Pakcik reminisces (Pt 21) – Hujan ditengah hari

More than 70 years ago a sweet sixteen was married to a young teacher, and two years later the couple was blessed with a baby girl. So much adored, being the very first, the baby was given a pet named, Ning. Following that came two baby boys.

When Ning was nine, the family of five moved to England where the father was appointed a lecturer at a Teachers’ training college. Ning continued her primary education at a primary school with local English children.

Leaving for England - for a better future

Three years later the young lecturer left England and became a lecturer at a university in Singapore.

Everything was seen to go well with the family who, by then, had a second daughter.

But it was not all sunshine and rainbows.

At the age of 39, barely one year after taking up his new post, and a few months before celebrating the Merdeka of Tanah Melayu in 1957, the lecturer passed away.

__________________________

So at 34, the lady, Ning’s loving mother became a single mother and was left alone to raise the four young kids. The loss of her father affected Ning’s progress in education. She had to work soon after finishing school. And the mother chose to remain faithful to the memory of her deceased husband, remaining a single mother all her life. Her first real reward was when her adored Ning was married and, a year later, gave birth to three children, who in turn had ten children who were,naturally, the old lady’s great-grandchildren – a new generation.

_____________________

So life went on for good many years. The once sweet sixteen was now 88, a great-grand-mother. In April this year she fell ill, but life went on for Ning who has now taken over the role of a grand lady – or should I say the ‘first lady’!

Before the 30th day of last month, the very special month of August, Ning’s three children had planned a special gathering to be held at our home, Nuri, in Terengganu. There was something special about August 2011; firstly, there was Ning’s (and Pakcik’s too, of course) 47th wedding anniversary. Then there were two wedding anniversaries of our first two children, making it three wedding anniversaries in all. There was also the Merdeka anniversary on 31th August. Then there was Hari Raya which fell on 30th, all in the same month of August.

But that was not all. Tuesday 30th was not just any Hari Raya. It was also Ning’s 70th birthday. So, for all intents and purposes, that day ought to be a befitting day of the month to celebrate – (not to mention Pakcik’s own birthday which would fall three days later – just into September.)

As planned, the Hari Raya started all too well with the birthday and delayed wedding anniversaries cakes and all. And that being a Hari Raya, soon after ‘sembahyang Raya’, relatives and friends began to call in – the promise of a wonderful and joyous day.
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Disangka panas sampai kepetang, rupanya hujan ditengah hari.

While things were warming up and the family gathered to take group photographs, Ning received a phone call from her sister near Tanjong Malim. Their bed-ridden mother had just passed away. Was this not a divine planning that the faithful wife, the grand old lady chose to breathe her last at the age of 88, on a Hari Raya, on the very exact day, 70 years earlier she gave birth to her first child, Ning? Just imagine how Ning would feel, celebrating her birthday and the Hari Raya to be followed with the death of a very loved one.

It was perfect – the work of the Greatest Planner of all.
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So, Pakcik has lost two loving mothers. Fifty years ago my mother passed away while doing her pilgrimage in Mecca. I do not, as a result, have her grave to visit. Then this loving lady, who had been my mother, left us on that very auspicious day of 30th August.

On hearing the sad news, Pakcik made a snap decision to stop our part in the day’s celebration. The next seven hours of Hari Raya saw me driving on a relatively quiet route. We reached the burial ground when the last group was leaving the freshly made grave covered with flowers. There we squatted with tears running down our faces, reciting Al Quran, marking the end of our Hari Raya. We had to stop as the sun had gone down behind range of hills.

The final destination

We planned and planned, and we often forget who the Ultimate Planner is. HE reminds us over and over again in the Quran of HIS overall power ABOVE EVERYTHING.

Above everything

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

Pakcik reminisces ( Pt 20 ) – I have a dream

In August 1963 Martin Luther King.Jr. said in his famous speech, “ I have a dream.”

That was 48 years ago at about the same time Pakcik, too, had a dream. I wanted a partner in life to share my pains and joys

----------------
"When I was young,
I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart
what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows,
day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said
Que Sera, Sera,
What will be will be."
---------------------

And in August of the following year He granted my wish.

-------------- What lies ahead ?

However, one wakes up from a dream into another – But now it was no longer MY dream but OUR dream.

--------- We had our first princess

We had our first child to call our own. Then the dream continued.

My three ‘princesses’ ( EJ on the Princess Vandan Plas stands for East Malaysia Jesselton- Before Kota Kinabalu).

Three years later came our second, a hero.

----------------- Now we had two

We had a pair. But the dream did not end. Greedy, we wanted more. And HE granted us.

------------ With a princess and two heroes

Then He made it known to us through a gynecologist that we should ask for no more or else ....

We grew as a happy family. The children were big enough to entertain dreams of their own, surely.

--------- Togetherness - one happy family

Humans we were, we began to dream of acquiring ‘datukship’. And for that He has granted us ten - six heroes and four princesses.

--------------------- This is number ten to give us 'Datukship".

Will there be more? We have stopped dreaming.

Sooner or later we have to come to terms with what HE says:

---------------- Surah Alkahf

"Wealth and children are the ornament of this life ….. "

We have had most of what we dreamt for. Today, 47 years down the road our dream is simply that He grants us more days so that we can acquire more children, no longer our own but those who need love and care, the unfortunate.

