pakdoktergolfblog: 'Kak' , Pakdokter's eldest sister.....

Pakdokter has 11 siblings!....including a pair of twins. The twins, a pair of a boy and a girl by the name of Zainul and Zainab died at around the age of 2, from what sounded like a bout of intestinal diarhoea. Another sister, Fauziah, also died at around the age of 2 for probably the same reason. The 3 deceased siblings were the 7th to the 9th in the family. Pakdokter is the 10th child and the youngest of the eleventh is a sister.

This post is dedicated to pakdokter's eldest sister, Fatimah, who is the second eldest in the family, who everybody fondly addresses her as 'Kak' for short. Kak is now 73 years old and her husband, Bang Lid ( Cikgu Khalid Abdul Hamid) who was actually a first cousin, died just over a year ago. Kak kas 3 children, all of them boys, the youngest of whom was born with Mongolism, which pakdokter am sure is a result of the cousin-marriage. The youngest son, Feisol, (whose name was later changed to Aziz, in the hope that it would cure him of the Mongolism that afflicted him..) died in his teens. The other 2 sons, Fakhruddin and Fakhrulrazi, have both become adults with their own families. Fakhrulrazi today lives with Kak in the 'kampung' which pakdokter had visited a few days after the recent Hari Raya.

Meeting up with some of pakdokter's siblings during the festive days allowed pakdokter to find out about them which pakdokter realised that pakdokter actually knew very little indeed.

Kak had spent her childhood days in Brickfields actually. She went to a Malay school in Batu 3 Jalan Klang Lama, some-place where today would probably be the Seputeh area. Pakdokter's third eldest sibling, Hanip, told pakdokter that Kak used to be caned for refusing to go to school. Initially pakdokter thought that it was pakdokter's father who had enforced that punishment, but on asking Kak during the Hari Raya visit, pakdokter was told that it was pakdokter's mother who did the caning. She said that it was a hassle to go to school then. She had to take a bus from Brickfields to Jalan Klang Lama which was quite a distance then. Pakdokter remembered that during one of pakdokter's earlier visit many years ago, Kak had expressed her regret for not taking her schooling seriously. All the other siblings had completed school at least up to the secondary level and had managed to secure jobs and earn their own income.

Hanip, pakdokter's brother, remembered that one of the Indian boys who was our immediate neighbour in Brickfields had shown an interest in Kak. During this visit, even without pakdokter asking her about it, Kak somehow spoke about this Indian boy. Without clearly stating that the boy had shown an interest in her,Kak told pakdokter that the Indian boy had often told her that he wanted to become a Muslim. Kak said the Indian boy went to Singapore to study medicine and she could not understand why he was always returning home ever so often and kept telling here that he wanted to become a Muslim!.....

Kak said that the boy's wish to become a Muslim was finally fulfilled when he married the daughter of a distant relative of pakdokter. This daughter was a Chinese girl adopted from birth by the family. And this boy is today a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, many many years senior to pakdokter. If pakdokter were to get a chance to meet him, perhaps pakdokter may try to tickle his memories of the days growing up in Brickfields.

Kak married a first cousin, Khalid, who was a teacher, trained at the Sultan Idris Training College in Tanjong Malim. Pakdokter can vaguely remember that wedding. Pakdokter must be just about 4 or 5 years old then.

The wedding was held at the very house where Kak now lives in. It was a very 'grand' wedding, by the standards of those days. A few cows were slaughtered and probably countless numbers of chicken too. The wedding celebration lasted for at least 2 days. The food was cooked on the grounds of the house by the village folks. Every household from the whole village streamed in for lunch and for dinner. There was a stage where a 'ghazal party' performed throughout the night. Pakdokter cannot remember what kind of music was played or what kind of dances were performed! And there was probably a 'boria' troupe as well...

Pakdokter cannot remember anybody coming with wedding gifts those days. What pakdokter remembers, the folks would donate sacks fo rice which, pakdokter imagines, would help subsidise the cost of the feasts. And the cooking, as pakdokter had already mentioned,was done by the men-folks, in the spirit of 'gotong-royong'.

Those were the days......

Pakdokter managed to capture a collection of photo-potraits of Kak from her albums during the visit. Judging from the collection of photos, pakdokter knows that Bang Lid must have really loved Kak very much. Bang Lid passed away in August 2008.....

Fakhruddin, Kak with Feisol on her lap, Fakhrulrazi and Bang Lid standing....