FMC-PD Raya Puasa celebration 2024.

 Tues 30.4.2024.

So the 2024 Raya Puasa celebration organized by the FMC-PD group was successfully held at the OPA Penthouse, Subang, on Sunday 28.4.2024, which was the 19th of Syawal, the Raya month. Painstakingly prepared, the event fully served its objective, and in no small measure Nawawi must be given full credit for it. The venue was because of the FMC-PD declining numbers. In fact to make up for that, the OPA's of 62-66 were included because they were, like the PD group, BB's before FMC became RMC.

Hank & I, from Seremban, the only outstation participants, arrived at the Penthouse only second to  Halim Shah. Nawawi was also already there, still in his beloved yellow T-shirt, giving orders left and right, catching Hank right in his first step into the foyer. I saw the open elevator and quickly got in and pressed "3" and "close door" simultaneously, thus escaping Hank's predicament, ha ha.

Food and drinks were already frenetically being readied in the kitchen lobby on the 3rd. floor. The lamb was still whole but looked done on the embers, and the pasta-chef was already frying the kwei teow. I went in and counted 10 tables in the main dining area, and another 6 in the office hall. At 8 per table, there should be places for 122 guests, I figured. In the end, there were only 2 tables not fully occupied, indicating almost full attendance as per the guest-list. That included Asmat Kamaluddin whom I saw for the first time in these gatherings, and I told him so.

In typical Malaysian style, a lot of time was spent on speeches and salutations. In fact one of the sub-committee members stood up in the middle of  one of the speeches saying something that I couldn't make out, because I sat at the last table on the exit to the kitchen lobby. I assumed it was a complain about the speeches, something I could have done myself. But nobody responded to that outburst, and the speeches up front and the noisy talk at all the tables around went on. Fortunately for Nawawi, our real host, no food & drink was on any table yet. Otherwise they would have dug in, speeches or no speeches. 

Except for me. I quietly went out to the food-preparation area and told the guy at the roast-lamb station I want to test it before the others are called to get the food. Because the speeches still had not ended after I cleaned up my roast lamb, I went back and took a plate of kwei teow. So when they finally said " please get your food now", I was already into my desserts !

One or two came in wheel-chairs, and many with canes in hand.  But several regular faces in the past didn't come, mostly citing other commitments, but also because of health issues. So these annual celebrations now show up the ravages of time, relentless and unavoidable. Which makes these outings all the more cherished, I feel.

From Mydin Seremban 2, I came with Hank in his car, with me driving. We gave ourselves plenty of time for the 11-o'clock deadline. The last KL trip took us an incredible 3 hours. But although this is still Hari Raya time, the traffic wasn't as bad as anticipated. That was why we were only beaten by Halim Shah, who came from nearby PJ.

The drive back was also not as bad as expected, although it was Sunday afternoon, when normally the weekenders return to KL. We stopped for hot coffee at the Dengkil R&R, and reached Mydin S 2 before 6 pm. I told Hank to post to me all the photos taken. He said to go to "link" and download, but I said "too much trouble lah."

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At Jack's after 67 years.

 Sun 21.4.2024.

Yesterday, Saturday, was 11 Syawal, 11 days since Hari Raya Puasa. Jack had invited me to his place for a Raya celebration. I accepted and tried to rope in Hank, Aziz Hitam and Kamaruddin Basir, offering to provide transport. In the end only Aziz came, and that, too, because I went to his house first.

Hank, despite agreeing earlier, gave the last-minute excuse of the cleaners coming to the house at noon. Kamaruddin, who lives just 5 houses away from me, said his back is hurting.  Aziz I hauled in after visiting him at home in TTDI. His wife declined joining because of her arthritis, which was quite obvious. Idah was being left alone because Dekna had gone to her m.i.l's, and asked to come along, and made the threesome to Jack's Section 14, 1975 bungalow  in the old section of PJ.

The KL drive on 17/4 reminded me of the traffic woes befalling travellers this Raya season, and made me plan the 9.30 departure for Aziz's house, and then Jack's 2 pm-party. Moving from TTDI to Section 14 PJ would require some time because of the urban congested holiday traffic. In the end it took 3 whole hours from Seremban to TTDI, and another 3 whole hours back to Seremban. I reached home just as the Isyak prayers were called. That was an 11-hour Saturday outing !

I reminded Jack that my first visit was decades ago with the late Husin Hj. Ali, our classmate from Kampong Galau, Seri Menanti. Today I said I'm bringing another classmate from Kampong Galau, Seri Menanti - Aziz. Incidentally, Rosmah Mansor is also from the same kampong.

