Before I forget...

Assalamualaikum!

I hope people still read blogs. And even if you don't, that's okay because I'll still update this page once in a while just to record what I've been up to. We forget easily, so it's better if I park the memories somewhere. (Note: this is NOT in chronological order. hehe. Yeah, I'm lazy like that.)

1. During the June school holidays we went to New Zealand (during bulan puasa hehehe) for a short holiday, but we managed to cover many places at north and south island. It felt very short because it was almost winter and day time is only from 7a.m to 5.30pm. Puasa was also short, which is a good thing. We only had 1 big meal a day - buka puasa. Sahur was really simple, it was either bread or cereal. Managed to shed a few kg after the holiday, which was unusual.

Family potrait

Pengantin lama

Di celah-celah gunung

2). I attended a script writing short course that was tailored for TV drama and films. It was fun, eye-opening and got to meet a few writers both experienced and new. 

 3). During PBAKL 2017 I was invited to become one of the panels for ITBM Sofa Putih session. We discussed the Coffee Table Book I did with my fellow Srikandis that was launched in Oct 2016.

I submitted a different photo, why lah they still use this old one?

 4). As usual, celebrated my birthday in July. This time I ate as much cake as I wanted because I lost a few kg during puasa, so didn't feel that guilty lah.

Celebrated at home

Celebrated at the gym

 5). Got my first ever duck as a token of appreciation after being in the Srikandi EXCO for 4 years. To tell you the truth, I still don't know how to style this shawl. Hehe.

Still can't figure out why this shawl is so mahal.

6). Went to Kuching for a short getaway. That was my first time visiting Sarawak. Loved the food. Brought back packets of laksa Sarawak gravy. 

7). My 4th FIXI novel was published in September. This one is quite different. Many of my readers complained it was nothing like SAMAR or JERAT or HILANG. Yeah! It's a kisah masyarakat. Not the usual kill-kill-kill-die-die-die type. I hope it will manage to stay in the market for some time. Haha!

Meanwhile, I'm still working on SAMAR part 2. I know it's long overdue. It's just that I still can't get a few parts right. I don't want it to be out yet. When things don't feel right, you know it's still not right.

Babai! Thanks for reading this entry!

Lagi kisah tentang arwah Apak

Ini kisah Hari Bapa yang aku tulis tahun 2009. Terjumpa dalam FB notes, maka aku republish kat blog ni pulak. Selamat membaca!

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Hari ini Hari Bapa. Aku tak buat apa-apa sebab bapa aku sudah tiada. Ingatkan nak masuk pertandingan menulis Entri Hari Bapa tapi rupa-rupanya tarikh tutup pernyertaan adalah pada 15 Jun 2009. Mengapalah aku asyik tertinggal keretapi?

Hari kelmarin aku cuma pegi beli coklat sekotak, bungkus cantik-cantik dan lepas tu, suruh Waz1f dengan Shawq1 tulis kad untuk bapa diorang. Diorang konon buat surprise lah. Masa bapa diorang balik dari pasar malam, diorang bagilah bungkusan coklat tu. Pagi ni diorang yang bersungguh-sungguh menjamu selera dengan coklat tu. Aku sempat rasa sebijik aje tadi.

Kalau arwah bapa aku hidup lagi, tahun ni dia akan berumur 78 tahun (sebab dalam IC kata dia lahir tahun 1931). Itupun tarikh lahir sebenarnya tak dapat dipastikan. Aku dilahirkan ketika bapa aku berusia 43 tahun manakala emak aku 34. Kiranya aku ni benih hujung-hujung lah. Mungkin sebab itu selalu ada personality conflict. Bapa dengan mak aku tak pernah jangka aku akan dilahirkan seorang perempuan sebab 5 orang anak mereka sebelum aku semuanya lelaki. Masa aku kecik aku selalu rasa nak jadi lelaki sebab jadi budak perempuan tak best langsung.
Pakai seluar jeans hari-hari tak boleh, gelak kuat-kuat tak boleh, melepak depan TV duduk terkangkang tak boleh, nak pegi main bola dengan budak-budak lelaki petang-petang tak boleh. Banyak betullah pantang larang kalau dilahirkan jadi budak perempuan ni.

Nasib baiklah zaman aku kecik, budak perempuan dah boleh tengok TV, pegi sekolah dan baca buku. Kalau aku lahir zaman Jahiliah mungkin aku akan jadi ketua Pejuang Pemberontak Wanita yang sangat brutal.

Berbalik kepada cerita arwah bapa aku (ni kan entri Hari Bapa, yang aku membebel pasal aku punya kisah masa kecik tu kira sengaja melencong jauh le.. hehehe). Aku panggil arwah bapa aku Apak. Jangan tanya asal-usulnya panggilan itu, akupun tak pasti. Tapi kawan-kawan aku lagi confuse sebab aku panggil mak aku Mummy. Cuba bayangkan, duduk kat kampung, sekolah kat kampung tapi panggil mak, Mummy. Teruk jugaklah kena kutuk zaman-zaman sekolah rendah dulu, tapi aku tetap maintain macho.

Apak aku garang boleh tahan. Bila mood dia baik, dia memang ramah dan gelak huha-huha. Tapi bila angin dia datang, eloklah baca Bismillah dan bagi salam baik-baik sebelum nak cakap apa-apa dengan dia. Aku yang perempuan ni pun pernah kena tampar dengan dia. Aku tak ingatlah apa ceritanya, masa tu aku kecik lagi.

Masa aku dalam darjah 2 Apak pernah tanya aku nak hadiah apa-apa tak sebab masa tu aku periksa dapat Nombor 1. Aku cakap nak basikal sebab kawan-kawan lain semua ada basikal. Tapi mummy dengan apak aku tak bagi. Diorang bimbang aku akan terlebih sosial kalau ada basikal. Budak perempuan yang rebellious dan sosial memang tak sesuai diberikan basikal. Pada masa yang sama, apak aku tanya abang aku nak apa sebab dia pun dapat keputusan periksa yang cemerlang. Abang aku cakap dia nak Drawing Block. Dalam hati aku, 'Cheh, lukih pun tak reti, nak drawing block konon....' Pada keesokan harinya, kami dua-dua orang mendapat drawing block. Padan muka aku, hahahahaha.

Masa aku lepas Penilaian Darjah Lima, apak bagi aku surprise gift sebab dapat keputusan semua A. Masa tu apak dengan abang aku yang No. 2 pegi beli kat Triang. Hadiah tu besar!!! Kotak dia berbalut dengan kertas bunga-bunga warna merah. Apak nak bagi hadiah tu kat aku masa hari ucapan dekat sekolah. Dalam pada menunggu hari ucapan, maka hadiah tu diletakkan di rumah dekat meja aku selalu buat homework. Aku cuba-cuba jugak nak intai apa benda yang ada dalam kotak tu, tapi kotaknya tebal, tak boleh nak siat sikit pun.

