Letters from a Brother

~ Mom's Journal ~

These are a few letters that I received from my youngest brother, Azam. We called him "Adik" when we were younger. All my siblings and I are now in our 60s and 70s. These letters are memories of the time we spent writing letters just to say "Hello" to each other. His letters gave an insight into his life as a student in the UK. My other brother, AJ (Awang) went earlier.  As for me, I was then already married, stayed in Kajang and have a son, Khairul. 

The first letter came soon after he arrived in the UK.

3, Lorne Road

Oxton
Birkenhead
Merseyside L431XD
08101978 - Sun

Dearest Sis,

How are you? I'm sure you and Abang Khalit are both fine as usual. I'm alright, after one month over, I've settled down (normal, I mean, not that I'm married!). My first three weeks here was hell of a time. Almost qualified to be called a musafir. I stayed in London for four nights followed by two nights in Liverpool. The authority concerned did not prepare proper accommodation or houses for us. So, all the 15 of us have to stay at the Birkenhead YMCA sort of hostel and I was there for two weeks before I moved to the above address. I bet I had lost quite a few pounds in weight during that time. The main reason was because the YMCA offers English food such as kentang rebus, kobis rebus carrot rebus, bread, cheese and .... y*ch! Kalau once in a while tak apa but I couldn't live long having to eat all those tasteless stuff.

I am now staying at the ground floor of a rented house together with three other friends. Each of us are paying 25 pounds (MYR115) every four weeks, cheaper than yours I guess. We are cooking our own food, of course. Style kat sini lain sikit. Kelapa solid macam sabun. Fortunately, we are very close to Liverpool because there are a number of 'Pakistan-looking' people with kedai runcit just like T.A Kunchi Koya. There is even a Melayu who had been here since World War Two and sells daging. It is difficult to get good fish here and the sayor are only kobis and sawi.

Anyway, I always have a heavy dinner every night. I am not a bad cook after all. During week-days, I take my lunch outside because my college is quite far away, about 20 minutes bus ride. The lunch is usually bread, beans and eggs - Mat Saleh style! I hope I can still grow, either way. Maybe cannot, because you know, Awang is just as big now as when he first left. All that grows is his hair! I just can't wait for the day when I'm bigger than him - boleh bully dia pulak.. ha! ha!

I have been to Awang's place twice. Chester is about 14 miles away from Birkenhead. The second time I went to his house, he followed me back to see my condition. At that time, I was still in the YMCA. That was about three weeks ago and just a few days before he was to leave for Oxford. He told me then that he is almost sure of enrolling at Oxford Polytechnic. I am at the moment, still waiting for his letter. I don't know where he is now. Probably, he is still busy. Too bad he has already left and Oxford is about  200 miles away if I'm not mistaken, maybe more. He came to London last time when I first arrived in England. By the way, Raya Puasa here last time was on Sunday. I was in Malaysia where puasa started a day late but I was in England to celebrate Raya which was much earlier.

Oh yes! How was yours and Abang Khalit's emporium contest? Did you get anything? Surely, one of your many entries will earn at least a consolation prize or perhaps Abang Khalit is driving the Mercedes now...!!

Well I guess I'll end here. It is now 1:10 on Sunday morning. Gotta go to bed. Goodnight to you and Abang Khalit.

P/S How is the baby? I almost forgot about Khairul. I know he wouldn't recognise me.

Luv,

....

At Birkenhead

So, for a while, my brothers were staying 14 miles apart, that would be about the distance from Kuala Lipis to Benta, Pahang.

The emporium we went to in Kajang, must have been the Billion shopping complex/emporium. It was quite happening back then.

210179

Dearest Cik,

I hope yourself, Abang Khalit and the baby are all in good health. It's nice to be in Malaysia with the weather constant throughout the year. Over here now, frr..eezing! Since many weeks ago, the temperature had never risen much above 0'C. It sometimes snow, as you can see in the photograph. It very seldom snows in the North West part of England where I am. This winter season was said to be the worst in 15 years. Unlucky for us, wrong timing. To go to our college which is close to 3 miles away, we had to take a bus. Indeed it is a torture to stand at the bus stop. Sampai kelas, habis telinga and hidong merah! By 4:30 in the evening, dah gelap. Not much time to wander around except weekends. I usually go to Liverpool during weekends, now not as often. It is much better to 'hibernate' this cold season. Not surprisingly, I've added a few pounds to my weight. At 115lbs approximately, I'm one of the lightest among my friends. Like this, must keep eating a lot more potatoes. In fact, I eat English dish three times a week between my lessons. The usual food are baked beans, chips, eggs and toast... without exercise, they will surely make a person fat.

