1. My early Years.
I was born on 1St April 1957. That was about 4 months before Malaya gained its independence on 31 August 1957. My father is Wan Omar bin Wan Hamid and my mother is Wan Zaharah bt Wan Ismail. My father died on 27 March 1998 while my mother on March 24th, 2017, about a week before I officially retired from my civil service.
My father Wan Omar bin Wan Hamid (March 09 1927- 27 March 1998)
My late father, Dato Haji Wan Omar bin Wan Hamid was his official name, Pak Wan to his close friends, Teh to his nieces and nephews, Abang Omar to his cousins and of course Pak to his nine children.
He was born in 1927 to Wan Hamid bin Wan Ahmad and Wan Sara bt Haji Wan Ismail
My Mother is Wan Zaharah bt Hj Wan Ismail (March 1936 - March 24th, 2017.
We called her Mak. She was Kak Ah to her younger siblings. My father addressed her as Mak Wan.Her elders addressed her as Che Ah or sometimes I did hear her being addressed as Wan Ah.
My mother and my father were distant cousins. It was an arranged marriage. I think those years, most marriages were arranged and for the Wan family of Kedah, there was a tendency to encourage marriages within the Wan family. They were a close-knit family. She was 17 and my father was 10 years her senior when they married. She had her first child at 18, my sister Wan Hanisah. Then, my brother Wan Zakwan. I was third in the family. She had me when she was 20 years of age. Quite recently I stumbled upon my mother’s ante natal card (now it is called prenatal card). It was interesting to note that she went for her regular ante natal checkups at the Kangar clinic in Perlis. It is safe to deduce during that time; my father was attached to the Jabatan Penerangan Negeri Perlis. But I was delivered at her parent’s home in Simpang Kuala, Alor Star, Kedah at 3.30 pm. The midwife in attendance was Che Yah Simpang Kuala. May Allah bestowed his blessings on her soul and may be placed amongst the pious. Amiin.
According to the notes on the post natal card, I grew up in Kangar, Perlis. There is an early photo of me in the pram with my sister Wan Hanisah and brother Wan Zakwan. I think after Kangar, we moved back to Alor Star. That was maybe in the year 1958 (the last entry date in my mak’s post-natal care card (picture 3b). We stayed in the big wooden house in Simpang Kuala. That was my grandfather (mother’s father) Tok Haji Wan Ismail’s first house before they moved to the present house in Simpang Kuala (in the same area but closer to the main road that leads to Pekan Alor Setar). I think my mother was married in the old house.
I do not remember much of my early years in Alor Star. I was too young really. But one thing that still remains in my memory box is that I had this queer eye condition. I remember many times waking up to sticky eyelids that refused to open up until I wiped them with wet towels! And I remember that as a routine every time I woke-up.
I do recall my mother making coffee from scratch. Most mornings, she would dry fry the coffee beans and then later would grind them to make kahwa (that is the official Kedahans’ name for coffee. The kahwa is consumed black and was rather watery in nature. It is not thick and black as in the modern coffee. The smell of the freshly roasted coffee beans would fill the entire kitchen.
My sister Wan Zahidah was born in the old house in 1959. I do not remember much of my two eldest but Dah (Wan Zahidah) was my playmate. We used to play on the main verandah.
After Jalan Kamaruddin, my father was given the government quarters. So, we moved to the first one in the Batu Burok area, the Sekolah Menengah Agama Sultan Zainal Abidin just across the road. There were 2 bedrooms in that house, single storey, bungalow with a very big land area. There was a huge old tree at the end of the land at the back house. To me, that tree
Our neighbors were just like us. Young families with school going children. I and my sisters became fast friends. I was close to two of the 7 families. Faridah Mohamad and Latifah Pak Wan Teh. Facing our house was the Pak Wan Teh family. My good friend Faridah Mohamad lived to the right of my house. However, we were not on good terms with another neighbor. I don’t know why; they were not bad neighbors. I suppose being young we wanted to have friends and foes at the same time!
Those years in this neighborhood, I was into a lot of activities. We moved from hopscotch, batu Seremban and so on to story telling, cooking at the beach, having a secret group. By then I was already into Enid Blyton books. The famous Five was my favorite! There were so many episodes of them solving mysteries and so on. So, we wanted to do the same. We formed our group -The magpies we named our group! we would go down to the beach and if we saw any lone man on the beach front, we would start speculating about him. It was fun. No, we didn’t go any further than that like the Famous Five. I was the leader of the Magpies. Our activities were mostly gathering in the garage, our hideout. I would normally start story telling and would always end on a cliffhanger! To be continued so to speak. We had cooking sessions on the beach. We would collect about 10 cents from each person. And with that money, we would buy some anchovies, onions, rice. Pots and pans would be from mak’s kitchen. I remember at one time I took mak’s frying pan without asking her. When I got back, she had a fit. I remember her chasing me around the house with a broomstick in her hand! So, after that there were no more cooking sessions. Well there were other activities. Making kites from scratch, lighting firecrackers, playing in the rain during the monsoon season, building paper houses on the night of the raya etc. It was the early 60s. There were no Tv to entertain us.
Entertainment would be Pak’s Jabatan Penerangan mobile unit pitching up a white giant screen, I don’t really remember what was shown but every time father’s unit set up those gears, a lot of folks from the nearby areas and fishing village would come sit and watch the movie. And I think in between the film show, they would stop to give some kind of talk, government propaganda talk I suppose. I didn’t show much attention to what was said. The film show was the highlight of the night.
Picture 10b: The wide grand road leading to the house
