Mak ~ 270357 - 311203

it has been 5 years already since mak passed away. we all miss her everyday.

mak in 1977 and mak in 2000 - beautiful as always

my mak. what a fascinating person indeed. she looked like your typical housewife, mother of 5 exceptionally unique girls (esp the second one! hihi) - but deep down she's my walking dictionary of life.

she is the best person i can really *talk* to. she didn't just understand me, but she *speaks* my language and we can borak in english like heck. man, we can chat about a lot of stuff - from normal happenings in college to intimate details after a hot date! like what my youngest sister once claimed, mak is a 'best friend' any daughter could want.

she's a really simple person. despite being able to afford stuff a typical housewife would pester her husband for, she didn't lavish money on unnecessary wants. she didn't insist on gucci or lv - she shopped smart and spent wisely. all of us girls grew up in her simplicity and i would definitely nurture my sons to live life simple yet meaningful.

with mak on our trip to sydney

the one with mak's habits
how much did she KNOW her daughters? mak would cut out articles from newspapers and kept them for her daughters. for her, man - she had tons of scrapbooks - from movies to updates on piala thomas. from recipes to comic strips. i remember was it cik or aunty na (mak's sisters) who told me that even in her teens mak would keep scrapbook on song lyrics. what can i say? she was a 'collector' - like me!

for me, she would keep everything about english or weird stuff like 'why do buttons on girls and boys shirts on different sides'. for azi, maybe on local music scene, gossips or sports. if its syima then science articles would be put aside for our family microbiologist. for yong, it's business and when it comes to syida - i guess it's recipes for butter cake. recently esp, she does show a lot of potential in trying out new recipes...

bottom line, she would customized her findings according to the interests of her 5 daughters who are all different as day and night and unique as snowflakes!

the one with mak's yummiest dish
how i miss these cookings - the best of the best! fortunately yong was able to cook the rendang to taste exactly like mak's so every raya she's the appointed rendang cook. it wouldn't be raya without her rendang...

• ayam masak merah (terbaik!)
  
• pulut durian (the lumps of sweet gravy!)
  
• rendang ayam for hari raya (incomplete without!)
  
• nasi lemak (never taste anything quite like hers)
  
• cucur udang
• karipap daging (oooo the rich buttery taste)
  
• bihun goreng (simplest ever - tomato, daging, egg. period)
  

i like english because of mak
it's safe to credit mak for my incredible passion for language. she and i both did shakespeare's macbeth in high school and i cannot think of anyone else i can talk about shakespeare with. (mr. khairul would start merepeking using 'thee' and 'thou's in all the wrong ways when i started with him!) she's the reason i wanted to take up literature in english way back when i was in form 4.

she really encouraged reading and in my posting about books, i did mention that she introduced a lot of authors to me - including richard adams' who i am yet to read. all in good time, mak.

with mak on yong's wedding day - busy lady!

the one about what she likes
mak liked to play computer games. period. her favorite computer game was burger time. another game in her favor was scrabble - man, she could play scrabble even when noone's around to play with her. she just loved words - and so do i. i really miss that.

she liked to cook this plain luffa soup - (ala sup petola ckp orang melayu) which was just luffa, prawn and onions boiled in water. she just loved to eat that lauk.

and man, she loved football. yes, she did. she even had her own 'dream team' with her fav striker and goalie. only yesterday i was chatting with my sister syida about this - and we were debating on which football team she was rooting for in one world cup. she said it was argentina and i claimed it's italy. weh yong, syima, azi - korang boleh verify tak?

us @ mak's fav (syida called it) 'thinking couch' - ngan bau minyak angin mak

the one about our everlasting memories of mak
5 girls and infinite number of memories - all in the name of love for our beloved mak.

"..yong akan miss nak cerita to mak all about haiqal n haqeem...mak kan jaga haiqal dulu.." ~ syimee, puteri sulung

"a'ah la..lupa nak add. mak pun suka gile tgk....HINDI movies!!!! and also FOOTBALL! ingat tak mak paste poster italian footballer masa world cup fever? and we stayed up really really late tgk football ngan mak. and when whose line is on mak akan panggil suh tgk.." ~ syigim, second born

"kalau dengan ma, mak selalu bgtau citer2 hindustan yang best2 n tgk sesama....tgk world cup...kalau time sekolah dulu study mlm2, mak pun stay up jugak..paling tak lupa masa sek rendah dulu masuk lwn congkak...sebab mak yg ajar mcm2 trick....mak sebenarnye yg beria2 suruh masuk...dpt number satu... tp syg dah lupa..." syima, middle child

"mak will wait for me each year from form 4 sampai matrics kuala nerang to watch the lord of the rings together... and syida stayed up late tgk tv dgn mak malam2 tgk sitcom2 and tv dramas like ally mcbeal & west wing" ~ syida, fourth kid

"mak suka tengok cite yg boring tu, the west wing kot (xle kaco kalo tengah tengok) dan suka kumpulan carefree kot. haha dan suka tengok bola, pastu demam bola. tengok cite kuci2 hota hai smpai 5-6 kali.." ~ azi, adik bongsu

"i still remember vividly our last hug b4 me off to london. dat was da last day i saw ur mom. She was a remarkable lady. I have always been one of her favs..u hafta admit dat ok. May Allah grant Mak Cik Jannatul Firdaus, ameen." ~ niraku - my best buddy

with mak on our raya open house

i would like to share a beautiful excerpt i got from this sasteraful blog. i find this blog wonderfully engaging in its bahasa melayu simplicity. i'm not one for poetic malay style of writing but this blogger can really write! reading this particular excerpt never failed to make me shed a tear...

semua ni buat aku terkenang arwah bunda.
nah.

siapa yang pernah hilang ayahbunda, mari pegang tangan saya. kita sama2 kuat...siapa yang masih punya mereka, jaga sementara ada. kita tak akan tahu sampai bila sempat kita rasa kulit kering mereka.

kan...?

tuhan, jagakan mereka.
temukan kami di akhirat sana.

mom, see u in our rendezvous.
by the milky lake, dressed in white and pink,
like u said.

tunggu kami, mak.

Al-Fatihah.