My Mum

Today October 7th is my mum's birthday. She would have been 80 years old. She was the eldest child of a Bengali immigrant named Azyze and a Malay lady named Aishah (aka Putih).She was born in 1925 in Sungai Petani,Kedah. Azyze later moved to Penang and worked in the PWD (now called JKR).When he retired he was active in UMNO and became Chairman of the Penang Rural District Council. A road in Tanjung Bunga was named after him. The road is Jalan Azyze. My mum and her sisters were among the very first Malay girls to attend a missionary school, Methodist Girls School, in Anson Road. She had to stop schooling when war broke out and after my grandma died in 1942. She was introduced to my dad by his brother (my uncle Noor Naim) who was courting her sister (my aunty Yon).My dad was working in Singapore ,so my uncle became his postman for their correspondence. They got married in 1943.They had 8 children (6 boys,2 girls). When my dad passed away it was devastating for us all.But my mother put on a brave front and stoically held the family together,together fighting hunger and poverty Until her last breath we made sure her life is comfortable and pleasant. She saw all her children got married,and every grand child that was born has been kissed by her.The grand children she did'nt see was my boy Shafiq and Fajar's girl Hafatin. But when we go back to our family home in Brown Garden, we will see a big photograph of our mum and our children's grandma. And there is another family portrait with mum and dad .