yang dah berlalu..

how time flies, kan.. baru je hari tu tahun baru, ni dh nak masuk bulan mei dh. Peh! Pederas je masa berlalu.. tapi memang banyak pun dh berlaku bila di kenang2kan..

January 2015

otw to Limau Kasturi

Was it a happy new year? It depends. If you were to be one of those revelers in big cities, surely new year eve would be a great time to party. But for the unfortunate, especially so the people in Kelantan and Terengganu as well as Pahang, it was a catastrophe. These states, specifically Kelantan, were badly hit by the flood. I was fortunate (sounds kind of irony, kn..) enough to see the damages myself. Because of the flood, school new session was postponed for another week. It was during that week, I together with few friends went to assist the folks in Limau Kasturi. We brought foods, drinks, gas cooker, comforters, blankets and slippers. When I reached Limau Kasturi that morning, (we left home some time after midnite) the scene that greeted me was a heart-wrenching one. I was so gutted that tears flowed down my cheeks. This was the kampung I had lived for a good five years, the place that taught me a great deal about life, and now, the place was no more the one that I once knew. It was devastating.

baju selut

The first impression I got was as if I was about to enter a cowboy town. It was dust here and dust there, dusty everywhere. Right after the flood water subsided, rain suddenly stopped. To make matter worse, there was no electricity and water supply. (it took almost a month for the water supply to be back to normal and until today there are still places where electricity is not yet restored..) I was dumbfounded for a while and I just did not know where to go since the damages were so overwhelming. After regaining my composure, I went straight for my closest buddies homes. What’s left of their homes were scattered planks of wood, concrete steps, ruined houses, fallen trees,  soiled clothes, brown-colored cars and bikes, all covered by layers of mud. To feel sorry would be an understatement. Especially so when you consider yourself one of them kampong people. Luckily all my friends were safe, no life was lost, though the damage had been done. Even pok su mat nor, who’s over 80 years old of age, said that he had never seen a flood as great as this. It was greater than bah merah which occurred in the late 1960’s then.

what's left

Except for three houses, the rest was submerged in water. I was told that the water hit the kampong around 10 in the morning, and twelve hours later, everything was under water. Even the train and the station and the school. Cikgu fnd had to move to higher ground for three times in one day. The third time when he took his family to safety using the sampan, they passed over the submerged train, just to let you know how high the water had risen by then. And this was done in the wee hour. I just couldn’t imagine how scary it was for him and his family.

My being there was a mere consolation for the people of Limau Kasturi. I knew most of them, so to meet every single person was a monumental task. I did my best to meet the people, but I was lost for words. What could I say to console them?

 kaum 

me n hani

In the midst of going around the kampong, I unexpectedly met farah hani imran, ex gymnast of Malaysia, a plastic surgeon, my niece, doing charity work with a group of hospital staffs. She was delighted to meet me there, and I took her on my friend’s bike to give her a thorough view of the damages around the place as well as meeting up with my fellow kampong folks. The sight at Limau Kasturi was so bad that when I left a few hours later, I felt so terrible and helpless. On the way home, we stopped at Manek Urai and couple of other villages. It was an unforgettable moment, this trip.

On another note, abil, who got 3 A’s in the pt3 was called for an interview for a kolej voke course. It was an aviation course with a private college, under the sponsorship from the Ministry of Education. I and my missus took him for the interview in Alor Setar on the 26th. While waiting for him to finish his test and interview session, I went to Taman Uda to meet pak su and mak su. Pak su is a step-brother to my mum. The visit was done out of respect and the fact that I previously had spent time there when I was a young boy in late 70’s. On the way home I told abil that I and his mum prayed hard and were still praying for his success in the interview. Abil was brimming with hopes and enthusiasm. Hopefully God would fulfill our dreams. And with that January was over..