Memori Muharam ( part 1 )

To all Muslim readers, Salam Maal Hijrah 1428.The date is supposed to bring a ray of hope to us but somehow,to me,it portrays a painful memory when at this day of the muslim calendar,ie. 20th July 1990,I lost my beloved Granny.She died from multiple diagnosis.Although she's not my real biological Grandma,(she adopted my Mum)I have always regarded her as my own,eversince I could remember her voice and recognise her face.She's my Granny and my Mum,all rolled into one woman of substance.I lived with her as my parents were working when I was still little.Born in the kampung,No. 97B,Jalan Alsagoff is my world.My parents were also from the same area but quite further away from us,at Jalan Ubi,taking along my big sis Icah with them,leaving her under the care of Mak Esah the babysitter.So,I remained with Gran and Awa(her late husband who died 11 years after)until we moved to the humble little 3-room flat in 1978.I remember her as my mentor and saviour.She was the face of love that greeted my eyes from sunrise and the one to serenade me to sleep.She would force down half-boiled eggs with kicap as breakfast of the champions for me every morning without fail,before sending me off to the kampung's PAP kindergarten.She would tocang my long keling hair after slapping my head with minyak MBR.(the decade's most trusted hair oil)that eventually lead to my present thick jet-black hair.She's a cat-lover who would always entertain me with her Perang Jepun stories while cuffing my ankles with her nimble but strong fists,rummaging through her hair in search of kutu.
Although Awa was working,she was independent and resourceful.She would make kueh for me to sell around the kampung and worked as a washerwoman,to boost her duit pasar so as to give me the best that she could afford.I would follow her to the houses of the rich and helped to wash,wring and dry out the clothes. Daily.I remember