COUSINHOOD

THOSE WERE THE DAYS...


My cousin and I spent most of childhood and teenagehood days at 1 Jalan Madrasah. Those were one of our happiest moments. I added below our conversation through mails as now many of us are scattered all over the world. But distance is not an excuse for us not to keep in touch. We have got technology to thank for shrinking the world and keeping us connected.
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Extract from Haslina's mail
Love the pics!!!
OMG!!....look at all of us !!.......young and INNOCENT!!
Now......still young but not so innocent!!...LOL!!
Thanks Zul!!
BTW.....I know Tipah is the fairest!!....but she must put some additional 'tepong' on that cute face!!
She look too damn white!!!.....LOL!!

LOve to ALL
Haslina


Photo taken in 1966

A HILLOCK GATHERING

OUR BRIEF ENCOUNTER


The gathering of four generation of the Madar Clan family
The powerful ladies of the Madar Clan

Tok Latif enjoying his tea

Mum with Hadi

Cik Munah with Manap

Cik Majid with Syukur

Cik Ansari with Rashid, our eldest cousin

With Noraini from Penang

Ratna, Ros, me and Ina

The bride and groom - Haimi and Ratih

We love all of you, Ros seems to be saying

Kak Dah, Cik Timah and Cik Amy with Hassan's wife

With more relatives from Malaysia

Manap, Rashid and Ahmad - all brothers

Having teh tarik amidst the cool evening breeze

With Datin Yati

A shot with the newly-wedded couple

Hussein and Bayah in the centre.

Shap, Hussein and Yusuf

A reunion after so many years of not meeting up

Mum, Cik Amy, Baayah and her daughter-in-law

Rashid with his bevy of lovely girls

With cousins from Penang

Lat, Hussein and Isa

The lovely new house of Hussein on top a hillock

Nani and Syukur offer us their warm hospitality at Kemensyah Heights

Two sisters, Hajjah Maimunah and Hajjah Sabiah

Peace to the world, says peace woman Ina

The familiar faces again

THE MADDENING DRIVE

The nine of us left Singapore at the unearthly hours - five minutes past midnight. Our destination - Cousin Nani's Kemenshah Heights bungalow, 255 km away, an exclusive residential area at Taman Melawati, tucked behind the KL National Zoo. We whizzed along the deserted N-S highway to catch up for a wedding high-tea reception at our Cousin Hussein's place in KL. But our first stop was Kemenshah Heights before proceeding for the reception.

Stopping at Air Keroh around 3.45am for a refresher, we had the murtabak which I had brought along. Some ordered soto and nasi lemak while others had our caffeine to pump in the adrenaline rush and to keep the eyes open for another 100km away drive.

The calling of the subuh azan welcomed us when we reached Nani's house. After a quick hello and salam, all of us headed for our long-awaited rest and slumber on a more comfortable place you and I know as a bed. We had been on the road for six hours and had not slept behind the wheel, only catching forty winks when drowsiness forcibly overtook our conscious state of the mind.

Our next drive in KL city in the evening was to Hussein's house where the tea-reception was held. That was the main highlight for the short weekend trip and getaway. It was the gathering - The Madar Clan gathering which we had been waiting for. It was time to meet up with my cousins and their children from Johor, Kluang, KL and Penang.

A close to 80 relatives had come to celebrate Hussein's son wedding on top of a hillock overlooking a golf resort. In between the prata, mee and dessert, we flitted from table to table to chat and update ourselves with the latest news. The bantering of jokes and the shrieking of our laughter enveloped the golf course. There were endless hugs and kisses when we met. It was also a tough time remembering the names of long-lost cousins whom I had not met for more than three decades.

The passage of time had changed our weight, size and looks but somehow that little flicker of recognition of the familiar faces was still present. Our conversation or more of our giggles and shrieks, took us through our mini-skirt and Elvis Presley's epok-epok hairstyle days at Haw Par Villa, Changi Beach, Katong Park and Botanical Gardens till our tudung present moment. We also ploughed through our single Beatle heydays of "Hey Jude" and Rolling Stones' "Under The Boardwalk" to the current reality that soon many of us would be expanding our family circle when our our own children would start their own family, just like what Hussein's son had done.

