The Awesomeness of my Mak

BUZZ without a sound for YM and NUDGE without a slight movement for MSN Messenger. Yang lain gua tak tau. Assalamualaikum and another Assalamualaikum if you do not notice the first Assalamualaikum. Thanks for replying my salam, senang-senang je dapat pahala kan? It's like killing two birds with one stone. But in this entry, they are no birds harmed by any stone. Enuff with this lame+oxymoron+boring introduction. Move on.

KeCiK is bek mengembek with his tendency using the adjective awesome in any of his entry. My previous entry was about my Abah and I guess it is compulsory for me to post something about my Mak. Baru fair and square. Literally I'm not a son who always utter words like 'I love you mak' or 'terima kasih untuk segalanya, mak'. Physically I'm not a son who hugs and kisses my mak everytime we meet and separate. Rest assure mak, I dedicated this entry to show how grateful I am to have a Mak like you. This entry kinda sissy to most of you wahai readers yang entah dari mana. Haha.

 The legendary Mr Zubir and Mrs Zubir.

My mak is the first child in her family. She has two younger brothers which are my Pak Lang and Pak Su and her one and only younger sister, my Mak Ngah. My mak didn't have any higher education just like others. She only manage to complete her education till secondary school. Mak gua dulu atlit olahraga dan softball, no wonder all her pictures during that time are still slim-slim belaka. Pekan, ex-reporter from TV3 was her classmate.

When she was a child, she lived with her aunty because of private family matter. Actually tak jauh mana pon. Dekat je rumah family ngan sedara. My mak was a regular user of aspuri, asrama untuk perempuan. Kalau kena ragging dengan senior tu dah biasa sangat, basuh baju, iron baju, pinjam selipar (tak pulangkan balik) dah lumrah.

Mak, Pak Lang and Mak Ngah study mengaji dengan ada sorang Wak nih. Mak cakap kena tunggu Wak tu habis bersilat baru start mengaji. This is my favourite part. Tiap kali on the way balik rumah, mereka akan menggunakan formasi 1-1-1. My mom led the formation in front, pegang lampu suluh. My mak ngah will open the Quran and put it on her head. Lastly my Pak Lang will recite any surah that he knows and recite it as loud as possible. Mak kata this is one of the way to prevent any hantu or setan from disturbing them. Laluan balik lalu kebun getah, those days mana ada lampu. For sure laluan tu nampak horror, once mind set dah terfikir horror, segala macam visual hantu keluar dalam fikiran.

Mak is trembling in front, goyang takut tersuluh benda-benda yang tak patut di suluh.
Mak Ngah "Woi non (my Pak Lang's name is Shahnon), baca la kuat sikit, makin pelan lah!"
Pak Lang "Ni dah habis kuat aku baca nih, nak kuat mana lagi"

Antara perbualan yang pasti terpacul bila balik mengaji melalui route yang horror nih.

Mak cakap ada banyak kali Pak Lang tersasul baca surah. "Baca Al-Fatihah pon jadi lah Non" kata mak dengan tenang. Kononnya tenang.

My mak was a babysitter. Not a nursery, just a mere babysitter. Can you imagine babysitting seven kids at the same time? These seven kids came from two different families. That was one of the reason kenapa gua tak dapat buat kerja sekolah. Balik sekolah je kena dodoi budak-budak ni sepam dua. Apsal tak buat kerja sekolah time malam? Ok, kantoi sudah gua ni memang malas orangnya.

My mak has her own rules. One of it is time management. There are specific time for us to play, to sleep, to eat etc. Right after Isyak gua and siblings kena buat kerja sekolah. Even takde kerja sekolah pon we brothers pretend to have one. Then Abah akan buat spot-check sama ada kitorang buat ke tak. 10PM is the time to sleep. Tivi tutup, pintu ngan pagar depan kunci. No excuses. Kadang-kadang kitorang terpaksa sneak out macam ninja. Gila lu, WWF SmackDown mana boleh lepas. Nak tak nak layan je lah wrestling tanpa audio. Paling desperate gua dengan abang pernah angkut tivi bawak masuk bilik. Petang waktu bermain. Antara waktu yang paling gua rasa heaven. Suka-suka jugak, curfew kami untuk balik ialah 7PM. Not more than 7PM. Kalau balik main bola je tengok pintu berkunci paham-paham je lah.

