Tikki Masala

Chicken Tikki Masala with rice, egg and ABC soup

I was cooking the chicken Tikki Masala for the first time. I took the first bite to savour it and it was absolutely superb. The taste was exactly what I imagined. Then an unexpected thing happened. I was suddenly thrown back into time. Suddenly my mind was stalled and I thought about my father. Yes, my father. Maybe you may ask, what has a chicken dish got to with your father?? Beats me... and then his images came running in my head. Flashbacks of him, my brother and I when we were small overwhelmed me. Alot of times, people say that children are closer to the mother than the father and like us too, it was no exception. Fathers were always a figure of discipline and with clear boundaries drawn around them. But then, it struck me when all these flashbacks came back...

1. My dad coming back at night with a birthday cake to celebrate my 4th birthday.
2. Brought my brother and I to go walking at some rubber estates.
3. Brought our bicycles to fix at the 4.5 mile Old Klang Road bicycle shop. When my brother did well in his SRP (now called PMR), he was rewarded a new BMX. We went to the shop to buy his new bicycle.
4. Picked me up from school every evening with my mom when I was in primary school. And sometimes there was always yam with dried shrimps and cheecheongfun soya sauce tahpau-ed in the car for us to eat on our ride home just in case we were hungry.
5. Picked my brother and I up from school, once in 1986 (I could still remember I was in 2 Teratai and Cik Siti was teaching us halfway) before the school ends because my ku-poh (grandaunt) passed away. It was my first time leaving school before the school time ends.
6. Brought my brother and I to his bank and ate chicken rice at the bank's canteen and how I always wanted to add rice.
7. While waiting for my mother to attend the evening mass, he would sometimes bring us to Taman Jaya to play see-saw. Sometimes we went for sup ayam or sup kambing in Old Town. Sometimes he brought us to Jaya Supermarket for shopping and in there, I would always hold on to my father's left hand side of the corduroy jeans "handle" while my brother was always on the right.
8. Ate in Jalan Gasing's Chicken Rice in the evening after my mother came out from the evening mass on Saturday. I still remember I always ate the chicken skin and not the meat and do not mind eating the rice alone with nothing else.
9. My brother and I always had our pyjamas brought into the car whenever we go out and we change into pyjamas before reaching our house so that we could go straight to bed after reaching home.
10. Bought another Voltron and the Lion Castle when my mom and grandmother also bought another one from Hong Kong.
11. Bought a big packet of large size prawns and he, my brother and I sat in the bathroom to peel off the shells.
12. Brought my brother and I to Syabas to learn swimming. There was always a float on my arm.
13. Always sing the tune of mile after mile with super Shell, one-way ticket to the moon and other tunes that I have forgotten.
14. Wrote a cheque to Uncle Tai (the taukeh for my school bus) on a termly basis and pass it through Uncle Razak.
15. Went to Cameron Highlands with the whole family and brought my grandmother along. I could still remember my grandmother was vomitting her way up there. But then she got used to it after a few more years when the roads were better and the availability of travel-sick pills.
16. Bought bah kut teh and left it on the table during my odd hour studies for my STPM, in case I was hungry in the wee hours of the morning.
17. Bought a packet of nasi lemak on Fridays because Fridays were the day of abstinence. And the packet of nasi lemak was always filled with sambal sotong, prawns, eggs, and kangkung.
18. Fetched me to school on Saturdays for scout activities and stopped over at Jalan Gasing for wantan mee breakfast.
19. He always wanted to go all the way out to help people and treated my friends even better than how my friends' parents would treat me.
20. Caught me when I fell unconciously due to dengue fever.

The people in the world have dedicated a day for fathers and they called it a Father's Day. I always thought that fathers' day should be every day. But then, a thought without action is just as useless. Today, I experienced God's manisfestation of my father's love to me and what he means to me and I am really grateful to him for all that he has done for us. My brother and I never knew what he wanted us to be when we grew up simply because he has never pushed us in his way.

This morning, when I walked on the streets of Cambridge and saw some students with their parents because of the first batch of graduation, I saw how proud their parents were and these parents were all dressed up in suits taking pictures every where. I said to myself, "Wow, it's so wonderful to see all these parents being so happy for their children. This is probably their first time wearing such a beautiful suit until they wear them again when their children get married".

My friend asked how has Cambridge shaped me so far, I told her that it is not about the place where we study but the journey of going through Cambridge, the people's lives that we have touched and inspired and be the source of pride for those who loved us, just by entering here. She then asked how were my parents at home taking it when I am so far away suddenly. I told her, my parents could not be any happier to see their son being able to study here because they were very poor and could never have made it even to live comfortably last time, what more to continue studies and this is one way of carrying that torch for the family.

Unfinished Chicken Tikki Masala

My mind suddenly snapped back into conscious mode and I was staring blank at my chicken Tikki Masala. For the first time, I did not finish a dish that I cooked and which tasted so nice. I have to save it for tomorrow then. Then I realised my eyes were wet and red. Someone then came into the kitchen. I blew my nose. They looked at me and I said "Oh my gosh, this chicken is really spicy! I am gonna continue this tomorrow." And then I fled back into my room to write this blog....and tell everyone that I love my parents alot!