Ayit.

Sunday 5 August 2018.

At Jiman's daughter's wedding at the Regency Hotel, Chowkit Road, yesterday, Kak Ngah Ipon finally revealed how Ayit recently passed away.

I received the sad news the day after Ayit died at hospital. He was buried the same night, not at the cemetry near his house, but some distance away where they allowed night burial. A strange thing, not allowing night burial. But that's a different story.

Ayit didn't know he had colon cancer until he went to hospital because he complained of stomach pains. They discovered the advanced cancer, and successfully operated on him within a week. It was some complications after surgery - blockage and something else - that  Ayit quickly succumbed to. He was 70.

We had travelled all the way to Kota Bharu for his wedding, me and my wife and my late mother, and No.1 Son. The first night they let us sleep in the surau, all of the Kuala Pilah entourage. Most of us slept well enough, maybe because of the tiring drive, but one complain we had was there weren't enough pillows to go around. Imagine my irritation when in the morning we discovered there were dozens of pillows in the one room in the surau occupied that night by the immediate Ayit's family members, and they didn't bother to pass them to us sleeping outside. I remember Ami (deceased) in that room, Ayit's cousin. We knew each other well. I blamed her for the selfish act.

The second night we moved into a hotel near town.

We were a bit late coming to the reception, because we were not sure where the place was. The KP group who had already eaten just stared at us, making us feel more uncomfortable. And I came all the way from KP for this?

I came for  a wedding reception Ayit had for his son or daughter (I can't remember which) in the Gombak area.  Ayit was a first cousin, anyway. Again I got a cool reception from this family. One of his aunties whom I knew well even asked "sapo deh ni?", feigning loss of memory, not in a bad way, I think, because we hardly ever meet. But I used to frequent wan Sa'elah's house at Kubang Rusa and knew all of them, and they me. So my response to "sapo deh ni?" was an unfriendly "tak kona sudah!" I should regret that, but I don't. Ayit's Kelantanese wife ignored me totally, a guest coming to her kenduri!

Kak Ngah Ipon said yesterday they'll have a "tahlil" this Saturday. I don't think I'll come.

Good bye  Ayit.

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