Semasa hari ucapan dan penyampaian hadiah, apak aku datang pakai slack, kemeja, kot dan bawak briefcase. Aku cuak gila. Tahun tu memang apak pengetua PIBG kat sekolah, aku tau memang dia akan bagi ucapan. Tapi, apa hal lah nak kena pasang badan sampai macam tu sekali, kan? Bila tiba giliran apak bagi ucapan, aku sorok-sorok tutup telinga sebab aku takut dia nak buat lakonan sebabak filem P. Ramlee, kalau tak pun dia nak buat lawak Aziz Sattar. Lepas dia mula berucap lebih kurang 2 minit, aku dengar kawan-kawan aku gelak sakan. Aku pun turunkan tangan dan baru sibuk tanya orang sebelah apa dah jadi. Kawan kat sebelah aku cakap ,'Best lah ayah kau. Kelakar betul. Macam ni lah kalau nak bagi ucapan menarik.'

Sampai hari ni aku tak pasti apa yang apak buat sepanjang 2 minit tu. Tapi, bila aku dah tak tutup telinga, dia bercerita dan bagi nasihat supaya jangan mudah terpedaya dengan manusia yang luarannya nampak mengkagumkan tapi sebenarnya auta semata. Lepas tu ada lagilah apak aku cerita pasal keyakinan diri. Bila habis berucap, semua kawan-kawan akupun tepuk tangan dengan meriahnya.

Sewaktu sessi penyampaian hadiah, apak sendiri yang sampaikan hadiah besar tu kepada aku. Bila aku bawak hadiah tu keluar, kawan-kawan akupun kerumun nak tengok apa kat dalam kotak tu. Maka, akupun buka beramai-ramai. Semua orang suspen, akupun suspen jugak. Kawan-kawan aku semua teka mesti mini-compo sebab zaman tu breakdance dengan mini-compo tengah popular. Tekaan semua orang meleset sebab sebenarnya apak aku bagi hadiah mesin taip jenama Brothers. Hehehehe... sebab hadiah itulah lepas tu akupun belajar menaip dengan apak aku.

Masa aku kat STF apak aku tak pernah datang melawat kecuali masa nak jemput aku balik lepas SPM. Tapi masa aku tunggu keputusan SRP, dia pernah cabar aku. Dia kata kalau aku dapat semua A1, nanti dia nak hadiahkan komputer. Bila result dah keluar, alhamdulillah memang semua subjek aku dapat A1, tapi apak senyap je. Sampai habis tingkatan 4 pun dia senyap jugak. Jadi bila aku dah balik rumah lepas SPM, akupun cubalah ingatkan dia pasal cabaran dia tu. Tiga hari tiga malam jugak apak cuba nak mengingatkan betulke dia pernah bagi cabaran macam tu. Lepas dah ingat balik, maka apak dan kawannya pun membawa aku ke kedai komputer terdekat masa tu di Mentakab untuk membeli sebuah komputer peribadi.

Oleh kerana zaman tu Windows tak menapak lagi di Malaysia, maka aku menggunakan PC yang berasaskan DOS sahaja. Mouse pun tak ada, maka terpaksalah aku menghafal semua short-cut key yang ada.

Setelah membuang masa beberapa bulan di kampung selepas SPM, aku pun melanjutkan pelajaran ke UPM. Semasa bulan pertama di kampus, memang siksa sebab kolej kediaman dengan Fakulti Kejuruteraan tu rupanya jauh ya rabbi. Kalau ada kelas pukul 8, pukul 7.30 dah kena mula menapak dari kolej. Kalau ada subjek ladang pulak, lagi haru. Ladang mula pukul 2 petang, lepas solat Zuhur dah kena keluar, singgah kat stor ladang untuk ambil cangkul, cakar, penggali dan sebagainya. Lepas tu kena jalan kaki lagi 20 minit untuk sampai ke batas tanaman masing-masing.

Oleh kerana akupun tak larat nak menunjuk macho, maka satu hari aku telefon apak. Hajat di hati aku nak cuba mintak sesuatu yang aku pernah minta sepuluh tahun sebelumnya sebab kali ini aku ada alasan yang lebih kukuh. Masa telefon apak, aku cakap pelan-pelan nak mintak basikal sebijik. Kalau boleh mountain bike lah, sebab aku nak kena pegi kuliah dan ladang. Masa tu apak macam sporting je bunyinya, dia sangat memahami kesukaran aku hendak bergerak sekitar kampus. Selang seminggu kemudian, tiba-tiba abang aku datang menghantar sebuah motor kapchai baru kepada aku. Wow! Akupun buat-buat terkejut besar depan kawan-kawan. Aku dah agak dah, apak takkan belikan aku basikal punya. Perempuan rebellious yang suka bersosial memang tak sesuai bawak basikal, kan?

Sebenarnya ada banyak lagi kisah-kisah kenangan dengan apak aku yang aku masih ingat, tapi tak larat nak tulis di sini. Kalau aku tulis, 15 hari 15 malam korang kena baca. Entri tahun ni banyak yang berkaitan dengan material sahaja supaya korang dapat membayangkan betapa materialistiknya aku ni.... hihihi. Kenangan yang lain tu aku simpan untuk tahun depan - lebih ilmiah dan penuh unsur-unsur keinsafan mungkin.

Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat kepada roh apak aku. Al Fatihah.

Happy Father's Day, Apak.

My father left us 20 years ago. My mom, two of my brothers and I were at his side when he took his last breath. He left us 11 months after a major heart attack. 

I will always remember him as the man who always think. If you see him smoking alone at the dining table or on top of the tangga batu in front of our house, you'll notice him talking to himself. Soon after that he would call one of us to share what he was thinking. It was always weird ideas (at least when I was younger I thought they were weird). 

Once in the early 1990s he told me that if he were Mahathir (then PM) he would move all the government administration offices far away from KL City Center and Pusat Bandar Damansara. He thought that the traffic congestion was too much to bear. Since he was about Mahathir's age, he thought the PM would think of the same thing. OK, we live in Pahang, I had no idea why he was so concerned about traffic in KL.  About 10 years later it really happened. Many of the ministries were moved to Putrajaya. Although it didn't really solve the traffic congestion problem in KL, at least it is now easier for us to go to Putrajaya when we have to renew our passports at the Immigration office. 

