In Memories of Nek Iya...

I think i never blogged bout this lady. The lady who had been one of the greatest teachers in my life, especially on motherhood, eventhough i was only ten years old at that time. Memories about her are never sour, all sweet memories. Even mama sez good things bout her, rarely nething bad.

She was around 45-50 years old when she arrived at our house. She's javanese, mom found her through a friend. Her actual name is Maria, i jest called her Nek Iya.. her name is music to my ears. I dont know her full name tho...

Mama took her when the second one of my 3 siblings Mein was birthed, i was ten. Though she was meant for Syamin, I was soooo close to her dat my own nenek became jealous till at one point my cousin Kak Een called me to be nice to nenek, instead of the one who's not our own.

I slept in her room, wayyy at the back of d huge bungalow we stayed in Hulu Langat [it's not ours nemore]. Mama sumtimes sent Mein in the middle of the night [mom had c-section Mein was placentae previa] and i could see how patient she was cuddling Mein to sleep. Through her i learnt a lot about babies, that i once told my hubby dat Mein was d first baby I ever took care off. She taught me how to bancuh her milk, to sway her in the 'buaian', to sing her to sleep... She also taught me dat adik is no person to be bullied [but later on i did anyway :op]She was a great masseur, i had this bladder problem [due to too much garam] dat she massaged me every nite to heal. Nek Iya also paksa me to go 'mengaji' [Qoran reciting class] when i was lazy. She'd sent me back n forth, sumtimes together with nenek n sumtimes ucu because i was afraid of the big tree on the way to Uncle Samad's house [where my mengaji class is]. She cooks very nicely and helped nenek a lot in the kitchen and... d best part, she always suap me the most delicious rice i tasted when i was a kid. I hardly ate rice before she arrived. [yes i was, and still am a junk food freak].

I could remember her face very well... she was dark, has quite thick lips, chubby and cuddly... she had to go back to Java after just s few months being with us because her husband kept on persuading her to go back. I cried sooo hardly when she went away, and she did too. I didn't haf d appetite to eat for days, and my poor eating habit resumed since then. Lately i have always been thinking of her, since i'm trying to find a maid for myself now. How nice could it be to haf sumone like her once again around d house. I miss her so much. I really wonder where she is now... or whether she's still around...

Nek Iya... Zaza rindu :`o( If u're still around, I really wish to see u, again...!