Archive for August 2008
my mrs weasley
my aunt passed away last august 27th. it was a good thing that i was the one driving from work at the time Mum received the news. we went back early because Mum has an appointment in the evening. in that short fifteen minutes drive, everything was cancelled and i foresee new arrangements. Mum was so devastated because the death was all of a sudden. my aunt was visiting the very sick maid she had for years at north and on her way home she experienced trouble breathing. and then she was gone, just like that.
she is this one very simple person. and punctual. she has three kids, six grandkids. her husband calls their grandkids, nyawaku.
“Nyawaku… opah dah takde…”
Mum was inconsolable when we arrived home. Mum’s sisterhood is very strong. she has six sisters, including her they make a seven. previously when i was wayyy younger, i thought of who my sisters are. i find them in all the girls i fondly mentioned of here.
i don’t know what others would think, whether it’s good or whether it’s bad… but i would know it would be an unnecessary comment when i hear one. this is a funeral where i frequently see smiles from everyone’s lips. this is the tragedy that brought us all together. besides paying respect to the allahyarhammah, we were just so glad to see of each other. the love was in the air. the bonding was so strong.
at every glance around the house of my aunt’s, i see her. i see her in her bedroom, on that simple bed, with the telly in front of it. i sort of see her in her glasses, watching the dodgy rtms or astro ria… whatever. i saw the curtains that i put up in her bedroom, on the day she has just arrived from the trip in syria. when i was in the kitchen, i looked at the tablecloth. it has been changed from the one i last commented which i liked so much. i remember her appreciating my thoughts because her daughter didn’t comment anything and we had a joke about it.
i like coming over to her house. when i was in pre-school, each time i was there, i would be attacking her book rack. i love the pictorial brittanica encyclopedias. Mum read to moi Jack the Yak poem, which was so intriguingly catchy to my six-year-old ears and it is the first introduction of rhymes to moi. my first exposure to fonts was browsing through my aunt’s youngest daughter’s autograph book, where most of her chinese friends are so creative with their biodatas. the font is the bubble font – hand drawn – you know those that looked like a blown-up alphabet chewing gum. she is also the same cousin that i came to know of ahadiat akashah, and that legendary budak setan trilogy which is read over and over again.
the meals at my aunt’s were always so simple. at times may not be fulfilling or the way my selera goes… but there’s warmth. i like sitting on the long dining table even if i’m not eating, just joining the quorum. swapping gossips and listening to the latest about this other side/part of the family. listening to what my aunts and uncles joked around when the siblings sit down together mentekedarah. sometimes, there’s the senior cousins who had more livelier and naughtier jokes, they were just plain teasing and being mean. it was just entertaining… it was soul food.
my aunt is formerly a teacher. she would describe things with passion in her voice. one notable moment of hers was when she offered the agar-agar merah.
“ni ada agar-agar merah baru dibuat. rasanya sedap sekali!”
to which her teasing son commented, “sedap dia sekali je. lepas tu dah tak sedap dah.”
this humble resident of hers was the place where i first coined my own definition of soul food. literally to what the soul digests on – family togetherness.
none of us believed that this had happened, the departing of a very simple and loving and caring person. i never looked at her face and i didn’t kiss her goodbye. i was so afraid that i could not control myself. the feeling is so overwhelming when i was there just inches away of her final appearance on earth. i could not stopped myself crying when they were mengkapan the jenazah. i keep remembering my mother’s dear friend’s passaway last year. the most tear-jerking part would be when the honourable orang surau would announce, “inilah saat terakhir untuk sesiapa yang ingin melihat/ memberikan penghormatan terakhir pada jenazah…”
al-Fatihah.
oh yea, selamat berpuasa. have a good one.
