Hazia’s Reflections

This is where we’ve lived ever since I was 8. Gee…wonder why our house does not have a fancy name like the neighbours’ pride and joy? Teratak xxx, Pondok yyy, family surname or something like that.

Backyard BBQ pit…we didn’t light it up this year. When the whole clan is back for Raya, we’d normally have a blast with all night long entertainment. My mum’s generation is full of talented singers, unlike mine, hehe…The most memorable ocassion was my 16th birthday party. My friends and I didn’t want the night to end, cute boys from our school were there;)

My mum’s latest gardening attemp…still far from what the landscape designer did when we first moved in 25 years ago.

A tiny bridge connecting the back of our house to the Silver Jubilee Memorial Park. It is a popular jogging and recreation spot. I remember having my classmates over for a picnic to celebrate my 12th birthday - all girls of course, I was still at St Nicholas Convent then:). Oh, once, my dad’s aquaintance was murdered and his body was discarded in the female toilet there, it was right behind our house. The neighbourhood children found it. Imagine the nightmare that followed:(

The drain behind the house was close to overspilling. In fact, certain locations in Kedah were flooded. People had to move to specially set up shelters a few days before Raya. This included the lady in Jitra who was making ketupat for my mum.

Last but not least, the fence at the back was used as a badminton net. When I was a kid, I used to play everyday with my maids. At that time, the average age range for Malay domestic helpers was between 15 to 16, they normally quit at 17 to get married. Oh, my brothers and I picked up authentic Kedah dialect from them:)