My mak could be the most sporting mak I ever seen. She knows I love football than she could ever imagine. As for that, she will persuade my Abah to buy me a pair of football shoes. Next week gua ada tournament untuk Piala Coca Cola. Gua sembang dengan mak tentang kemungkinan untuk membeli kasut bola baru. Kasut bola yang gua pakai selama ni hanyalah kasut pengakap yang ada stud di mana bahagian kanannya dah rabak kerana gaya tendangan gua yang ala-ala Roberto Carlos.

"Mak..macam mana nak main macam Roberto Baggio nih, kasut kanan angah dah koyak lah"

"Nanti mak cakap dengan abah kau"

The next day gua rasa macam nak nangis. Kasut bola yang official gua dapat dari abah adalah brand Power kaler hitam stripe hijau. First time gua menikmati bola dengan penuh nikmat dengan kasut bola tu.

One more thing about how sporting she is, she knows most of the thing about me. Gua pendengar tegar muzik yang orang tak nak dengar. I started on listening to this kind of music when I was 13. Time tu Black Sabbath, Slayer or Langsuyr dah menjadi pencuci mulut sebelum gua tidur. Gua suka buat kerja sekolah sambil menikmati jeritan Azlanthor. One day Mak rush bilik gua.

"Lagu apa la kau pasang nih?"

"Relek la mak, ni la Langsuyr" sambil gua hulur kaset Eastern Cruelty kat mak gua.

Mak gua belek kaset tu, risau jugak gua sebab dalam tu ada orang buat metal horns. Nasib baik cover dia gambar perempuan ngan naga je. Time tu jugak gua rasa lucky sebab Blek Metal belum jadi catastrophe lagi. Segala simpanan kaset gua tayang kat mak, from Westlife to Limp Bizkit, from Limp Bizkit to Nirvana, from Nirvana to Butterfingers. Gua tak sorok-sorok sebab takut mak lagi syak yang bukan-bukan. Kecuali kaset Slayer - Reign In Blood je gua sorok sebab cover dia lain macam sikit. Haha.

Gua gengster. Gua taiko. Gua lelaki dewasa. Gua ganas. Gua bukan sissy. Gua lah skinhead, gua lah punk dah gua lah grunge. Tapi semua ego gua lebur di pagi Syawal baru-baru ni. Lepas gua mandi, makan dan bersiap-siap nak gi masjid, gua pergi dapur. Nak salam dengan mak, nak cakap selamat hari raya dan maaf zahir batin. Gua ingat macam tahun-tahun lepas, gua silap. Mak peluk. Mak cium. Gua pon peluk balik. Cium balik. It was pure love came from unique bond between a mother and her son. Gua dah lupa bila last gua peluk cium mak gua. Gua harap ini bukan kali terakhir gua dapat peluk cium mak gua.

There's once I asked my Mak about one funny thing;
"Mak, apsal mak tak suruh kitorang panggil mak 'umi', 'mama' atau 'ibu', 'mak' macam tak cool lah"
"Dont ever call me using those term my son, rasa macam nak tergelak"
"Wakakakakakakakakaka...."
We both laugh like there is no other funny thing left in this world.

Solidarity and Equality. These are the two things that my Mak taught us when we were still kids. If my Mak bought me some ice-cream, she will buy it for my other siblings. All her children are the same. If you have problems, feel free to refer it with family. Ada satu hari mak belikan keropok Twisties packet gedabak, the biggest ever packet size I ever see. FYI, gua memang food junkie, give me any junk food with any size, I can finish eat alone. Mak gua dah tau ketagihan gua terhadap junk food nih;

"Kang makan tu ingat orang belakang"
"Ala mak, sapa suruh abang ngan ajim tido, angah je lah habiskan"

Mak gua tak banyak cakap, keropok dalam genggaman gua kena rampas. Mak ikat dengan getah supaya tak masuk angin. Then mak simpan keropok tu dalam peti ais.

"Dah, pergi tido"

Menyesal gua tak makan keropok tadi laju-laju.

In front of abah's house when he was a kid. From left, ajim, gua, abah, mak, didah and abang. Yang kecik dua orang tu adalah kazen gua. Kat kampung ni lah gua belajar berenang.

p/s: You may say I have no one, to cover me under the sun, you only get it from your mom. Sheila on 7 - Just For My Mom.