Of Nasi Minyak & Rendang.......

When I received a wedding invitation last week, I was contemplating if I could make it to the wedding or not. It was more to time commitment rather than any other reason. I decided to attend after freeing myself from some appointments for I do not want to disappoint the person who had invited me in the first place. Afterall, wedding invitation is sorta personal and I do feel that way eventhough many may disagree with me. So, off I went to this wedding reception in one of the kampungs. As I arrived there, I could see a steady stream of visitors to the wedding reception Yup, it was a Malay wedding reception. With a blistering sun and a touch of gentle hot breeze, I was sweating like a lunatic. Anyway, my path to the house was systematically blocked by the bridegroom entourage of kompang wielding men, bunga manggar bearers, lush umbrella holders and crisply dressed people. As the path was small, I was unable to manoeuvre my walk and so I had to walk slowly as we inched towards the bride's house. It was fun watching the beautifully clothed bride & bridegroom plus their team walking slowly amidst all the teasing and so on. I managed to squeezed my way from the group onto a path that leads to the side perimeter fencing of the house which was opened. Aha! Paradise at last. From here, I proceeded to look for the hostess, Linda who had invited me. Having found her, we exchanged pleasantries and she was glad to see me at the wedding reception. I was then introduced to her husband ( In all honesty, I missed her wedding the last time she invited me and I felt very bad that day! ) and after the usual exchange of handshakes and laughters, I was ushered to a makan table which was spread out with food goodies. From nasi minyak to sayur dalca, ayam masak merah, beef rendang , papadam and sayur manis, these were dishes that I needed/ought to get away from , actually. So, I took what was needed but the beef rendang was superbly cooked. As I sat at my seat, I was greeted by people from all walks of life and I am blessed not only by the attention but the simple gesture or acknowledgement and hospitality. Yes, this was the way I used to grow up with in those days. Malay, Chinese , Indian and the rest of the communities coming together to celebrate a wedding reception and having a good time mixing with one another. Sharing laughter, chatting with one another and just having a good time together. Seeing children sitting on the table sharing a meal and the adults helping one another in serving food and drinks. Yunno, I felt at home with the people from all walks of life, race and creed. It was good to be able to have that community feeling again. I remembered the time my dad brought all of us [ my mom, sister, brother and myself when we were younger ] to Pakcik Daud's children wedding and Pakcik Mahmud's daughter wedding and we really had a good time there with them. Back to reality, Linda was constantly asking me to fill up my plate and I had to tell her politely that I needed to control my diet or else she would have to buy flowers, Milo & condensed milk the next time she sees me! We had a good laugh together and she treated me a "tapai" fare from Kandang. Boy, I had not had "tapai" for such a long time and it tasted good.....really good. Before I could take the next tapai, I already could imagine SLing giving a hard time to my ear drums. So, I had one tapai and that's it! It is not out of fear for SLing's ear splitting sermons but mainly I don't want to lie down unneccessarily in the 6'X4' plot that early-lar! The music? Hmmmm........Malay songs from the 60's and 70's but it was fun. A little bit of joget, a little bit of P.Ramlee era music and some fun tunes - it's alright.

As I left the reception that day, I felt happy that I felt as though I was transported back to the yester years of fun and the spirit of oneness....... What fun time .......