Moving into the same house

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Moving into the same house

Assalamu ‘Alaikum,

                                   Moving into the same house.

It is surreal, it’s another house but the master bedroom, the tv lounge and dining hall looks like it was transported unchanged from our old abode. Waking up after the first night in the new house its like as if we have never moved. Of course the kiblat have sort of changed directions, the room we called Tok Aboh’s room became the girls’ room and the study room became Zahir’s room. The view from my window is also the same except now we get sunshine in the morning instead of in the afternoon. No prizes for guessing; we moved from no 5 to no 21 across the road.

It’s a long time coming but the Zahid family now have a home to call their own. When Papa was a bit younger and pre-family Papa did not want to beg around for capital to start a company. There was some capital gain in the house Papa bought a few years before so Papa sold it to turn the gain into share capital for Papa’s company. Now it's time to buy a home.

The kids are excited; they are now old enough to have a room of their own. The girls chose lilac for their room; we wasn’t sure what Zahir chose but it turned out to be sky blue and the most striking room for the house. When Andrew’s people wanted another picture of Papa for their glossy brochure of an upcoming Islamic Finance Conference in Brunei, Mama says Zahir’s room wall will make the perfect background for our homemade picture. Tokcik also have a dedicated room downstairs but then she has a room in almost every niece’s and nephew’s house. Its amazing how much possessions and clutter a family builds up after nine years. Much are inside boxes including toys, and barring squealing protests from the kids, much, especially toys will remain in boxes safely sealed in the store. Mama is also under strict instruction to give away or trash whats not absolutely necessary for the safe progress of family life. I contemplated trashing the Kanu Nigerian cowhide pouffes I collected on a memorable visit many years ago but Mama sensed the sentimentality of the stuff to me and reversed my decision. We had no qualms trashing the Makro exercise bike though, bought too long ago to remember when. It has served its purpose although by the current size of Papa’s girth it was always the tool of a losing battle. We wanted a rain shower like the ones you find in some hotels but didn’t realise it was going to cost an arm and a leg. So we improvised and asked Lim the handyman to do a coronary bypass of the piping kind. That coupled with your everyday Joven water heater plus a rain shower head we got a fairly satisfactory alternative. Of course we now have to compete with the kids to use the shower.

This part of Klang Valley will remain the place we choose to live; kids’ school and Papa’s office a shouting distance away. We looked at many places before deciding, but none we viewed have the rolling greens the developer left for the residents to enjoy. Many we saw was developed with purely profit in mind, it was too obvious. We need to remember to change the address on our identity card so that we can vote in the next elections. But that as they say is another story; and some huh?

Wassalam,

 Zahid