A Walk Down Memory Lane - The Gohed Teksi Man
For the rest of the kids in Malaysia, today is their first day of school. But if you are in good ol' Terengganu or Kelantan (and Kedah too, I think?), the school started yesterday. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we, the east coast folks - go to school on a Sunday. *Err..we actually have our assembly on this day too!*
Anyway, the first day of school never fails to remind me of the late Pokcik Musa. He used to bring Abang and another neighbour to kindergarten, so when my turn came my parents decided that he should be the one to take me too. Since they too were teachers, they couldn't leave their school to send me! At first, I was not so keen with the idea since most of my neighbourhood friends got their parents to send them to school. Not only that, they get to wake up later too. You see, Pokcik Musa carried his passengers in a beca (trishaw) for a living. As the journey from the house to my kindy was about 6 km, I needed to get up rather early.
January 1983: First day of school, as I grudgingly walked out of the house, I was greeted by a smiling old man on a teksi (Terengganu people calls a beca teksi while the taxis are called kereta sewa). He had the most pleasant face, of which made me glad he was sending me to school. Pokcik Musa didn't talk much, he let me do all the yapping. Excited about my first day of school, I went on and on telling him where I bought my uniform, the books I had and what time he was supposed to pick me up. All these while he just smiled and listened. Once we reached school, I said my goodbyes to him and told him to pick me up at 12 sharp. I even declined his offer to walk me to class and shoo-ed him. Eager to start my education *Bro, I can hear you go - NERD!* I went straight to class only to be told by Mrs Wong that it was registration day and we were allowed to leave after we paid our fees. I looked at my Snoopy watch and saw that it was only 9 am. What was I suppose to do in the next 3 hours?! Sister Tan said I could wait in the nursery, but they have a gigantic golden retriever and I was scared of dogs. As I was bordering the state of panic, Pokcik Musa appeared. On his way to look for other passengers, he saw other kids going back with their parents. Worried that I'd bawl my eyes out, he came back to rescue me. From that moment, I knew Pokcik Musa is one guy I could always depend on.
He continued 'driving' me to school for a year. Rain or shine, he would always wait in front of the door every day. His smile never left his lips and never once he complained. Not even when I was grumpy. Not even when I pout my lips when I see other teksis cutting in front of us. Once I complained about the amount of vehicles potong-ing us, and all he did was take down the plastic cover he used during rainy days so that I didn't have to see the cars and motorbike ahead of us! He laughed at my jokes, tsk-tsked when I told him about the bullies in school and was as excited as I was at the things I learnt in school. Arwoh Pokcik Musa was a fine example of cool, calm and patience.
During the school break before I entered Kindergarten 2, Pokcik Musa suffered a stroke. He was paralysed from the waist downwards. He also couldn't use his left side of the body anymore. Needless to say, I lost my transport to school and my biggest supporter. And although I get to ride in my neighbour's car to school after that, it never felt as exciting.
Abang and I made it a point to visit Pokcik Musa at his home whenever we could. As both of us grew up and left home, we could only see him once a year - during raya. He would never fail to proudly tell his neighbours (and whoever was at his home) about how he used to take us to school. How small we were at the time, and how much we've grown:
'Abang ning dulu kecik ceh je gi skoloh'
'Mek ning dulu, maroh sokmo kalu lambat. Kite lah hok duk jaga dia'
'Ni anok cikgu ning, blajo obersi lening. Dulu masa kecik kite hok duk ator gi skoloh'
Even T wasn't spared.
'Hok ning dulu baru branok kena tingga ngang cikgu gi mekkoh. Kite ah duk tengok tengok dia ngan abang kakok dia'
It was rather sad to see our Hercules-like gohed teksi man having to crawl to move from place to place. He was always on his verandah whenever we visit him, looking out to the road in front of his house. But he would never fail to bring up the good memories he had taking care of us. And that always made him happy.
The last time I saw him was a day after my marriage. I went to his house to introduce Buster to him and Mokcik, but he couldn't really see well at the time. Although he was supposed to be bedridden, he sat up and talked to us for almost a hour. He told Buster his stories, and although I've heard them hundreds of times, I always look forward to them. He even slipped us RM10 for our 'wedding gift' - and it touched us so much as that was a huge amount for him. He couldn't believe I was someone's wife, no longer that small girl who used to ride his teksi.
Pokcik Musa passed away last March, a month after Abang's wedding. We still visit the house whenever we could but now everytime we pass his house, Mokcik would be the one taking his place on the verandah.
