SAY "I LOVE YOU"

Festive season like this reminds me of my childhood. 
Masa aku duduk dengan mak tok and tok ayah kat Dhoby Ghaut. Dah nama pun duduk dengan mak tok and tok ayah, every year bila raya menjelma, semua anak-anak mak tok and tok ayah, merangkap ibu ayah, mak cik, pak cik, sepupu sepapat aku semua nanti balik ke kampung. 

A week before semua orang balik, mak tok nanti suruh aku kemaih rumah. 

"Anis, hang bok keluaq semua cadar-cadar dalam bilik semua. Tudung-tudung tingkap semua bok turun nak basuh. Cuci tingkap, vacuum kat ataih," mak tok memberi arahan. Kalau mau mulut kena cabai, kata la tak mau buat. Ada berani? Takdak berani punya. 

"Ok, tuan!" aku menjawab, lalu mula buat apa yang patut. 

Buat kerja dulu memang bosan kalau tak dengaq music. So sebelah kanan punya poket boh walkman, sebelah kiri punya poket boh kaset-kaset yang nak tukaq. Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, Siti Nurhaliza memang album wajib. Punya la berat walkman dengan kaset-kaset tu, sat-sat aku kena tarik seluaq ke ataih tak mau bagi terlondeh.

Tu keja aku kat ataih rumah. 
Mak tok pulak, basuh bunga-bunga plastik dia, bok keluaq segala pinggan mangkuk yang pakai setahun sekali saja. Bunga-bunga plastik dia tak bagi aku basuh. Kalau aku basuh, nanti tinggai tangkai ja. 

Tok ayah pulak buat keja seharian macam biasa. Sidai baju kat luaq rumah. Ya, itulah pekerjaan seharian tok ayah. Sidai baju, angkat baju bila dah kering, lipat baju, lepaih tu mak tok aku nanti lipat semua balik sebab tak mengikut QC Che Jam. 

"Anja! Turun mai sat!" mak tok memanggil. 
Dengan walkman dan kaset-kaset yang meleret-leret dalam poket, aku bergegas ke bawah sambil memegang seluaq agar tidak terlondeh.

"Ya, mak tok.." aku menjawab. 

"Hang tengok sat tok ayah hang. Mak tok baru sat-sat sidai baju pukui 9 tadi, ni pukui 9.30 dia dok angkat dah. Hang pi tengok sat kering ka dak. Sat lagi dalam basah lencun tu dia lipat kot," mak tok berkata sambil lap pinggan. 

Tok ayah aku ni creative terlebih. Baju tak dan kering pi angkat dah. Lagu mana mak tok tak hingaq? Nasib baik jugak mak tok buat pemantauan. Kalau dak, taik lalat, taik lembu habis naik kat baju kami semua. 

Lepaih aku pi convince tok ayah yang baju-baju tu tak kering dan tak boleh dilipat lagi, aku sambung buat keja kat ataih. Lagu mana aku convince, hangpa tak payah amik tau boleh tak?! (tudia hangpa tanya pun tak)

Anyway, yang tu seminggu sebelum anak-anak mak tok and tok ayah balik. 
Kini tibalah hari yang dinanti-nanti.... hari anak-anak Che Jam dan Abdul Kader balik ke kampung halaman yang sentiasa dekat di hati. 

I was having my breakfast in the kitchen when I heard, "Depa semua balik hari ni la Che Jam? Hang masak apa hari ni?" Suara one of my mak tok's best friends, Aci Ton. Rumah dia kat belakang rumah mak tok ja, so memang boleh dengaq suara dia selalu.

"Aku ingat nak buat la gulai kepala gajah, tapi market tak dak juai," kedengaran mak tok menjawab. 
Mak tok memang terkenal dengan sifat sarcasticnya. 

Mak tok would cook the best dishes, the ones yang anak-anak and cucu-cucu suka sehingga menjilat jari. Aku akan ditugaskan pesiang sayoq, bawang la bagai.

And when depa dah dekat nak sampai, aku dan mak tok nanti perangat lauk-lauk, masak nasik, goreng ikan, buat ayaq. So that depa sampai ja, boleh makan ramai-ramai. And aku masih ingat, indication kata depa dah dekat tu, is when depa kat jambatan Pulau Pinang. (Ya la, dah kami duduk kat Penang, takkan jambatan Putrajaya kot) 

"RINGGGG RINGGGG RINGGGG!!" telefon berbunyi. 
It was my aunty Mama, telling that they were at jambatan already. 

