Bits & Pieces of Me

       I was at the night market. Masa tu it was near the Kangar Market. I was looking for nasi kandar, to fulfill permintaan Faten yang memang suka nasi kandar masa tu.When she was quite small. Now not so anymore.      Orang ramai sungguh, maklum baru gaji. I kena beratur panjang. Punya la lama tunggu. In front of me was a lady in white uniform, looked like a nurse. Then ,I dah dekat dah dengan periuk2 kari mamak tu. Second in the line after the nurse.     Suddenly out of the blues a lady appeared, dengan rambut kusut masai, quite a fat lady, sweating all over, she confronted the nurse and said at the top of her voice.     "Ooo, ni rupanya hang na.Pompuan tak guna,..ambik laki orang. awat tak dak $#@&^* hang nak buat laki, selain dari laki aku."      I stepped backwards. "ni kes bermadu ni " I thought.      Everybody looked on, semua macam enjoying a little bit of entertainment ...

                It was the first day of puasa. Promised with a few ladies to go to surau at 12 in the afternoon for tadarus.Hari mula, semangat tinggi semacam . 15 minutes to 12 ,I was there in the surau already. Picked up a broom and started to sweep here and there, bukan apa tempat dah bersih,  buang taik cicak saja.Cicak ni kalau dah mula melepas satu tempat tu, maka tempat tu la tiap2 hari ada benda hitam putih tu, especially di bawah lampu.           Opened up my qur'an and while waiting for the rest to appear I recited the Al Kaffi.Surah ke 18 dalam Al quran.My Ustazah said surah Al Kaffi ni bagus sebagai pelindung diri.Kalau susah nak hafal satu surah 110 ayat,boleh saja hafal 10 ayat pertama dan 10 terakhir. Elok di baca pada hari Jumaat.Akan di ampun dosa kita antara dua Jumaat tersebut.           It was e...

          It was around 11 in the morning. I was about 10 years old then. My mak and tok were busy bakar baulu.The traditional Malay kueh popular sangat zaman dulu.It was during the fasting month.      We have no oven masa tu, my mak guna sabut kelapa sebagai api sebelah atas and arang sebelah bawa macam oven juga la.Acuan pula acuan besi.My mak said tu acuan bentuk bunga kandis.I dont know what is bunga kandis.But it was like rupa mangoesteen cut into half.       Biasa la kalau zaman dulu, bakar kueh bukan ada timer. So kadang2 kueh tu nicely baked, kadang2 burned sikit.      "Ni kalau tak posa sedap ni kueh baulu yang garing ni."      "Awat mak tak simpan " I saw her put yang hitam manis tu seperately.      "La, takkan nak jamu orang rentung macam ni."      Rentung ? mana rentung pun cuma terlebih brown saja colour dia. ...

      Sent Suhail back to his hostel on Monday 16th July.      Faten drove us there and on the way home, she said, " boring la mak"      I said, " Jum pi langkawi ?'      Almost spontaneously she answered. " Jum ".      So we turned back home. I grabbed a blouse , my telekung, my cleanser, and a few others, and we made our way to the jetty in Kuala Perlis.      Kuala Perlis jetty was under renovation, messy, nasib baik be there for a short while.     On the boat, I was thinking, ish apa kerja ni pi Langkawi ? Tiba2 suddenly teringat terus pi saja.But the inner me said , biarla pamper diri sikit, I was just feeling tired ..all the time doing housework, membasuh, mencuci,lap sini, lap sana, pegang periuk belanga, pisau senduk, penyapu,and last2 listening to old classical songs to let the hours go..Itu la day in and day out..   ...

         He couldnt even utter a word properly. He was all over town roaming about, but lately he was only wondering around Bank Islam Kangar .Everybody in Kangar knows him. No one knows his name.He would wear a short sleeve shirt, wrongly buttoned. With disheveled hair and a smile on his face ,he wondered around asking for money from everyone he met.          He would put out his hand and smiled .People would give him money.Not much.He would gladly take it , put it into his shirt pocket and walked away in silence.Young girls semua takut dia.          But he would go away if you say a word to him, that is "pisau " . He was so sensitive to the word .Somebody told me when he was a small boy and was about to be circumcised when he ran away till he was lost .and his family had to go search for him high and low.          Since...

     Two ladies were walking ahead of me, both in t-shirts and jeans.One was short and quite plum, the other much much bigger than the first. Tengok badan I think they are in their mid forties.      I entered a shop selling blouses and baju kurung. They were there too. I spotted a blouse, and love it at first sight.I looked at the size.Ada size 40  and 42 saja. boleh la kut...      I entered the fitting room, while I was trying to take off my blouse to try on the new one I heard someone said..      " Eh baju macam kak tadi ambik tu ada lagi dak ? "      " Ada . colour apa kak nak ? "      " Merah ada ? "      "Merah dah habis kak, hijau ada.nak ? "      "Boleh la.mai nak tengok."      I put on the  blouse, fitted me like a second skin . Satisfied, I wore back my own blouse . Then I heard th...

          Faten was 12 years old then, in standard six in SKSP. One day she complained of fatigue and tiredness. I said I will take her to the clinic the next day.           We were in the sitting room, I was on the sofa reading newspaper, she was sitting opposite me with a book in her hand.            Suddenly the phone rang. My mak was on the line.Then I heard Faten said on the phone..           "Tak boleh cakap, pening.."           Before I could say anything , I saw her slowly fell on the floor. Panicked, took her straight to the clinic. Dr Menon checked her .           "Cikgu , I dont see anything wrong with her, but you can always let me have her blood tested , kalau you nak bagi puas hati."         ...

