I had to decide yesterday, Saturday 22nd August, whether to send Rizal on his betrothal, which was decided earlier, or attend my grandson Husyn's 1st birthday ? It was an easy choice because I'd committed to Rizal first. Also, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, while Husyn has many,many more birthdays coming. Plus, I'm the leader of Rizal's delegation.
So, after my last visit to Felda Sg. Lui maybe 35 years ago, here I was again, entrusted with asking for a young woman's hands in marriage to the second son of my fourth brother.
If I didn't ask Idah to go to Mashitok's house to get the clarification for the proposed ceremony, we would probably be still in the dark. Mash did come to the house two weeks ago to tell me and Idah "Rizal nak bertunang." That was all he said, literally. Even at the last minute Yah said he didn't want the "tepak sireh." Two days later we went to the house to clear things up. In turned out Mash and Yah, too, were not sure. It was all up to Rizal. After waiting for some time, being told he was on the way home from work, we went back to my car, and Rizal arrived just as I switched the engine on. So there at the car window I got the itinerary all sorted out, and here we were at almost 12 noon, the appointed time, at Aisha's house, Sg. Lui, where the parents and family were already waiting.
I'd prepared a small write-up of some pepatah-petiteh a la adat meminang Nogori, but couldn't print it up because my 8-year-old hp stupid printer decided to quit on me, and my regular computer repairer said it's cheaper to replace than repair, and I'm not about to buy a new one. So I made up my mind early that I'd just go by the seat of my pants.
It went ok. We were there at 12, and we were ready to wrap things up before one, with "menyarung cicin" & photos, and lunch all thrown in. In fact the four of us in my car were even able to visit Bang Kalang just around the corner. Bang Kaland a.k.a. Razak Yaacob a.k.a. Jalaluddin Yaacob is the younger brother of the late Bang Sudin, my biras.
Nothing is cheap nowadays. Aisha's parents want a 10,000 dowry. I suppose the two of them can share that sum. After all they're going to get it for themselves. I might even suggest to Rizal to write a cheque - just don't bank it, ha ha. I said to the father, details should be discussed between Rizal & Aisha. We want everything to end well.
On the way home we stopped for cendul pulut at Bal's classmate's warong at Air Itam, had coffee at Cik Ani's house in Bahau, visited my parents' graves at Melang, bought cempedak and pisang goreng at Paroi (made Calit pay !), and finally reached the house. Wafa and her twin brothers were at S2.
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