Memories are not just mere memories

Today it has been 5 years since the passing of my late grandfather on my mother's side.Sheikh Haji Jamaluddin bin Al-Radzi.And he is deeply missed by his 25 grandchildren,his wife and his 8 children.Atuk,as he we fondly called him passed away because of lung cancer.And today,a lot of the fond memories that I had of my grandpa came rushing in.Every year,he makes a point to buy me,my cousin Kak Hani & Syazni,frilly dresses with layers of petticoats.You know,the traditional british gowns.Because the 3 of us girls grew up with him,we were the closest girl grandchildren to him.And every Raya & on our birthdays,he would make sure to get us a new gown each year.

Atuk was one of the sons of the late Arab,Al-radzi to his 2nd wife,a Malay(his 1st wife is of course,Arab).My Arab relatives still lives in Taif until today and the last time they came to Atuk's house was a long time ago.Atuk loves to garden.And some of my friends who have come to atuk's house would notice the 3 huge pine/christmas trees that was his fruit of labor & it's so high now.His family was his life.And he was very much hands on in everything.He waters his huge garden twice everyday.And he's always there for my grandma.And because he was almost hit by a reckless motorcyclist during one of my cousin's engagement ceremony,NOBODY in our family will ever buy a motorcyle,even up to this day.

Atuk was a war veteran and he fought against the Japanese during the war.And I still remember the Bekas Perajurit dinner/kenduri that he held at his house because if I remembered correctly he was the President for the Petaling district a long time ago.And he has this close friend of his uncle Rashid,whom when I was little,whenever he came to the house,my grandpa will give me the newspaper & ask me to read in front the both of them & I would be making up my own stories,not bothering at all that they were laughing at me..^_^

And atuk always drives his old grey volvo..You know the one that Ali drove in Kami?He would never ever change cars although we've tried to convince him to get a Perdana since his car is a gas guzzler.But he loves the car so much that he hold on to it and now the car is with one of my uncle in Alor Setar.

And as he hails from Batu Gajah(or is it Alor Gajah?) Perak,he loves gulai(curry).Nenek will make him gulai ikan(fish curry),not chicken or beef,everyday!That's what he has everyday.And he's the one responsible for making me love indian food like Masalodei(I don't think I spelled it correctly) & Putu Mayam.He would buy vadai from this mamak in PJ everytime he goes there along with teh tarik and bring it home.

And there's this Putu Mayam vendor who sells it on his motorcycle and would come by every evening around the neigbourhood & my atuk will always buy it from him.And he loves corn ice cream,one thing that I do not share with him.But he'll always make sure that there's a variety of ice cream flavor in the freezer along with waffle cones for his grandchildren whenever we were little.Atuk also,embarassingly,loves dangdut songs!Like,he has the cassettes and would play them in his car.So I know the words to the song like 'Sengkong & Keju' due to him.hahaha.

He's also,of course a big fan of P.Ramlee movies and growing up,me and my brothers & my cousins watched the movies almost everyday because he has the VHS of everyone of em'.From all 3 of Bujang Lapok movie,to Ragam P.Ramlee(it's so funny that Kak Hani must remember that we watched that part repeatedly!),Ibu,the 2 Labu Labi movie,the 2 do re mi movie,and so many2 more.Just named any P.Ramlee movies & I've watched them.

Atuk never boasts about his accolades to others.Although as a kid,he and grandma would always go to the royal palace and my grandma will get all dolled up and I would be wondering why are they going there.Oh yeah,I forgot to mentioned that my family lived with atuk in Shah Alam for more than 12 years.

You know how some people would boast about they datukship or they have to have A.M.N put at the end of their name so that people will know that they got the medal?Well,my atuk never told us that he has AMN & AMS & so many more because although there were framed pictures of him taking them,we never bothered to look closely at the captions.haha.So one day,he was taking out all of his medal for cleaning and we the grandchildren was hovering and only then that we know that atuk was Ahli Mangku Negara,Ahli Mahkota Selangor,and so many more.The last one that he got was Jaksa Pendamai,JP.Which required him to put that metal logo thing on his car.

And a few months before he passed away,5 of his children along with 11 of his grandchildren(because we were the ones living in Selangor),went on a holiday in Cameron.And I still remembered how freezing my atuk was because he's so skinny(but he's very strong!) that we stayed for 2 days at the holiday bungalow of my mum's former boss.A funny story about my grandpa was that people always mistaken him for the Anak Mami actor,Pi'e when he goes out and some even ask for his autograph thinking that he was him.

The one in the family that has my grandpa's exact manerism is my youngest brother Raffiq.He is just like my grandpa except that of course he looks Chinese(due to my dad's side).There's so many great memories of atuk & we'll always remember him & keep him in our prayers everyday.