Distilled Moment

My Colombo Plan's scholarship in Australia was 130 Australian dollars.  I sent 30 to my mother.  I wanted so much for my younger sisters to continue schooling.  A small student stipend became even smaller, certainly requiring a very careful and tight management of my budget.  Anyhow, I thought buying a Bernina sewing machine would pay off in the long run. Saving every single cent, every week, I paid a small amount for it.  I went hunting for materials in Salvation Army stores.  For very little money, I could buy very big pieces of clothing which were made from beautiful and expensive materials.  I then unpicked the seams and refashioned them.  Here is me in a jumpsuit made from summer wool When my first child was born, I had to give up my scholarship. Money was very tight.  My sewing skills came in very handy.  I continued to sew for many years until my illness made it too difficult.  I kept hoping that someday I would sew again....

When I was little, one of my favourite chores was keeping dry goods into bottles.  Sugar, flour, salt were packed into old newspapers.  The shopkeeper would take the amount needed from a large sack, huge tin or earthenware urn and wrap the goods with pieces of newspaper.  That gave me some reading material and a glimpse of a world outside of my village. When I was ten, I saw a picture of a "twist" dress on one of those newspaper pieces.  It was a dress cut slim to the hips and then the bottom half would be gathered full. When you dance the "twist", the bottom half would flare up, exaggerating your movement. The folly of a pre teen :-) The picture conjured up such a pretty vision in my head. I showed it to my mother and asked her to make it for me.  She was livid! Every year in the month of Ramadan, my father would buy a bolt of material for my mother to make clothes for us to celebrate Syawal.  For that year, my mother gave me whatever was left after making...

Have been unable to write in a while.  Health went down a bit.  Before I restart, I take this opportunity to thank all the readers.  I hope my sharing has benefited you in some way.  In the beginning, I wrote www.distilledmoment.com and www.redha.net with different stories.  International readers told me there were gaps in my storyline.  Thus, starting from the 12th post, only the language of the two blogs differs.  The story is identical.  Those who can read Bahasa Melayu and English can just read one blog post, although you can read both for extra clarity :-) There is now an email option.  Readers can subscribe to get posts through emails.  Here is how to do it: I reply to comments through a pen name Hanita Mahmood.  The blog was registered a long time ago using this name.  There is a history to this name too.  My late mother requested me to write about her life story using this pen name.  Websites: www.distilledm...