Standing on Binjal Ghettok
The summer noon feels perfect from my balcony right now.
I can hear a group of drunk men singing a bad song from the Bali Park down there. The whining children are playing some unknown instruments. The slutty women are waltzing happily. The skateboarders are surfing carelessly. Some are just lying down. Some are just daydreaming. The Melburnians are indeed enjoying life and celebrating the 29-degree-celsius heat as if they will never experience summer again next year.
Back in Malaysia, I never notice the blessings that I have been enjoying for the past 33 years. Weather has never been a serious issue. It has always been a perfect summer the whole year through (with the exception of some unexpected flash flood in KL, of course). But in Melbourne, weather updates are my current obsession. Every morning, I will grab my iPhone, touch the weather application, and be thrilled by the latest weather surprise. I will look up to the sky and think hard of how many layers of shirt and underwear that I should wear on that day.
It’s funny the way I feel now. It’s the same feeling I could always feel every single noon in Malaysia. But right now, I just want to enjoy every bit of it, breathe it like I will never breathe it again, take it deep into my little lung like it is my last breath, and appreciate every single oxygen that I can catch. And as I feel the gentle breeze sweeping against skin, I remember the familiar sensation in Kampung Binjal again. My love affair with mother nature has indeed started since I was a little child. In a typical sunny afternoon, when the sky is clear, when my Ayoh is taking a nap and my Ma is still busy in the kitchen, I would take a short walk to a ghettok, a bridge, and I would stand on top of it, where I could see some muddy water flowing perfectly through a narrow river, where I could see the trees on the riverbanks swaying sweetly against the wild wind. I would listen to the tune of a perfect melody played by some invisible hands and I would deeply embrace the harmonious rush of mother nature into my body and soul. It might not be as magnificent as the postcard view I have seen from Sydney Bridge, but it offered me one of the most vivid images in my childhood.
I am still standing on my balcony right now and enjoying a perfect summer noon in Melbourne, but my mind is floating. I feel like standing on Binjal Ghettok.
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Is someone homesick?
I don’t have to be homesick to reminisce the beautiful past
Salam,
Hilmi,
Cuaca di Kuala Lumpur amatlah tidak menentu. Minggu lepas kehujanan 3 hari. Panas terik dua hari.
Saya balik ke kampung, cuaca panas terik……
Salam Aliff.
Tapi cuaca kembali ceria, kan?
haha,ghettok…
jahat sungguh bermain kata-kata.
senyum sorre kawe.
im waiting u write something bout nasik kak wok at kb.
did u miss it?or never try it?oh…
Dear Daddy Wise,
Too bad I never try nasik kak woh. But I bet it’s damn good.
*senyum sorre jugok*