Monday, October 20, 2008

Hari Raya and Spending Time with Opah


I am Opah's youngest cucu. She is 70 years old. Opah was so happy this Raya because she could perform tarawikh prayers almost nightly at the neighbourhood surau. At the moment Opah lives all by herself in Bedong, a small town nestled between Gurun and Sungai Petani, and an hour drive away from our house in Kubang Pasu. She prefers tranquility to the sound of bickering, especially involving my brother and sister who bicker incessantly for the sake of bickering, which isn’t music to her ears.

Each time we visit Opah, she has to endure another nightmare, and her frail heart beats faster than usual (and Mama’s too). I may smile like an angel, but like my siblings, I am no angel either. I am susceptible to inflict damages to her washing machine, fridge, TVs whenever my chubby fingers strike with unintended force. These gadgets have been with her like forever, as most of her other personal belongings. And I enjoy mixing up her tablets (the vitamin type, not Samsung, k) for no apparent reason, which she arranges nicely in a Tupperware box.

Near Opah’s house is a dense pocket of jungle where monkeys roam freely. But it is so difficult to see them hanging out, and when they do, they are not as cheeky and gentle as their counterparts in Langkawi or Gunung Jerai. And they love to ransack the rubbish dump.

Another highlight of visiting Opah is the stopover in Gurun to buy heavenly jagung rebus from one of the many stalls, run under the Program Usahawan Mikro Mara, stationed along the trunk road from Gurun to Alor Setar. Opah loves these boiled corn which are grown somewhere in Perak because they are so perfect, the corn kennels are evenly sized with no gaping hole in between and taste oh-so-original.

Another favourite stopover is the Laksa Mak Su stall, also in Gurun. The stall, situated in front of Mak Su’s two-storey house, is nondescript, but behind her house, hidden away from passersby, is lush garden of bunga kantan, so tall that the ginger plants almost reach the rooftop. The garish and bloomin crazy ginger torch flowers turn mak Su's backyard into a wild Gurun paradise. 

Which brings us to another weird revelation about Papa – his favourite vegetable dish is asam pedas bunga kantan.

11 comments:

Kak Teh said...

Congratulations on the birth of GUiKP!! Tell your dad, to start a blog call Restless in Riyadh.

Kak Teh said...

allow me to add further, with such an early start, this promises to be the magnum opus in 20 years time.

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

kak teh
when papa has mastered the simple technique on how to upload video, perhaps he will show restless in riyadh here. will that be ok?
guikp

Kak Teh said...

Tok teh can give your papa tutorials on how to do that. easy peazy - just click on the relevant buttons and wait. and ask papa to do scrapblog of your photos.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Well, well, well....
Bersembunyi from Auntie Puteri ya?

Nice spot you have here, Guip! Congratulations!

Now, start writing..because I want to return, again and again..:)

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

Well, well, well ... ni mesti gara-gara suka bersantai di Sembunyi Spa. Thank you for visiting my Sembunyi Blog.

Elviza said...

Assalamulaikum!!

You, my friend, have arrived...

Mat Cendana said...

I saw this address at Kat Teh's and was immediately struck by the mention of Kubang Pasu. May I know which area, please? I was from there too - or at least my father - Binjai, off Asun.

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

Salam mat cendana
Our place is in the vicinity of the Darulaman Golf Club in Bandar Darulaman. It's a relatively new township. We are now about to pass the seven year itch living here, with a one year gap in Riyadh. I'm not really a local boy. But my school-going children speak with Kedahan accent.

changgeh said...

Now we meet again...on your count.
Congratulation. Welcome to blogsphere.

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

Changgeh
It seems only yesterday, the Monsoon Cuppa. Haven't been to KT since Xmas 2007. Am dying to munch the seafood celup tepung, so fresh and crispy.