My mother was a big source of inspiration for everything, including problems related to babies, young girls and working mothers.
She was named after a flower, and the Dutch love this flower. She did not say very much, but led by example.
She was a dedicated mother who had to divide her time between family and work. She managed her kids well except when she was ill and I had to take over her chores.
She was loved by her students at all the schools she had taught. She related to me that the Sultan Ismail College (SIC) boys even hosted a dinner in Putrajaya in her honour, which she attended with sheer delight.
Her students treasured her for her friendliness and the warmth she brought them.
I remember her as my English coach at home. Sometimes she would tutor me on Mathematics. I knew it was so frustrating for her to teach me Mathematics as I could not comprehend the English text in my Mathematics book! My father took over from her and I had to buck up or I would hear the thunder roar over by shoulder!
My mother taught me the piano when I was 11, and we continued to play as duet till I was 15 - when I left for Tunku Kurshiah College.
She was a really good pianist. She told me she was a Grade 5 when she went to England and completed Grade 8 there.
She also taught me how to cook and sew. By age 9, I was already a wide-eyed seamstress and a pint-sized soux chef!
She was a good historian. She knew very well about the Second World War (WWII), Winston Churchill, the fates of the Jews, the Holocaust, Ann Frank's diary, and the formation of Israel.
But she was first and foremost, a Geography and English teacher. Having studied in England in 1952-53, History, Music and Medicine interested her immensely. She knew these topics better than me.
Even though I was already fixed on becoming a biochemist, she brought me in the late 1980 to see her tutor, Mr Roger Raymond Sellman.
Mr Sellman was a renowned senior British historian who was retired and lived with his wife Mia Sellman, and their dog (Twiggy) at their single-storey bungalow in Pound-Down Corner, Exeter in England.
Mr Sellman talked me into changing my interest and future profession. He said it would be desirous to accept History (as he had done) and desert Biochemistry altogether. I told him it was impossible and too late for me to switch fields but I thanked him for his encouragement.
My eyes were fixed on Twiggy and my favourite bread-and-butter pudding which Mia had specially prepared for me!
I continued to correspond with the Sellmans till I got married at 24 in 1983, and left home to work in Kelantan where I work presently.
Terima kasih, Mak!
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