36th. Wedding Anniversary .

Today 3rd.February ( 1972 ) is our 36th. wedding anniversary . It was on this date that our ' akad nikah ' was performed in a very simple and modest manner , at my wife's family's house in Jalan Omri, Muar . There was no big feast and there was no sophisticated 'bersanding' ceremony . I got married without the blessing of my family . They did not hand any support at all . They expected that I should have married someone of their choice , someone from their clan . I was determined to break that so called family practice . Only my dear late ' Opah ' (my maternal grandmother) was the one who made things came true for us . When thinking of it , of course I am sad but what to do , it was all fated . But deep inside my heart , I was determined to make our marriage a happy one despite of all the hitches that we have to go through . What was the use of having all the big dos when eventually it was not a happy one or worst still if it ended in a divorce . Of course sometimes I had to bear with all the adverse comments from friends and even from family members of our marriage's simplicity . I just put on a deaf ear and console myself by telling myself that my family is mine and not theirs to decide or to comment . I have proven to them that my family is much a happier and successful one than most of theirs . At least I do not have to beg to seek sympathy and I stand proud even till today . I was quite successful in my career and my children have been succesful in their studies too . All my four children have undergone tertiary education of which two of them locally and the other two overseas .

After our 'akad nikah' my wife followed me to Segamat where I was transfered to . In the beginning we stayed in the Police Mess but later I got a government quarters in Jalan Datok Wan Idris, Segamat . It was tough in the beginning because we started from scratches . ( Unlike my children who began their marriage life with a silver platter ) . We did not even have a proper bed to sleep and furnitures to use because we just simply could not afford it . I still remember we had to sit cross legged ( bersila ) on the floor to have our meals . My salary then was only RM.320/-per month . Luckily things were not as expensive as it is today and we managed to make ends meet by being careful in our spending . I was then using a Volks Wagon car ( a popular brand then ) which I bought it second hand ( two year old )for RM.2,500/- . I still remember the registration number BV 6027 . I had to pay the installment of RM.125/- per month . ( A brand new VW car would cost only RM5,200/- ) . I used immitation tyres for my rear tyres which cost only RM.15/- each . Today we seldom hear of immitation tyres for cars . Only some lorries are still using immitattion tyres . We bought things for our house bit by bit , and even that they were cheap ones . After a few years when there was an adjustment of salaries for government servants , our economy began to improve . Inspite of that I kept on being careful in my spending because I had an intention to buy a house before I reach the age of 30 . In 1975 at the age of 28 years I bought my first house in Seksyen 11, Shah Alam , a double storey terrace house for RM.37,000/- . From then on life ran smoothly for us . My two boys were produced in Segamat but were borned in Muar General Hospital while my two daughters were borned in Klang ,that was because I was then transfered to Klang in 1981 .

I am grateful to Allah for I have been blessed with bounties ( rezeki ) , happiness and good health so far . I hope I would continue to enjoy these benefits for many years to come . Amin .