Down memory lane again

So… I watched a bloody good Malay drama on TV9 yesterday.

Sedih tau…. About Abang, Kakak and Adik. Good acting by that girl who sounded stupid talking in Malay who was Adik, Nor Khairiah I think her name is as Kakak and the Abang … well… mamat yang dalam cerita Melayu best masa bulan puasa tu yang si Kamil suka giler tu… Nama cerita I dunno. Sorry….

Anyway… the direction is good le… I like the way that flashbacks were narrated with the help of still photographs. Uber, uber refreshing. Although the cerita is a bit cliché… I mean I know what was going to happen at the end 20 minutes into the story but still… it didn’t make me shudder in geli-ness at all. Amazing ain’t it ?

I sms-ed Kamil and asked him to watch it and as soon as the story ended (like I knew how it would), Kamil called and a wailing me answered. Benci !!!!!!

As soon as I hung up with him, keluar pulak Usrah. You know the Islamic talk show with the ustazah with that amazing voice, mendayu-dayu mengaji. I tell you her mengaji is really mesmerizing.

Anyway, Ustazah for some reason started berpantun (with Kak Pah) and heheheh…………… it reminded me of something that happened dulu-dulu.. which is very typical of me. I am predictable.. I know.

Anyway… ha ha… it reminded me of the time when I started dating Kamil…when … we err….used to berpantun…together-gether.

I know .. It sounded so ludicrous.. I mean we dated in the 90s and not the 40s but berpantun we did last time.

Okay… it started innocently enough. I can think of a pantun really fast. Not because I was clever but just because I was trained by my Dad. My Dad used to force us kids to make up pantuns whenever we were in the car (plus sajak and syair and a hoard of other stuffs, I kid you not… of which I will tell more later…).

Whoever tak dapat buat pantun kena cubit dengan semua orang. Who wants that ? There were 8 of us and to be pinched by 7 people, simultaneously, is horrific, okay.

When any of us couldn’t make up a pantun fast enough, my Dad would shout “Jom cubit dia !!!!!” (gleefully, I must add) and the poor guy would be descended upon all his/her siblings’ outstretched hand, going “Waarrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh !!!” Sound effects mesti ada punya. At times aku rasa my Dad just wanted to main cubot-cubit aje.

All right… not all the times kena cubit…sometimes kena boo or kena gelak berdekah2 tapi when that happened, badan tak sakit.. but hati membara…. Hhehehe… And yang selalu kena were us the big ones… The small ones on account of their age never get to make up pantuns but they get to pinch us… So unfair...

Anyway… I was used to it (plus my dad's method gave me no choice but to be good at it)and I just wanted to test if he can really think on his feet, you know. But… who knew… heheheh…. I mean… I had always loved it… I love pantuns… but it never entered my mind that it could be sooo romantic when I exchanged them with Kamil.

Admittedly he was slow…. Heheheh…. but….he was sweet… making up pantun about my nose (which he called buttony… now sadly he called insignificant…), about my other good points (which had mysteriously vanished from his mind as he could only think about my not so good bits now).. and it was sweet.

It made me giddy for days afterwards… and loose my sleep over as I relieved every word and every tone he used. Sadly I couldn’t even remember what it was now… his pantun that I used to hafal macam hafal sifir…apart from the subject matter. And even that one is a bit hazy.

So… that was that. Kamil and I…. berpantun during our courtship… Kat 7-11 seksyen 6. Me with muka berminyak, and my usual t-shirt and knee-length shorts. Him with his... err.... Dr. Mahathir's specs.... Eh tak lah... I think masa tu he had changed to a more acceptable wire-rimmed glasses.

I think.


Kuang, kuang, kuang.