"Mak tok, tok ayah, depa dah kat jambatan!" aku buat pengumuman. 
Haaa.. masa ni semua orang nanti jadi tak tentu hala. Dah prepare lagu mana pun nanti ada saja nak pebetoi last minute. 

Yang tok ayah pulak, dah bukak pintu depan siap-siap. 
Lalu kucing-kucing samseng kampung pun meluru masuk ke dalam rumah, buat macam rumah sendiri. 

"Awat yang pi bukak pintu punya awai ni? Tengok habih kucing masuk rumah semua!" mak tok yang stress bertambah stress. 

"Depa kata ada kat jambatan, kita bukak buang la pintu." tok ayah membela diri. 

"Jambatan tu sikit punya jauh ka lagi. Bukan depa ada kat titi gantung rokwok tu. Tutup la kucing masuk nanti," mak tok kata sambil dok cedok gulai ke dalam pinggan.  

And finally, all of them arrived. 
The look on mak tok and tok ayah's face - priceless. Seakan-akan segala penat lelah kemas rumah, pi market, masak, bergadoh pasai angkat baju tak kering, semuanya hilang bila tengok muka anak-anak yang sangat dirindui. 

When I think of this, I realise that there's nothing like parents' love for their children.
It can never be bought and replaced by anything or anyone. 

Spend time with them while they are still around. 
Balik kampung as often as you can, call them up, do whatever you can to show them that you love them. 

Because only Allah knows how much they long to see you, to get a phone call from you, and to hear you say "I love you." 


I'm ending this entry with an awesome video done by my colleagues at Naga DDB.
A video that each and everyone of us can relate to, regardless of our race and religion. 

Enjoy :)  

The Day Tok Ayah Went Away

It was 26 January 2013.

Today was the day of my cousin, Elish's wedding reception. I was so looking forward to this day, maybe because I was partly involved in planning the reception.

Around 7.30am, my phone rang and I saw it was my ibu.

"Assalamualaikum ibu..," I answered the call.

Ibu said, "Wa'alaikumussalam. Anis....... tok ayah dah takdak."

I just kept quiet. I couldn't believe it for a while.
Yes, tok ayah had been sick for some time. But I guess no matter how much you think you are prepared for this, when the time finally comes, it still hits you hard.

I quickly got myself together and headed to Aunty Mama's house in Kota Kemuning.

Alhamdulillah, everything went smoothly. Maha Suci Allah yang telah mempermudahkan segala urusan pengebumian tok ayah. By 11.30am, tok ayah selamat disemadikan.

After that we rushed to the dewan, to prepare for the wedding. I pity my Aunty Mama, who was the hostess of the reception, and she just lost her dad. I couldn't imagine being in her shoes at that time.

Duka dalam suka.
That's how I can describe what we felt that day. It was a day to remember for our family.

As some of you might know, I grew up living with my mak tok and tok ayah. 
Allah knows how much I love them. 

In June 2009, I lost mak tok. It was one of the hardest moments in my life. 
I felt part of me died with her. 

And now, tok ayah said goodbye. 
Up until now, I find it hard to believe that he was gone. I just felt that he was still there at my Aunty Mama's house. That I'd go over the weekend, to say hi and sembang with him for hours.

But I have that no more. 
No more talking about wars, about politics, about life. 
No more buying him toilet paper rolls, cotton buds, minyak cap kapak. No more. 

Sometimes when I visited him, I salam him and then he said, "Awat Anis lama tak mai. Tok ayah rindu kat Anis." Then I'd apologise for not coming for some time, that I had "stuff" to do. He'd just smile and said, "Jangan kerja kuat sangat. Kesihatan kena jaga."  

I'm sorry, tok ayah. 
I'm sorry for not visiting you as often as I should've. 

I hope you know how much I love you. 
I hope you know how much I am missing you. 

You will always be in my prayers, for as long as I live, InsyaAllah.

Al-Fatihah. 

Tok ayah at mak tok's graveyard in 2009

He couldn't see clearly, yet he smiled for me :)

 

 

Cooking his favourite menu was one of the best memories.

When tok ayah got really sick :'(