My youngest sister is only a year older than my eldest offspring. Last Sunday her previous college held its second convocation and she was one of its graduands. Incidentally I was in KL to send Muhammad back to his college. Mak persuaded me to accompany them to the scroll-giving ceremony. I was a bit daunted to comply due to several experiences I faced during my own convocation, decades ago. You see, at that time (due to naivety) we were told that once you were in the hall, you were not to leave it till the auspicious occasion was over. So we had the impression that we had to prepare for hours of hunger/thirst and bladder retention! It was as if you were in a temporary state of complete isolation from the outside world. And I can't imagine myself sitting in the hall from 7.30 am till 4 pm, listening to continuous barrage of chak-lempong sounds hitting my eardrums!
But Mak profusely begged me with her "mak dah banyak korban untuk awak, tak kan awak tak boleh korban satu hari untuk mak?" look. And my sister, OG, didn't help either, by reminding me, how she spent hours outside my convo hall, eons ago, looking after 2 months old Muhammad then, just to let me recieve my scroll in peace!
So, I relented. So Mak, Bapak, Subky (I leave to your imagination to guess who this guy is) and I, marched into the vast hall and chose seats as near to the exit as possible, so that Mak can access the loo easily and I can leave when I decide that I've had enough of chak-lempong music, :))
7.00am- started out from mak's place
7.30am- entered the hall after being given a small bottle of mineral H2O and 2 cupcakes to share amongst 4 people!
8.00am- no sign of the event rolling off as stated in the agenda. The gay sounds of chak-lempong playing a myriad of popular tunes, by then were filling up the sombre air.
8.30am- boredom seized me and I started texting messages to a blogger friend, telling her that I am being held prisoner and starved to death!
9.00am- marching in of the college chairman Datuk *****, YB Dr Masyitah and dignitaries.
9.20am- the chairman gave his speech
9.23am- I entered slumber zone zzzzZZZZZZ (didn't ask mak regarding my sleeping manner though. But I am sure I didn't snore nor adopt the open-mouth posture or did I??? (that would have looked very distasteful on the 2 big screens on the wall!)
9.30 am- Dr Masyitah gave her speech and I was still unconscious, occasionally aroused and heard her sweet voice reading her english text and dozed off again...
9.40 am- the graduands filed up to receive their scrolls and we had a tough time guessing which was my sis, as we were very far up. As sis is short and petite, we had mistakenly thought it was her each time someone of a similar built appear in line.
It was then that I realized that my blogger friend had tried calling me whilst I was asleep!! Her husband and her, had felt sorry that I had to endure the hours without breakfast and decided to go all the way and brought me lots of foodstuffs and drinks!
I rushed out and met them downstairs. What a great surprise. Meeting them for a second time, brought back sweet memories of our first fellow-ship meet at BTSH.
It was embarrassing indeed for I didn't think that my text: "....tak breakfast lagi. Lapar!..." had caused them to take all the trouble and brought me all the goodies! Sandwiches, cookies, chocolates, buns, pisang salai, drinks...if I had mats, I would have picnicked by the stream under the shady trees nearby!
To both of them, I can't thank enough! Jazakillah hairan kathira! Allah has blessed me with another two beautiful friends. Alhamdulillah!
*this entry is dedicated to Pycnogenol and Beloved.
A mother is just a human
9 years ago
20 comments:
Oh..that was just a little service that we render to you, our good friend, and hope to just forget about it, but it was so sweet of you to have the whole entry dedicated to us.
As we have said earlier, the pleasure was ALL ours.
"When you're good to others, you are best to yourself." - Benjamin Franklin.
Assalamualaikum..
Wow.. what a nice treat! Next time, I'll do that when I run out of money for food! Hehe.. just kidding! Congratulations to your sister!
That was sweet..A friend in need is a friend indeed..
Hehehe if anyone ever fed me while I was hungry I'd consider that person a friend forever. :)
Lovely entry. Was reminded of my own boring convos (unfortunately, the ones in UK are just as boring! Always bring a book!) The fun bit is watching people with funny hats parade down to the front row.
I find it admirable that the speakers managed to restrain themselves to only 10 minutes each. Maybe in the future it can be 5? Hehehe.
waktu saya konvo tahun lepas secretariat berpesan ketika rehearsal: "esok datang pkl 7 pagi untuk persediaan perarakan graduan."
kami bertanya: "bila mau sarapan? kantin bukak pkl 730"
mereka menjawab: "sarapan disediakan"
mereka tipu.
500++ graduan terpaksa mengambil skrol dalam keadaan lapar. nasib baik tiada yang pengsan.
that was a kind sweet thing to do. :)
my convocation, which wasn't that long ago, was in the afternoon. parents weren't there at the time, so that was very different (melancholic at first, but really now, it was just getting a scroll. heheh).
but you know what the upside to it was? i got to hang out with my coursemates and consequently had more pictures taken than anyone else whom some have later complained that they didn't spend enough time with friends as family members rushed for them.
lapar! belum dinner!
(pesanan di atas khas buat kawan puan)
crude preacher? crude? PREACHER!!! hahahahha.
Sengaja dilaparkan sebagai simbolik kepada graduan-graduan itu yang lapar ilmu hanya hari itu menerima balasan mereka. Lain kali main sudoku. Lebih seronok.
(Pesanan ini khas buat Abdullah Jones yang belum dinner)
"You have to be my friend first. DITH is already your friend...Let's see now, whether she'll come running to you with all the goodies...he..he..." ;)
pycnogenol, ouch!
ho ho ho (gaya manusia bulat berjanggut putih lebat memakai baju sejuk kemerahan)
Keep snoring DITH.
Welcome to the world of CONVOCATIONS!
So you were held captive with two cupcakes to share among 4? Poor you.
Wow...Pycno,
That`s very noble. Shows that though some things worsen, certain things also go for the better.
DITH, the kueh koci next time or something better.
Who doesn't love people who bring them goodies when they're hungry? I know I do :) now I really must make inquiries on the breakfast policy during the convos here!
Pycno- Do you know that the pisang salai made good travelling snack? :)) Yes, iKelah and I munched them on the highway back home
Ayumi-your turn will come soon! :)
Easylady- Indeed!
Kenakelayan- so who'll be at your convo? OK, Ma and PA?
NB- your experience is so similar to ours that day!
23- your convo sounds so enjoyable
AJ- awak selalu dinner masak apa?
Keng- awak main sudoku jugak ke?
Sayuti- Tipah/Tapa tertipu! Agaknya ini trend org Malaysia berconvo ek?
Count- zzzzzz
Bogey- dear brother, I actually made 30 kuih koci for you that 'fateful' day. My mistake was to follow my dad's advice to alter the recipe to his liking. Voila! I ended up with 30 kuih koci yg tak menjadi! Habis melekat pada daun pisang! So I did make for you on your request that day but...:(....tak de rezeki..
crimson- You better do!
Dith,
Tak pe tak pe. Rezeki tu tertangguh aje to make way untuk rezeki yang lebih baik insyallah. Nanti boleh make up. Nak kueh seri muka pulak.
For your info, the chocolates was from J.B.and pisang salai from Air Hitam (from our recent trip down south) and the rest from Danao Kota. Pisang salai has always been my all-time-favourite too. ;))
DITH. agaknya lah kot.
pycno... sedap pisang salai tu.ia menghilangkan mengantuk waktu our long journey back home after sending our son Muhammad to his college. dan maaf bebanyak kerena menyusahkan u n ur wife layan dr yang lapar n mengantuk tu. :)
kami dah agak dah... benda-benda tu sure dari johor :)
thanks again.
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