On 9th May, it has been a year since she left us. The memories of growing up knowing her, learning so much from her and my brother-in-law (Abang Mat)came flooding back. My late sis was the fifth in a family of twelve, me being the eleventh child, I was probably 5 years of age when she got married. My sis and brother-in-law has five children 2 boys and three girls plus an adopted son, Amir( a cousin's son). Din is the eldest, followed by Lin, Bahrin, Mimi and Tuti. All are now married with children except for Amir. Din has three kids, Lin has four, Bahrin has one, Mimi has two and Tuti has one. My bro-in-law now has 11 grandchildren. They are Rashdan,Iwan, Iman, Putra, Kalia, Nisha, Tuah, Nadia, Adam, Arwen and Azra. Bro-in-law has two children, Reza and Syahira from his second wife Lia. The spouses to the children are Faiz, Yazid, Maniz, Azmir and Bai. Rashdan the grandson is already married to Nini who is with child now.
When I came back from the UK after my graduation I lived with her and bro-in-law for a year as I was posted to work in Kuala Lumpur. Mak did not allow me to stay elsewhere, but with my late sis and taking me under her roof was not even an option. It was like her responsibility though I don't think it was. Both my sis and bro-in-law later took in so many family members to live with them, one after another. The year was 1982, then my eldest nephew was already studying in the United States, my niece Lin was in Australia. Bahrin, Mimi and Tuti were staying at home. Mimi and Tuti were in kindergarten then, I reckon. It's been too long since. I remembered so well when my sis dressed them up in traditional clothes with Mimi wearing the Minangkabau traditional costume and Tuti the kebaya or vice versa. I even went to see them parading at the Bukit Bintang Plaza, a fashion show for the kids. Sis was the type who went all out to do things for the children. In the house there were always some kind of celebration from birthdays, to anniversaries either hers or somebody else's celebrated at her house. Not to mention the barbeque sessions with simply any excuse just to be together and the 'kenduri kesyukuran' simply to say thanks to Allah and keep the sillaturrahim intact.
I tutored the youngest two, though I was very hard on them then, I think. I used to make Tuti cry when it comes to teaching her Maths.They're bright children, they did not need much tutoring really. Both further their studies in Australia.Bahrin went to a local University but I can bet sis was so happy to have him closeby for years.Now that I am a mom, keeping a child longer before they fly away from home is the best experience and having them fly home to stay too is an amazing eperience. Sis was a teacher but I remembered her most on how she literally runs her house like a manageress running a business. Though she left the house early in the morning for school, she made sure breakfast was on the table, lunch prepared, without fail tea was ready everyday for everyone and dinner promptly after maghrib prayers. Of course she had house help from Cik Asrah who was actually related to us. Looking back at what she did, I only understand how well she multi-task after having done that myself though not as perfect as she had done her tasks. She was a good cook. Her gulai lemak ayam Johor style was my favourite. I tried making myself useful in the kitchen then, but failed miserably when my niece described my soup tasting like 'tap water' or was it as tasteless as the 'water one use to wash hands' the Malay style. Isn't it the same, the tap being the source? Her fruit cocktail pudding was also my favourite which today I fondly look for when dining at hotels instead of preparing it myself. Her soto, lontong, nasi minyak were superb and many more.
Today I am better at cooking at least if not better than my sis, almost maybe. My late father spent his last few years living with my sister and he passed away at sister's house in August 91. My bro-in-law's mum too passed away in their house after a brief illness. The one year I lived with the family was so precious and not to mention the time spent with them during the school holidays when I was growing up. Today, I may not keep in constant touch with my nephews and nieces and do not really know what's happening in their lives but I pray they will not shun me for my lack of attention to them. Except for Amir who lives in Thailand, the rest are in Kuala Lumpur or in the suburbs thus all still meet at my bro-in-law's house almost every Saturday just as they always did when my sis was still alive. How lucky can a parent be- to be able to meet the children as frequent as that. To all I hope they know that I love them though on their own, they too have a big family coming from the same set of parents, a total of 27. To my bro-in-law, thank you so much for everything.May Allah bless this family always and shower rahmat and barakah to arwah. Al-Fatihah.
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