Bring 'Em Cards Out!

Although we did not mention the busy schedules that we had in April in our last ramblings, April nonetheless was an exciting month to Ainul and I. To begin with, Ainul, Nuruiani, Mahatun, Azizah ( Aida’s mother - our "besan" ) and Zaharah ( Ainul’s first cousin ) took a ladies outing to Bangkok , followed almost a week or so later, minus Azizah , to Puncak, Indonesia. Whilst the three ladies were on a shopping trip there, Ainul was on a special errand for the sickly. Over at Puncak it is the home of the traditional healer Haji Deden, whose late father once successfully treated and healed me of suspected lung cancer.

Following that treatment that I had, countless others who heard of it, had also gone there for various other illnesses, the latest of which for another cancer treatment for lady politician who was a very close friend of the Tuanku Permaisuri Raja Ampuan Perlis, the wife of the third Yang Di Pertuan Agong. Hence later on by a special invitation of her Royal Highness, the Puncak healers group had a fully paid trip to KL, where they remained for almost two weeks, but residing at our house, since we have always been more familiar than others to them. The period when they were in KL kept both of us ‘working’ full swing too, with transport and sickly visitors to our house everyday. Of course we are not complaining. It feels nice to help the needy in need of help .What pays off for Ainul and I was that we now become close friend of Her Royal Highness and her immediate family members and countless others from Tan Sri’s and Datuks and Yang Berhormat and others. That’s reward enough for our little efforts.

Just to put on record, we were invited to see "SIX2EIGHT in THEN2NOW" musical performance by very talented Malaysian singers of mixed races and aged from twenty one to the fifties who delighted us with the evergreen plus satirical lyrics on current happenings and neighborly relationship Malaysia / Singapore. It was a show worth attending, not because our nephew Wan Azneal was in it and playing major role in musical sounds, dances and voice harmony to which he was really fantastic and to us the backbone of the show, but a show that’s worth your money and time. Congratulations Neal and may you continue to achieve greater success in future shows. To members of our web site, please do not fail to book in for their future shows. By the way, Neal is no longer the law keeper for Tenaga National and quits the job after eight years there and like the late Sudirman, he decides to be in show business instead ! Good Luck , Neal !

wan azneal

Hence towards the end of April, to be exact on 27th April last month, Ainul and I decided to take a break from the busy time we have had plus all those gin rummy days of funs and fights with Sabri, Nuruaini, Mahatun, Mazuin, Fazlinatun, Katherine and others who happened to come our way. Having gin sessions in our house or at Sabri’s place have become almost institutional in our daily lives for the last year or so to the extend that if we do not play the game, the day becomes somewhat boring !

Sabri, despite his "On-Call" schedules, would seldom miss the game. In fact between the two of them - Sabri and Nuruaini, they blame each other for the over-enthusiasm in the game. As for Mahatun, we just cannot do without her. She is about the most hardworking and reliable score keeper we have ever had. Even in the good old days when John Arman Jennrich was with us, apart from the game of Monopoly when John would be the Banker, since he trusted none of us to be one, John himself trusted Mahatun’s score keeping. Mention food and drinks in our house, these are always available and in abundance simply because everyone seems to bring something each time we meet for the game.

Thus Sabri said he has a hard time trying to lose weight in our house - the same being said by the others too - something nice to our ears ! Anyway, both of us need to take this break, more so towards the last few sessions, Sabri had shown so much improvements in his game by being more attentive and selective to his cards deck and to top it all, Lady Luck was always with him. The bad old days when he would be the first to come out winner but ended the looser for the night, all seem to fade away. With Sabri on the winning streak and Ainul and I being the losers for these past weeks it’s about time we do something. As they say, when the luck is not right, best to abandon the game till the next time around, which was what this April break was about for the two of us.

written by Tunku Farid
edited by Aida Halim