Wayang Kulit

I remembered a scene from my past. It was night and my brothers and sisters were very excited. Our 'Tok Ayah' had promised to take us somewhere special that night. We were bundled into the car and after a short ride arrived at the special place. It was the field near our grandparents' house. That night we can see many people there. I wondered what was happening. Then, our 'Tok Ayah' found a place for us to sit amongst the crowd. Everyone was sitting on a 'tikar'. In front of us was a big white screen. After a while, the magic started. It was a 'wayang kulit' performance.

picture taken from www.cuti.com.my/Sub/Kelantan/culture5.jpg

As children, it was mesmerizing for me and my siblings to be watching such performance in front of us. The droning of the music at the background and the fluent story telling accompanied by shadows of past kings, princesses, villains and heroes swishing through was pure magic. The audience was transfixed to the screen. Time flew by unnoticed. We regretted the end of the show and our journey back. What happened to that magic now? I've never heard a 'wayang kulit' performance being held anymore even though I'm living in Kelantan. The young ones are missing a lot now. I asked my little sister if she knows what 'wayang kulit' is. She said, "Of course I do. It's like the ubat batuk cap Ibu and Anak ad!"

It's a pity.

Chelsea!

Chelsea's coming! Chelsea's coming! Chelsea's coming! Jump for joy! Hooray! Hoorah!......................


Dem! I wont be going!

Father/Mother-less

I just finished marking my students’ essays about themselves. Something I always do at the start of a new semester. I ask them to tell me about themselves. It’s always nice to be knowing a bit about your students before the lessons start. The students always manage to surprise me with their essays. One thing that I found from this semester’s essays is that many of the students came from a single parent family. They wrote about how they live in Malacca, for example with the mother while the father is in Terengganu. They wrote about how strong their mothers are for having to care for them and their siblings alone. They wrote about how they missed their father but they can always visit. They sound very casual like it’s the most usual thing to happen. I, on the other hand find it not as casual or normal. Coming from a family where my parents are always together and many siblings to accompany me growing up, I find it quite disturbing. Deep in my heart I pity these students. Maybe I’m wrong to pity them but I can’t help myself. I think there’s something lacking when they came from a single parent family. I don’t know why the parents broke up. I don’t know why the mother or father went away. I don’t know whether the students are truly casual and OK with their situation. However, I do know that by observation I can see more and more students don’t have their mother or father with them. Will this affect their personalities? The way they behave? The way they would react to others? Something must be wrong somewhere.. right?