OF SQUIRREL AND PERSONAL VOWS

Yesterday I saw a squirrel, in a very casual and relaxed way, busily nibbling at a fig fruit. It was deftly holding and rolling the fruit to get at the crunchy sweet core while throwing away the still-green skin.

It did that barely a metre away from us, who were busy telling stories of our yesteryears. Stories of how we got married.

Amalia hurriedly snapped some photos with her hp. Much to her amazement the squirrel stayed doing just that as if begging for her to take pictures of it.

A cat from my mother's collection, stared at the squirrel for a moment. Then, all of a sudden it jumped into the tree and as soon as it grabbed hold onto the tree the squirrel fled onto the roof and disappeared into coconut trees at the back.

The squirrel was just too fast for the over-pampered cat. It gave that frustrated look as the squirrel was lost from sight.

It began with my story. My mother reminded us of how one man, the husband of my cousin in Tumpat, was scolded by his father-in-law (my mother's cousin) for writing a nasty letter to me accusing me of trying to snatch someone else's fiance.

He had written that very nasty letter after she and I exchanged letters just after I for the first time visited her house in Tumpat. It was her father who asked me to advise her to study hard for a better future.

I just did that. I wrote a letter after another motivating her to concentrate on her schooling.

He misunderstood my intention. At first I wanted to write back a similar or not worst letter. But I realised that I woukld be as bad as him by doing so. So that very night I burned all her letters and never again wrote to her.

Hearing the story, her father scolded his son-in-law for his act. I did not blame him fully after knowing later that her fiance was her relative and he was no match for me if I really had wanted her.

I thought I have met her husband once or twice, but I have never talked to her again for fear of accused of trying to destroys one's mosque.

I was in my final year DVM at UPM then. Thinking about it makes me laugh. I was after all still committed to my personal vow - never to get serious with members of the opposite sex before I was finacially ok, then.

Then came the story of my sister with two of her suiters. Both of them tried their best to win her hand in marriage. Both men were my cousins on my father's side, but they had never met before.

When one cousin told her mother that if he could not get her he would never marry for life, his parents were worried.

The father even came all the way to SDAR with a gunny sack of rambutans to coax me of allowing his son to marry my sister. I told him that he had to discuss with my parents.

Cutting the story short, his son won. They were married in a rather over-simplified wedding reception. She was just eighteen then! She would protest strongly to my parents whenever this story was told. No matter what, they were happily married till now.