Kak Rukiah was the first person I texted when I arrived in Penang last night, 10 January 2013 at 8.37 pm. We continued to text each other after she and Datuk Zubaidah had finished dinner at a restaurant. She mentioned the name of the restaurant to Affandi but I didn't hear it clearly and forgot the name. We agreed to meet on 11 January 2013, as Datuk Zubaidah would be on her way out to visit some relatives in Bertam. I was at USM when I received Kak Rukiah's SMS this morning. We rushed home upon receiving her SMS.
I was taking out the books for Datuk Zubaidah and Kak Rukiah when Affandi suddenly frantically called out, "Dia dah datang!" I jumped and my heart raced. I panicked because "Dia dah datang" was the same cry when Affandi first arrived at my mother's gate to marry me. But this time, it was Datin Zubaidah and Kak Rukiah.
Datuk Zubaidah was a childhood & teenage friend of my mother. They played dolls together. I wrote about it in my book, Biography of TEMD. Her husband Dato Mushir Ariff passed away the same night I had called Datuk Zubaidah when I put up at one of the beach hotels in Batu Ferringhi. She was staying somewhere in Tg Bungah at the time. Later, she moved to the seaside residence at Gurney Drive.
Since they arrive at my late mother's house (now my sister's house), I said to Affandi to attend to them and take some photos while I continued to pick out the books for them. I had never panicked this bad as I did earlier today. I couldn't even autoraph the books properly for them. Terrible!
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| Rukiah Hanoum, granddaughter of Sir Kamil Ariff |
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| YBhg Datuk Zubaidah Ariff, wife of Dato' Mushir Ariff (son of Sir Kamil Ariff). I managed to salam this lovely lady. |
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| Kak Rukiah and me. She's also taking the books to give to 2 other contributors - Ayob and Omar. Datuk Zubaidah's car - MA is for Mushir Ariff. |
2 comments:
Thanks Prof Faridah for the books....have distributed them to those concern. Btw the pic of me carry those books....they were really heavy and was glad to put them in the boot. That was a really short visit. Hope,by the grace of Allah to meet u again. Do come n visit Aunty Zubaidah at her Gurney Drive condo....she'll be very happy to see u and also aunty Yasmin wants me to convey u a message of invitation....to come over and stay at her residence in PJ whenever u are in town. She has lots of stories to relate abt her days in Kirby with ur mum. Till we meet again,wasalam. Kak Kiah
No mention about the books. I was wondering how you could carry so many books! InsyaAllah, we will get to meet again. TQ for the invite to the 2 aunties' homes. I will try and find time to visit each of them in due time.
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