the first and last

an early morning on sunday (there’s no other kind at kampong), off to the masjid for raya prayers, head back home for lemang and rending and kari, and then dad bro and mum went to help with the qurban, yours truly had grocery shopping duties for the bbq later that nite.

bought rahim razali’s abang at the supermarket (dvd, no less!)

watched with cousin while chopping up stuff for coleslaw and preparing bbq marinade.

hammered qurban meat with my rm16.90 h meat hammer bought earlier.

off to bbq at aunt’s, stuffed self silly, received new year messages but didn’t have time to reply them, quick cleanup session and back to the house to catch star wars episode 3 (which was how i celebrated the new year).

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spent new year’s day having a very early breakfast, outside the house on the car porch, after which we trudged along to the old kampong house to have a look and take pics.

it was sad to see the house abandoned and overgrown with weeds.

there is the place i would take my outside shower in the old old days, it looks so very small now.

there is the route to the river on those wonderful trips when the water level was so low my dad could carry us on his back in the water to the little island in the middle of the river where we would play on the river bed itself (the same route, with normal water levels and at night when you really really needed to *go* can be terrifying).

there is the beam from which every baby born in the extended family would have his or her makeshift “buai” (baby swing made of a strung up sarong).

over there, the corner where my granddad would open up durian after durian after durian until we were so stuffed we couldn’t move.

there is the back porch facing the river, there the back stairs where countless pictures, generations back were taken.

and dusty old calendars everywhere, all for the year 1995.

the year my grandmother and youngest uncle passed away.

after that there were no more calendars.

and the house itself died.

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after, we played boggle at my aunt’s place, with players age ranging between 11 to 38.

emergency call from mum, get yer butts back home and help prepare lunch.

big yet simple lunch with everything from leftover lemang, rending and kari to tilapia cili to some unknown leafy concoction by aunt, sambal and leftover veggies.

laze about a bit, then went off to town to get some ice cream for everyone, then to another aunt’s place for tea and dinner.

sleep.

life goes on.