REMEMBRANCE SERIES 12 : WHAT A LIFE

With my baggy dress with a cane, beggars in Padang Besar mistook me to be one their peers which was also an OKU beggar.

Sharing our common misery waiting for the wives ransacking the Padang Besar Arcade

On Saturday, 25 April 2009, as Shiwar was free, Zam persuaded me to accompany Zam, Marini and Ezman to Padang Besar. Marini main objective for the day was to seek Pak Mud's air penawar for her jittery driving. Requesting Pak Mud's service was the main program of the day with a proposed secondary program of shopping in Padang Besar. Marini is holding the trust of her auntie, Contractor Class F to bring back some items from Padang Besar to Sarawak.

I agreed to accompany Zam with the condition that I would not accompany her to shop around but instead I would stay put at the rest area. Before resting, Ezman checked for me whether there was a sitting toilet at the public toilet. When Ezman gave me an affirmative answer, I was very happy as there would not be any constraint on my choices of food for lunch. So happily I sat down at the concourse area of the arcade. To my astonishment, I was not alone in facing this common dilemma as I met a few guys who also suffered the same fate as mine.

I met a 53 year Fireman from Sungai Petani who was also waiting for his wife to do her shopping in the arcade. He has already bought a big thermos flask for his nasi lemak business back in Sungai Petani. He did not like driving his car to Padang Besar but instead he joined in a weekly tour group which charged them RM 30.00 for a person. With a bigger luggage compartment on the bus, there was no need for him to worry about the size of his goods. They would also the local Thai cuisine which was much cheaper in his home town. From my informal discussion I had with him, he seemed to be very satisfied with part time business venture.

I advised him to be vigilant on the quality of his foods as customers would rather go for quality rather than quantity. Although the cost of raw materials for his nasi lemak has increased, yet he did not reduce the quality of his his ingredients. His policy proved its worth when his regular customers who has gone for the other lower quality nasi lemak has returned to him. His secret recipe was to add more halba on the nasi lemak whereby the durability of his nasi lemak would last more than 24 hour. He was very satisfied with the quantity of his nasi lemak sales which has touched 5 gantangs daily.

On our way back to Alor Setar, Zam asked Shiwar to stop at Changloon immediately after the Changloon Mosque where she previously saw a few wakafs being displayed in front of a house. The house owner by the name of Che Gu Wahid came out to meet us. He explained about the price of each wakaf inclusive the price of transportation to Alor Setar. Zam was satisfied with the price and she paid the down payment of RM 200.00 with the understanding that Che Gu Wahid would sent the wakaf the next day to our house in Alor Setar.

Shiwar and Marini with Noraini and her family came down to our house anxiously waiting for the arrival of the wakaf. Underfortunately the wakaf failed to turn up even after the Maghrib prayers. Frustrated they left our house at 8.00 pm leaving the three of to handle the arrival of the wakaf. Luckily the wakaf arrived at 10.30 pm on board a three ton lorry. There were four more people on board the lorry and the five of them were very in bringing the wakaf from the lorry. The wakaf fitted in nicely at the back of our house

The graziness for wakaf