--------------------- Orphans and of poor parents

Let us give these children a fighting chance to have a dream.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

Pak Cik Reminisces (Part 8) – Tanah Tumpah Darah Ku

On the page for 31st August of my 1957 diary, my entry carries the following baffling line:

“Am I happy to see Malaya’s Independence?” – yes, MALAYA it was.

That was written 13,000 km away from where possibly the greatest national event of this country was being celebrated; Pak Cik at a young age, lonely and feeling being left out.




As I read and reread that line and try to fathom the depth of my feeling 52 years ago, I am convinced of one thing. I was being possessive. I did not want to lose MALAYA, tanah tumpah darahku. It did not matter who would govern it but I wanted that country intact as I had grown to love, enhanced by the distance that separated it from me at that very instance. I did not know whether Merdeka and Malaysia would carry anything meaningful to my future.

Today, my fortnightly lunch group consists of just four regulars, two Malays, a Chinese and an Indian. Not many years ago there were four Malays, two Indians and three Chinese in that very special and closely knit group. The number has whittled away. In time, like the ‘sepuluh budak hitam, there will be none. All of us would have been Malayans as much as Malaysians today. Nothing would change, needing no spirited slogan to keep us together with love and respect, drawing our spouses along.

And Pakcik would want my Almanar pupils to learn from that, patriotism in its essence.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

A Clean Bill of Health - Almost

The two of us went over to see our regular doctor for our not-so-very-regular annual check-up. Of late a number of ex-Almanar pupils had been showing concern when, on seeing Pakcik, they asked, “Pakcik betul sihat?” So, it was not without some trepidation when the two of us sat in front of the doctor to get the verdict. For us, just about welcoming our 45th anniversary, we have little to worry, said the doctor. Alhamdulillah.

Pakcik have been avoiding telling my Almanar pupils my age. They are all a Nosey Parker when it comes to my age. I can bet my bottom ringgit they never pose the same question to their class teachers. So (watch this word ‘so’ which Dewan Bahasa will soon include in Kamus Dewan to replace ‘jadi’ and ‘oleh itu’ because everyone uses it on TV!) my answers over the years have been consistently ‘25’. But these children of Almanar will invariably respond with a chorus of laughter – without any show of respect! That is a typical example of familiarity breeds contempt. Not many teachers can claim being with any one individual pupil for three continuous years teaching him/her English, Maths and Science, breeding that kind of bond and ‘familiarity’.

Now that I am disclosing our wedding anniversary of 45 I will be able to prove my point to Pakcik’s ‘anak buah at Almanar’. This is how I will explain to them. 45 years has passed since Pakcik married Makcik. If I married Makcik at my age of 20, my true age now must simply be 45-20=25. If they still laugh at that, it would take them quite a while to figure out. After all they have never questioned my Mathematics! To those who find it hard to believe my age, they would have to take a close look at the anniversary photographs.





O, what a couple that is, never growing old – at heart if nothing else!

But don’t look now, says Daphne du Maurier (a book recommended for reading at Almanar)..






Now that 45th anniversary has come and gone what warranty period has the bill of health to offer Pakcik and Makcik?

“ …………….. and no one knows what he can expect tomorrow and no one knows where on earth he will breathe his last …………..” Luqman, 34

A sobering thought indeed that ayat gurantees us, an unquestionable certainty. For the infinite number of gifts we have been receiving and enjoying from Him over these many, many years we will carry on with Almanar all the way.

“ ……………and should you try to count God’s blessings, you could never compute them …………” Ibrahim, 34

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

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Addendum:
Did we celebrate the day? But of course we did. We had a romantic twosome dinner while a younger artist doing her songs softly. As if that was not enough, on the day itself we went for a lunch at a familiar restaurant. I had my choice and Makcik had her nasi berryani. Plus fresh fruit juice and all Pakcik had to fork out a whacking sum of RM11.50 (repeat, eleven ringgits and fifity cents), the tip one pays in a KL restaurant! How we laughed all the way home like a young couple. But of course we are, Pakcik being just 25! Our phones, facebook and e-mail were busy with messages from our loved ones in Kuala Lumpur.

It’s AUGUST again. Let’s celebrate

August is just a month like any other month but is not quite like any other month – not to us, Pak Cik and Mak Cik. For a start our wedding anniversary ( never mind the number! One gets tired of counting, anyway)is in the middle of August. Mak Cik was born in that month as well. Unfortunately, Pak Cik – I missed it by just a couple of days, for an even better one, of course!

That is not all. Our daughter and our elder son tied the knot on 25th and 26th August respectively. Our daughter and our only son-in-law had their fourth child on their anniversary. Our elder son had his first boy born in August. And not to miss the fun our younger son had his second daughter in that auspicious month too. So IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY.


So, true to being a loyal rakyat Malaysia Pak Cik had the Jalur Gemilang hoisted right to the very top of the flag pole in front of Almanar. We celebrate IT ALL, this month of August, with a prayer in our heart, humbly grateful to Him. For all these,

kita berkhidmat untuk kemanusiaan