        I was walking with my daughter Famila along the shops at Jalan TAR in KL. It was a few days before the fasting month of Ramadhan. People were already busy buying for the preparation of hari raya . Cheap sales here and there.      " Ambik la kak, murah ni, lepas ni tak ada sale lagi dah." One girl promoting her tudung.      Beli punya beli, duit dah tinggal nipis dalam purse.      "Ish kakak, kena draw some money.Duit tak cukup "      "Situ ada maybank, jum kita pi."      "Ish alangkah seronoknya kalau jadi orang kaya kan kakak ? tak payah tengok harga bila beli barang, tak payah berhati2  dengan kuantiti, beli saja."      Pilih sana pilih sini, akhirnya letih dan dahaga.      "Kakak , mak letih lah. jum pi cari ayaq "      "Jum " said Famila.      We came to a stall selling young coc...

             I was looking for some ulam at the market this morning. Then I saw a lady wearing baju kurung was shouting to her two kids running about in the market. The younger one , a boy was barefooted. adoi, macam mana boleh biar budak kecik berlari kaki ayam in the market.The floor was so dirty, and slippery.             "Adik, jangan lari , kaki kotoq"             The boy kept on running with a girl ,( maybe his sister ) chasing each other .             And the mother just stood there, did not make an effort to catch the boy, wash his feet and put on his shoes.             Then I heard her saying " Ish orang larang tak mau dengaq "             But the boy kept on enjoying his 100 meters practice in the market.And the m...

         The  night was blessed with a long rain all night long. Cold to the bones. Starting from dusk to dawn this morning,it is indeed an important night to all  Muslims to stay awake praying with high hopes that all sins are forgiven.           To the Muslims , 15th night of the Syaaban month is a night of seeking pardon and repenting to Allah.Last night was the night.Everyone who wants to turn a new chapter of their life to the better will fill the night with prayers .Starting with the reciting of the Yassin in 3 consecutive times after magrib prayers..it is the night that the prophet Muhammad said the second most blessed night after Lailatul Qadar.          Biasa terbaca dalam sirah nabi, that he did not sleep in this special night, so much so his wife went searching for him. Akhirnya jumpa baginda tengah bersujud tidak bergerak2. She thought ...

      Was in A Star with my friend yesterday afternoon, I saw in Giant berlambak2 kurma dah mula di jual, maybe because Ramadhan is coming soon, suasana puasa dah ada sikit2.       I saw one old Chinese lady bargaining at the kurma stall, and the seller had a hard time explaining to her..      " Sekarang barang semua mahal nyonya"      " macamna dulu saya beli ada murah ? " Her hand holding a packet of dates.      "Dulu memang murah nyonya, sekarang semua dah mahal."      "Sikit pun tak bleh kurang ka ? "      I left before I hear the answer from the seller, kadang2 walaupun I ni orang miskin, I tak suka dengar orang menawar teruk2.I rasa lemas. Kalau rasa tengok price tak mampu tak payah even go near.     Then we went to my favourite Popular book store. Bulan lepas dah pi, ni pi lagi, found a book written by a Chinese lady ( plus other authors...

         We live just a few steps from each other. Everyday boleh nampak la aktiviti masing2. Orang ni keluar, orang ni ke mana. Her house is a double-storey one.( just renovated ).Untung juga actually, sebab masa bah besar hari tu I tmpang la berkampung di rumah dia upstairs sampai 4 hari 3 malam.     In the evening when she does not go to school, always comes to my house for chat2 .Always pasai anak2 and my mak. We share lots of secrets..sisterly ones that we keep to ourselves.So if kami tak puas hati about anything, masa petang masing2 pour out to each other..puas hati.    It is my routine to send my mak her sayur for lunch and kueh for breakfast everyday. And on Sundays Ila will send me what she cooks. Yesterday I got a bowl of sambal goreng.A traditional Johor cuisine ( my favourite which I usually cook on Raya eve.) and a bowl of kari daging the day before.       She is the most hardworking teacher I know.For teache...

             Its 10 minutes to 1am.my eyes are still wide opened. I have just finished reading a book entitled 'Labbaikallah " by Hj Zainal hj Bujang..Since the urge to perform the hajj came , I filled my time reading books of this kind.     The last 5 months have seen my room without the latest editions of Glam my favorite magazine..I have stopped buying , although I still love it. Everytime  I pass by the newspaper stalls, I pick it up , look at the cover and then slowly put it down.     My kursus haji ended this morning. Cepatnya masa berjalan. Rasa baru kemarin I mula attend kursus.It was given by Ustaz Roslan.A young guru agama from a nearby school. Walaupun masih muda belia, tapi pengetahuannya mengenai haji sangat superb.     Other than reading, and attended kursus  I also watch it on You Tube.I think I have to be really prepared.Ilmu mesti penoh didada sebelum menjadi tetamu Allah ke...

             It was during recess.I heard the  sound of a motorcycle entering  the school compound. A few girls came running to me and said..      "Teacher , ada orang jual jagung "      Biasa la di sekolah , so many came to sell things, tambah sekolah kampung. The kampung folks akan datang jual hasil kebun. Memang tak boleh sebenarnya, but they know the time they would come, during recess. So tak la kacau guru mengajar ke, budak belajar ke..     This thin friendly looking man was a jovial one.  Dia jual jagung and papayas.     "Ni jagung segaq punya cikgu, Jenis Taiwan, isi banyak , lembut " His face penoh gaya seorang penjual nak ambik hati pembeli.     "Ni betik ni ? " I asked him.     "Yang ni saya baru petik pagi ni cikgu.manis.Cuba la rasa sekali.msti nak dua kali"     I heard some music .He was humming to the...