My late father with my brother, Ally and one of our Chikaboos in 1995

In 1995 he did something crazy when he purchased 5 ostriches from The Netherlands. I was really surprised when I came back from Uni and found 5 strange looking birds at the back of our house. If anyone asked him why he did it back then, he would say that Malaysian weather seemed to suit ostriches, perhaps it's time to breed them here. He also thought that ostrich meat could be a good option.
Until today I didn't know how much it cost him to buy the 5 Chikaboos but we really had fun watching the big birds danced when there was strong wind, and even after a few years I still couldn't tell the male and female apart.
We had visitors from a few parts of the world who came to interview my late father, even Majalah 3 did a segment on his effort and he became an instant celebrity in Triang, Temerloh, Bera dan kawasan-kawasan yang sewaktu dengannya.
Apart from strange ideas, he always gave us advice that we only appreciate 10 or 15 years later. For instance, after he had the heart attack and recuperating at home he asked me whether I've decided on what to major in my studies. I couldn't make up my mind then. He told me to focus on Computer Software, although he knew that I was doing Electronics and Computer Engineering. The only software I was learning back then was PASCAL programming Microsoft Office. So, I asked him why.
He said that after some time the Computer Hardware industry will become very slow and stagnant and this will hinder technical people and engineers who love doing new things to have fun exploring.
I didn't really get it back then. But when I became part of the industry (and thank god I decided to focus on Operating System, Database and Virtualization technology) his advice started to make sense. For someone who likes new challenges everyday, being in the software industry is more interesting and challenging.
FYI, my late father was computer illiterate but he used to read a lot.
That's my late father, the thinker and he was way ahead of everyone.
Happy father's day, Apak. Wish you were still here.

28 Jun 2013

(Sometimes I wonder, ada lagi ke orang yang baca blog? Tapi bila tengok kat statistik, ada la dalam beberapa orang yang singgah dalam sehari. OK la tu kan. Masih ada yang sudi menziarah blog. Kalau dulu - sekitar 2005-2007 dulu, hari-hari bloghop. Sekarang, macam tak cukup masa nak baca entries yang panjang-panjang. Ye lah, siang malam asyik nak fokus dekat Candy Crush je. Mana sempat nak membaca lama-lama, kan?)

OK, berbalik kepada tajuk entri ni. Tarikh 28 Jun, 17 tahun dahulu, ayahanda saya telah pergi menemui Ilahi dan meninggalkan kami selama-lamanya. Almarhum meninggalkan kami sebelum subuh, di hari Jumaat yang barakah.

Waktu itu Almarhum kelihatan seperti mendapat serangan jantung (11 bulan sebelumnya, Almarhum dimasukkan ke ICU kerana serangan jantung yang serius). Kami memberikan ubat yang dibekalkan oleh doktor tapi tiada memberikan sebarang kesan. Dalam keadaan sakit, Almarhum baring sendiri di atas tilam dalam posisi mengadap kiblat dan menghembuskan nafas terakhir beberapa minit kemudian. Kami adik beradik yang berada di sisi, semua blur seketika sebaik sahaja Almarhum berhenti bernafas. Abang saya tak henti mengajarkan syahadah di telinga Almarhum sehinggalah emak saya berkata, 'Mak rasa Apak awak ni dah tak ada.'

Kemudian, seperti robot yang sudah diprogram, kami semua bangun dan melakukan persiapan yang sewajarnya. Masing-masing tak sempat hendak beremosi (OK, akak ipar saya adalah nangis-nangis sikit. Tapi adik beradik saya semua lelaki, so semua buat muka macho je.)

Jenazah selamat disemadikan sebelum solat Jumaat.

Walaupun sudah 17 tahun berlalu, ramai yang masih mengingati jasa dan nasihat-nasihat yang pernah diberikan oleh Almarhum. Bila jumpa kawan-kawan lamanya atau sesiapa saja yang pernah berurusan dengannya, pasti ada pengalaman menarik yang mereka kongsi dengan saya. Cina-cina di kampung pun masih address kami adik beradik - Sulaiman. "Lumah mana lu? Sana aaa? Ooooo Sulaiman aaa?" Macam tu lah dialognya lebih kurang tiap kali kami beritahu kedudukan rumah kami.

Semua yang hidup pasti kan mati. Sudah lumrah alam macam tu. Tapi ingatan dan kenangan dengan Almarhum in sya Allah akan kekal selagi hayat dikandung badan (atau tak nyanyuk).

Kami semua panggil almarhum, Apak. Daripada anak, cucu, anak sedara, memang panggil Apak. Asal usul panggilan Apak ni, saya sendiri pun dah lupa. Emak saya, kami panggil Mummy. Ceritanya, pada tahun 1950-an dulu, mereka tinggal berjiran dengan keluarga Benggali. Anak Benggali tu panggil mak dia mummy. Jadi, entah macam mana, arwah abang saya yang sulung pun panggil emak kami mummy. Teruslah melekat sampai sekarang.

Masa sekolah dulu, memang kerap juga kena ejek dengan kawan-kawan sebab panggil parents apak dan mummy. Orang lain panggil 'mak,ayah' atau 'mama,papa'. Paling canggih pun 'ibu, baba'. Bila kawan-kawan tahu saya panggil parents 'mummy,apak' ada yang kata saya berlagak. Oh, sampai hati diorang. Tapi, tak kisahlah, anggap sajalah diorang belum cukup matang masa tu.

Kembali ke cerita arwah Apak. Semua maklum tentang ketegasan arwah Apak. Arwah memang bukan jenis yang pilih bulu. Sedangkan saya ni, anak bongsu dan anak perempuan sorang pun selalu kena marah (dan pernah kena pelempang juga), apa lagi anak-anak lelakinya. Salah sorang abang saya pernah kena jirus bawah paip sebab keluar joli malam-malam. Saya juga pernah tengok arwah Apak balun abang saya dengan rotan besar sebab dia berangan nak ponteng sekolah.

Kebanyakan kawan-kawan saya masa sekolah rendah memang takut nak datang rumah kami sebab parents saya tegas dan garang. Dua-dua pun 'no nonsense' type. Tapi bila kawan-kawan saya tu dah dewasa, diorang cerita betapa diorang respect dekat arwah Apak.

Antara kisah yang agak kerap saya dengar ialah tentang arwah memberi nasihat tentang hidup berdikari, jangan terlalu nak mengharap makan gaji dan jangan berhutang berlebih-lebihan. In fact salah satu nasihat yang dia beri pada saya masa saya baru masuk universiti dulu ialah, janganlah beli rumah kat bandar. Nanti duit gaji habis nak bayar hutang bank je. Memang bagus nasihat tu, tapi anak arwah Apak ni tetap beli rumah kat bandar. Dan memang dah merasa sakit peritnya nak menghabiskan hutang bank. Rumah tak sampai RM250K, tapi hutang bank lebih setengah juta.

Nasihat yang paling power yang arwah Apak pernah beri ialah masa saya dalam tahun dua degree. Masa tu arwah Apak tanya nanti saya nak buat minor apa, hardware ke software? Ya, walaupun arwah Apak tak pernah masuk universiti atau belajar sains komputer, dia banyak membaca. Arwah tahu (sekurang-kurangnya) untuk membezakan hardware, software dan jaringan. Jadi masa tu saya kata saya nak ambik minor (dan final year project) yang related to hardware.

