Boy's Wedding Day 2 - Part 2

After the akad nikah, the bride’s family invited us back to their place for some refreshments. Well, it was past the lunch time, and everyone was hungry. So we were happy to get the invitation.

The bride’s house is not far from the  surau. It was about five minutes drives. When we reached there, the place was packed with guests having their lunch. Since it was a hot day, everybody was trying to find shaded place to park the car. I was lucky to get to park my car under the rambutan trees, but the red ants army was on the trees. I told my kids to be careful.

Across the road, there are many durian trees with fruits hanging on it. The young kids, my kids especially, were excited because they never seen durian trees before, and the adults were excited hoping that we could get to eat durian too. But, unfortunately, the durian fruits decided to stay up on the tree.

There were also a little stream next to the road, and guess what? Little Mika rushed to the stream, but before he reached there, his maid managed to grab him. Otherwise, he would be swimming in that little stream.

Before we walked to the tent, we were told that we would be served twice. “Twice?” I said. I happily walked to the food and helped my little girl first before I filled up my plate. The food was good especially the desserts. I love the bubur pulut hitam, the cakes, cookies and all other sweet things that they served.

After we had our  lunch, we regrouped at the house where we parked our cars. Actually it was just next door to the bride’s house. My nephew got ready for the bersanding. He only needed to change his headgear and samping. When he was ready, we again stands under the hot sun behind the groom who has the best man holding an umbrella for him.

Together with us was the kompang boys who were playing kompang, and standing fifty feet away was the bride, waiting for the groom. We walked towards the bride, and when my nephew reached his wife, they stood next to each other and walked to the bride’s house for the bersanding.

I thought they would walk straight into the house, but before we reached the door, there was two chairs put side by side facing the guests. The bride and the groom were seated there for the guests to see them and also for the bersilat event, which the guy who performed silat welcomes the newlyweds.

After the bersilat, they went inside the house, but I decided to sit outside as my back was slowly giving me some pain. The bersanding is the event where the bride and the groom sits on the dais and the relatives members and friends will pay respects and wish them congratulations. Those who pay the respects will be given bunga telor as a thank you from the newlyweds.

Once the bersanding over, we were invited again to have our lunch. We were placed at the special tents where specially prepared food for the newlyweds was served. I didn’t eat the rice, but I did enjoy the fish, the kerabu mangga and the vegetables. Again, they have nice desserts. We were given a telur pindang. The telur pindang was packed in the nice container.

At 3pm, we made our way back to the neighbor's house, ready to go back to Seremban, but for me, I have to rush backed to Bangi as I wanted to see Syafiq who came back from his one week stays in UNITEN.

The drive back was smooth except when we reached the Senawang – Seremban stretched. It was jam. I made a quick exit at Port Dickson tol and took LEKAS to head back to Bangi.

On the way to LEKAS highway, we passed by my old school King George V, and I proudly pointed to my kids that the school was an old school and also the only school during my time to have a swimming pool. They didn’t believe me.

By the time, I reached Bang I was very tired and sleepy but happy that (a) I made it home safely, (b) saw my son, (c) bought some clothes (d) enjoyed the trip to Tangkak.

Boy's Wedding - Day 2 Part 1

Day 2 Part 1- At Tangkak

Everyone woke up early. My kids were very excited to see their cousin getting married. My niece knocked on my door and asked us out for breakfast. Everyone was ready except for of the teenagers who decided that the pillows were better than breakfast.

My brother in laws and my sisters have scouted the place for breakfast earlier. It was about a kilometer from the D'Anjung Inn. As we passed by, we were impressed with the big bungalow houses at the area.

My sisters have chosen a roadside stall for us to have breakfast. The place, which was previously empty, was full of us. All the tables were occupied except for one table, which we left for other people. The curry puff, popiah, roti canai were the favorites among us. Oh! The breakfast was also free. Thanks to my niece, Fara and her friends, who decided to treat us for breakfast.

Fara, Terima kasih daun keladi. Lain kali boleh lagi, ya.

Since we have to check out by 12, I spent my morning packing my things and also showed my mother in law the clothes that I bought the previous night. Luckily, there was not many things to pack. While I was busy packing, my Along came and wanted to discuss something with me.

