Family Gathering in Bintulu

There are four birthdays in the month of February in my family. Ram and the three Bintulu grandchildren were all born in February with Baby Haadieya sharing the same birthday with Ram. Shaffik suggested that all of us gather in Bintulu and we agreed. Tessa, Sita and Fahrul took leave from work for a few days while Ram’s sisters, Siti and Shidah followed as well. Eight of us, including baby Najla, used the popular budget airline, Air Asia, to travel to Bintulu. We left PJ on Saturday afternoon, sent to the airport by Ram’s niece who has a MPV big enough to accommodate all eight of us. Shaffik and Mini were at Bintulu to meet us. They came in one car each to fetch all of us from the airport.

It has become customary for the two grandchildren to wait for us to open our bags on arrival in the house, knowingly expecting something from us. This trip was no different. In fact they had asked their mother to tell us to open our bags downstairs first before bringing them up into our room upstairs. We have got their birthday presents but we planned to wait for the proper gathering to pass the presents to them and not on our arrival as usual. So, Tessa bought a few boxes of chocolates to give them on our arrival as a decoy hoping that they will not expect other presents. But no!!. They got wise to our scheme. Babang continues to hover around the bags as usual while Dedek asked several times when we plan to open our bags, and that was after giving them the chocolates. So, I had to negotiate with them. I told them we will have a birthday gathering for them in a few days and they will get their presents then. They agreed but with Babang voicing a request that his present be wrapped with special ribbons! Phew!!

We spent the rest of the evening at home, with much eating, snacks and drinks while Najla and Haadieya was sizing up each other. The kids got along well later in the evening. It was very nice for Ram and I to have all our children and grandchildren together under one roof and Siti and Shidah tagging along was an added bonus. We joked, we laughed and we had a wonderful evening. We look forward to the next few days together in Bintulu, starting tomorrow when Shaffik, Mini and her parents had planned to take all of us to the ‘kampong’ or to the Longhouse belonging to Mini’s family. More about this trip later…..

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Bintulu