Me n my wife went back to Muar on Saturday - rather early morning ; the idea was to beat the traffic. We arriveD TOO early !! 10 am to be exact... only Auntie Nor n family was there besides Pak Pit. It was a new experience for my wife as we've never been back to muar on the day before raya. She has no kampung you see, both her grandparents were deceased when she was young ; so coming bAck to see tuk abah and maktuk in muar was definitely an experience. Ahaks , i've always been the manjaest grandchild so they were happy lar to see me ..haks!!
To my surprise , it was only us( plus pak pit n auntie nor's family ) on raya eve .Haniza had to be in the kitchen to help out !! haks.. something traditionally expected by the elderly automatically !!!It was certainly nice that evening during iftar - tasting maktuk's all favourite asam pedas.. the one and only and untouchable !!! Malam raya ; me , pakpit , uncle hasni and Ben recited the takbir. Wished more was there and it would have been more kewl. If my father was here, he would have led the prayers !! tapi takpe la.. anak pak mamat pun bule jugak..
My mum came back the day after , so are all the other aunties. Eventhough it was not as meriah as i used to remember when i was younger - It was kewl celebrating raya in muar. Somehow , i have this affection for kampung ; I've always looked forward to balik kampung !! somehow , i find that my kampung is really kewl !!haks.. anyway , maktuk and tuk abah really do appreciate our presence.I suppose , them being ill this past few months. Tuk abah was recently admitted to UH ; maktuk is a newly diagnosed asthma . SO one would expect their tone of conversation ; saying that dunno whether they will be around next raya. Tuk Lang ( atuk abah's younger brother ) passed away last week !! Now , it's only him and her sister left. Even on maktuk's side , only tuk tam and tuk cik left. yang lain sume dah standby up there...
I've always enjoyed the raya'ing bit. During my younger days , the whole family entourage from one house to another. it was kewl knowing your relatives that way. Honestly , it was never about the money ( duit raya ) but i've always enjoyed hearing stories about the family , where we came from - keturunan muar from the elders. I do try to be in the elders group talking rather than playing around with my cousins then .. hekks.. well , not really surprising isn't it coz i enjoy SEJARAH !!!
Anyway , everybody's ill - dah tua aah.. all the 70's age group therefore one would expect this scenario. I only hope that they will be around for the subsequents rayas as when they're gone ; the raya spirit back to kampung will be lost. I do cherish all this tradition and customs. And it was a bit of shocker to me , in realizing i did not really do my part post marriage - visiting all relatives to introduce ourselves and thank them for all their help then. SOmething that i should have hold on to... i will definitely remind my younger ones to sustain this custom-as it bonds the family unit..
Saying all this , alfatihah to Tuk Aki ( my pahang atuk ) who passed away few months back. Quite sad really coz he's the kewl atuk!! first time raya'ing without him being around physically. Somehow i will definitely miss him ; his wit and creativity. Sayang , tak sempat menuntut habis his bomoh skills ehehehehehe dapatlah sikit2 dulu... I will definitely tell about his endevours to my children and grandchildren!!
But sadly , had to break the festive mood yesterday as i was oncall. Thought that the call to be easy.. butt NNNOOOOTTTT.. did not even sleep the whole nite !! Dunno who's the jonah last nite.. me or amir !! ill patients keep coming in like water .. hahahahaha.. But alhamdulillah , nobodody died last nite. managed to keep them all alive thru out the nite.. :)
OK.. well, i just came back from work ni.. post call. biasalah mata mengantuk and heavy! Im off again for another 2 days to enjoy my raya ; never had this opportunity the last 2 years. So, sapa sapa yang baca ni.. jemput la ke rumah ekks . nothing much , just a game of Pro Evolution Soccer on PS2 !!!
No comments:
Post a Comment