My mom in law was in the room, so I left and joined her in her room. When I went there, my brother in law was eating 'durian', and I joined him.

In our discussion, we also decided to keep two rooms for late checked out. After my discussion, I went back to finish up my packing, and got ready for the akad nikah event.

By 11.40am, everybody was ready to go. My bags were already in the car. Amir, suddenly becomes a big brother. He helped to carry the bag to the car, and took charged of his younger sibling.

Before we headed to the surau, my nephew came down to his mom room looking for help. Yeah! No matter how old you are, you will always look for mom for advised or help.

He came down with his songket samping and asked my sister why the threads are not even and smooth. My sister looked at it and turned the samping inside out. Heh! He got it wrong. Nervous maybe! We just smiled and left him to get ready.

Since the akad nikah is scheduled to be at 12pm, we left the Inn just before 12pm, and all the cars convoyed to the surau. When we reached there, there was no one greeting us. After waiting for a few minutes, finally someone from the area came and invited us in. We laid all the seven gifts and waited for the bride.

My nephew looked nervous and anxious. Nervous, as he has to go through the akad nikah, and nervous because the bride's side was still not at the surau We took the opportunity to take pictures with the groom. After about ten minutes, then the bride's family came, and then the imam.

For the akad nikah, they have prepared a special cushion for the bride and groom to sit. It was placed next to the imam in front of everyone. The imam called my nephew to sit next to him. Joining him were witnesses to the akad nikah and also the best man and my Bang Ngah and Zali.

The imam opened up his laptop and crossed checked some of the data on the forms. When I saw that, I just went, "Whoa!". Everything is now all linked up via technology. By this time, the bride has still not come. After waiting for few more minutes, the bride appeared, and I can see my nephew was relieved.

Before the akad nikah started my mother cried. I didn't ask her why she was crying, but the only conclusion that I can make is that she is happy to see her favorite grandson getting married, and at the same time feel sad that my father was not with us to see my nephew getting married.

When everybody had settled down, the Imam started by greeting us with”Assalamualaikum’ and proceeded to recite few verses from the Quran and later translated and explained to us the meaning.

Once he has finished the tazkirah, the bride's father got up and walked to the groom and sat in front of him. The bride's father was going to marry off his daughter to my nephew. For the benefits of everyone, both wore microphones so that everyone can listen to the wedding vow.

At this stage, my sister cried. Two days earlier, she shared with me that when she her daughter married, she was very happy to receive a son in law, but when she going to get a daughter in law she felt a little bit sadness.

As part of the akad nikah ritual, my nephew holds his father in law hand in a handshake manner. When all ready, everybody was quite. Then the father in law recited the akad and my nephew answered the akad in one single breath. Once done, the Imam then asked the witness whether the vow was accepted. All the witnesses agreed.

My nephew was relieved as he only needs to go through single vow. There is an occasion where some of the nervous groom will have to repeat the akad multiple times until the witnesses accept the vow.

The Imam then asked my nephew whether he wanted to perform ‘sujud syukur’ before he continued with the rest of the ceremony. My nephew nodded, and proceeds to do that. After my nephew had finished with the sujud syukur, the imam called him and his wife to sit facing each other.

Then, the imam passed him a taqliq for my nephew to read. Taqliq is a declaration from the man to the wife. It said that if he goes missing for four consecutive months without leaving any news of his whereabouts and doesn't give anything to the wife, money and other things, the marriage will be dissolved. This declaration was read in front of the wife so that the wife will know her rights.

My nephew and his wife then signed all the papers, and he proceeded to hand over the mas kahwin or dowry of RM1000 to his wife before putting the wedding ring on her finger. His wife then kissed his hand.

To be continued.

Izwan aka Boy's Wedding - Day 1

My nephew got married to a Tangkak girl on 27th May, 2012. Like any other Malay wedding, it was held over two weekends, but the preparation and involvement from other family members started way before that.

When the wedding date was finalized, a month before the actual date, my brother in law called us for a family meeting. He wanted to involve all of us in this wedding, which we were happy to be involved. The meeting is more on planning for the logistics, transports and other matters that need our attention.

