Our story : Chapter 3 : Her Big Family

Her Big Family

            To know Siti, you have to know her roots. She was always proud with her big family. We Malays (or us if you are a Malay also) we love our family, as distant and as however the relationship of the family ties were. Uncles, aunties, cousins, 2^nd cousins, nieces and nephews, we recognize each other. We visit and revisit each other. We laugh and cry together as one big family. Siti had been blessed with a very big family.

Even though her father was an only child, but Mr. Johar‘s (after this will be refer as ‘abah’. He is anyway, by law (not by choice) my father…) father had three other wives. Each wife had sons and daughters that even Siti unable to count. Everywhere we go in Johor, we always met someone who is her uncle, aunties, cousins, and so on so forth. Magically she knew what to call them, either ‘wak’ (a man or woman who is older than the father), ‘cek’, (a man or woman who is younger than the father) or just ‘abang’(big brother) and kakak  (big  sister). I, on the either hand was confused, dumfounded whenever I saw any of her family (at first, now without her I’m worst!) . She told me just called them ‘abang’, and they will correct you if you are wrong, so to me, they are all ‘abang’ and ‘kakak’. 

Mrs. Tugarah (after this will be referring as ‘Mak’) has a lot of siblings, with only one mother and one father. Mak have four brothers and five sisters. If I’m not mistaken, my mother in law is the 4^th from ten siblings. So, you can imagine how many her cousins were. I can’t remember all their names but a few stuck and also closed to me, even now.

I introduced to you her family because in the coming stories of her, these people will make their appearance. More than once. Almost all the family knew her. That make it easier for me, when any of them asked me who am I? I just told them, “I’m Siti’s husband”, and they accepted me in their foil. Almost everyone came to her funeral, but not all, of course. We lived in Semenyih. Siti’s family lived at all over Johore. Her parents and grandparents lived at Kampung Seri Belahan Tampok, Rengit. The nearest big town is Batu Pahat, and it is eighty kilometers away.

She loved her family, and they loved her. She always bring cheers and happiness to wherever and whatever the time and place was. When they knew that she had cancer, everyone was supporting and behind her, in spirit most of them.

Siti's Family with Hassan's family

... to be continued