We used to stay not far from Aziz's house, at Damansara Utama, 1978 -1995, when I moved back to Seremban. Around 2003 I sold the house, because, at first, No.1 Son didn't want to stay on. I believe Adib was the reason for that. Then No. 2 Son took over, but didn't want to stay on also, and Ija was probably party to that move. When the vacated house began to leak here and there, I sold it, and made 8 times the original outlay. Now the houses in the area is worth 3 times what I got !

The 1 Utama shopping complex was built during our stay in Damansara Utama. But the complex had been expanded to more than double in size since. The last time Idah stepped into 1 Utama was 1995 - 30 years ago. So after dropping Aziz home, she wanted to see the inside of the huge 1 Utama mall. We went. And nearly got stranded in the parking bay. The machine is non-cash. They're that now, dammit. It had swallowed my parking ticket. Only the arrival of another shopper saved the day.

We took some photos at Jack's, but forgot to take any at Aziz's. The 5 of us in the photo - Jack, his wife, Aziz, my wife and I - I calculated had a total of 397 years in age. Good Lord ! Well, we were classmates from Standard 6, TMS, in 1957, the Merdeka year, until Form 3, 1960. Before that I was in MES Tanjung Malim. My father was teaching at the SITC 1951 - 1956. In 1961 I joined FMC (later to become RMC).

I'd liked to chit-chat some more with Jack, reminiscencing old times, but the host had other guests who kept coming. As I said to Aziz, let's keep in touch. We don't know when we'll meet again.

It was close to Magrib when we approached the newly reopened Seremban R&R on the PLUS, returning home, and decided to stop and check the renovated place. Both of us hadn't been here since they closed for renovations. Well, let me say that I'm both happy and sad to see the new premises.

I'm happy to see an enlarged place of rest and recreation, with all the improved appointments. The shops are rearranged to offer bigger eating-room made comfortable by the very high roof and large fans. The toilet and prayer-room facilities appear to be roomy and well designed. The parking, for both normal and heavy vehicles, looks well-provided. The over-parking woes we see on the twin old R&R on the opposite side of the highway should not happen here.

But I'm also sad. I expect to see the rubbish disposal problem enlarged with the larger area.  Expect to see disorganization because of the bigger area for that happening, both inside the premises and on the expanded parking area. Expect selfish behavior from Malaysians to spoil the enjoyment of the rest and recreation supposed to be offered. The solution ?  Enforcement.  I didn't see this yesterday, both in the system and the personnel.  My hope ? The planners have this in their drawing board. After all, Seremban R&R has just been reopened, and many things are still not operational yet. That's another key word - the operations.

It was good to renew old friendship. You can't buy that. But new things happen, too.  Accept that.

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My 80th Raya Puasa.

 Monday 15.4.2024 (6 Syawal 1445 H)

Zainab on her whatsapp had asked last week if Raya would be on Wednesday 10.4.2024. The Istana Negara announcement wasn't due until Isya' Tuesday 9.4.2024, but I confidently said yes, from gut feeling. I was right, although the slightly delayed broadcast had caused me a late slight doubt on my earlier optimism.

I had in fact already invited the 694, the 384 and the Ujangbanun family groups to come for this Raya gathering at the house on Friday, the 3rd Raya day, even as I'd confidently confirmed the Raya date to Zainab. I'd ordered 750 satays from Wak, and also invited Hank, Tok Maulud and Durai, the non-family friends. The wife and kids  -  they had simply followed my messages on my whatsapp and made their own preparations accordingly.

With a few absentees, the Raya gathering was a success. The last to arrive, just as I was finishing off the last 20 sticks of satay perut (my favorite dish), at about  9.30 pm was Tok Maulud.  As usual he was always the last to come even at our golf fixtures. Anyway, the two of us cleaned up the last scraps of food,  literally. All the dishes and the beverages were completely cleaned up ! And there were 4 very large garbage bags of used plastic plates and bowls and cups and forks and spoons bearing witness to the party.

We've been doing this for a long time now, this 3rd-day Raya thing. This sort of makes up for the laboured house visits, over a stretched period. But this time, because of the Friday prayers, the time had been slightly tightened, causing the initial jam at the food table. One very large stand fan,  3 other stand fans, and all the a/c units and ceiling fans inside the house were switched on to fight the high solar-equinox temperatures, only to a bearable level. I think the next time we could rent an external a/c unit and put a temporary plastic wall to better fight the ambient temperature.

The grandchildren showed the most enjoyment, heartily consuming the satay, mee kari, soto, kueh-mueh and hot-and-cold drinks. They even put up a show with the karaoke set No. 3 Son brought. This encouraged individual  performances from the crowd, including my besan, Suhaily. Of course she was more than willing to perform - she was a professional singer once. No 2 Son even hauled in the ice-cream vendor who happened to pass by and bought up his entire stock that everyone, young and old, happily enjoyed.

A happily done kenduri Raya Puasa for the immediate family members, I declare.  My 80th.   Alhamdulillah.

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