My jetlag lasted a week or so. I'd be up religiously at 3 AM only to find my mum faithfully sitting by my feet waiting for me to awake. Then we'd tiptoe to the kitchen for an early breakfast. Or what should be an early tea break since we were still on American time.
Anyway, my first assignment as a graduate student was to MC my cousin's wedding at the Marriott Hotel. I had agreed on doing this months ago, but at the time I was too busy battling with exams and work to realize this was a big responsibility. I was just about to bask in my rightfully earned bum fair when my brother Angah gave me a stack of sample scripts to read before we wrote our own for the ceremony. There were probably about a dozen or so pantuns in the script, all written in formal Bahasa and classic Malay. It couldn't have been worst. Memories of SPM prosa klasik and whatnot came flooding back.
However, we managed a decent script for the ceremony. Naturally, I had to put up with a lot of nonsense from my brother since he's older and gets to bully me. Whenever I'd try to strike a conversation with him to calm my nerves before the ceremony began, he'd shush me and say, "Please Min, no talking. I'm in the zone" and he'd draw an imaginary box around him to punctuate his point. Brothers.But he did prove to be a great mentor. Thanks Angah for helping me out. I know you had as much fun as I did that night though I know it'll kill you to admit it :p
Anyway, here's one pantun we came across that I really like :)
Jangan diraut mengkuang darat,
Rotan saga dibuat raga,
Ikan di laut asam di darat,
Dalam belanga bertemu juga.
...for the curious, the rest of the pantun from the headline above goes like this...
Bangsa kita bangsa beradat
Adap beradap bersopan santun
Yang tua perlukan pengalamannya
Yang muda perlu dipandu
Agar adat tidak terbuang
Adat yang lama masih dipegang
Tidakkan rugi bangsa tak hilang
Tak lekang dek panas
Tak lapuk dek hujan
Adat dikelek agama dijunjung
Now with that MCing out of the way, I'm officially bumming around with my nieces and eating to my heart's content. I'm currently in the middle of cleaning out my room that I've left in a wreck for 4 years. I just realized I have 2 Michael Jackson cassettes stored at the back of my cupboard and a 'Raw is War' magazine stowed under it. I wonder what other treasures I will find today.
By the way, here are pictures of my graduation. Naturally, my trigger-happy mum snapped about 9 rolls of film :)
Dig in!
Newark Virginia Washington Pittsburgh New York