Saturday, September 19, 2009

My Sad Journey to Bukit Mertajam on the Eve of Hari Raya

19 September 2009

Due to the passing away of Mak, we had postponed our trip to Bukit Mertajam to join my siblings for Hari Raya celebrations.

We were supposed to have left on 17 September (that was the day we actually camped at Serdang Hospital keeping vigil at Mak's bedside). She had succumbed to urine infection and bacteria which had spread throughout her body on 18 September 2009. May Allah bless her. We were in a way grateful to God for blessing her passing away in the month of Ramadhan and on a Friday.  Al-Fatihah to Mak.

 
The above pics were taken during Hari Raya Haji in 2007,
the first picture ever taken with Mak and Bapak, together with most of their grand children
(All my four kids are pictured here, but I think Tini's two kids are missing)

In fact, we were not even sure whether we could make it to BM this year as her condition was erratic the last few days before she left us.

As we had buried her yesterday, my husband and I decided to proceed with our journey to BM. It was a truly sad affair, particularly for my husband who had just buried his mum the night before. We reckoned that we, and particularly my children would be more miserable and devastated had we remained in KL to celebrate Hari Raya here.

If truth be known, KL is usually like a ghost town during Hari Raya.
I only started packing this morning (after sahur) as I was too exhausted the day before and also because of the uncertainty surrounding mak's condition.

After sending my father-in-law and my maid to my sister-in-law's house in Bangi, we pushed off to Bukit Mertajam, in what I would describe as a "deathly journey", as everyone was quiet and sad in the car given what had happened the day before.

We left in two cars, my husband, Khairi and Khairil in one car and Khiarul, Ina and I in Khairul's spanking brand new Satria Neo.

And the traffic jam along the South-North highway didn't help either. Most of the time, we were crawling at a snail's pace.  There were a couple of accidents and cars breakdown along the way, which had worsened the traffic flow.

We had left Cheras around 12:00 p,m and had only arrived in Juru just before 8:00 p.m.  We had buka puasa in the car with some drinks and snacks.

None of my siblings knew that I was going back to BM as they thought we had abandoned the idea of spending Raya in Penang. So, when we arrived, everyone was surprised.

By the time we reached 9, Jalan Tanah Liat, Bukit Mertajam, it was well close to 10:30 p.m and just in time to hit the sack.

All in all, it was really a sad journey to BM as no one was in the mood to celebrate, except probably for my kids who were so looking forward to meeting their cousins, uncles, aunties and second cousins.

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