Pyjamas

What do you do with a loose pyjamas pants that once you put it on, it slips down immediately?

If my mum were to see me with that, she would either throw it away for me, or exclaim “Astaga!” Astaga means something like “Oh My God!”. I grew up thinking it’s a Malay word but I think it’s Indonesian.

I grew up with an Indonesian maid, taking care of me. There was a period where all the sisters of the same family worked for us. One sister works and then wants to get married so the job gets passes on the younger sister and so forth. My favourite “kakak” is very pretty. She’s funny too. She always runs with her hands holding on to her boobs because they are big and they bounce when she runs. She does that on purpose sometimes, running more bouncily to give us some laughs. She also boasts of having hairless armpit. We asked her why there’s no hair. She said, “Dulu masa kecil, saya gosok dengan batu.” Hehe.

She would always accompany me, like sitting next to me when I do my homework. Those were some good times until she met a jerk who became her boyfriend who impregnated her and she had to leave for Indoanesia and the guy fled.

I miss her.

So, growing up with all these “kakaks” and with so many illegal immigrants flowing in from Indonesia, there are bound to be terms and words which were used interchangebly. I always thought what I spoke was Malay until when you leave your state and live in another state that you discover some words are indeed not Malay.

For example, for pants, we call it “seluar” but back home, we always refer to it as “celana”. Plastic bag, we call it “bahai”. I know it sounds like some Chinese bad word but it really does mean plastic bag.

Back to my celana pyjamas, I like it. And thus to make it usable, have just discovered a way to wear it. I’ll slip it on and then gather those loose ends and tie it as a knot. Ada style juga tu.

Enough of cerita, tomorrow I’ve got to attend an interview. Aku takut.

Shine, Grace. Shine!