Cempedak Luar Pagar

My late father loves jack fruit. There is a small plot of land opposite his house on which he planted a few trees. One of them was a jack fruit and for the last few years it had been yielding some fruits.

Not bad actually. And fresh from the tree, my Mum would fry it. I went to visit Mum last Sunday and we had exactly that. Good stuff actually. Yum yum!

Balloting #PRU14

The day has finally arrived. The day started early for me and I had to confess that I was feeling excited. Although it was not the first time I would be casting my vote, there was something in the air today which made me feel optimistic.

And it had nothing to do with Diva Azwan Ali whose name will appear on my ballot paper.

I went straight to the ward for a quick round, and since Julia was sorting out my Mum at the Bukit Antarabangsa with her vote, I decided to have a quick breakfast first.

That final pushPAS had a woman candidate here... and a big flag!I finally arrived at Bukit Antarabangsa at 9.30, joined the queue in the bright morning sun which was a good 150 meters long. The first lot - including my Mum - had already fulfilled their duty and had left the centre. Plenty of people were canvassing, including the Parliament Candidate for a certain party who came to shake our hands, trying to convinve us to vote for her if we remained undecided. The whole situation was jovial, plenty of banter and everybody were in good spirit.

But unfortunately, SPR was not at their efficient best. It took me almost 3 hours to complete the process and not without some confusion in between. And that was despite knowing my lane and serial number up front.

The Menteri Besar has his state seat here at Bukit AntarabangsaBN was based across the road. And they lost big here!The queue was just as long back in 2013, but it took me less than a quarter of the time. The instructions this time were pretty confusing, as we were told to queue at a wring lane, with people coming later being able to get in front.

I thought that the wait was over when I got into the voting centre compound, but it was not to be. It took a good hour before thengs were moving and I felt that the procedure could have been refined and more efficient. Luckily, there were no incidence at the centre because if so, I don’t think that the SPR were able to cope.

Entering the voting centre compound finally ...Not much longer to go ...All done ...I was done by noon and headed back to the apartment and had a shower before going out again for lunch at Pavilion. The city centre were very quiet and with the nice weather, I decided to enjoy the day.

Next came the wait for the results ....

Lunch with Mak

My Mum has been staying at Bukit Antarabangsa for the last week, away from my sister in Kajang. She wanted to see her friends as well as visit her usual surau. She may be back to my sister's next week.

So, come Sunday lunch, we went out for lunch with Anita coming along. Looks like she was OK staying alone at Bukit Antarabangsa from time to time.

Raya came Calling

It was not going to be the same compared to the previous year. Ba was no longer with us. We spent the evening before at my Mum’s place at Bukit Antarabangsa welcoming some neighbours dropping by for takbir after the Isya’ prayers.

I woke up early on the Raya morning, and it was raining heavily outside, cancelling my plans to visit Ba’s grave. The prayers came after that, also at Bukit Antarabangsa. Ba usually manned the Zakat desk. Since he was no longer around, the Imam was there in his place. I took some time talking to him and everybody mentioned that they missed Ba especially during Ramadan when Ba helped to manage some of the Surau events.

Prayers and then a short tahlil. We were off after that.

More food at Mum’s followed by the obligatory photos. I then set off to Gombak to join Anita’s parents before setting off for my long drive to Kota Bharu after noon.

Another Berbuka at Bukit Antarabangsa

Last weekend came my turn to sponsor the berbuka at the Surau near my parent's place. I was on call that day and was lucky that there was not that many admission around late afternoon. I managed to get things sorted out and spent a couple of hours at Bukit Antarabangsa.

Anita and the boys had been with my Mum instead since mid afternoon. The boys helped with some chores but spent most of the afternoon just dozing around. Their cousins unfortunately could not make it as my brother-in-law was also on duty.

Patiently waitingSome kueh for startersMy Dad being the "amil' at the surauApart from the food we catered, my Mum cooked her famous "gulai ikan kering", which was popular that night. Luckily we got some set aside to take home. I could not wait until Isya' since I had to go back for my evening rounds. The turn out was good and my Mum was really happy.