What I did last weekend

Last weekend was laundry and spring cleaning weekend. I had prune fingers for about an hour as I wash my clothes manually because I am a frikkin’ perfectionist and I cleaned my bedroom throw the bedsheets into the RM 16 (I think, I bought it on a sale) Ikea laundry bin and put on fresh new ones, that made me want to just lie on them and sleep. I also washed Wiwa, myself. I didn’t even go to Starbucks for my weekend fix.

On Sunday, I was dragged to my father’s friend’s son’s wedding nearby. It was done in a hall and we stayed until the bersanding ceremony.

By that, I meant, we arrived at 12 PM and left at about 3.30 PM.

Keras akak punya punggung tau?

In that wedding, I spent about 2 hours plus observing people.

It was a colorful event, the guests were multiracial, largely contributed to the fact that the father was an Indian and the mother is a Mamak. The food was average and the band was playing old 60’s hits and the occasional irritating ‘dangdut’ numbers.

‘Aku benci… benci… pada diri mu
Aku bosan… bosan… pada dirimu

Aku sudah tidak percaya padamu lagi…’

Went the lady singer, whom my mother told me was the third wife of a man who was my Dad’s age. The singer was around my age.

Even typing those lyrics made my hair stand in agony and ‘kegelian’ so just imagine me sitting there trying to eat amidst the deafening ‘music’.

Malay weddings are always chaotic. Relatives grouping around at one side gossiping, guests coming in heading straight to the buffet table, kids running around with ‘Bunga Manggar’. It was also something that gives you the opportunity to really ‘see’ people.

There was a woman wearing a conspicuous pair of ‘Baju Kurung’ dotted with shiny pieces of beads and whatnots, a makcik who was wearing her whole collection of gold bangles until her fat arms could not fit them, girls who wore too much make up on their face and men wearing unpressed pants and shirts.

If western weddings always make it a point to prioritize the couple’s guests, in a Malaysian wedding (because I think all weddings, be it Chinese or Indian ones are the same) what matters most is the parents’ guests. They would invite the moyang, sepupu, dua pupu, all the way to the 4 pupu if there is such a thing, and plus all those distant relatives we have never even known existed.

At the back of my head, I was thinking of what my own wedding would have been like, if that happens. Would I be shocked by the presence of faces I have never seen before, would I be tortured with the horrendous music, would I be dressed in a color that totally didn’t complement my skin tone, would I have a Pak Andam who wears a wig, would my husband looks dashing in a songket get up, should we choose to have a big wedding.

Or would I choose to make it a low key affair, close friends and family, white tube dress, a deejay and a three piece band playing at the side.

Knowing my family, it would probably be the first. I would probably be sweating and there would probably be a full scale zapin performance even (Which I kinda don’t mind because I love zapin).

Eh… hello, berangan tak salah kan?