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.
Picture 1: Wedding Photo of Pak and Mak (1953)
Picture 2 :My Ante Natal Card
Picture 3 : My Post Natal Card
Picture 2a: Details of The Ante Natal Card
Picture 3a: Details of the Post Natal Card
Picture 4 : Arwah Pak and Mak with Kak Wan Hanisah and ABang Wan Zakwan (1956)
Picture 5: Me ( in pram ) with Kak Wan Hanisah(right) and Abang Wan Zakwan(next to Kak) and 2 neighbour friends(Kangar)
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.
Wan Fatimah was born 2 years after Dah. At about a week old she was moved to my grandparent’s house. Apparently, my grandparents wanted one of us siblings to be taken under their care. Apparently too, they asked to look after Dah, but mak was reluctant to allow that. Eventually when Mah came in 1961, I think with a heavy heart she agreed to let go of Mah to be looked after by her parents. She was still in her confinement when that matter happened. It was not easy to let go of your flesh and blood right after birth. My regret is I never did ask my mother how she felt in letting go of Mah. And when Mah came to visit us in Kuala Trengganu, she used to address mak as mak ah. She came back to the family when Tok Haji Wan Ismail passed away in Mekah. She was in form one. Tok Sepiah (my maternal grandmother) passed away a lot earlier due to health complications.
Quite soon after that, Pak was transferred to work in Kuala Lumpur. I remember the house we stayed at was at Kampung Baru. It was a like a long house . I think it was a 3 doors rumah panjang. Or was it 2 doors? The two/ three families who stayed there shared a common detached bathroom. I don't remember much of those 2 years in Kuala Lumpur. I remember we stayed quite near to the kedai runcik or the grocery store. My mother made friends very easily due to her approachable nature.I remember one day on her visit to the local grocer shop, she noticed t the shopkeeper was peeling the pineapple skin. To her it was unfinished since the eyes of the pineapple were still intact. So, she demonstrated on how to remove the eyes. The shopkeeper was delighted with the new 'look' .
Picture 6: The Pineapple eyes still intact
Picture 6a:Mak showed them how to remove the eyes
It was here in Kampung Baru that our sister Wan Azizah, the sixth sibling was born in 1962. I think we did not stay long in Kuala Lumpur. Our next move was to Kuala Trengganu in the state of Trengganu. I am not too sure whether it was 1962 or 1963. I was about 5 years old. And in Kuala Trengganu was where I spend most of my growing up years. The first house that father rented was in a kampung where our source of running water was the well or perigi. This was where we took our daily baths. We didn’t stay long here. Our second house was in Jalan Kamaruddin, quite close to Pantai Batu Burok. Behind the house was the paddy field. This is where I first learned to fast in the month of Ramadhan. First it was for a few hours and then the hours were added on as the days advanced. Our source of entertainment was to play outside of the house. I learned a few names of the local flowers. I remember my encounter with the flower bunga tahi ayam, the literal translation being chicken poop flower, the proper name is the Camara flower. Very small flowers that let out a very distinct smell. Not too nice a fragrance I thought.
Picture 7 :Bunga Tahi Ayam
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 was no ordinary tree. More of a haunted one. But having said that, it was also one of our favorite spots, our play area. Our neighbor was a Kedahan. En Hamid was his name. There 2 boys and maybe 3 girls in that family. So, we were good neighbors and good playmates. So many things that I did while we were stationed there. The end of Ramadhan, on the nights before raya, our main activity was to play hide and seek. At night, yes. Never mind the big haunted tree. It was game time. Besides hide and seek, playing rumah rumah, kahwin olok olok was also on the agenda. Hopscotch, rope skipping, batu Seremban, shuttle cock kicking were games we played to occupy our time. We lived quite close to the spot where the fishermen of Kuala Trengganu held their annual main pantai. This is when they set up tent like shades for 3 days along the beach front. The whole family would come down and spent their 3 days there. There were a lot of activities. This event attracted a lot of outsiders who came in droves to the area. And of course, because there was a huge Padang(field) right in front of our house, we decided to be a bit enterprising in which we set up parking bays for motorist to park their vehicles for a small fee.Was it 10 cents per entry? I think my sis Zahidah can help me with the actual amount. Her memory faculty is superb!
Picture 9: This picture was taken at the first Rumah Kerajaan, Kuala Terengganu. Left to right: Me, sis Wan Zahidah, and sis Wan Hanisah with arwah pak. Year of picture was around 1963 to 1964. I think I was in Std 1
We moved once again about 2 roads up from the first government to a bigger house, in a gated area with 7 houses. This time there were 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a car garage which served as our hideout. Just behind the house were the remains of 2 tombstones. I have no idea of who was buried there but we did have many scary nights. All of us, 4 girls at that time were bunked in one bed. We used to clamber for the middle position in bed because apparently, to our understanding, the ghost never disturbs the middle, it’s always the one sleeping at the edge that gets nudge first, so we thought.
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 10 : Year 2013 With my sisters . Revisited our first house rumah kerajaan in Batu Burok
Picture 10 :The 2nd Rumah Kerajaan ( JKR No 277) Picture in 2013
All the 6 houses were now vacant. And in this house my brother Wan Aziz and sis Wan Rufaidah were born.
Picture 10a: The Garage. This was our hideout and meeting place with the neighbor friends
(2013 revisited) Notice behind the garage, the government quarters have been cleared for new development.
Picture 10b: The wide grand road leading to the house
Picture 11: With my friends and my sisters, members of the 7 magpies. This picture was taken on Hari RayaAidil Fitri on the grounds of the 2nd Rumah Kerajaan. We just completed one round of house visiting.
Standing from left to right : Suriati, Faridah Mohamad, Munirah, Me, Sis Zahidah.
In front from left to right is brother Wan And Aziz, Azmi Mohamed and sister Wan Azizah.
Me and sis Zahidah in our new baju kurung which my mother would sew for us in conjunction with the annual celebration. Sis Azizah is dressed in a frock also sewn by mother.
Siblings: They may not always be at my side, but they are always in my heart.Our paths may change as life goes along, but the bond between us will remain forever strong.
Family: A family doesn't have to be perfect; it just needs to be united.
Family: A little bit of crazy, a little bit of loud. But A whole lot of LOVE!!
No comments:
Post a Comment