SOUL SCRIBBLES

It was a Friday like today 34 years ago when I received news that my eldest brother had passed away. He was in Ipoh, a final year land survey student at Politeknik Ungku Omar. I was in Muar doing my Form Six. My parents and my youngest brother were at home in Johor Bahru. The brother-in-law of my aunt’s husband, who lived in Muar, came by the hostel to break the news. There was kuliah at the college in the morning but I stayed in instead. I woke up feeling extremely cold – chilling to the bones – although the weather was warm that morning. He said my parents would be picking me up later to go to Kuala Lumpur to bring the body home. My parents had received a telegram from the polytechnic informing them of his death. My father called the polytechnic to confirm the news and got in touch with other family members. In the car to Kuala Lumpur, they discussed funeral arrangements. They decided not to bring the body home but to bury him in Kuala Lumpur instead. A cousin, whose husba...

School holidays are right around the corner but we haven’t made any plans. In fact, we’re not going anywhere this mid-year school holidays (or else, we would have made bookings for transport, accommodation and whatever else that needed to be done to ensure a vacation to be enjoyed by all especially my 75-year old mother). My niece, Mysara, who will be sitting for the STPM at the end of the year while her brother, Danial, will do the PT3, will have extra classes during the two-week break. I would have signed him up for a PT3 workshop if he hasn’t any extra classes.   " Duduk rumah, baca buku, kan nak periksa ni ..." would be my mother's reply if the grandchildren asked her where they can take her for a short break outside Kuala Lumpur. So, we're not going anywhere. Furthermore, I’m saving up for our winter holiday in Korea at the end of the year. They were pretty disappointed when we were in London and Paris during the Christmas/New Year break last year. They w...

Have you heard of this term before? I can bet you have not. It’s my mother’s favourite line on her squabbling grandchildren. Well, they don’t squabble all the time. You know how teenage siblings are; they can be best buddies one minute and get on each others’ nerves the next. One word, one sentence or an action can trigger an outburst. And it can happen anywhere; hence, “ dari rumah ” (from home) and “ ke tanah ” (to mean outside the house). And it can be irritating to the grandmother because she’s with them in Putrajaya. Whenever they start quarrelling, the nenek will go, “ dari rumah ke tanah …” and starts her rant. Mysara and Danial will start blaming each other on who started the quarrel first.   And because the nenek uses it often enough, they will, in the midst of their squabbling, say “ dari rumah ke tanah ” before she can say it herself. And they will burst out laughing. And nenek will be annoyed. “ Tengok tu, dia main-mainkan kita ,” she would say. I don’...