Al Fatihah.
Anyway, the first day of school never fails to remind me of the late Pokcik Musa. He used to bring Abang and another neighbour to kindergarten, so when my turn came my parents decided that he should be the one to take me too. Since they too were teachers, they couldn't leave their school to send me! At first, I was not so keen with the idea since most of my neighbourhood friends got their parents to send them to school. Not only that, they get to wake up later too. You see, Pokcik Musa carried his passengers in a beca (trishaw) for a living. As the journey from the house to my kindy was about 6 km, I needed to get up rather early.
January 1983: First day of school, as I grudgingly walked out of the house, I was greeted by a smiling old man on a teksi (Terengganu people calls a beca teksi while the taxis are called kereta sewa). He had the most pleasant face, of which made me glad he was sending me to school. Pokcik Musa didn't talk much, he let me do all the yapping. Excited about my first day of school, I went on and on telling him where I bought my uniform, the books I had and what time he was supposed to pick me up. All these while he just smiled and listened. Once we reached school, I said my goodbyes to him and told him to pick me up at 12 sharp. I even declined his offer to walk me to class and shoo-ed him. Eager to start my education *Bro, I can hear you go - NERD!* I went straight to class only to be told by Mrs Wong that it was registration day and we were allowed to leave after we paid our fees. I looked at my Snoopy watch and saw that it was only 9 am. What was I suppose to do in the next 3 hours?! Sister Tan said I could wait in the nursery, but they have a gigantic golden retriever and I was scared of dogs. As I was bordering the state of panic, Pokcik Musa appeared. On his way to look for other passengers, he saw other kids going back with their parents. Worried that I'd bawl my eyes out, he came back to rescue me. From that moment, I knew Pokcik Musa is one guy I could always depend on.
He continued 'driving' me to school for a year. Rain or shine, he would always wait in front of the door every day. His smile never left his lips and never once he complained. Not even when I was grumpy. Not even when I pout my lips when I see other teksis cutting in front of us. Once I complained about the amount of vehicles potong-ing us, and all he did was take down the plastic cover he used during rainy days so that I didn't have to see the cars and motorbike ahead of us! He laughed at my jokes, tsk-tsked when I told him about the bullies in school and was as excited as I was at the things I learnt in school. Arwoh Pokcik Musa was a fine example of cool, calm and patience.
During the school break before I entered Kindergarten 2, Pokcik Musa suffered a stroke. He was paralysed from the waist downwards. He also couldn't use his left side of the body anymore. Needless to say, I lost my transport to school and my biggest supporter. And although I get to ride in my neighbour's car to school after that, it never felt as exciting.
Abang and I made it a point to visit Pokcik Musa at his home whenever we could. As both of us grew up and left home, we could only see him once a year - during raya. He would never fail to proudly tell his neighbours (and whoever was at his home) about how he used to take us to school. How small we were at the time, and how much we've grown:
'Abang ning dulu kecik ceh je gi skoloh'
'Mek ning dulu, maroh sokmo kalu lambat. Kite lah hok duk jaga dia'
'Ni anok cikgu ning, blajo obersi lening. Dulu masa kecik kite hok duk ator gi skoloh'
Even T wasn't spared.
'Hok ning dulu baru branok kena tingga ngang cikgu gi mekkoh. Kite ah duk tengok tengok dia ngan abang kakok dia'
It was rather sad to see our Hercules-like gohed teksi man having to crawl to move from place to place. He was always on his verandah whenever we visit him, looking out to the road in front of his house. But he would never fail to bring up the good memories he had taking care of us. And that always made him happy.
The last time I saw him was a day after my marriage. I went to his house to introduce Buster to him and Mokcik, but he couldn't really see well at the time. Although he was supposed to be bedridden, he sat up and talked to us for almost a hour. He told Buster his stories, and although I've heard them hundreds of times, I always look forward to them. He even slipped us RM10 for our 'wedding gift' - and it touched us so much as that was a huge amount for him. He couldn't believe I was someone's wife, no longer that small girl who used to ride his teksi.
Pokcik Musa passed away last March, a month after Abang's wedding. We still visit the house whenever we could but now everytime we pass his house, Mokcik would be the one taking his place on the verandah.
Al Fatihah.
posted by lion3ss | 4:31 PM
3 Comments:
so sweet the story...
AlFatihah to the arwah. May there be more like him.
there's tears in my eyes...
really enjoy reading your blog.. looking fwd to read more sista.. :)
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