The 'Frog Firecracker' Incident.
(Tribute to Janie aka Aniely)Much of my interesting experiences back when i was a child fell on the two auspicious months in the Islamic calendar, the Ramadhan (fasting month) and the Syawal (Eidul Fitr). This was probably because every year during these two months, my house will be like the 'kampung' for the nearest relatives from my mother's part. They will come to my house 3 to 4 days early before the Eidul Fitr Eve, and help us with the preparations.
I still remember, the women will gather around our kitchen, preparing all the 'kuih-muih's like 'tat nenas', 'cokelat cip', 'kueh gunting', etc. and they will be talking and laughing and talking and laughing some more... If you guys were there, you could surely feel the merriness that we had when we were children. The men will be around the house, either 'mesen rumput' or 'cuci dinding' and 'longkang'...
I personally like to see and to 'help' my brother making 'pelita' out of several bamboos. Until now we still have his homemade 'pelita' in our store. This past several years, i reuse the 'pelita' that he made..
At night, usually after praying 'tarawikh' at the nearest mosque, we would gather in front of the telly and watch movies together.
And then there was this night...
Playing with firecrackers was a compulsory activity back then. Me and several of my cousins would 'invest' our money to buy the perfect firecrackers... the ones that were very enticing and probably beautiful when lit.
That Raya, i had a little extra money that i managed to gather for our investment, and with the addition from my other cousins, we walked to the nearest shop which sells firecrackers at that time. (nowadays no more.. because of the prohibition)..
We handpicked several of the firecrackers including the metal-stick'bunga api'-with-cat's eye wrapper-thingy, the throw-onto-the-floor-or-onto-people-pop-thingy, the white-red-stipes-bunga api thingy, the 'mercun cili padi' thingy, the 'mercun gasing', the 'mercun roket' and last but not the least, the 'mercun lipat-lipat' thingy that eventually be called 'mercun katak' (you will be enlighten on the reason of the naming).
So when we were back at my house, we were very much pleased with the 'hasil tangkapan' for that day. We knew, that night would be a fiesta for us.
Everybody grinned...
and so the night came... it was actually the Eidul Fitr Eve...
after the 'takbir raya' session, we the kids ran quickly outside to the gate, where my brother tied his homemade 'pelita'. We took out our stash... Our eyes were gleaming to see the many colours of 'joy' that were inside the red plastic bag... and so then began the fiesta of firecrackers...
lalalalala~
we were so happy... playing with bright colourful fire...
we played most of the firecrackers that we bought, leaving the crooked 'mercun katak' to the very last... This was because at that time, we have never played a 'mercun katak' before and judging by the physical look of the 'mercun', we decided to save it for the last...
So when most of us have played with the other firecrackers, we began the ceremony of lighting the first 'mercun katak'. Everybody was eager to know, how this little fella lights up. Will it be brighter than any other firecrackers that we have played so far? Will it be beautiful?
Everybody was questioning the credibility of the 'mercun katak' when my cousin tried to lit one.
and when the 'sumbu' was lit, every eye that was on the courtyard that historical night was watching closely as if it was examining the xylem cell of a plant on a microscope.
and then...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
everybody was screaming! that 'mercun katak' blew with a really loud bang!
we could see clearly that the 'mercun katak' leaped several times...
So that's why people call them 'Mercun Katak'... they leap man!
and then there was Janie... my cousin...
she was merrily playing with the 'bunga api' in her hand when the second 'mercun katak' was lit.
Much to her dismay,
the 'mercun katak' leaped several times towards her!
I could swear that the 'mercun katak' was like chasing her!
Seeing the approaching 'mercun katak', she threw away her 'bunga api' and ran!
She ran like it was not tomorrow for her.... with an AAAAAARRRRRGGHHHH!!!! scream from the back of her throat... poor Janie..
As what she recalls:
"what I rememebr y part kene kejar mercun katak tuh sampai kene panjat-panjat diding pendek tuh ..hahah tuh tak tahan .."
*this is a true story... it happened not to a friend of a friend of mine, but to a cousin of mine....
