ONWARDS TO KANGAR, PERLIS

After meeting my long lost friend and classmate at his home, (see my last posting) we proceed onwards to Perlis. We got back onto the North/South highway and it was an easy drive thereon. We got into Alor Star and checked into the hotel, rest awhile and then got ready to go to Kangar.

It is always my preference to stay in this particular hotel in Alor Star as it is located next to the main stadium and the public swimming pool with restaurants, food courts and food stalls nearby. There is a very large parking lot there too. This place is convenient for me as I have a place to jog and do my morning exercise routines. If I feel like a meal or a drink there are many food outlets to choose from.

We took the shorter route, the old road through the various villages, to Kangar, instead of using the highway. The distance traveled by using the highway will be double the distance by the old road but the travel time would be the same. This is because of the ‘nuisance’ traffic one comes across all along the old road. I call them ‘nuisance’ because you will find the slow coaches and the motorcyclists traveling slowly in the middle of the road without a care for the faster traffic behind them. Other than that you will have to be aware of people crossing the road, domestic animals included. You can sometime find a cow or two, standing in your path in the middle of the road!! All these nuisance aside, the drive is scenic as you will get to see the village sceneries, the simple life of the village folks as you drive along. I always enjoy doing this as it reminds me of my childhood days in the village. The highway cuts across rice fields and rubber or palm oil estates and the scenery is always monotonous. Anyway it takes about half an hour to travel from Alor Star to Kangar.

We arrived at the house in Kangar at about 6.00pm. Sita, Fahrul and baby Najla were already there, having flown there by Air Asia the day before. As always baby Najla was full of smiles and giggles when she saw us. However we noticed that she was always looking out for her mother and would become restless if Sita was not anywhere near her. I guess she was just confused and stressed out with the many people and unfamiliar faces around her. We spent some time playing with her. Other relatives were around too. There will be a thanksgiving prayer session later in the evening, after the evening prayers and close relatives had started to trickle in. My son-in-laws father works at the local University and he had the University’s Imam to lead in the prayers and the thanksgiving ceremony. We were done by 9.00pm and it was then time for food. Ram and I did not take lunch earlier in the day although we had tit bits and fruits that Ram brought along. So this meal was something we were looking forward to. They served rice with fried fish, curry fish, curry meat, vegetables and some appetizers. Oh food, food, food, glorious food. I was tempted to go for seconds but something told me no, no, no, your aneurysm remember!! I have to keep my weight down, reduce my blood pressure and so on so on. As always, food is the first contributing factor to all the ailments!!

We went back to the hotel at close to midnight. The next morning I woke up early, did my usual exercise routine, had breakfast and got ready to go back to Kangar. We arrived at the house when guests were just starting to trickle in. The invitation window was from 12 noon to 6.00 pm. Apparently there were quite a number of weddings in the region on that day. The caterer supplying food for this wedding had six other weddings to cater for simultaneously. And that was one caterer. There must be a number of caterers around and that would make a lot of weddings. True indeed, as most of the guest that arrive early said that they had two, some three and some four other weddings to attend for the day and had to rush through. Those that came later mostly said they came from another wedding, or this is the third, or this is the fourth wedding they attend and so on. It is traditionally the practice to hold wedding celebrations in a window of a few hours to cater for this sort of staggered attendance of guests. This particular caterer even made an error of supplying more food to this house. Judging from the food that was sent, there were a lot more than required for the number of invited guests. Invited guests were 1300 but the food received could have served 2000 guests. I am sure that one of the other six weddings had less food. Six weddings to cater for, each with varied amounts of food meant for anywhere between 1000 to 2000 guests, a normal number of invited guests at most Malay weddings, caterers are bound to make mistakes. Murphy’s law (if there is anything that can go wrong, it will go wrong at the most inopportune time or period) attest to it. I wonder how the unfortunate party handles the shortage of food.

The wedding couple came at about 1.30pm and went through the routine of “bersanding” that is sitting on a throne-like dais, the traditional ‘tepung tawar’ that is blessing the newlyweds, the ‘makan beradap’ that is wedding feast for the newlyweds and the standard picture taking sessions. As an elder, Ram and I were called upon, with other family elders, to perform the blessing of the newlyweds. That consists of sprinkling of saffron coloured raw rice, scented water and some other stuff on the newlyweds. For doing that I was presented with a boiled egg fixed on an artificial flower petal. So also were the others who blessed the newlyweds. This is to signify good life and offsprings for the newlyweds, I think. But generally the wedding ceremonies held nowadays are so much simplified that many traditions are slowly being forgotten.

Although the invitation window was until 6.00 pm there were still guests trickling in after that and even as late as 9.00pm. And I know that the hosts would genuinely welcome them. Generally Asians would accommodate the late comers, most would be late out of circumstances and not out of purpose. This is the Asian way and is usually accepted, and gracefully too. Asians do not normally turn away guests. They will accommodate them as best they can given the circumstances then.

Ram and I finally left the house in Kangar at about 10pm. One of my former staff and his wife were also attending a wedding somewhere in Alor Star. We arranged to meet over coffee at a sidewalk café not too far away from our hotels. Finally got back to the hotel at about 1.00am.

The next day, a Sunday, we drove back to KL. Traffic on the highway was rather heavy on this day. The rest areas along the highway were all crowded with people and parking lots full, and the toilets…….. oh my…. long queues. The food and drink stalls at these rest areas were really doing roaring business, cash registers clink non stop!!!

We have another wedding invitation, near our house, to attend. The invitation window was until 4.00 pm. We arrived a little later than that but there were still many guests arriving even after 5.00pm. So, the practices in Kangar and the practices in Petaling Jaya are not much different as far as wedding goes. Whether this will change in time is left for the imagination, given the tendency of the current younger generation to shed traditional values and try to adopt, or even ape the so called modern, western values. Is our traditional values backward thus disadvantageous? …… is the western values modern and advantageous? ……. I just wonder. …….. and ponder……

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya.