on the eve of eid mubarak...

nothing like lemang prepared the tradtional way, the way it should be done always..

wak gimin at 83...and his lemangs...

lemang oh lemang..where art thou...

my first primary school (1961-1963) sultan adulllah primary school kuantan...

the house, well, the spot, not the house, where i was born...hehe

This afternoon like all other afternoons, on the eve of Eid Mubarak, I'd go about my usual chores. Washing the car at the favourite Mobil station, in town, was one of them. Then I'd quickly make my way to Bukit Setongkol, the once quaint little, predominantly javanese village where I was born. Embah Babut, Embah Sitom (my late grandmother) have all passed away a long time ago. Datuk Johan Jaafar, on his regular saturday column in NST said that this year he would join his predominantly javanese folks kampong at Sungai Balang, Muar, Johore, for the javanese ritual called 'baraan'. I went straight to the back of Wak Gimin's home, beside the house I was born in. He was there, that frail 83 year old man. Watching diligently, his lemangs over the fire lest they might get overcooked or at worst, burnt. He recognised me intantly cos whenever I am back to celebrate Eid Mubarak in Kuantan, I never fail to get a few sticks, well bambo sticks of lemangs from him. He has been burning the lemang as far back as my childhood days. The lemang is glutinous rice, carefully prepared with coconut milk, placed in banana leaf and carefully inserted into well-chosen bamboo and placed at about a 70% angle beside a delicate charcoal fire, to be simmered away. It takes a couple of hours before the lemang is done.

Now back to Wak Gimin. He was telling me the banana leaf used to cost just 20 sen, it is now 40 sen piece. The flour used to be RM2. Its now RM4 ringgit a kilo. The bamboo is getting difficult to get because the orang asli burned the bambo areas in the nearby jungle so they can build their new habitat. So, I guess u guessed it right, hehe. His lemang, the medium ones, is now RM11 a piece. But its worth every bit of it. I tested one just now during the fast break...whoala...mama miyya...smooth man...it melts in your mouth...just as I had predicted. Old javanese men, like wak gimin will take his skills away with him when he is gone..unless he transfers them to his children, which I doubt, cos I notice none of them (his children) seemed to be interested.

Again, as usual, I took the oportunity to pay the alms (fitrah/zakat) at the mosque at bukit setongkol. That too has gone up. It's RM7.30 per person now in Kuantan. I took a foto of my primary school at the junction of Jalan Dato' Wong Ah Jang. This Hari Raya seems a liitle more nostalgic then previous years. I wonder why. In 2006 I was celebrating it at Odaiba, Tokyo and there wasn't any nostalgia at all..hehe. I dunno...age is catching up perhaps..which reminds me that Tan Sri Arshad will also be 80 this coming november and his favourite line would be...'age does not matter; what matters must not age..' hehe.. ok folks...don't forget to wake up early for tomorrow morning's Eid Mubarak's morning prayers...and it starts at 9.00 AM here at the bukit setongkol mosque...