A letter to my sayang mamas 2

Hello all,

Awang Goneng will be at MPH Midvalley on 20th January 3-4pm for a booksigning session.

Hope to see all of you there.

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We are now in Penang where AG is giving a talk on his book at USM on 17th December (ooops- its January!!) at 9am (while yours truly will be talking about what she does for a living.)

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My dearest ones,

It has been a while since I last wrote as we do not have internet access all the time. Daddy and I are now familiar faces at the internet café in front of the KLCC surau after we’ve had a spot of breakfast at Delifrance. We pay RM8.00 an hour, which is a bit steep, but it is worth it because the place is clean and most important of all, we do not get people standing right behind us reading our emails!

I am now back at Pak Ajie’s after sending Daddy off at the UKM station heading for Gombak. Everyone is fast asleep. Tok must be so tired as she had had a long day today. We all trooped off for breakfast at Taman Warisan and Tok enjoyed a a bowl of mee curry which was actually someone else’s. She forgot that she had ordered nasi lemak. That is Tok. But it is amazing that there are certain things that she doesn’t forget. She was telling Hilman on his first day at school, that I actually cried and kept running out of the classroom on my first day at school! And that must have been some ^%$#@ years ago!

Tonight I am sharing Hilman’s and Iman’s room and watching them sleep so peacefully, I thank Allah that they are safe and sound surrounded by their loved ones. I hope and pray that five year old Nini who went missing a few days ago, is also sleeping safe and sound and being cared by someone who will not harm her but will return her soon to her parents. Yes, not another one, I hear you say.

It is every parents’ nightmare and this happened not long after poor Nurin Jazlin was found in such a sorry state after being abducted for nearly a month. There are some very unsavoury characters around and it is sad that we have to bring up children to be suspicious of people.

When all of you were small, I used to be so paranoid – I believe I am still so. I’d hold your hands so tight that it hurt. I used to sew our phone number inside your clothes, just in case. Let us pray that Ninie will be returned to her anxious parents, soon. Real soon.

It has been more than a month since we said goodbye at Heathrow and I remember thinking “It is going to be a long two months away from all of you!”

If truth be told, I really don’t know where time went. The Singapore book launch seems like a year ago and we’ve been whizzing up and down the country – all GUiT related trips. So far, we’ve been back to Trengganu twice and I must admit I have fallen in love with the place AND the people.

Remember I told you that after the booksigning in Kuala Terengganu, we were invited back by the Chief Minister of Terengganu. He suggested a wonderful and interesting idea – which materialised into an event called Sembang-sembang Awang Goneng. And that happened on 7^th January at 3 pm at the Kelab Warisan on Pulau Duyong.

For the event, your cousin Mi and his wife Na bought Daddy a silk batik shirt. I must say I have never seen Daddy in a batik shirt and there’s always a first. I was presented with a similar piece of material which I sent to Mak Su’s tailor who made a baju kurung for me, fit for the occasion. Daddy was expecting about 50 people to turn up – instead, when we entered the grand hall, there were about 300 people , mostly pensioners and people old enough to remember events, people mentioned in GuiT. There was a big picture of Daddy on the screen and that was enough to give him a heart attack! Daddy talked for quite a bit, remembering his growing up days in Kuala Trengganu but when he spoke about the need to keep the people, the soul of the city, in the city, to grow with the development, he got a bit emotional and couldn’t speak for a while. I have never seen him like that, but then again, he had never been invited by the state to speak about his hometown. After the talk, the MB invited people to sembang-sembang, and exchange stories on Trengganu, but quite a few people stood up to speak about their concerns. A few spoke about the need for local writers to be recognised. Yes, I do agree with that.

Before the food arrived at our table, Daddy was surrounded by people carrying GUiT, courtesy of the state government. I don’t know how he managed to stand and sign all copies – but that he did, while answering lots of questions and posing for photographs.

Read about it here.

Earlier in the morning, he gave a talk at Universiti Darul Iman and considering students had classes to attend, many turned up and the hall was ¾ full. Suffice to say, Daddy is really enjoying doing the university rounds, speaking about creative writing, blogging and journalism.

We met a lot of people this time, his ex-classmates organised a reunion and one former teacher, his English teacher, in fact, turned up. The next day, his maths teacher came all the way from Ipoh after reading his book. If my maths teacher were to turn up searching for me, I’d run miles in the opposite direction!

Anyway, the stay in Trengganu was great. We stayed an extra day at Primula because I fancied
a walk along the beach after subuh. Every night I’d look out of the balcony – the south china sea right at our doorsteps! We could hear the roar of the waves lapping the beach…its mesmerising, fascinating but scary. I was in awe of nature , this creation of God. So, one morning, we decided to take a walk along the beach, and test the water, so to speak.

But, let me tell you something. A thing of beauty can also be dangerous.

Some very interesting people came to meet Daddy and one of them was French lady who had made Pulau Duyong her home. I remember visiting her in the 70’s. I just couldn’t reconcile the fact that we have all decided to adopt a foreign land but when asked where is home?, we had the same answer: wherever we happen to be at that time. I remember pencilling in “Going home “ in my diary on 2^nd December. And I am home now. And when we meet again, that is home too for that is where you all are.

Daddy is doing more booktalks at universities in Penang and two more in Selangor. He is really enjoying it. He seems to be in his elements talking about writing. Anyway, Pak Su, Mak Su and I took him to an Indian barber yesterday. I was worried that they’d do a real goneng on him, so we briefed the barber carefully. We looked through Bollywood magazines on the rack, no, not the shahruh khan look, nor the kapoor brothers. Pak Su helpfully said: Yul Bryner!

Well, this will be all for now and I don’t know when I can get my hands on a computer with internet connections again. Will call. Missing you all lots but take this time to be together, look after each other and be friends, not just brothers and sisters. And of course don’t forget Tabby, Gizmo, Kissinger, Moaner and Snowbell. They are your siblings and friends too. Here, Daddy keeps feeding stray cats.

Oh yes, there will be a booksigning at MPH Midvalley on 20^th Jan. 3-4 pm. Come lah…..hehe!

Lots of love,

Mama