring owner located behind my office, to sew our Malay traditional costumes for us all year round. She has in her record our exact measurements and whenever her suppliers come with new stock of imported materials, she would pick some for me and my girls. She'd come up with some simple designs and within 2 weeks they will be ready to be hung in our burst at the door wardrobes.

For this Raya season, Mary has prepared all our baju kurungs and kebaya one month in advance. Since this is her first year of working, Dilla did not foresee that in the month of Ramadhan, most of the Malay staff in her office wear Baju Kurung. Somehow, she has already worn her Baju Raya to office. Poor girl, I felt bad that she will not be dorning new clothes for the festival as no way will Mary accept new orders barely a week before Raya!!!!! However, I still rummaged through the cupboard and found 5pieces of material bought by papa on his travels overseas, not cut into a dress yet.

The next day, I put on the saddest face and begged Mary to try and get them ready for Dilla before Raya. Mary said she wouldn't want to quarrel with her tailor but will try her best.

Yesterday Mary phoned me with tears in her voice!
She explained that one of her clients sent 2 pieces of Batik silk specially selected from a designer in the East Coast for her Raya attire. Mary's tailor had accidentally cut the cloth according to Dilla's measurements. Since Dilla is a size 0, nobody could dream to fit into the baju which is ready for collection.

Mary: Now the client and her tailor are both crying! The client has no new baju for Raya, on top of losing her personally chosen material, and the tailor will have to compensate her. The client asked for RM800.00 for the cost of material.

Mary desperately asked for my favour if I could just purchase the baju kurung for Dilla. She offered the 2 suits for RM500.00, with the tailoring fee waived.

mama: well, err,....let me see the baju first.....(tried to sound reluctant but could not hide the glee in my voice...)

Mary: They are sooooo beautiful, I promise you!!!

Today, 3 days before Raya, Dilla is the accidental owner of 2 suits of someone else's new Baju Raya. And as her gratitude, Mary managed to rush Dilla's own 5 sets of baju too.

Dilla: Alhamdulillah....Inilah rezeki Bulan Ramadhan!!!!...

Al Fatihah

Late last Thursday, my mother phoned to inform us that my grandma did not look too good. She could no longer take in any food and in a state of semi-consciousness.

After sahur, I was making plans to go back to see her. I was discussing with papa that perhaps I could go and get some baby food for my grandma when another call came to inform us that she has passed away.

innalillahiwainnailaihirajiun.....

My grandma lived to a ripe old age, outliving one of 2 adopted daughters and both sons-in-law.

During the funeral, almost all of her cucu, cicit, piut (?) from all over came to see her for the last time. Amongst them were a Member of Parliament (yep, that handsome Datuk from Pilah is my cousin!!), a Mayor, a Chairman of a Bank and a Wakil Rakyat. It was apparent that even she was actually childless, she was much loved by the entire families of her adopted daughters and her own brothers' children and grandchildren too.

My grandma went to grave with well kept secrets, one of which is the identity of who my mother really is.....

p/s: Mr. Lim Goh Tong sir, could you please find out if one of your sisters was given away to a Malay couple (the husband was a police sargeant in Bekok, Johore) in 1933?

Apo Nak Di Kato...

Negeri dialect for dummies.

mi: ASM mak, apo kabar?
(Hi mum, how are you?)
mak: sihat. Dah bukak poso, dah dapek sireh OK lah.
(I'm well, after the iftar I've eaten my sireh, I'm OK)
mi: kalau tak makan sireh apo jadi?
(What happens if you don't eat your sireh?)
mak: Badan den raso sombab, jantong den macam bongkak..
(My body feels like it's gorged, my heart swollen)
mi:Orang ketagih memang macam tu, sekarang dah lambek nak suruh boronti..
(Addicts are like that, it's too late now to ask you to stop eating the sireh)

