Hari Raya At Grandparents' House

A scooter, just like Dad's

     I remember Dad used to have a scooter.  Vespa.  Usually on the first day of Hari Raya, Dad used to bring me and my siblings to grandparents' house at Kampung Tengah, Muar so that we could celebrate the memorable day and ask for forgiveness from out grandparents, Embah Jantan and Embah Rawiyah.  The road leading to Kampung Tengah was Jalan Bakri, Jalan Jeram tepi and Jalan Kampung Tengah; three roads paved with tarmac, smooth and nice to travel on.  However, Dad didn't use that road since we was ferrying so many people on one scooter, not fewer than four of us on every trip, and he said there were several policemen at Simpang Jeram.

     Therefore, Dad used another road, Parit Ulu, because there were no policemen guarding that road.  Using Parit Ulu road meant Dad had to go a longer route and also had to face the bad road condition.  Jalan Parit Ulu was only kampung road which ran along a very big drain which in turn led to Sungai Terap.  It was only paved with red pebbles, used by bicycles and motor cycles.  The road, I would rather call it a path; was a little bit windy and quite bumpy.  Hence, Dad could not ride fast.  He had to always keep his eyes  on the road so that we did not land into the undergrowth.  From time to time, Dad had to cross a small drain which led to the big drain using a small bridge made of a few tree trunks.

     During the ride, I would stand on the floor of the scooter, holding on to the handlebars.  Mom would sit on the pillion rider while little brother sandwiched in between Dad and Mom.

A wooden house, better than Granddad's

     Grandparents' house was a wooden house partly built on stilts.  The kitchen compartment was built on the ground without any use of concrete which means the floor was earthen floor.  At a corner was a wooden platform more or less 6 feet long and 4 feet wide which we called 'amben'.  It was on this platform that we ate 'ketupat'.

     While we were there, I used to smell a kind of pungent smell, which I was not sure where it came from.  Then I realized that grand dad used to hang dry rubber sheets under the roof just above our heads, before selling them.  No wonder...