Tok Is Well Again, Considerably

Last week has been quite hectic, for us, the clan.

On Wednesday, struck by a fever-induced infection, Tok went into a delirious state, refusing water and food and it soon got kinda serious. Dehydrated and all. BTW, she's about 88 years old and has only been bed-ridden for the past few months, having spent a few years on and off wheelchairs.

When I was at Mak Ndak's place (where Tok is )and I was looking at a picture on the wall of us all during Hari Raya in 2003 (Adani was still a baby and Ariz was well, not here yet) and Tok looked strong and nowhere near the frail old body she's in today and her eyes looked the same, just much much more sadder. Time sure flies.

You see, my Wan passed away on the 5th April 1996 of lung cancer. It was a huge blow to the family and to Tok. Incidentally, then the four of us, cousins were not informed of his demise until we came home for the holidays. We were studying at that time in UK, Ireland and Liza was in Australia. This was new to us because we never experienced the heartache and the worry and the prospect of a death in the family.

So, when Mak Ndak called crying telling us that she didn't know what else to do cos Tok looked like she's given up and now is just in the "berserah" state. We all came running. My uncle, Pakcik Awi, Tok's favourite who was at Gloucester, UK, was in tears over the phone and 3 days later came home. Even Tok's favourite cucu, studying medicine at Indonesia was sent packing home.

I picked up Nobita from her hospital on Wednesday and drove to Senawang where everybody's already arrived. Liza and Airena, the doctors of the family were already fixing her IV line, since she refused food and water and even hospitals. She was delirious, not recognising some of us. She remembered us, the twins, but she didn't remember us having babies of our own.

In fact, she was mumbling about the time my grandfather was still a policeman and they were living at the police baracks at Alor Setar. She was muttering 9644 over and over again and Pak Lang told us that that was Wan's police number. I was a baby then. She kept asking whether all her 9 children were home already. Pakcik Awi was en route from the UK and we prayed that he would hurry.

Anyhow. Alhamdulillah. By Friday after Pakcik Awi arrived, she got better, drinking and even eating a little. And she's a lot calmer too. My aunties and uncles are still berkampung at Senawang.

Yesterday, we made it back to Senawang and she was a lot of better.

Alhamudulillah. I pray that Allah eases her suffering and I pray that Tok would have patience through this test Allah puts her under. Insyallah.

Here In My Home

I'm calling this home from today onwards.

Had a noisy, scream-y, very-melancholic and great lunch with MoshJantan, Lollies and MissKLSentral today and Mosh lamented that no one updates their blogs anymore.

I think this is either people have moved or people have just given up on efx2blogs. Some have packed up their bags and set up homes elsewhere under new names. Some have returned to their previous homes. But it's kinda had to get back to such feelings of being a family again.

I miss the contant banter of comments from Rotidua, elisa, lollies, mamarawlks, mommyalif, diah, bear, butterflutter, lazydaisy, olab, ondeonde, screw, futuredoc, checombi and many others who have enlightened my life with their insights. I miss them.

Here, my comments remained in single digits. Maybe people don't know I'm here. Maybe they've stopped looking.

I hope I find them soon. I miss you all.

Welcome to my new home. This is where I think I'll be from now on. Especially with this new layout.

I feel so womanly.

I feel so motherly.

I feel so lover-ly.

I feel me.

I think this is my place.

Selamat Pengantin Baru, Azfar & Liza

Last weekend, I wrote about the bride's side berinai, akad nikah and the real kenduri. And Saturday, it was the bridegroom's turn. We are a big family. My mother is the eldest and has 8 other brothers and sisters who among themselves have many sons and daughters. The 4th generation (cucu to my Tok) aged between 10 and 30 days old and there are alone, 17 in number I cannot remember the exact count of US all, but I think 63 about sums up us.

Anyways.

Weddings have always been a family affair to us. We have many, many meetings prior to any weddings and it is a real fun to have, with minutes, mind you! We have t-shirts printed out for the wedding and vests too. We are a closeknit family. So, I arrived very early on Saturday to a buzzing house at Taman Rashidah Utama, Seremban. The 8 large tents were all set up. The caterers' busy cooking. The aunts and uncles were making special gulai daging with batang pisang and gulai kuning daging salai. The kids were running around the pond in the huge yard. Breakfast was served in the side of the house.

The house was recently renovated and it's mega big now. There are 5 fans alone in the kitchen! Aku sungguh jeles dengan rumah ini. Tasks : Me - VVIP usherette and get lollipops for kid's gifts. MrGart - VVIP usherer Aliya - bunga manggar carrier (the other one was carried by Nor, her same-age cousin) Ayisha & Adani - official flower girls. There were 6, but 1 refused to wear the dress and the other one was Nobita's 1 yo Arissa. Ariz - stay of out mischief, ALL mishief thinkable. Rehearsals were carried out to the delight of the aunts and uncles for the flowergirls.

They were all decked out in burnished brown, gold dresses (thanks to me!) with ribbon-y headbands, crafted by my cousin Anis. My Mak Tam took the trouble to out make-up on these girls, a bit too red and tacky. So, after the girls ate their lunch, dengan mulut yang termuncung-muncung, I wiped the merah kampung lipstick off and put on pink lipgoss instead. Now, they look girl-ish pretty.

So, when the guests started arriving, things fell into place. I ushered the Datuks and Datins to the VVIP's area and at the beck and call of my Mak Ndak, the hostess. Tiring! Very very tiring. The flowergirls did great, even if they had to berarak jauh la jugak. They smiled and sat prettily next to the pengantins on the dais. The silat was uhmm rather ganas. Apparently, they were real SEA Games athletes, my MSN uncle had engaged. Foooohh! It's almost demonstrative, but they sure tumbled and kicked ferociously to the delight of the VERY interested little boys, already imagining their ultraman and ben10 fights with aliens!

Anyways.

Ramainya la manusia. By 4pm, when it was all over, all of us, the younger ones were sitting at one table, lollipop tasting session when suddenly, a man walked up to us with a salam. Hmm he looked familiar. Yikes! The MB of NS was there himself. Cit! Terkulat-kulat we all, even with lollipops in our mouths. Earlier we had the was-tobe-MB-Kelantan-but-denied puffing cerut in front of my wheelchair-ridden grandma, nonchalantly. And we had an ADUN from a alternative party there too with some political reports thrown in for good measure. Aku dengar je la.

Ah well. All in well, it went well.

We went home around 11pm with heavyy eyes, full stomachs and great great day. Selamat Pengantin Baru, Azfar.

p/s sorry no piccies, I din't have my camera on me. Ye la, sebuk dok suruh tuan/puan, datuk/datan, pakcik/makcik masuk makan. Once I get some from my cousins, I'll try to post them here.