Sangat mengejutkan bila arwah Apak nasihatkan, janganlah buat hardware. Teknologi computer hardware tak akan sepantas teknologi software. Bila sesuatu bidang tu lambat berkembang, competition very stiff sebab ramai experts dalam bidang tu nanti. Arwah Apak cadangkan saya fokus kepada bidang computer software sebab dia kata kemajuan dan perkembangan bidang ni sangat pantas. Cepat berubah-ubah. Hanya orang yang betul-betul boleh compete je yang akan survive dan akan banyak syarikat yang demand.

Ternyata sangkaan arwah Apak tu betul. Selama 15 tahun saya dalam industri IT, bidang hardware asyik dimonopoli oleh muka-muka yang sama. Teknologinya juga tidak sepantas software. Ruangan kerja kosong juga jarang menempatkan iklan tentang hardware engineer atau technician. Bila teknologi tu lambat maju, ruangnya juga jadi menyempit.

Berlainan pula dengan software; demand terhadap programmer, system analyst, security engineer semakin hari semakin tinggi. Tapi, tekanan kerjanya pun, boleh tahan juga.

Oklah, enough about IT. Kembali ke cerita arwah Apak.

Arwah Apak tak berapa suka Tun Dr Mahathir, tak tahulah kenapa. Pernah sekali arwah Apak cakap, "Kolumpo tu dah terlebih jam. Kalau Apak jadi Mahathir, dah lama Apak pindahkan pejabat-pejabat kerajaan tu jauh dari Kolumpo. Pindah ke sempadan Negeri Sembilan pun tak apa." Beberapa tahun kemudian, projek Putrajaya pun bermula. Masa tu aku terfikir, "Oh! Mahathir dan arwah Apak pernah ada idea yang sama."

Arwah Apak memang jenis yang sentiasa membaca dan berfikir. Lepas serangan jantung yang pertama tu, pandangan arwah Apak merosot. Tulisan dekat surat khabar susah nak dibaca. Jadi, arwah Apak banyak spend time borak-borak dengan anak cucu. Kalau takpun, lepak kat tangga rumah, tengok burung-burung ostrich kesayangnnya.

Satu lagi pesanan arwah Apak yang saya tak boleh lupa (dah arwah minta saya panjangkan) ialah, kalau kita nak rezeki kita berkat, rajin-rajinlah bersedekah. Kalau makan lima orang satu meja tu, ikhlaskanlah hati untuk belanja satu meja. Sebab itulah saya agak fobia bila nampak ada orang keluarkan kalkulator lepas makan ramai-ramai ngan kengkawan. 

Sedekah ni bukan terhad kepada wang ringgit. Bantu orang dengan ikhlas juga macam sedekah. Kalau tak mampu juga nak buat kedua-duanya, rajin-rajinlah senyum bila bertemu orang. Senyum tu pun sedekah. Kalau orang nak marah-marah dengan kita, tapi kita awal-awal dah senyum dengan dia, in sya Allah kurang sikit marahnya.

Eh, banyak lagi lah sebenarnya pesan-pesan arwah Apak. Boleh buat novella kalau nak tulis semuanya. Walaupun arwah Apak dah pergi 17 tahun, rasa macam baru semalam je tengok arwah Apak balik dari kebun naik motor, bawak botol air dalam raga dan selamba je tak pakai helmet.

Marilah kita beramai-ramai sedekahkan Al Fatihah kepada arwah Apak saya: Hj Sulaiman b Hassan. 

Cuti sekolah baru je habis....

Cuti sekolah pun dah tamat. Kanak-kanak pun dah mula sekolah semula (walaupun dengan separuh hati - nak bangun pagi pun macam tak sudi). Sepanjang dua minggu cuti haritu, Wazif dengan Shawqi ada tusyen macam biasa. Hambik! Tak de can nak bersenang lenang. Wazif ada additional activity - group study petang-petang, pukul 6-8. Pastu tusyen pulak, 8-10. Waktu siang memang diorang pulun main game lah. Sambil-sambil tu aku mintak tolong buat kerja rumah apa yang patut (termasuklah buang sampah, kemas kabinet. mandikan Zarif etc). 

Oleh kerana En. Suami tak banyak cuti, maka kitorang jalan dekat-dekat je masa awal-awal dan hujung-hujung cuti. 

Masa first weekend tu, pergi Janda Baik. OK, itulah kali pertama aku jejak kaki di Janda Baik, walaupun aku ni asal dari Pahang. Selama ni memang tak ada urusan pun nak pergi Janda Baik. Inilah kali pertama dapat hirup udara segar kat bukit yang dipenuhi orang baik-baik itu. Kitorang stay satu malam je dekat Cherengin Hills. Tak buat aktiviti luar pun, sebab budak-budak tu semua cuma nak mandi pool dan tidur kat bilik je. Gambar pun tak ambik sangat. 

Gambar depan Cherengin Hills masa dah nak balik.

Masa 2nd week of the school hols, kitorang pergi Melaka pulak. Walaupun dah dekat 13 tahun kawin dengan orang Melaka, masih banyak lagi tempat kat bumi Hang Tuah ni yang aku belum jejak. Ni first time pergi ke Kuala Linggi. Desa Balqis ni konsepnya macam homestay - ada beberapa chalet dengan rekabentuk rumah kampung yang selesa dan bersih. Ada beberapa rumah lagi tengah dalam pembinaan. Ada chalet kecik, ada chalet besar - kalau korang nak pergi, ikut berapa besar rombongan koranglah. Rumah besar tu boleh muat separuh bas sekolah, kot. Memang besar betul. 

Desa Balqis ni tak jauh dari ALAM. You won't miss it.

 Kitorang ambik chalet yang ada satu bilik je. Bilik tidur ada aircond, don't worry. Dalam rumah ada dry kitchen, fridge, toilet, TV (ASTRO yillek). Tapi kitorang tak ON TV pun sebab rasa macam malas nak tengok TV.

Depan Rumah Atuk

 Bersebelahan Rumah Atuk ni, ada Rumah Nenek. Macam tu lah dia punya naming convention chalet ni semua. Tapi, Rumah Bini Muda Atuk takde lah pulak. :D

Budak-budak ni suka lepak kat beranda Rumah Atuk ni

Kat Desa Balqis ni sebenarnya ada pool yang agak besar, tapi oleh sebab ramai sangat pengunjung yang mandi-manda, kitorang terus turun ke pantai dan main air kat situ. Pantai dia so-so je, tak berapa boleh dibanggakanlah, tapi bolehlah setakat nak main air macam diorang ni - tak advencer pun. Tak pergi sampai tempat yang tak jejak pun.

Tak berapa advencer bebudak ni. Takut-takut je.

Zarif lagilah pulak. Langsung taknak masuk air. Dia dok kat pasir tu je, buat sand castle, kutip shell, main dahan kayu.

Budak ni yang paling tak advencer sekali!

