Gawai means a few things to me: the trip back to Kuching, some tuaks, and barrages of Iban songs and karaoke videos. Of course there's my family and sisters, the good old
manok pansuh, and other Iban foods such as
daun paku and
daun jabang (tapioca leaves).
I always feel weird going back to Kuching. Technically, for the past seven or eight or nine years, I've only stayed in Kuching for a total of two or three months - sparse Gawai and Christmas holidays. The rest of the time, I'm some few thousand miles away. I feel quite alien everytime I go back. For one thing, the place changed so much - don't trust me to be your tour guide if you plan to go there during Christmas or Gawai. And secondly, there is hardly any friends that I know are there, except for one or two friends from secondary school. So going back meant one thing - I get to spend the time with my family which is better than anything else.
Another thing about Kuching is that it is not my hometown, although I spent a good deal of my growing up there, from the age of 5 till end of my fifth form. I would have told people that Kuching is my hometown - but a hometown is a place most commonly referred to as your birthplace, but I was not born in Kuching. I was born somewhere in a remote village - but I find it easier to say that Kuching is my hometown, cos that answer satisfies most people. Unless they started asking me wether I was born at Sarawak General Hospital or not, which could get tricky, since I wasn't born in a hospital - I was born in a long house in a remote village where the nearest government clinic was a
day's trek through the jungle.
So whenever people ask me where I'm from, I just say Kuching.
One thing I like about going back to Kuching is that people (i.e. relatives) don't tend to ask much about me - for the simple reason that they only see me once or twice a year (Gawai and Christmas). Which is good cos I hate talking about what I do anyways. So when people ask me where I'm working at, I'd just say KL even though I do most of my stuff in PJ. KL is a better answer because somehow the people that ask me this questions seems to have the perception that KL is the only place in, well, KL. I did say PJ once in a while, but the answer to the follow-up questions get rather tricky, and quite
embarassing: Them: Oh PJ, is it near the toll? Me: Not really. Them: Oh. And your office is in KL? Me: Yup (lying) Them: Is your office far? How long does it take you to get to office? Me: Not really (lying), depends on traffic. Them: So you have to wake up early in order to avoid jam? Me: Yeah (lying). Oh the horror! The best of all is that nobody seems to be bothered asking what I do for a living. Which is a good thing because - argh, no one would understand anyway. If I was asked, I'd just say IT consulting. The word con-sulting will definitely, I tell you, inflict confusion and fear in their mind.
Gawai seems to lost its lusture. For as long as I can remember, I never celebrated it in the menoa (village). Gawai in the longhouses are much more festive than the ones celebrated in the city. Of course they have the
Kumang Gawai held every year in the city - but it's an affair that I've never
attended anyway. So Gawai is pretty much a family affair - no one really get you drunk, and I don't make people drunk either. Which is good because, come to think of it, I'd rather get drunk in the city and drop dead afterwards, rather than getting drunk in the longhouses and seeing ghosts. Yep, ghosts
and spirits. OK I am kidding about the ghosts and spirits and demons.
So how was Gawai this year? I don't know man. All I know is I dread coming back to PJ, but that is another story altogether.
Listening to: Zero 7 - Destiny
