Thursday, May 24, 2007

Othman Clan 3rd Generation


I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally got down to doing it :)
Presenting to you some faces, sides, smiles and snides of the 3rd generation of the Othman Clan. Mr Othman was a humble keropok seller who lived in the Koon Seng Road area with a huge jambu air tree in front. Legend holds that his wife, Salmah Karnawi, was a loving but strict disciplinarian who used to pluck the branches off the Jambu air tree to rotan her kids if they were slightly naughty. I think the discipline tactics worked pretty well, heh. :)

Another family legend is that Mdm Salmah also used to cook fast and easy to cook meals so that she could spend more time doing other household chores and tend to her many kids. As quoted by her first granddaughter, erm yours truly, in recent times, "Macam suker hati nenek kalau dapat buat kerjer rumah, macam tak sama gitu kalau orang lain buat" that she still feels as passionate about being the matriarch in the house as she had back in the 1950's up until the early 1980's.

I really admire my grandmother. (But well, who in the world doesn't, right?) She raised her siblings because her mother died while giving birth to her fourth child, and then married her neighbour (who had fallen in love with her since their childhood days) at the age of 18, before raising 10 wonderful kids. *ahem* a bit biased la here.
She's got so much strength only a woman who's been through the hardship and throttle in life can speak of, yet she's so humble about things, and always so curious and wanting to learn even at the sunset of her lifetime.

Presenting to you the face and strength behind the entire 2nd and 3rd generations, infecting them with discipline, vigour and a thirst for knowledge (haha, right right), Mr & Mrs Othman:

-May Allah bless your marriage always, within every moment and through the generations...-

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