 Dekat Desa Balqis ni, kitorang tidur satu malam je. The next day, lepas check-out, kitorang pergi Bandar Melaka. Itule first time aku pergi Banda Hilir. First time juga tengok tempat-tempat bersejarah ni. Dulu masa sekolah rendah, tiap kali cikgu buat rombongan, tak pernahnya mak aku kasi aku pergi. (Macamlah aku ni jahat sangat, kan.... hehe). Umur dah 39 tahun baru le dapat tengok kesan-kesan sejarah kat negeri Melaka ni. Okaylah jugak, kan. Mungkin sebab dah khatam beberapa buku Dan Brown, bersungguh-sungguh aku pergi baca nota dekat every tombstone. Manalah tau, kalau-kalau ada hint atau simbol yang nak kena decipher (yelah, tu... berangan lebih).

Kota Santiago (Wazif memang supporter tegar Buku FIXI)

Muzium - Istana Kesultanan Melaka

Dulu ini le gambor kat front page buku teks sejarah

 Aku nak masuk Muzium Istana Kesultanan Melaka ni semata-mata sebab dulu hari-hari tengok gambar istana ni kat buku teks Sejarah masa sekolah rendah (kot?). Anak-anak aku tak belajar sejarah, so diorang memang blur gila bila masuk dalam ni. Terpaksalah aku pulak story kat diorang kisah-kisah zaman Hang Tuah, Tun Perak, Sultan Mansur Shah etc. 

Replika Flor De La Mar

Lepas dah pusing muzium, kitorang pergi pusing-pusing naik beca. Singgah jap kat depan kapal ni ambik gambar. Zarif tak minat nak pose kat sini. Terpaksalah aku kelentong dia kata ini kapal Pirate of The Carribean. Membohong tak sudah....

Beca - dengan sountrack lagu-lagu Ahmad Jais

 Pakcik Beca yang bawak aku tu dah tua dah, mau dah dekat 70 tahun kot. Agak-agaknya dia menyumpah sebab mengah nak kayuh bawak beban berat macam aku. Tapi dia OK (walaupun sound ada kureeeng sket). Asyik pasang lagu Ahmad Jais je all the way. Aku pun bolehlah jugak layan. Nasib baik tak dapat beca lain yang asyik pasang dangdut berdentum-dentam. 

So, lepas dah bersiar-siar tu kitorang pun balik ke Puchong. Dan sebelum sampai rumah, kitorang dinner kat Bangi Kopitiam. Ye lahh, rajin-rajinlah makan kat Bangi, kan? Tak lama lagi nak jadi penduduk Bangi pulok.... ;)

OKlah, Selamat kembali bersekolah kepada yang bersekolah. Over and out. 

LFC Asia Tour 2011 - memories

Mr Hubby posted some pictures and his story to LSCM and they were published this month on Walk On. Please click on the images to enlarge them. 

Above was the view from where we were seated. We sat behind the scoreboard, ok. When we arrived, we didn't know the score. After so many goals scored by both sides, we went out without knowing the final score, still. After walking more than 1.5km to our car, I logged on to Twitter to know the result. Hahaha. 

Here's the story shared by Mr Hubby. Yeah, we were so excited once we learned about LFC coming to Malaysia. Although we've been to Anfield twice but we never got the chance to watch them play. Next time, we should go during winter time.

Why oh why I didn't look at the camera when Mr Hubby snapped the above photo? That's me in that black and red tudung. It was half time, I don't know why Wazif was clapping.

Some more stories. Sorry Aquilani, your face is truncated. You're not staying for another season, aren't you?

Note: All pictures screen captured from LSCM magazine, Walk On.

My Big Brother - Part 6

1997 was the year when Malaysians and the rest of the world started experiencing the flattening of the world and the beginning of digital divide. Well, maybe Malaysia lagged by three years if you were to compare us with America, Canada and The UK, but we were quite advance then. 


This year marked a few historical events in my life. 


First, The Engineering Faculty computer lab was equipped with brand new SUN servers and SUN workstations and we're internet ready! The first thing I taught my male friends was how to access Playboy website. They became so excited that they started buying modems to be installed at home. 


Secondly, I bought a PC using my own money. It was from my 6 months' savings. I was doing my industrial training in IBM and I saved some of the allowance each month. Since we didn't have Streamyx yet back then, we were using the house land line for dialing up to access internet. I used to have an internet account with Telekom back then. 


Thirdly, with the flattening of the world, we managed to track down my big brother online. There was no Google or people search yet, but he was found by sheer coincidence. 


Well, he used to have this close friend (whose sister was kind enough to let my mom and me sleep at her house when I registered at STF). This guy was working as a teacher (or was he a lab assistant?) at a school in Melaka. One day he was in the computer lab where all the students were busy learning computer related things including emails and chatting at MiRC. He made his round in the lab, from one desk/student to another. He noticed that one of the students was having a chat with a user id that rang a bell to him. It was a very familiar nickname that reminded him of his old friend. 


He suspected that it was my big brother. That kind of name would only be used by people of his generation and my big brother was one of those who used that name a lot. Sorry, I couldn't remember what exactly the user id was, but it was not a Malay word. So, this guy became curious and started telling the student to ask a few simple questions.

The answers that came were surprisingly familiar. This guy knew immediately it was my big brother chatting on the other end. What he did next was to get the student to get an email id and telephone number that can be contacted and they received them, no question asked. 
A few days later I got a call from my second brother instructing me to contact the number passed to him from Melaka. I made a call and my big brother was not surprised at all to hear my voice. Perhaps, he had suspected that someday he will be discovered and there's not many things he can do to continue hiding or running away. Our conversation was brief, as I didn't really know what to tell him. It seemed like he was well informed of what's going on in our kampung and in the family. Before he hung up, he gave me his email which was a hotmail account, and a few years later he changed to Yahoo!


That was the beginning of our virtual communication. 


1997 was also the year that my first niece was born, and we lost our beloved grandmother only a few days later. 


It was also in 1997 that I met my husband.


To be continued....

Dear Mark.....

I think Mark Zuckerberg should find a way on how to determine that a Facebook account owner is still alive. Perhaps there should be another status (besides single, married, divorced etc) to indicate whether the person is still living and breathing or has deceased. 


If he can't find a way to find it through his million lines of codes, then, why not provide a facility for the siblings or parents to apply for the status to be changed from Alive to Deceased? 


One of my Facebook friends, passed away in early 2010, her FB account was set with high security and no one can write on the wall. Until today, the wall is still very much active because there are some of her friends who still tag her in photos and FB notes. 


Yesterday (Saturday) was my late brother's birthday. I saw some of his FB friends wished him Happy Birthday and 'Selamat panjang umur, murah rezeki'. I believe these people knew him through the internet, and it's been awhile since they communicated. Luckily few of my relatives noticed the messages and later they posted on his wall to announce that he has passed away. 


