Kenduri.....

En.Nordin, my roti canai seller and me

Dad always reminded me that there is always a need to be humble, kind, courteous and mixed freely with people from all walks of life. According to my late Dad, the world would be a better place if everyone is nicer to one another. That’s why I never shy away from mixing freely with anyone and this was aptly taught by Dad since I was very young. I guess, Dad had his share of open houses kenduri/makans with the rich and high end group of people including the lower income group of people too who would often come calling for car repairs in those early years. Anyway, Dad was strict that we ( my sister, brother and I ) behaved ourselves and not eat like gluttonous imps when at people’s houses and this I learnt very well as deep reddish rotan marks would remind us grimly if we misbehaved. I must admit, we rarely gave Dad a hard time as we are really well-behaved and ate what we could eat as Dad always reminded us that we may poor but let us not behave undignified or like some gluttons or hoodlums from some slums or else we will never be respected in our lives. We were always clean and we do know how to behave ourselves. For that, I am so thankful to Dad and mom for the wonderful mannerism path. 

Last night, my family and I was invited for a Hari Raya makan/kenduri held by my roti canai seller, En.Nordin & his family. Last year, En.Nordin invited me to his place but he did not leave me any address and so, this year, his wife left an address for Soon Ling so that we could go for the kenduri/makan. I guess, I must say that I came to know about En.Nordin’s stall sometime in 2014. I was using the Durian Daun road for work each morning and his stall would always be filled with customers. So, out of curiosity one day, I decided to stop by and ordered the roti canai fare. ( 2 roti kosong and 1 teh tarik kurang manis ). From that day onwards, I was taken in by the crispy, less oily and nicely “tepuk” roti canai ! I guess, I must admit that the food was not only nice but very budget friendly for ordinary working folks like me. Besides roti canai, nasi lemak, pre-cooked beehoon goreng or mee goreng, putu mayam, traditional kuih -muih and mee kari are often offered for the morning crowd. Usually by 10.00am, everything would have been sold out and that would often signalled the good food fare that this honest family are offering.

Let’s just say that I like En.Nordin and his family as a whole because they are hardworking, honest and truly prihatin/caring people. Sure, it is a business but they never took advantage of the economic situation to raise prices or putting a squeeze to the customers to be extremely rich in which they really could if they wanted to, actually,looking at the shockingly high prices in essentials today. Instead, prices remained the same and regulars like me are comfortable with the prices of the food they offered.

Coming back to the kenduri, my family and I made our way to En.Nordin’s house in the low cost housing area in Semabok Dalam. Upon reaching there, there was one huge tent and a large crowd there. We greeted En.Nordin and his wife, Leha and they were happy to see us there. Even the happy-go-lucky helper, Jaafar and a few other workers were around as we greeted one another and bersalaman wishing them "Selamat Hari Raya." We joked and had great  conversations with one another as we sat at the table. The food fares were chicken rendang, lamb rendang, soto, ketupat and roti canai, of course. This time, it was Nordin’s younger brother doing the rot canai fare while Jaafar was attending to the cooking of the roti canai.

As we were waiting for the roti canai, Soon Ling informed me that we were the only Chinese at the kenduri. Looking back at that time, I felt sad as I remembered during those early years of growing up, going to people’s houses of different races were a norm, friendly and so much warmth. Where have all these pleasantries and hospitality gone? It is such a sad thing as our younger generation are not able to see that closeness and harmonious life we used to live in. Hari Raya, Deepavali, Christmas and Chinese New Year celebrations were such harmonious and lively occasions whereby people from all races and walks of life will come by during these festivities.

Nowadays, the gap really divides us and it is so sad indeed. I wish the leaders of this country would see what the divide they have caused by continuously flaming and stoking the racial & religious flames and unrest amongst the people. I felt very sad indeed as the rot always starts from the top and it will continue to do so. I guess, the damage of divide will always be a scar to this gentle country of us. Moronic politicians & propaganda machineries in the govt. are the top list of people who divided this country so much. They are guilty as hell bent for doing such things and fracturing the goodwill we have had all these years. It is really so heartbreaking to see such things happening. 

Anyway, my family and I find solace of goodwill all around at En.Nordin’s feast. Never out of food as these simple kampong folks always encouraged us to eat some more or even have another drink of sirap. It was good reminiscing of the old days and the old ways. As I spoke to the older generation of people that night, I realised that this kenduri celebrations are also beginning to fade away as the younger generation of Malays are closing up on this type of social events. Many felt that there was just too much work while some felt it was a waste of time. To En.Nordin and the older generation, this was a good tradition to meet the kampong folks, blessings & thankfulness for a good year and a good tradition of social gathering closing the ranks between the young and old, rich and poor, have and have nots and lastly, celebrations for Hari Raya. I applaud at their openness in sharing such hope and keeping the tradition alive despite the grim fact that the racial poison had penetrated through the layers of society clouding their minds and actions at times. As we sat round the table, we each hoped for a better future and racial closeness like the ones in our early days for our children and our children’s children in our beloved country. 

I thanked En.Nordin and Leha that night and confessed that I had not been to a Malay kenduri or keramaian for some donkey years and last night was so special as it evoked the beautiful times I used to have during my early younger days with the kampong folks. I told En.Nordin that I hope that he would invite me again next year and to that he answered, “ As long as I am alive,my friend. You and family are always welcomed. Insyaallah!”

We bade him goodnight and we were on our way back home that night feeling blessed, honoured and most satisfied having transported back to a slice of our wonderful yesteryears and sharing of good Raya food fare.  When you are an old bloke like me, these things are special to your heart and no richness in this world that can outbid that feeling.  Welcome to my old ancient world, I guess.

P/s  En.Nordin’s shop is the one opposite the Durian Daun Malay cemetery in Melaka and blue metal structured shop. As far as I was concerned and my view as a BTEC fella ( BTEC means “boh tark enough chek” in Hokkien or “study not enough”  ) , his roti canai sardine and roti double ( double eggs with bawang/onions and chillies ) – really good while his roti canai kosong or roti canai tampal – superb!