It was not in our plan to do an open house this year. Even though I have helper now but am too lazy to cook for large number of people. But then at the very last minute after we returned from Istanbul me and hubby decided that we should plan for a simple gathering for our block residents. We had the dinner yesterday.
We started to buy the groceries a day after we returned from Istanbul on Thursday and asked our helper to cut the meat & chicken earlier. I marinated the meat for rendang and plan to cook it on Sunday and marinated the chicken for nasi ayam to be cooked on Monday. So on Sunday evening I started on the rendang. It took me 3 hours until the meat become really tender. At the same time my maid helped out making the bawang goreng - it took 20 biji bawang besar!
It was a great start - until yesterday morning when I got an sms from Mummy telling that my Maklang tengah nazak. She is Daddy's sister. She was suffering from colon cancer that was diagnosed last year. We were planning to visit her in Manjung once we go back to Malaysia in December.
I immediately called the house but I could not manage to talk to her since she cannot move anymore. Later I realised that I broke down in tears, feeling so sad that I may not able to visit her at all. I just asked her helper to send my regard and apology for not able to visit her. I told hubby to send emails to everyone to ask them to come before maghrib and offer surah yassin for my aunty. Alhamdulillah the residents are very understandable.
Nevertheless, I started to be busy in the kitchen from morning til the minute before maghrib. The menu inluded Nasi Ayam, instant ketupat nasi n pulut with rendang and kuah kacang, corn pudding and some cakes and kuih raya. Since maghrib masuk at 6.30 pm and we knew that our good friends Lisna and Saiful were fasting, so we invited them to come earlier to break fast at our house.
But it was't going to be a happy day in the end. My brother sent word that my Maklang had passed away at 5 pm Khartoum time. I felt so sad that I could not hide anymore my feeling and I cried again. When we told our guests that the surah yassin was meant for a tahlil instead of bacaan yassin biasa, they were shocked.
As I read surah yassin, all the memories come back; How she love to cook for us every time we visit her when she stayed in Bidor before. How neat she will do the arrangement for dulang hantaran during my sister's wedding. How she would be busy helping cooking for the wedding even though it was catered. And the most thing that I remember was how different she called my name (Cikin).
But I guess Allah loves her more than us. And even until the moment that am writing this entry I just can't stop crying and remember her. She was such a loving and caring person.
"Buat Maklang, Syikeen minta maaf sebab tak sempat ziarah. Moga Maklang dicucuri rahmat dan di tempatkan bersama orang-orang yang beriman"
- Allahyarhamah Rafeah bt. Kassim -
Here are some of the photos that I manage to snap before my camera kong. (Anak ku kan nak jadi photographer.. Habis camera ku di kerjakannya....)
3 comments:
owh sorry to know that.. al-fatihah to your mak lang...
went to visit her on 3rd Raya. She was bed ridden. However, she still cal recognizes me. Salam and cium tangan dia. Suddenly she pulled me into her arms and I can see her tears. I kissed her cheeks. She still can talk fluently. While talking, I massage her hand just to comfort her. We spent about 15 minutes before Pak Lang calls us for lunch. We had lunch with the whole family without Mak Lang. We had a very nice conversation with Pak Lang.
An hour later after lunch, I decide to leave. I went to see Mak Lang in her room. After all my kids salam her, its my turn to do so. I salam her and give some money. Again she pulled and hugged me. This time, I whispered to her “Minta maaf zahir dan batin, terima kasih atas segalanya dan halalkan makan dan minum selama ini. Jika ada panjang umur, kita jumpa lagi”. And kissed her cheeks. Again I saw her tears. We had a short chat. Before leaving, I went to hug her again and this time I kissed her forehead. And that was the last time I saw her and never thought that, that was the first and the last time I gave money.
Mak Lang………. Terima kasih atas segala kasih sayang yang telah Mak Lang berikan kepada kami. Halalkan makan minum kami. Salam sayang dari kami.
Al-Fatihah
Semoga rohnya ditempatkan bersama-sama dengan orang yang beriman.
Amin
My earliest memory of losing someone infront of my very eyes was of my late grandpa, Hj Hamid. I was schooling in Melaka at the time, and I remembered that he had just felt better after being sick; my family came down to take me to visit him.
But within a single day his condition changed dramatically and somehow all of us knew that 'sakaratul maut' was near. Mama asked me offer surah yasin to him while she and my other aunts and uncles comforted and bid him farewell. The scene was sombre and it was surreal to me.
I never did finish reading the surah yassin, as I witnessed my arwah datuk being taken infront of me...
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