I was not feeling offended, but it's just sad to read people wishing your sibling 'Selamat Panjang Umur' when he has already left this world. As a Social Network user, I think we should also be more sensitive by checking the person's recent activities before wishing them Happy Birthday or even Happy Anniversary. You'll never know, some couple that might have divorced, maybe forgotten to change their Status or Anniversary Date in their profiles. So, sometimes, it's not that bad to keep updated with latest gossips.

My big brother - Part 5

I thought there's going to be only three installments of this but oh boy, I was wrong. Perhaps it's better to have shorter entries, but we're going to have many. Anyway, thank you for your patience. It's not easy traveling back in time virtually to capture our emotions back then and the chronology of events, but I try.

What I could gather from my mom after that first telephone call was that my late brother and his friend had a fishing boat and he earned his living from the sea. I could never imagine him as a fisherman although we've rode in motorboats together a few times during flood season or in the Triang river. Our relative who stayed in Labuan at that time also claimed that my brother looked a bit thinner and a lot darker. She also told us that during fasting month my brother went for tarawikh at the nearby mosque quite often and visited her and her family a few times. After this relative left Labuan and my late brother stopped calling home, we didn't hear about him for a while. So, we didn't know what he did next. Did he stay living as a fisherman or tried other things.

Although we couldn't trace him, once in a while and usually on Raya Eve he would call my mom. Just to ask how we were doing. Then my mom would ask his whereabouts and if he's coming home. He always told her he'd come back when he's ready. But for the mean time he still had work to do.

Between 1990 and 1995 there were a few communications with him. Sometimes he called, sometimes he gave us a number that we could call but usually those numbers became invalid after a month or two. We suspected he was still on the move.

In 1995 my mom told me over the phone that a lady from Sabah called her to tell that he was my late brother's wife. My mom was confused and didn't understand her intentions. The lady talked to my late father. She told him that they were married but my brother left her when she was pregnant. She had a miscarriage soon after that. My late father was so worried and upset. It was not easy for him to accept that his eldest son left home in 1988, then suddenly there was this lady claiming that his son neglected his wife. My late father's health started to deteriorate that year.

Not long after the phone call, my mom spoke to my late brother and demanded to know the truth. He told her that it's true that they were married but only for a while. He divorced her because she was using false documents. It turned out the lady was from The Philippines and entered Sabah illegally. My brother felt deceived because she told him that she's a Malaysian and to avoid any problem with the authority, he decided to divorce her.

Later that year, my late father had his first major heart attack and he was in the ICU for about two weeks. I was sitting for my exams then. My father passed away in 1996, 11 months after the attack. I watched him breathed his last breath. My mom, my second and fourth brother were also there by his side during his final moments. My third brother was 10 minutes too late. He was driving as fast as he could from his house in Felda Rentam but when he arrived, my father was gone.

There was a huge crowd at our house that day. Friends, families, acquaintances and neighbors came to pay their last respect. At least half of them asked whether we've informed my eldest brother about the news. It just so happened that it was the period when we lost contact with him. We just told them that we'd inform him  whenever he called.

So, my late brother was the last to know about my father's death. When he learned about it, he didn't say anything other than 'Innalillah..' He knew he'll never get to see his father again. His silence didn't tell us anything but I thought he might be staring at empty spaces for a long time after that.  During one of our phone conversations later he asked me to post some of his old pictures with some of his friends. I took a few from his old photo albums and I slipped in another photo in the envelope. It was a picture of late father taken in 1993 carrying one of my nephews. I prayed that when he saw that photo, it would remind him about a few things he's been missing in his life.

.... to be continued (lagi..!)...

My Big Brother - Part 4

I don't remember much of what happened in the rest of 1988. It was such a blur now, maybe because I chose to just delete some of the bad memories I had. In the few months that followed the disappearance of my late brother, we had to answer to the same questions over and over again, 'Dah jumpa Zul?', 'Mana peginya Zul?', 'Apa salahnya sampai dia lari?', 'Dia merajuk ke?', 'Dia frust bercinta ke?','Zul takde talipon?'. For me it was so frustrating because we couldn't answer any of those. The standard reply given by my parents was, 'Entohlah, dengor ceritanya dah nyeberang laut. Kome doakan dia selamat ajelah.'

It took sometime for my family to investigate the real reason why he disappeared. The nearest answer we got was he was probably in trouble due to one of his hobbies - which involved spending a lot of money. A few weeks after we realized he had gone missing a few people came forward to inform my father that my eldest brother owed them some money. So, my father went to ask further to find out how many people and how much money he owed. The total debt was actually not that much - well let's just say it was not something that we couldn't afford to pay and my father did pay-off all of them. For me, it still didn't make sense for him to leave everything and everyone he loved and disappear just because of some debt issue.

We couldn't investigate and probe further as there were no sufficient evidence. Although my late brother was a warm and friendly person, he's also good at keeping his private things from people. At the time of his disappearance we had no idea how much money he had or whether he had them stashed away in some bank accounts unknown to us.

Sometimes, after dinner we would sit down in my mom's room to chit chat and we'd always discuss about him. We kept on guessing where he's gone. Once I told my father that I thought he might have flown or sailed to The US. If I were him, with all that talent, skills and brain, I would have gone to a place far away; a developed country that offered mountains of opportunities. My father didn't really agree.

As for my mom, she was still hoping that my brother hadn't gone that far away. My mom visited me in JB quite often; she took the night train and arrived at my hostel at around 6a.m and then went back late in the afternoon to catch the night train to East Coast. She also went to Singapore during one of the visits. Years later she admitted that everytime she was roaming in JB she hoped to bump into my eldest brother. Well that explained why she always left my hostel at 5pm when her train only arrived at 9pm.

So, 1988 had been a dark year and it was not something we want to relive. The following year my second brother decided to get married and the family was happy again, not the same, but I consider those were quite happy moments. To have additional family member, and later a baby boy joined us in 1990, followed by another sister in law when my third brother got married on the same year. We still discussed about my eldest brother from time to time but we have stopped guessing or cracking our heads to come up with theories on why he left.

Then, not long after my first nephew was born, my eldest brother called home. He was in Labuan. Not The US, but Labuan. So, Tokki Jelani was right, he did cross the ocean. I can't really remember what made him changed his mind and contact us but I think one of our relatives who was then staying in Labuan bumped into him. Maybe she managed to influence him a bit. I was not at home when he called. My mom told me about it during one of her visits. Although he called home to tell us that he was alive and well, we still didn't know the real reason why he left. We lost contact soon after because he decided to disappear again. We didn't have his number or his address and his IC was still using our kampung address. So, we couldn't trace him back then, not in the year 1990.

..... to be continued....

My Big Brother - Part 3

My late brother, Zulkiflie Sulaiman was our source for entertainment back in the 70s and 80s. I still remember the cassettes and cartridges he bought and we had battery powered players. There was no electricity supply in our kampung back in the 70s and early 80s. So when I was about 4 or 5 years old, we'd sat together in my brother's room and listened to the songs. My favorites then were Boney M, Latiff Ibrahim, ABBA and a few compilation albums which I couldn't remember the titles but some of the songs were Sunny, Designer Music, Ring My Bell, Get Down On It, That's The Way (I like it) from singers never heard by today's teenagers.

