Everything

"Kakak ini hari kena pergi beli barang mahu masak untuk Maulud Nabi. Ini hari kerjanya harus cepat-cepat siap, boleh ke pasar beli barangannya. Kita orang Indonesia, kalau Maulud Nabi kita masak sedikit buat jamuan di surau. Tapi tak berapa banyaklah, dik. Biaya sekarang ini mahal. Kakak kongsi sahaja lah sama teman-teman. Kakak beli pulut, temannya beli ayam, yang seorang lagi beli telur. Asal punya jamuan sahaja dan kita ingat sama Nabi. Tak banyak pun tak apalah. Gaji kakak satu bulan di sini 600 ringgit. Suami aku kerjanya di kolam pancing ikan. Ada juga lah dalam 500 ke 600 ringgit dikira berapa jam dia bekerja. Anak aku dua orang di sini. Mahu hantar belanja sama emak di kampung. Adik, kau tahu? Bil api di kampung kakak satu bulan sahaja sudah 60 ringgit. Kakak bilang sama emak, "Mahal ya, Emak bil apinya? Kenapa begitu?". Emak aku bilang dia tidak tahu sedangkan lampu pun jarang-jarang dia pasang. Minggu lepas aku habis 500 ringgit, adik. Buat belanja beli bara...

Salam. I still remember my post on the regular headache I had to bear mostly at the coffee shops, how I've had to go for a dubiously generic English name; Suzy. But, I did't tell you about the famous hackneyed Malay name though. Hayati. That's my mother's name. I strongly believe that my late grandfather had made the best life decision cum the first responsibility as a newly-titled father when he had to call the iqamat into a pair of little angel's ears; most importantly by not being too excited on the baby's name part. Thank God too unconventional names were't kicked off while having the colonials around them. My late grandfather who I called Tokwan had proven to be a wisely sane man or I couldn't have used Hayati as another camouflage.  Don't get me wrong, people. Not that I'm saying my Abah is crazy but don't you think that he's a wee bit of delusional? Come on, I'm open for criticism. Or, you don't know my na...