.

15 to 30.

when i was 15, my dear opah passed away just few weeks before i sat for my pmr examination. i was saddened by it because we were very close. in fact she was very close with all her other grandchildren too. but maybe she had 1 or 2 favourite ones among us all.. owh.. opah is grandmother in english btw.

we stayed with her for quite some time in the same house. every morning, she'd asked me to go to the nearest kedai runcit to buy some veggies or poultry to be cooked for lunch. she'd prepared the list of what to buy and passed it with some money. and i, as an obedient cucu, would go to the kedai with my bmx. nak jalan kaki pon boleh, tapi pegi kedai naik basikal lagi senang kan.. takdelah susah nak bawak barang.

but, there were times, when i'd find excuses not to go to the kedai or simply ignored it. and if that happened, she'd gave me the silent treatment for the whole day. pastu ended up, she won't cook at all. (masa tu mister mama masih bekerja, so, she'd only cook when she got back from work and during the weekend) and at the same time, she also babysat my other cousins. tapi disebabkan i sorang je yang boleh diharap serta sangat berdikari, berani, mesra, cepat dan betul, maka i je lah orang yang paling tepat untuk pergi ke pasar despite my age (i think i started pergi kedai sorang-sorang at the age of 10 la kot) masa zaman i (ceh terasa tua) penjenayah-peragut-perogol gila seks ni sume tak berapa nak wujud sangat la. bila keluar dari rumah, takde nak rasa takut sangat. serious! setakat nak jalan-jalan kat lorong sunyi tu, memang takde hal punyalah. bukan nak riak, but seriously dulu we were free to go out and play with other kids without having to worry much..

opah trusted me so much when it comes to membeli bahan basah untuk memasak. dia tau i tau membeli ikan yang dia nak, ulaman yang dia nak, brand sanitary pad.. eh.. tak. itu untuk mister mama. not opah. ngee..

mestilah orang tua tu percaya kat i sebab tiap hujung minggu je, pagi ahad, bila dia siap sedia awal pagi, tu mesti nak pergi pasar atau paling best pon chow kit la, mesti i dah terpacak kat luar rumah, tepi kereta nak ikut sekali. owh, fyi, masa tu, hypermarkets didn't exist ok! if you want to shop for groceries, you'd either go to chow kit or pasar borong selayang or supermarket di hankyu jaya (o wow!) or chujitsu (double wow!) or kimisawa (wow! wow! wow!) or just the neighbourhood supermarket near your precinct. kalau kais pagi, makan pagi, sila tunggu apek naik pick up muncul bawak bahan basah/kering di lorong depan rumah.

so, setiap kali ke pasar, i'd know the names of the fishes, daging batang pinang untuk apa, veggies and what not la. *sampai tahap yang lu takleh temberang dengan gua tapi till now masih tidak pandai memasak.. haha. hot & sensitive topic. move it! move it!*

arwah opah juga suka memasak. mister mama pon banyak belajar masak resepi rahsia dari dia. walaupon mister mama wasn't her favourite daughter in law, tapi mister mama gigih belajar masakan-masakan dari dia and i can bet you my last penny that mister mama can cook better... err.. nevermind.

apart from that, our tea time pon kadang-kadang arwah opah akan buat kuih seri muka la, bubur pulut hitam la. when hari raya, her signature wajik and kuih bangkit would definitely be in the wajib-ada list!

her favourite cucu would definitely be my sis#1. sebab dia pon cucu pertama in the family kan.. you could hardly see arwah opah marah kat dia. and i'd be the less favourite. maybe because i was not in the attractive-looking cucu category la kot (i sorang je tersesat hitam legam sebab cucu-cucu lain semua fair-skinned and hot belaka)

akan tetapi, walaupon begitu, arwah opah takde la kejam sampai buat i macam cucu tiri ke hape. dia selalu cakap that i ni la cucu dia yang paling kemas. buatla rambut macamana pon, rambut pendek ke, panjang ke, nak ikat ke tak ikat ke, to her eyes, i'm the most not selekeh-looking cucu of hers. *i think if she's still alive, mesti dia sedih tengok i yang paling selekeh sekali antara cucu-cucu dia yang lain.. uhuhuhuuu*

and when she was fated to meet the Almighty on the 7th of september 1994 (ye cik foxx. tanggal birthday kamu), i was the saddest person on earth! what happened was, weeks before that, she was already admitted to sjmc. frankly, i didn't remember dia sakit apa tapi almost every other day i'd go and visit her at the hospital. and the last time i visited her, i lost my beloved wallet! and i knew something bad would happened but i just kept it to myself.

the next day, after school, i didn't get the chance to visit her. so was the day after. and the next next day tu, when i suddenly remembered that i didn't go to the hospital for couple of days, i made the effort to go. itupon sebab my uncle had asked a favour from me to pass some records to his friend yang keja kat one of the music shop kat subang parade. masa naik bas from usj, bas tu lalu sjmc first then only subang parade kan.. but then i told myself that i'd go subang parade first then can spend more time kat hospital.

after i met my uncle's friend, i went straight to the hospital. jalan kaki 10-15 minit je from subang parade. sampai je hospital, my other uncle was there and he broke the bad news as i came out from the elevator. i quickly rushed to her room only to find her cold and stiff. she's gone. i was few minutes too late.

i regretted and blamed my uncle's records myself for not stopping at the hospital at the very first place. i cried, went out of the hospital and hailed down a cab to fetch bills and two other cousins from school. when i told them about her death, they said i was lying. gila apa nak tipu pasal death?

and so, the rest was history. masa tu sis#1 kelam kabut balik eventho dia baru sampai singapore few days before. i cried and cried pastu tiba-tiba teringat pulak bila dia suruh pegi kedai i buat-buat tak dengar dan buat-buat tido pulak tu.. isk. bad cucu i am.

i don't think i have a picture of my beloved arwah opah with me rite now. i shall check my photos collection and scan and upload later ok. meanwhile, sila la tengok gambar ini...

Labels: about roxychick

posted by roxychick @ 4:53 PM