SIBLING SERIES 12: RELUCTANT CARETAKER

The old faithful

I bought this wheel chair in Makkah in 1995 especially for Mak while we were performing the Umrah. After Mak's demise in 2000, I brought it back to my house in Pumpong. After serving my mother faithfully for five years, it is still in its prime condition and has served faithfully to all temporary disabled persons in our family. The old faithful has also its own fond memories by itself.

In 1995, my family and Nami's family has decided to perform the Umrah. Zam was more confident if Mad was around in any of our overseas trip. To Zam, Mat was our only super hero that could take care of us in any calamity that may arise while abroad. Mat indeed proved his worth when he facilitated Ezman's return from Brisbane when Ezman came down with small pox while in Australia.

Mad (MAS Executive) accompanying us to the airport on our way to perform the Haj in 1992

I brought along all my three children i.e Nana (21 yrs), Ezwar (17 yrs) and Ezman (11 yrs.). Nami also brought all her three children ie. Alun, Azira and Alin. After consulting with my children, they agreed to my suggestion of bringing Mak to perform the Umrah. My children verbally agreed to the undertaking of looking after my late mother as I was also not in the best condition of health.

The Umrah was an eleven day trip i.e. from 16.11.1995 to 25.11.1995. Since Mat was a MAS executive, naturally we left it entirely to Mat to make the necessary arrangements for the Umrah trip. We agreed with Mat to have our Umrah trip organised by an established tour company owned by Haji Nasrun who was residing with his family in Makkah. Initially, Mak was not very happy with the duration of the Umrah. Haji Nasrun himself met us at the Jeddah Airport when we arrived on the evening of 16.11.1995. We were very lucky indeed as Haji Nasrun was very accommodating with us. After we have performed the Umrah successfully, Mak changed her prior opinion but instead told us that she very very contented with the Umrah.

As Mak was having problems with her knees, I decided to buy her a wheel chair in Medinah which cost about RM 550.00. Since Medinah city has a flat level topography, we did not encounter any problem with my children's duty of pushing Mak on the wheel chair. Nana would push Mak in the Nabawi Mosque while Shiwar would push Mak for the out door journey. Mak was in cloud nine when Haji Nasrun's spouse pushed her to the Raudah every day while we were in Medinah.

Problems did arise in Mekkah where the land topography was more hilly and undulating. One fine morning, while pushing Mak down hill, there was a temporary lapse when Shiwar did let go the handles of the wheel chair without putting on the braking pads. There were chaos when the wheel chair made its way by itself down the hill with Mak screaming on it. Luckily, Alun who was then a very agile pre-gout sportsman rushed to the rescue. Since then, Mak did not has faith any more in Shiwar and the wheel chair was out of bound to him. Mak was indeed very happy with the new sets of helping hands of Alun and Azira.

Looking back at the comical episode while browsing back at Shiwar's slumber tricky style, we then should be thinking whether it was indeed one of Shiwar's tricky ploy or it was actually a genuine lapse of concentration of on the part Shiwar. Only Shiwar alone could answer to this one million dollar question. What ever it was, to Mak, Alun was her hero of the day and she liked to relate that particular episode to us repeatedly.

The Mekkah's episode was not the only incidence of Mak and Shiwar. Shiwar was used to take care of Mak when she was warded in PPU and he used to accompany Mak at night time. Shiwar and his cousin Bang Daus accompanied Mak at the PPU ward one night but instead both of them slept soundly during the night. As a result, Mak fell down from her bed during the wee hours of the morning without the two of them realising it. Say what we like, after her demise, we found only three photographs in Mak's wallet i.e. Norin, Najwa and Shiwar. So it is an established fact that Shiwar, the reluctant care taker, was indeed one of her favourite grand sons even to her final breaths.