WEDDING Part 1 @ FELDA SG KLEMAH

If I am asked how many nephews and nieces do I have, I will need to scribble the names before I can give the number. And it is no guarantee that I will be correct. That's me and they called me "ayah chik".


Likewise, I cannot readily give an answer how many grand-nephews and grand-nieces that this "tok chik" have at the last count.


But this blog is not about the extended family of my late father and mother. It is about the much-awaited wedding of the last of my sister's (Ramlah) son - Shamsul Adzmir bin Hamzah. This "goat smile" sums it all.



Adzmir has every reason to smile. He scored a perfect 10. There was NO REPEAT for the akad. I was one of the two witnesses. However, his vocal chord somehow cannot strike a high pitch, tapi tak sumbang! And there was no "male sweat" trickling down his forehead. Lucky too that my hearing was still perfect. I suspected he was practising the akad throughout the night before and through the entire 3 hour journey to the bride's house in Felda Sg Klemah, somewhere in Gemas.




I suspect too that his 3 married brothers coached him. Yes, Adzmir has no sister. There is no Jane in the family, all Tarzans! The only lady in the house is their mother, my sister Ramlah.

Ramlah is a retired teacher. Now in her mid-60s, she proudly declares that throughout her teaching career, she DID NOT TAKE A SINGLE DAY OF MEDICAL LEAVE! Hei, I am proud of you sis (err...a little bit ashame of myself la). She also used to be the fastest 100m runner in Kelantan in her school days.

So back to the akad ceremony, it was performed in the mosque in this Felda scheme. The bride's father gave away his daughter. Contrary to his son-in-law to be, the father required several coaching from the Imam while Adzmir was quietly rehearsing the akad.

Again back to the ceremony, there is always the adat "membatalkan air sembahyang" and Adzmir was pretty amateurish in his attempt to put on the gelang on his wife, Siti Sarah. Obviously there was no trial run for this part of the program. Obviously they bear the brunt of the jokes from the family members and the smiles on their faces say it all.

The akad over, our entourage was brought to a house to wait the bersanding ceremony. We feasted on heaps of rambutan, freshly plucked from the trees in the compound. You can get this only in a kampong wedding.

This is a special occasion. We have the entire sibling together under one roof and we took the opportunity to have our family photo taken.

And there are nine of us, with only 2 boys. Considering my brother and I were grossly outnumbered, we were lucky we did not become "lembut". The oldest, Zainab is seated. The rest are positioned chronologically from left to right - Ramlah, Kamariah, Ramli, Zainun, Rahimah, Rahimi (Mahmood), Rohana and Rokiah.

But I prefer this pose!

Fun time over, it was then the procession for the bersanding. The usual sound of traditional music followed the procession

and in no time they were comfortably seated on the dais

and we were soon feasted and it was time to let the newly weds to be on their own. The following day in Seremban, it will be the "menyambut menantu" for my sister. Another day, another reception.