Jitra's Summer

When we first moved to Jitra in November 2000, I was convinced that we made the right choice, as far as the weather is concerned. It was cool and breezy with the rather frequent downpour signalling the arrival of the monsoon in December. I was quite unperturbed by this seasonal monsoon having seen more violent ones when my husband was based in Kuantan in the late 70's and early 80's. The cool weather continued right through January before changing abruptly with the coming of February. Suddenly, the breeze stopped, the rain stopped, the cool weather which I thought was a permanent feature of this northern-most town of Kedah came to a halt.

What followed was enough to make me want to pack my bags and run off back to K.L. I was not very keen on settling down in Jitra, in the first place, having stayed in K.L. for so long. But my dear husband had other plans. He was of the notion that K.L. is a place for the young and energetic to pursue their careers and accumulate their wealth. Once they have achieved their financial goals, then they should seek out a more peaceful and relaxing place/kampung to retire for the rest of their lives!! Imagine!. Well, what do you expect? Being the good , loyal  and submissive wife that I am, I complied to his wishes.

Now it was my turn to get back at him. You see, if there is anything my husband is not willing to compromise, it is the HEAT. To be precise, the SEARING JITRA HEAT. I could see that he was restless but he put up a brave front. The heat was also getting at me but I was able to tolerate it better than him. I waited patiently for an opportune moment to lash back. Wicked me.

When we built our bungalow at Darulaman Heights, the contractor got all the wiring for the air-conditioners ready. But my dear husband did not want to install air-conditioners. He wanted to go completely natural. He thought by coming back to Jitra he could get back his chidhood way of life. - you know, like opening the windows wide at night for the cool breeze to lull him to sleep and gazing up at the millions of stars adorning the cloudless sky. FAT HOPES.  Oh yes, the cool breeze and the stars were all there alright but so were HUNDREDS OF MOSQUITOES and other padi-related nocturnal insects which were completely alien to me. Finally, my dear husband had to succumb to modern technology but not without one last desperate attempt to get me to hang a mosquito net. Gracious! NO WAY! He knew that I could not be persuaded much further, so he was left with no other options.  No more cool night breeze, no more twinkling stars, no more mosquitoes - no more NIGHTMARES!!

Now, we are able to sleep peacefully, the air-conditioner purring softly and soothingly, totally oblivious of  Jitra's hot summer.