Nyai

The legend. She came to Malaya in 1925. Nyai left her aristocratic life as the wife of a Lurah. There were changes in her life that she couldn't compromise. Mum was still breastfed. My Pak Tua who later became a village head, was... well if he was older than my father, he must be seven or eight. Since Nyai was very beautiful, even nicknamed Cik Jelita, many admirers came along too. Some even arrived later. This was personally told to me by one of them. I was ten then. They arrived at Port Klang and later settled in a place called Bukit Guntung. Nyai planted rice. Many volunteered to work for her. She was very independent.

I had never met someone like Nyai, in my entire life. She planted fruit trees, rice and vegetables for consumption and sale. Caught fish, trapped games, made her own sugar, and reared chickens. Her past time was never idle. She made baskets of different shapes and sizes from bamboo. Produced pandan mats. Made ropes from the banana plant. Planted cotton for pillows and mattresses.

She loved to make our favourite food: tapai ubi, tapai pulut, and the best of all was jeruk biji getah (fermented rubber seeds). When in season she would wrestle the jungle, climbed hills and crossed rivers to look for biji bakung, buah perah, chestnuts, and many more.

The children loved to play in front of her house because they woud never run be hungry. She would call to them to fill their stomachs. During the feast they would ask her to tell them stories. We had heard of Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup, Musang Berjanggut, and many others even before they were made into films. And the children wouldn't think twice to ask her for coins to buy an ice-cream.

Unique. Nyai walks the village carrying a bag. Along her path she would pick-up all the rubbish, stones, sticks, and broken glasses to be put away. B4 we had the water supply, we used to bath in the river or perigi (shallow well). She often brought the hoe to clear away the drain and the grass growing around it. At the river she would mound the rocks where the banks became eroded. Cleared the rubbish and dead leaves away. No one else did what she did.