That is the present situation. Ever since I came, there were only two occasions where I managed to sweat a little bit. We had planned to have regular 'mini-soccer' games in the gym. Other than that, a visit to the sports centre is the only resolution. I've been there once to play squash (Abang Khalit knows because MCKK is the only school in Malaysia to have squash courts). I don't want only my stomach to grow and nowhere else. Guess what? I've ordered the "Bullworker"!! Kalau badan tak solid juga, I give up.

Have I written to you anytime in December? I remember writing to you quite some time after I received your reply but I couldn't be sure. If I haven't written any at all to you ever since the first one, sorrylah. That one must have been for Yan. I'm sure Yan has gone back to Jakarta when this letter arrive. Holiday wrong timing, when everyone is still at school. What about the cassettes she brought back? I told her that it is better for her to send me the original ones. Awang can bring them back home in the middle of this year, hopefully. My friends and I are also running a cassette-recording sessions here. One of us brought a hi-fi set, without a turntable though, because he couldn't afford to have all. Somebody else bought a music centre which consists of turntable, cassette and radio. Only one person needs to buy a good cassette or record because after sometime, there will be quite a few versions of the pirated ones. I already got six myself and most of them are Malay songs, the original cassette we borrowed from seniors at the Liverpool and Poly. I never thought that I like to hear Malay songs. Kalau Melayu tu, Melayu jugalah! I wonder what are Malaysians top English songs now. I know Malaysia's pop chart are way back and weeks behind.

I can imagine The New Straits Times has a lot of news about Britain and its strike. These English people... Bila nak duit lebih, strike. At present, it started off with the lorry drivers' strike. As a result, oil cannot be delivered to schools to heat up buildings and thus we got 4 days holiday (not bad!). Last week, the British railway men and now, the ambulance service also Public Service Employees... which includes teachers. Result? Again a holiday on Monday 22nd. A little bit north of my place, the waterworks people pulak and water had to be rationed up there. At this time sugar is no longer sold anywhere, sayor four times as expensive as last time when I first came etc.. etc. Doesn't that sounds silly? All we can enjoy is the holiday we got.

I heard from a friend that ikan di Terengganu tak laku because they found a human finger in it. Is it true? There was once on TV here, top official said that the South East Asia countries are still capable of taking in more Vietnamese refugees and they are not doing their best to do so. Well, we feel like smashing our TV set when we heard that!

Oops! Not much space left. Please send Khairul's photograph or any other photos of you all in Malaysia. They'll be nice to look at until I go back in 1981!

Ta! Ta! Loves to everybody

Brother,

...

Frr..eezing

My brother seemed to have adjusted to the English weather quite well, hibernating and such. Malaysia's pop chart in the 1970s was our, Baby Boomers', favourite programme, cassettes and record albums were our favourite purchases. My sister, Yan, must have brought back some cassettes from Indonesia as she was studying over there. Of course, we were also worried about the Vietnam War as it could have escalated. Thankfully it ended in 1975. The Vietnamese fled their country by boats in search of a better future. Some of them reached the coast of Terengganu as refugees. They were then waiting to be resettled abroad in third countries such as the United States and in the European countries. Naturally, they were making headlines around the world.

27/4/1979

Dearest Cik,

Thanks for your letter, especially those photographs. It is really nice to receive photos from home. Wah! Khairul grows so fast ah... Do send me more photographs of him later on although I will not be able to recognize him yet since all babies look very much alike to me. Well, he certainly has a long way to go, I'm now about 115 lbs and 5'5" in height.

I haven't added much since I left. The winter was indeed very cold, no chance to grow! I'm glad it was all over though the temperatures now are no higher than 55degreeF, the bright sun is a little bit like in Malaysia. Do not laugh, because you asked this- Well, during the freezing winter, I took bath once in about..er.. three or four weeks (shh!). Terrible it was because Awang's much better! Nowadays, fair enough- once in about 5 days. It is still difficult to sweat so there is no need to worry about kambing-ish smell.

About the photographs you sent me, I noticed that you are staying at the house on the right, the one with the green dinding. How come? Pindah next door, I guess. I wonder what the lorries had to carry... How are the rest of the family? Manja, Wok, Simah, any of them being promoted?

