Provehito In Altum: Simplicity

My trip to Perlis was okay. Arriving there, I didn't feel so good due to too much angin in my digestive system. We went for a laksa treat later that evening but I assure you I still prefer the one I usually eat if I visit Balakong. That one over there is the champion, I tell ya.

On the second day, I was not ready for the hotel breakfast session because I wasted an hour or so watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation on Cinemax the night before. It was such a stupid and pointless movie. It is a piece of crap. Seriously. After breakfast, we drove off to my younger brother's foster parents' home. It was situated in a fishermen village.

We were welcomed so warmly by the makcik who is my brother's foster mother while he is in Perlis. The house was a humble one and simple. The family even takes care of a very old lady; in her 80s to be exact. She couldn't walk and she didn't hesitate to ask my mother to massage her palm. Then she started talking about her life. She has a home nearby but she didn't live there anymore. Her children all died and she was sick. She had grandchildren but they seldom come home.

The family man was not home that day; according to the wife, he might be fixing the fishing nets. She served us laksa (people in Perlis do eat laksa for breakfast) and fried meehoon. Being a laksa maniac, I had a plate of it. It was okay despite the glutinous condition of the laksa. The makcik talked about how monstrous my brother is when it comes to food and she shared stories about her kids and her life in the village.

I learned that the people in the village are all related to each other and that they are such a close-knit community. The P.Ramlee's idea of criss-cross marriages in the movie Keluarga 69 actually happens in the village, which I find amusing. My sisters later were interested to see kittens that the lady opposite the house were taking care of. I took them there and together with other children, they watched as the lady fed the kittens milk using a needle-less syringe. I offered my hand for salam but she refused since she thought her hands were sticky from the milk. She is also mute, but she was really nice.

Another makcik dropped by at the house. She lives next door and she loves to talk. LOL. She talked about her involvement in politics and how it turned different after higher positioned people in the parties began electing their family members, practising favouritism. She eventually refused to participate anymore and she is pretty rich actually. She has a few business and saves up her money for her own expenditures. She enjoys traveling and I tell you, she has been traveling the entire globe. Tabik spring la makcik! She advises us to not give a damn about what people do and say. Just do what we have to do and live rightfully and we will be happy.

The whole ambience was just memorable. I am amazed by how simple their lives are.