mi: Atok macamano skarang?
(How is grandma now?)
mak: Den risaukan dio tak berak2 sojak kono stroke.
(I'm worried that she has not passed motion since she got the stroke)
mi:Dah, tak lalu makan camano nak berak?
(Since she is not eating well, how to go to toilet?)
mak:Tu budak kocik baru kluar pun berak yo, takdo makan apo2 doh.
(A newborn baby also passes motion eventhough he has not eaten anything. )
Nor kato apasal mak nak risau, dio pun dah seminggu tak terberak. Den kobar kan, kau tu pokok dek kau tak terberak sebulan pun! Den risaukan atok kau sobab den yang jago dio!
Your sister Nor said not to worry, she too has not gone to the toilet for a week. I told her, that's her problem, I don't give two hoots even if she doesn't go to the toilet for a month! I'm only worried over your grandma since I'm taking care of her...)
mi: habih tu, atok seleso tak?
(Is grandma comfortable then?)
mak: Bilo si Idah dah mandikan, nampak cam tak sakit. Kau kato nak nuntut ilmu dio, dah dapek?
(After the maid bathes her, she doesn't look sick. You said you want to learn the tips from her on how to look forever young, have you got it?)
mi: haritu kitorang gurau2 cakap kek dio, dio buek derk yo.
(That day we jokingly asked, but she refused to let us in to the secret)
mak: skarang atok dah tak dapek cakap, tak boleh turunkan petuo. Nanti kau mintak petuo nak cantik, dio bori petuo burok...
(Too late, now she can no longer talk, she can't transfer the knowledge anymore. Otherwise, you ask for the mantras to appear pretty, she may give you the ones that would make you look ghostly)
mi: mak ajo lah mintak dulu, nanti kitorang ambik kek omak!
(In that case, you learn them from her first and pass them to us later!)
mak: membising den doh. Nanti den pulak yang susah nak mampuih!!!
(No way !!!! I'm not going to be the next person who would find it difficult to drop dead!!)


So much for a mother-daughter bonding!!!!...
It's entirely not your fault if you don't understand what the ramblings are all about...

Apolitical

The house is extremely quiet this fasting month of Ramadhan.

Everyone retreats to his/her own room in the evening after school/work, waiting for the call of azan to enable us to end our fast for the day.

Any legible form of communication will only be heard at about 10mins after the start of iftar at the dinner table. Sometimes what started as small talks lead to huge, emotional discussion, an argument or a quarrel.

Yesterday I pointed out to the girls that a Dato' neighbour from 3 houses away is buying over the similar bungalow next to it. He'll probably build a bridge across the balconies of the 2 houses and end up with a semi-palace.
I made a back-of-the-envelope calculation while swallowing the ikan terubuk bakar cicah air asam, that the purchase could easily set the Dato's bank account by at least RM5mill.

mama: Don't you all wonder how could a retired Police Personnel afford such purchase??

Tasya: There are enough of corrupt people in the country from within the Police, Customs and the Politicians. You only need to read the daily newspapers to realise that!!

Tasya said that she could perhaps try to marry herself off to a Politician so that she'll have a richer life.

mama: That's not the way I brought you all up. Incase you aspire for something extra, achieve it with your own effort so that you have your dignity intact.

Tasya was of course joking (I hope), and came out with a general observation that the politians in our country are so lame! Our leader can't even fight LKY. Nak gaduh pun kena tulis surat!
And did you read LKY's reply? It was reiterating what he had said earlier so that it looks clearer for our leader to understand better, and on top of that, he was not sorry for what he had said but instead was sorry that we are unhappy about it!!!

mama: He made sure he sent a copy of his letter to our media so that incase our leader could not interprete his letter as intended, at least it's out in the open for everyone in Malaysia to see.

Tasya: LKY even listed things once said by Tun Dr. Mahathir about Singapore and he pointed out that he has never retaliated towards them.

mama: Of course nobody dared to ridicule us when Tun was our leader. Now that we have a dumb one, they can just humiliate us, as and when they please!

papa: Hoi, hoi, tadi masa puasa mata pun tak boleh buka! Sekarang bila dah kenyang, you all are ready for a coup d'etat!!!

Tasya: Ye lah mama, you better not write those things in your blog. Our cats will get into trouble since you have pasted their fotos there!!! Did you know about that guy who got into trouble for criticising the current leadership in our country??.

mama: Ya and the irony is, more readers are flocking to read his blog.......and while you are at it, you can also read here and here and here.......