I saw someone named Chawalit on TV. The ‘Chawalit’ reminds me of something;some people;some memories;the sweet ones. :-)
Kedah is not really my hometown actually although I have a broad accent of its dialect. I moved to Kedah with my family in 2002. I was a standard two student then. We lived in a terrace house; it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It is not really wide but enough for three people because both my brothers studied in fully residential schools; different schools; one in Kedah and one stayed in Selangor; a place where I explored the first eight years of my life.
There, my mother made new friends with some new people. One of them is an Indian woman who reverted to Islam. She is younger than my mother; much more younger. My mother used to spend her evening at least once a week with that aunt. They bonded quite well. This aunt for me is the beginning of my unforgettable memories. She was the one who introduced me with those people who cheered my days in Kedah and taught me an important lesson in life.
The aunt recommended a tuition teacher to my mother. She convinced my mother that the tuition teacher has helped her children to achieve an excellent result in UPSR. My mother believed her sincerity and took me to the tuition’s classes.
So I went to my first lesson. I took two subjects which were English and Math (actually it only had two options; English & Math). Fyi, I didn’t call my tuition teacher with the common title like we used to call in Malaysia which is ‘teacher’ but I called her ‘Auntie’. I had a great time learning in Auntie’s house so since that day I attended her classes almost every day if I got nothing to do(no Kafa classes, I mean).
Actually I don’t really remember whether Auntie was a former teacher or what but I enjoyed her class so much. In her class, I got to know Willie and few other kids but I cannot recall their names. What I remember about Willie is she is a Siamese girl; I think she is a mix of Siam and Chinese. At first we were not really close but after few weeks, we developed a good relationship together. We have one thing in common that is I also have a Siamese blood from both my parents ( Auntie’s family and Willy know this). This similarity maybe made us feel connected somehow until Auntie’s son, Sanjev called us ‘cousin’ who cannot be separated; we talked non-stop although when Auntie gave us some exercises to be done. Sometimes we giggled with no reason by looking at Sanjev’s face and he would yelled, “Isyh sepupu ni!” Absolutely it made us laughed like a drain by looking at his unsatisfied sour face.
Willie also has a younger brother that we called Ah Boy. He didn’t attend Auntie’s tuition class I think because he was only around four or five during that time. However he always appeared in Auntie’s house. Ah Boy was quite naughty but he always made us smiled with his innocent face. Auntie would feed Ah Boy during lunch and we were like whimpering wanted to be fed like him too. One day we were informed that Willie’s mother was having a new baby boy. We were excited to see this newcomer. This baby is named Chawalit just like the name that I saw on TV until made me inspired to share this story.
Willie’s parents were running a business at that time so Auntie had helped them to take care of Chawalit. It made us happy because we could play with Chawalit after doing Auntie’s exercises. Shalini who is Auntie’s little cupcake; the only daughter in the family also began to bond with Willie, Chawalit and me. Sometimes we would play together after my lesson. She liked to show her new toys to us and invited us to play with her. Much of my time had being spent in Auntie’s house with Willie, Shalini, Sanjev, Chawalit and most importantly Auntie herself. Yeah, now I remember that I never have such a good rapport with any adult excluded my parents except Auntie. With Auntie I didn’t mind to share almost everything.
p/s: I had lost contact with them. Apart from that, my family moved to Perlis when I was thirteen years old and now we are living in Perak. However I will always keep Auntie’s family and Willie’s family in my heart because they showed me that skin colour doesn’t matter as long as we respect one another. Respect, it won't be that hard right?