I know this letter is rather a late reply. Well, when I received your letter, everything was normal. So I waited for the two weeks holiday (8th-21st April). Awang got one month holiday and he stayed at my house for a total of seven days. After the second day, he stayed at Chester for two nights. Then he came back to my place with plans to study, but did nothing much at all (don't tell the 'Bosses'). Awang is very fine indeed, nothing wrong with him. Just too busy with his studies and lazy to write letters. You know, since perhaps after he had left my house, he did not even write to Mother or Father since he finished his A Level, almost a year! It is really a hard work. It really scare me when I look at him doing his homework. Sometimes, it lasts until 3a.m. and still had to wake up for the morning's lecture at nine. Phew! I wonder how I can handle it. I'm always the last, unfair betul. But at least I'm about to achieve what I had waited for all these years. Guess what? I'm just about as big as Awang! Have you heard of the 'Bullworker'? I'm using that exercising instrument regularly now to become 'more solid', well that's what I hope. I must be prepared for a challenge from Khairul next.

Awang will be having his first year exam this coming June/July. So am I, for my "1st year" exams. The JPA officer has visited us not so long ago and he was quite upset upon receiving our earlier exam result. I'm quite at the top, happily, but it was overall, disappointing. Just have to work hard, I certainly wouldn't like to stay here just for two years instead of five! Needless to say, for years now all of us can wish each other countless Good lucks in exams...

Awang will be going back home somewhere in July. Not me, I'm staying here. One at home is enough or else "135A" will slide down Kawasan Kerani. Do you or Abang Khalit have anything in particular that you both need? We will try to get them. How about record albums? Of course, there is no D'Lloyd (oops! sorry...) but albums here are very much more latest. About my toy cars, I've forgotten where I've parked them. They are of course at Kuala Lipis. Just ask Akak, she is sure to know. You (well not you, the baby of course) can have any of my toys. Those were the days for me... There are not much left, better hurry!

Well I'll stop here. Bye-bye to you and Abang Khalit.

P/S.... and the baby.

Luv,

...

The letter reached me safely. We decided to shift to the house next door as it had vacant land next to it.

1980's : Home at 135A, Kawasan Kerani, Kuala Lipis

Wed 8/8/1979

Dear Cik,

I got your letter about one month ago. I'll always agree with anyone who says that the older you get, the lazier you'll be to write letters. But I had been lazy right from the start, many many years ago!

Nice to hear that you both got through to the 2nd year. So did Awang. That leaves me, as usual. I wonder when I can be considered 'old' with respect to the others. One question: does Awang look old enough to be 22 very soon?

You did ask me when will Awang be going back. Tut! Tut! I think you better ask Awang himself. He spent quite a few days at my house earlier in July, the main purpose was to hunt for gifts. We spent hours and hours in town and still couldn't get everything. There are a lot of good records to chose. I hope you like the three albums that Awang brought back especially the 'band Melayu'. I'll try to bring more latest ones when its my turn to go back.

The people here started puasa on Wed. 25th. The fasting hours are approximately from 3:30 am to 9pm. Until today, I had puasa-ed six days. Got to have a few 'rest days' in between to make up for the loss or else I'll be a skeleton at the end of the month! My berbuka and sahur are very simple. Sometimes roti or nasi goreng or bee-hoon or even fish and chips! The main lauks being eggs and sadin. Yulk tak yulk kena telan juga. I have my sahur at around 12:30, just before I sleep because if I were to sleep first, sorrylah nak bangun tengah malam. My first attempt at cooking ayam panggang was not bad at all. It was quite nice though I'm not surprised if Akak refuses to certify it as 'ayam panggang' at all. I do not wish to try the murtabak. Tengok recipe pun dah panik!

I'm not doing anything much at the moment. Just reading, some extra hours of sleep, walk here and there, dengar record etc. etc. I'm not doing much travelling during this holiday. I'm trying to save money for a better holiday next year. Last Saturday, I had my first driving lesson. I only start now because my driving test will be in November. Over here, apply for the test first. Then only you start lessons 2 or 3 months prior to the test date. I'm taking ten lessons and had to pay an equivalent of about M$250/=. Phew! Since I told him that I already knew how to drive, the first lesson was simply 'makan angin' with the instructor watching my techniques. When it was over, he made a hell lot of comments about my driving. So many faults. Anyway it is very nice to get hold of a car again after one year. 

I think I'll stop here. Got to sleep next. Do you have Manja's address or has she got mine?

Bye bye to you bertiga.

P/S Happy birthday to Khairul!

Love,

....

Khairul said "Thank you Ayah chu".

I received this souvenir from Awang:

A coat of arms souvenir

A 'Band Melayu' album

As for my brother's cooking, now I know why his "ayam panggang" tastes so delicious, he has been cooking this dish since 1979!

I am glad these letters survived because I truly enjoy reading them even after so many, many years. 

Azam with his first grandchild

Actually, my dear brother, we still call you "Adik" in our conversations. There you go... Just kidding!