Ramblings on...my grandfather

I touched on this subject in my ramblings on "Rumah Abah" and "Rumah Emak Tua"

He was about 5 feet tall, well built with rippling muscles. He looked a lot like Charles Bronson - face, size, built, muscles.

I remembered that he was hot tempered. He didn't use rotan but "belimbing cermai" - after removing the leaves. My dad always reminded me of one incident - after failing to locate his pipe, he turned to my dad who pointed that the pipe was snug between his lips. Upon being told, he went in, took an axe and chopped his pipe to pieces.

Everyone was "afraid" of him. He was, according to kampung folks, skilled in "silat" and a "pawang". But he never showed his skills to me. Nor did I see any "keris" or "kemenyan". In the old house on a wall near his bed he wrote with a chalk the words "ijasta" (in arabic) above the words "potih" - presumably a translation. Nobody dared to ask or erase it. I remember reading it in 1974 ages after the house was left vacant.

During the Indonesian Confrontation he spent nights patrolling the village alone armed only with a torch light.

His vocation? A farmer of sorts. But an excellent one. He really looked after the lands. "Rumah Emak Tua" was on an acre of rubber trees. But you will be hardpressed to find grass or weeds. So too was the other acre of land where "Rumah Abah" stood. The last 4 acres was "Kebun Polani". He cleared the "jungle" before he died.

He had green fingers. My vivid memory of both "jambu cermai" serves as testaments to his prowess as a farmer and landscaper. He trained the trees! And he "kahwin" the trees too!

I may be wrong, but he was the carpenter for both the houses! And one was a double storey timber house with features which are uncommon! Water tank in the middle of the house? A magificent builder who was into green design and conservation long before anyone thought of it.

Income? I really don't know. I don't remember him tapping rubber. Except that he clears land, plant fruit trees and hill rice.

He went for Pilgrimage alone at first in winter. (I wore his "expensive" overcoat when I was in UK). In exchange, he gave dad his land - Jalan Paip. He told stories of his time in the boat and pilgrimage. He said that ice formed from one of the corners of the Holy Ka'aba.

Both husband and wife went together eons later.

Everyone was angry when he took a young second wife. Their marriage lasted a "short while". My parents bought JC1968 - the morris minor still parked at home - to impress and woo him back.

His brothers and sisters? I don't remember all. Atuk Anjang Ibrahim, Atuk Andak Mahmud, Atuk Embong Said and Atuk Busu Mendik were frequently visited (during Eid). Zakariah? Name is familiar but unsure of the connection. And another one in Air Hitam Batu 15. And there is Tan Sri Osman Saat! Connection? Probably Isa.

He was playful. My sister and I operated on him, used him as a motorcycle...

My memories of him are scanty at best.

On his last days...

I know I waited in a car at the hospital overlooking the ward.

I recalled the water running down the slats and me being under the house.

I remembered Busu Abbas (village headman, imam and his cousin) orating the last rites.

I remembered NOT sending him to his last resting place.

I recalled the 30 continuous days of wake, the 100th and 1000th

And I cannot forget my father - after his prayers - continued praying 4 rakaat for his father after promising on his death bed that he will replace (khadak) those which he did not.

I recollect the last tears I shed at both their graves after taking my MCE results...

Al Fatehah