Nor Sarah's Wedding

Warriors in attendance (panglima pengiring), arms at the ready..

Bride & groom arrive for bersanding (sitting on dais) ceremony....

Kompang (traditional drum) heralding the arrival of the bride & groom. Kompang groups usually comprise the young but this one's full of 'otais'... How refreshing!

The turquoise-themed pelamin (wedding dais). *click on pix to see details.

'Warriors' dressed in black and bearing tombak (spearlike arms of old) led the bride & groom to the dais.

The custom-made bunga telur (gift for guests). Each case holds a boiled egg wrapped in organza.

With my Thai aunt, Enda Rahnah,whom I met for the first time at the kenduri (wedding feast). Enda Rahnah's mother Puteri Zabedah and my paternal grandma Puteri Hawa (both deceased) were sisters.

The bride and her mom and siblings. Datin Hjh Rosnah Abdul Latif (standing 3rd from right) is the widow of my late brother, Datuk Megat Wahab, who passed away three years ago.

A meeting of former heads. It felt great to be reacquainted with my former colleagues during my Royal Mint stint. Syed (left) then headed human resource, Rahman (middle) was head of security whilst yours truly helmed corporate affairs.

With my siblings, sisters-in-law, children, nieces and nephews and their respective offsprings. Pak Abu snapped this, thus he wasn't in the picture.

Music was provided by the Armed Forces 9th Rangers from Taiping. Emceeing the event was my young cousin, Nadia, pictured here sitting pretty in blue.

Naj, Ann, Joe and Awwa taking a breather by the wakaf (shelter) within the spacious compound before leaving home for KL.

Ties That Bind

Weddings, almost always, are great family occasions for reunions and catching up with what has been happening within the clan.

The wedding of my niece Puteri Nor Sarah to KL boy Raslan Khairudin in Ipoh today afforded just that; the chance to meet up with relatives I get to see only once in a blue moon simply because we live far from each other.

I must say there were too many bittersweet moments. I learned about a cousin's recent mastectomy; Sue was once very lively, and active in politics and social work. Now breast cancer overrides everything..

I met my late father's two surviving sisters (from the same mother, that is), Enda Mah (77) and Enda Jah (76). Both were frail. In fact, I couldn't even recognise Enda Mah at first glance. Once very robust, she was so sunken, all skin and bones. And Enda Jah was reed-thin, as always.

Then there were the two grand-aunts, sisters of my late grandfather Dr Megat Khas. Surprisingly, the 'opahs' seemed quite healthy and were chirpy despite their advancing years.

I must confess, having been raised in the East Coast by the maternal side of the family subsequent to my parents' divorce, I'm rather out of touch with my Perak kin. I didn't recognise a great many of them.

This is one of the unfortunate consequences of marital breakups; They chant the mantra "you go your way and I go mine", leaving the kids caught between a rock and a hard place. Then again, that's life...

That is why I strongly feel the need to get reacquainted with them especially now that the older generations are no more. In fact, we are the oldsters now.

We have to strive to keep the relationship going; I do not want my children to go through life not knowing nor recognising their own relatives...