It ended on Nov 24 but we took a few out to the Central Market yesterday before one by one of our guests flew home. Francis left on the train from Central Market. Prof Amzek, Carlotta and Sari came home with me after checking out and Amzek left at 4 pm then Carlotta at 10 pm ( Nik pandai2 buat plan with Andrew so I missed seeing her off naik taxi from my home).
We dropped Sari at KLIA Express this morning. Bak kata Edwin Thumboo..even my family is turned into my network. Haha.
I am dumbfounded. Too many things happening at the same time but I'm glad, alhamdulillah all the hard work paid off. My students pulled through very well (Shan said better than the one in 2009 in which she was part of saying 2017 was so well organised, so fun). We celebrated like the country was not going through a financial crisis. But this is how we celebrate our friends who would always be there, rain or shine.Edwin pun tersentuh hatinya. We all did. We threw him a surprise birthday celebration.His cake in the form of his book (The Best of Edwin Thumboo by Princess Dack memang nampak real)..it worked as planned..the bday song played, the cake trolley was pushed in.candle fireworks went off and everyone sang. Before that we had Sonia's book launch.
I treasured each min of everything..Justin and Luqman's film session was moving too. Salehu tak dpt dtg cos' wife dia bersalin awal that day but Justin played his short film nonetheless..got taste, got style, got humour. Kami terhibur.
Then came in Sabeera with her shadow play (bukan wayang kulit) and Francis with his solo performances on Friday..wahhh..what a treat! I'll try put some pics or video if I have them - later.
Mus the architect friend came to the rescue when I wanted to find someone to address the city from builder's perspective. Surprise, surprise, Mus impressed everyone (Mahmoud said he's philosophical..I chipped in saying "well, he tried!" Haha, evil as always). Pastu mlm dinner he read two poems.Dennis ckp best he kept to Architecture or else he too could doodle and call himself an Architect. Haha, evil! But we all appreciated his perspective and actually the arts community was inspired to work with city council on enhancing literature, culture and performances.At least my young colleagues said that.
The poetry readings on all three days pun dasyat. Prof Muhd Haji Salleh and Edwin read on 1st day (the giants of Msia and Spore). The readings at IIUM Gallery were talks of town for those who went. Dynamites! Jamal Raslan memang terrer.Mahmoud from Egypt also read. I also read (grin). Then we makan durian after that depan pintu Rector dok lalu lalang cos' guards would not allow us bring durians in. I hope someone ada ambik gambar ni. I'm glad Omar did the right decision buying musang king and durian udang for our guests to enjoy.Some had it for the first time. They loved it. Edwin yang paling happy cos' he had been mentioning it. Omar was quick to act. :)
After my closing speech, I pulak kena kantoi! They gave me a surprise thank you cake..siap dgn powerpoint pic of me senyum lebar..entah bila depa ambik gambar tu.I punya terkejut I cried a little.Drama! My friends kata mrk rasa begitu diraikan dgn hospitality kita. Rasa dijaga macam family. Apalah sangat, kan? Mmg begitu kita menghormati tetamu.Nabi yang ajar. Mmg la penat and I told Carlotta.Carlotta la mastermindnya..beli cake, etc etc. Eee...mmg tak selesa but I appreciated lah niat murni mereka tu.
Pastu Francis jumped kata belum habis..mesti main lagu tema kelompok ini (and I know he and Sabeera and Justin and Luqman and semua oranglah yang ada bersama - my colleagues Mei, Farizah, Aimilia, Madihah, Quayum, Aishah, Ridwan would always be there bila I minta tolong).
Nampaknya Allah mendengar doa solat hajat kami agar majlis berjalan lancar (which kids and I did at the mosque 3 days before we hit the road).
As I enter the convo environs at IIUM Gombak, I tiba2 rasa sebak. Today would mean so many things to so many people whose children, grandchildren, brothers/sisters are graduating. Farhan is one of them. Sal and Daud would be beaming with joy, maybe lots of tears too. Farhan was our reliable driver when Mak or Irshad was going in and out hospitals. There were days Sal or I would be so tired to send mak to dialysis so all we did was call Farhan to pick or send mak or teman Irshad at the hospital/s.Both died the same year. Today all the memories came rushing. Sometimes I wonder if ever I got out of the sadness of it all.
I hope Farhan will go a long way. He's such a responsible young man.I'll see him after the convo kejap lagi.
On another family news, Z took the two gals out to a book launch yesterday with Hanna. Ajir pun kecik2 dah pandai nengok pompuan lawa! Tiba2 he rushed out to the gate in his nappy and tried to attract Hanna's attention. Haha. Selalu kita datang dia buat tak pada. Hamboi budak 3.5 tahun ni! Then Nadra said this to Z, "Wow, your friend is beautiful". Then addressed Hanna and told her this: do you know that when you are beautiful, people will do everything for you?". I wasn't there but when Z told me this, Nik and I macam ternganga. She is only 5 years old. Mana dia belajar philosophy ni? Haha. Hanna went ho yeah? really? Will you do everything for me? She said sure.
Maybe I was right when I associated her with philosophy so early when she was barely 2 (read my old blog entry on her a few years ago)