Bang Ngah was officially elected to be the spokesman during the ceremony, and my youngest sister and brother in law was tasked to look for the place for us to stay. Along also informed us that the theme for the wedding is dark gray.

It was also decided in the meeting that the Bunga Manggar boys were my son, Zaki and Emil, my grandnephew while the flowers girls were Zara, my little girl, Naimah and Mariam, both are my grandniece. My sister also informed us that there will be 'doa selamat' to be held on 25th May, 2012 after the Isyak prayer..

After the family meeting, everybody carried out their small little tasks for the event. My sister, Arda and Zali, went to Tangkak to scout for a place for us to stay. Initially they wanted to rent the Homestay, but my mom over ruled that. After checking out few other places, they found the right place for all of us to stay. It was a nice, small motel called D'Anjung Inn. It was clean and spacious and cheap. She quickly booked about eleven rooms for us.

When Friday came, I looked forward to the ‘majlis doa selamat’, but I missed it. I reached Seremban late because I was stuck in MM until almost 7pm, and when I left KLCC, the traffic was already bad. I reached home after 8pm, and quickly get my kids to get ready to go back to Seremban.

At 9pm, we left Bangi, me and my three small kids plus my mother in law, thought of taking KL-Seremban Highway but changed my plan before I reached Kajang Exit. Thanks to twitter, I found out that there’s a traffic jam from Nilai – Seremban. I quickly made a turn to SILK Highway and took LEKAS to go back to Seremban.

Thanks to LEKAS, it only took us about less than 45 minutes to reach Seremban, but by then the kenduri was already over. Heh! No problem as long as there was food, I’m happy. After having my dinner, I joined my other family members discussion on the trip to Tangkak.

At first we wanted to go in the morning, but since the journey is only less than 2 hours, we decided to travel after the Zohor prayer. My two boys decided to sleep at my sister house, whereas my little girl followed me back to my mom house. The next morning, my sister invited us to have breakfast at her place. We had fried rice, some kuih muih and tea for breakfast.

Saturday morning 26th May 2010

At 10am, my sister wanted to get daun sirih and wire for the ‘hantaran’ (gifts). I volunteer to drive her as I need to go to bank too. We were joined by my two younger sisters, Ami and Zura. Instead of a short trip, we spent two hours shopping, and I bought few blouses for me.

After the Zohor prayer, everybody gather at my sister place, and we waited and waited for everyone to be around. My niece, who went back to KL to fetch her husband, was stuck in KL due to very bad traffic jam on the highway.  

Finally at 3.30pm, we decided to make the move first. My car was full of kids, including the cute little 2years old Mariam who wanted to join the big kids. The trip to Tangkak was fun for the kids, noisy and a lot of shouting and playing. They kept us, me and my sister, awake.

Alhamdulillah, nothing happened throughout our trip to Tangkak. We reached there at 5pm, and after a short stop over at Tangkak tol, we headed to the motel. Along Kasbi, who waited for us at the toll, lead the way to the motel.

When we reached the motel, I saw Arda busy handling out the key and answering the questions and demands from us She gave me the room on the ground floor it was one big room. After settling down, we went out for a drink at the nearby stall. After few debates, we finally decided to have our dinner there too.

The food was good, and I like the Ikan Tiga Rasa’. My kids love the omelettes. I didn’t linger after the dinner as I need to catch the Magrib prayer. We also made arrangement to go shopping and to meet at the parking lot.

At 8.30pm, I left my room and joined the group at the parking lot. I thought everyone wanted to go shopping, but it was not. They were looking for durian. Since I’m not that crazy about durian, I decided to join my mom and aunty to go shopping. So the five of us, my sisters, my mom and aunty headed to Tangkak town to shop.

It didn’t take us long to reach the town, but, unfortunately, the shops in Tangkak closed early. By 9pm, most of the shops were getting ready to close except one shop. We hurried to the shops and the owner must be laughing his way to bank the next day. We bought a lot. I alone bought eight pieces of cloths, but not all are for me.

By the time, we reached back to hotel it was almost 10pm, and I found out my kids and their cousins were playing at the parking lot. I have to shoo them back to the room, and everybody was knocked out within 20 minutes.


You can view more pictures here  - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150937276689936&set=a.10150937268064936.434196.551479935&type=3&theater
To be continued.