We truly enjoyed the meeting of uncles and aunties with their nephews and nieces, the cousins with their second-cousins and the reunion of the fourth generation of the The Madar Clan when Nazri (Ahmad's son) brought his baby. The oldest family member presence was 88 years old and the youngest a three-month old baby girl. That was a gathering of four generations of the Madar Clan family under the white marquee tent ontop of a hillock for me to remember by. The drive up to KL had been worth it. I got to catch up with Fredo & the Flintstones at Concorde as well as a short shopping trip at Masjid India.

Am loking forward to more of such nostalgic congregation of cousins whom many I had grown up with. Our last mega gathering was in 2000 at Royal Scotts.

NAZRUL & SITI FAIRUZ BIG DAY
08 09 2009

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Nikah (marriage) is my Sunna. He who shuns my Sunna is not of me.”

To Nazrul and Fairuz

'May you lead a happy life as a wedded couple till death doth you apart'

Traditional Muslim weddings are always events of a lifetime, with every friend and distant relative attending, lavish costumes often adorned with gold or silver jewelry, and precise religious rituals to be followed. Thus you can imagine how much preparation and effort have to be put in for the miles long guest list to be pampered and the traditions and rich customs to be observed over a period of days and nights. The entire event planning could backdate a year earlier than the set wedding date.

Nevertheless, weddings are happy occasions and I, for one welcome these auspicious moments, especially those of beloved relatives. I see these moments as times where one deepens and strengthens one ties. These gatherings also act as platforms for the third generation family members to get to know the older ones and continue the family roots to replace the previous generation.

Who else in the Sheikh Madar Clan is getting married? Do let us know in advance.

Enjoy Siti Nurhaliza's 'Bukan Cinta Biasa'

NAZRUL'S JB WEDDING

TO NAZRUL & FAIRUZ

In our life there is a single color,
as on an artist`s palette,
which provides the meaning of life
and art.
It is the color of love.

Nazrul and Fairuz on their wedding day

The dashing looking groom

The demure looking Siti Fairuz

A wedding album with the groom's parents

Reception time for the couple and close family members

The table setting for the couple's tea reception

Groom' s siblings and family members

Couple with my family

Fairuz's mother and family members

Abang Ahmad menepong tawar the couple

Mum also blessed the couple on their happy day

Group photo with the bride's family members

Groom's mother welcoming the bride into the house compound

Couple looking replendent walking towards the groom's house

Abang Manaf and Tok Latiff

Mum and Maznah

Saedah's and Rohana's children

With Jannah - who broke the 16 year old Singapore's long jump record

Ramon and Manaf. Ramon was a 1980's singer and actor

Cik Amy and Gayah (Ramon's wife)

Mum and her PA - Tini

With Jameelah and Rohana

With Zubaidah, Ratna and Farid and the gang

A gathering of cousins and aunty

Qaish and his two body guards

A joyous moment to be together

With Yunus family and Hussein's daughter (far left)

Part of The Madar Clan

Syed Mustapha and Isa exchanging news after a long separation

We were the very first guests to arrive

Kak Ani with Siti greeted us at the gate

On Friday - the rewang night

We popped in on Friday for a night visit

The couple on eve of their wedding

Abang Ahmad inviting us two weeks before the wedding

GATHERING OF THE MADAR CLAN

08082009

Weddings bring about the gathering of many relatives, especially so when you a have large family to boast of. We congregated at Abang Ahmad's wedding for Nazrul's betroth to Siti Fairuz.

Relatives from across the causeway and all over Malaysia were there to join in the merriment and be part of the happening that day. I was there on Friday night itself, because my hubby had wanted to surprise his friend whom he had not met for the past twenty years. We were there again on Saturday with my mum.

I am just going to do a slide show presentation with photos which had captured the beautiful moments we spent together.

EVE OF WEDDING SLIDESHOW

~ 07082009~