When I was in Standard 2 (1982) my late brother brought home a borrowed VCR player and rented a few video tapes. That weekend we watched a very interesting Malay movie: MEKANIK. We had been watching too many black and white P Ramlee movies on TV1 and TV2 that when we first saw MEKANIKwe thought it was very refreshing and exciting. When I watched that movie again on YouTube recently, I realized that some of the scenes would have been snipped by Censor Board if it were to be screened today. There's one scene where Teh Faridah was looking so sexy in the rain wearing a wet white shirt and a Hindi song was played. My mom heard it and said, 'Eh, lagu Bobby.' My brother and I were so young and had never heard of the movie Bobby then, so we asked many questions to my mom. The next weekend my late brother rented Bobby and we watched it 7 times.

My late brother was born a people person. He just loved making people happy, being around many people and interacting. Every Ramadhan, he would be our master stirrer when it was making dodol time. My late grandma or my mom would be the mastermind, measuring the flour, sugar and coconut milk but my late brother would be the one to slave himself near the hot kawah, stirring and stirring until the dodol was ready. He'd do the same when it was making lemang day. He'd patiently wait near the fire and when my late grandma told him it's time to turn or stomp the bamboo, he'd do it one by one. He just enjoyed doing those things while chit chatting with my late grandma to get more tips and listened to some of her pre-Japanese occupancy stories.

I have to say that my late brother really enjoyed everything he did, he's always spending his quality time with the family and cared for us a lot. He's the eldest, so it's not a surprise.

The only surprise I got was in 1988 when I came home for a short school break. I didn't take the train because on of my juniors was going back to Temerloh in her dad's car. I made a thick face to tumpang her. It was a smooth journey and I was so happy I didn't have to stand for 8 hours in the MEL train. But when I reached home, my late father broke the sad news. My eldest brother ran away from home.

I couldn't think or react when I listened to my late father telling me how my brother left home one night, saying he's going to KL (he traveled to KL quite frequently, so it was not something that would make my mom suspicious ). Then, after a few days he didn't come back. He didn't go to work. He didn't apply for any leave. He was not contactable (those days belum ada handphone ye...) and none of his good friends knew his whereabout or what was he planned when he left for KL.

My family, especially my parents were worried sick. We couldn't figure out why he left so suddenly. My late father was having a very hard time then. He couldn't think of a single thing that he has done that might have offended my late brother, that could've make him decided to run away. Nobody knew if my late brother was having any problem either work related or personal. People from his office didn't notice anything weird about him, so did my family members. He just acted normal before he decided to leave.

My parents did what people would normally do ina  missing person's case. They contacted the authority and the  search started. Ports, airports and Department of Immigration confirmed that there was no record of my late brother leaving the country. Then my parents went to see a very old Indonesian man whom we knew had extra strong 6th sense - his name was Tokki Jelani. Tokki Jelani told my parents not to worry because my eldest brother was still alive then but he had crossed the ocean.

Tokki Jelani didn't tell whether it was Hindi Ocean, South China Sea, or Atlantic Ocean but we knew that by then my eldest brother had left us to be somewhere else. We're not sure whether he was running away from someone or something but deep inside we all knew that he would never come back to our kampung.

.....to be continued....

My big brother - Part 2

My late brother, Zulkiflie Sulaiman stood at almost 6 foot tall, had always been overweight for as long as I could remember and he never complained about the food our mom prepared. His appetite was always good, if anyone was having eating disorder, they could just sit and watch him ate, and they'd feel hungry immediately. He was one of the people in this world who really appreciated food. When our mom cooked chicken, he'd even chew the bones. If you served him fish, there'd be just cleaned bones left for the cats.

The last memorable meal I had with him was in KK. My family went there for a short vacation and he treated us at one of the famous seafood places. We had fried garoupa, buttered prawn and a very special rice, I think it was called garlic rice. He was telling us about Sabah food and how different they were than the food in Pahang.

When I was in primary school there were two famous Zuls in the kampung. One was Zul Tompel and the other one was my late brother, people nicknamed him Zul Gemuk. If strangers met me on the bus or in town and asked my name, I'd just told them I was Zul Gemuk's little sister. Then they'd say 'Aaaaah, koi kenal abang awok...' and they'd share at least one of the things that they remembered most about him: some silly incident or some of his funny remarks.

My brother made many friends and they all had great memories of him. Many of the older Makciks and Uwans in the kampung were very fond of him because of his warm personality. I noticed he'd usually greet the older Uwans with 'Amboi, lawo betul wan kita hari ni yek. Nok kone melawo ngat ni?'

I remember when I received the offer from KPM to study in STF JB, my parents were so worried because we had no relative and didn't know a single soul in JB. Luckily, my late brother had a friend who happened to have a sister living in JB. So, one night, two days before registering myself at STF, my late brother drove me and my mom to the train station in Triang for the night KTM MEL train to JB. His friend's sister greeted us in JB and brought us to her house. She also brought us shopping for my school needs somewhere in Tampoi.

About a month later I decided to go home during the CNY break. When I booked the ticket, Kak Normah (the garang sick bay lady ) told me that the train won't stop at Triang because it was such a small station and she had never even heard of the town name. I was so stupid to believe her so I bought the ticket to Mentakab. We didn't have a telephone at home then, I could only contact my late brother at his office. So, the afternoon before my train back I told him that I was not sure which station I could go off. He told me he'd wait for me at Bahau station at around 4a.m.

That night, once the MEL train reached Bahau, I looked for him through the window but he was not there. It was a short stop, so after about 2 minutes the train started to leave the station and that's when I saw him with a few of his friends waving at me. I couldn't go off there and then because the coach was too crowded and the train had started moving. I saw them running towards his car.

When the train reached Triang station I quickly looked around and suddenly I heard him screaming my name. I hurried to the coach door where there were people sitting and standing half asleep. The train was about to leave so I jumped onto the platform and ran towards my late brother. On our short journey home he was telling me how fast he drove from Bahau to Triang to make sure they didn't miss me again. He was almost breathless when we reached home. Now everytime I watched The Amazing Race, I'm always reminded of that night. That was like the sweetest thing someone had done to me (chasing a train with a car - macam cerita Hindustan pun ada.)

... to be continued....

My big brother - Part 1

I know some people Googled for my late brother, Zulkiflie Sulaiman and was directed to this blog. As promised, I will try to share with you some of my earliest memories of him.

