PESAT Get-together

My sister Zaridah with En Mohamad Shamsuddin (Abang Din) whom we shared a table with.

Uncle Som (in orange batik) and Pok Ku (in white, extreme right), the one peeking through the palm plant like a Bollywood actor!

Amidst greetings of "guane wey?" (how are you?) "lamer dok napok" (long time no see) "sehak nyer mung ler ni!" (you have gained some weight!) and other pleasantries all expressed in that unmistakable Terengganu twang, my sister Zaridah and I stepped into Rasta Food Court in Taman Tun Dr Ismail Sunday noon to attend a get-together organised by Persatuan Anak2 Terengganu (PESAT), Selangor dan Federal Territory chapter.

All the signature dishes of Terengganu were there - nasik dagang, nasik minyok, pulok lepa, nasik kapik, krepok lekor, akok - even an obscure (to me) kuih called bronok I never heard of.

My sister and I were so hungry that we sapu a fair bit of everything; it has been a long time since I ate such delicious nasik dagang by the way. The organisers weren't stingy with the beverages either - there was a complete array of hot and cold drinks, from Kopi Terengganu to the ubiquitous teh tarik and sirap.

Idah and I got to meet with our late father's Bukit Besi colleague, Uncle Mohd Som, and also that favourite gentleman blogger of mine, Pok Ku of Dibawah Rang Ikang Kering fame.

[Uncle Som's uncanny resemblance to arwah bapak still startles me each time I come face to face with him. It's like staring into the past!]

The lunch get-together, tagged "Majlis Ramah Mesra" was graced by Menteri Besar Terengganu, Datuk Ahmad Said and his wife as guests-of-honour. I spied many familiar faces in the 200-strong crowd, retired senior civil servants among them, many of whom I remembered from my reporting days.

Unfortunately, my memory bank did a number on me; I couldn't recall a single name so I steered clear of everyone to save myself the embarrassment of not knowing who I spoke to.

And then there was Adnang Osmang, the well-known Terengganu-born singer of the Pop Yeh Yeh era; must be in his late 50s now but still as handsome as ever (sigh!). I used to moon over his photograph those teenage days..... hehehe.

One surprise meeting was with new blogger Awang of @Dungun blogspot who took the trouble to look for me just to get acquainted with this Makcik Blogger. He was brought to my table by a PESAT secretariat member who happened to man the registration table and thus knew of my arrival.

Awang weh! I am so glad to have met you and your cute little daughter. By the way, I am old enough to be Awang's mother; my eldest son is older than him! Awang is budok Tranu through and through who now makes his home in Nilai.

In all, it was a pleasant outing for my sister and I. I hope to be able to play a more significant role in PESAT than just attending gatherings like this one; perhaps in so far as PR is concerned.

I would love to see PESAT prosper in more ways than one, becoming an effective conduit between the State Government and us, the sons and daughters of Terengganu now seeking our rezeki outside the State.

NA NA NA NA NA TRANU KITER!