When I was in primary school sometimes he helped me with my homework, usually the English subject. Since he was from English education background, he liked to challenge me with grammar questions. For instance, on his way to the bathroom he would ask me, 'Have you a) see b) saw c) seen the newspaper?' And being a primary one student, I would crack my head to guess the answer. He would give the correct answer and asked again, 'Cikgu dah ajar ke belum tu?' Well, usually he asked advanced grammar questions, things that I hadn't learned in classroom. So, his pop quizzes somehow helped me a lot to do my own research. We live in a kampung, no one spoke English. My only source was TV and my family. When I was in Standard three, my English teacher challenged me to answer the Penilaian Darjah 5 English paper and I scored an A! I remember telling it to my late brother and late father. My late father looked proud, but later he asked me, 'Kenapa tak dapat 100?' Hehe...

It was also the two of them who bought me my first typewriter in 1985 when I did well in Penilaian Darjah 5. I suspected it was my late brother's idea to get the typewriter. I would have asked for a BMX instead. So, my late father taught me to type, and once I completed the month long 'course', my late brother gave me a few assignments. He brought home a few sample letters from the office and told me to type them - complete with 2 carbon copies! There were a few mistakes, and he told me to re-type - no blanco allowed. It turned out those were real letters he was going to use. That was the moment I realized I would never ever want to become a secretary when I grew up.

My late brother used to work in a bank in our hometown. I was not sure of his position but I heard he had to handle computer related works. When I was in Standard 4 (1984) he brought home a weird looking equipment, a weird looking keypad (which keys arrangement were similar to a typewriter's) and a thick photocopied book entitled BASIC programming. He connected the weird looking equipment to our TV set and we got a different screen! First I thought it was a video player, then he told me it's a computer. I remember the first BASIC program I tried from the book, the QWERTYUIOP keys produced music! The weird looking keypad became a keyboard (well, two years later I learned that IT WAS called a keyboard).

When people asked about my late brother, all I could remember was the fun things he did. He had many friends and well known in Temerloh, Kuantan, Jerantut, Triang, Bera, Kemayan and all the nearby Gugusan Felda. He's always been described as the fun, warm, helpful, bright, passionate but sensitive guy. Yes, he was a bit sensitive. My late father told me that if he scolded him, my late brother would sulk for days and refused to talk. However, my late brother didn't get angry easily, he didn't like confrontation, involve in fights or argue with people. His greatest gift was he could mix with people from all walks of life, young and old, beyond race and religion.

Talking about fights, I remember when I was in Standard 6 (1986) our nearby kampung was flooded. When there's flood, many people would come out to join the 'flood fiesta'. It so happened that a group of youngsters from one kampung was having verbal fight with the boys from our kampung. One night, there was a big fight. The boys from both group met somewhere and brought a few dangerous weapons along.

My late brother came back early that night. He rushed to tell my mom what had happened and how my 2nd and 3rd brother were punching and hitting the other boys. He told us all the details. So, my mom asked him, 'Diorang ni bergaduh, awok bergaduh jugek ke?' And then he answered (whenever he spoke to our parents, he would call himself Li), 'Li tak bertumbuk, Li nyuruk belakang kereta nengok diorang. Li ada pegang pengayuh perahu. Kalau ada orang datang kat Li, Li cadang nak lebas dengan pengayuh tu jek.' My mom couldn't help but laugh. She knew my late brother wouldn't ever got involved in fights. Later that night, my other 2 brothers came home with swollen knuckles and some other bruises.

They got some well deserved lecture from my parents for getting into that stupid fight but a few years later, the only thing we remembered was 'Li nyuruk belakang kereta sambil pegang pengayuh perahu'.

Death in the family

It was Labour Day and I was at my mom's house in Bera, Pahang. Although Monday was also a holiday, we decided to go back to KL on Sunday to do laundry and grocery shopping. We planned to start the journey at around 3, in order to catch Liverpool game at 7. But the kids were still playing outside the house, refused to come in and change their clothes. Then my SIL made some fried kway teow for her friends who were coming over. Then when the friends came, my hubby decided to join them for kway teow hi-tea. It was almost 4pm when everybody was finally ready to go back to KL. All our bags were lined up in front of the main door and hubby started carrying some of the wet towels into the car. Then I felt like going to the toilet, so I went.

I was inside the toilet when my SIL received a phone call. She was shouting my name, I thought it was my friend. Then I heard she passed the phone to my brother and I heard him speaking in English. Suddenly, it felt weird. Which of my friend couldn't speak BM? A few minutes later, I emerged from the toilet and my SIL broke the sad news. My eldest brother who lived in Kota Kinabalu had passed on. I didn't know how to react or what to feel at that moment. My mom and I were discussing about him the night before. I was asking my mom whether my eldest brother will be back for my nephew's wedding next month. We were hoping that he'll be able to get flight tickets and join us for the khenduri.

Allahyarham Zulkiflie Sulaiman
9/7/1957-1/5/2011

All of us sat in silence for a few minutes then started discussing on how to make the necessary arrangements. My brothers started calling their friends, tried to find who could be contacted in KK and who else might be able to help. We never faced this kind of situation. We've dealt with deaths of immediate family members before, but both of them (my late father and grandma) were not across the ocean. The next few hours everybody was calling everybody. Decisions must be made fast. We had to wait for my third brother who was in Jerantut when we managed to contact him. It was already quarter past 6 when everyone of us was finally at my mom's house and we got everything finalized. Two of my brothers were flying to KK that night, the rest would stay at home to make preparations just in case the body could be flown back.

My hubby drove us to KLIA. It was raining cats and dogs from Bera to Nilai. Thank god Zarif and Shawqi were sound asleep throughout the nervewrecking 2.5 hours drive. When we reached Nilai, it was a quarter past 9pm. The last MAS flight to KK was at 10.10pm. When we entered MAS ticketing office, it was already 9.40pm. I insisted for two tickets although the check-in counter was closing. Luckily the ticket girl understood our urgency. We got two tickets and almost ran to Departure level.

My brothers were just in time for the flight. We went back, had dinner and I checked my late brother's FB page. Many of his friends wrote their good bye notes. There was an announcement by UMNO Bahagian Sipanggar on the arrangements made for burial on the next day. Alhamdulillah, everything has been taken care of. I'm sure my late brother had many close friends in KK. They've been like his family since he stayed there.

One of the last pictures of my late brother (i downloaded this from his FB)

My late brother in his Temerloh United t-shirt

My late brother's body was brought to Masjid Kg Likas from Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Monday afternoon and he was buried in Tanah Perkuburan Islam Kg Likas. My two brothers stayed for another day in KK to file the death report at JPN. They came back on Tuesday night. When we went to fetch them at the airport, I saw a big luggage and a smaller bag they brought from KK. Those must be my late brother's belongings. We went through some of his documents that night. My 4th brother showed me the death certificate and I think that was the moment when I suddenly felt really sad. We are so used to seeing birth certificates of newborns, and felt so excited about it. But when I saw the death cert, that was when reality really sunk in. My eldest brother was gone from this world and he's not coming back. I saw his clothes in the bag and I wept.

.......to be continued. I think the younger generation of our family and his friends deserve to know more about him. Let me compile a few things first and publish a few entries dedicated to my late brother some time next week.