Why I Call My Grandpa Jadi

Jadi

No, It's not because I think he's a Jedi.

He's my Mom's dad. Jadi is derived from an arabic word Jaad-Di which literally means my grandfather. My Jadi is 80 this year. Old-ish even for old people.

Anyhu, he was born in Perak to a noble Malay family. His father, my great-grandfather, was the Orang Besar Jajahan (OBJ), one of the Pembesar Berempat of Perak. In simpler terms, the OBJ is one of the four most senior nobles in Perak. The title and position still exists to this present day.

My Jadi is not your average grandpa. He would give long lectures about the slightest most trivial things imaginable. An example would be about washing hands. He would make me stand beside the sink and repeat every single thing he did. If I'm not mistaken, there are about 5 or 6 steps altogether.

Here are a list of things my Jadi prohibits me from doing:

1. Never use the word aku, kau, awak. Guna nama. Lebih sopan dan beradap begitu.

2. Never simpan long hair. Rambut pendek lebih elok. I quote "Faisal, you look so much better like this. Very handsome" - Beaming with pride and pointing happily at my newly cut hair. The only reason I ever cut my hair is because my Jadi dont like it long.

3. Never ever sit in a position where the feet is "high" - Tak menghormati orang.

4. Always bow down when walking in front of older people. It's a sign of respect.

5. The list goes on and on.

More often than not, whenever I walk past/near him, he'd stop me on my tracks and ask me to come nearer to him. He would then proceed with a long lecture (5 Mins at least) about anything and everything imaginable for example like how I have to keep my distance from the car in front while driving or how I needed to check that every single window and door was locked before I go to bed. His most favourite lecture would be a long lecture about how I should be careful to never "mix around with the wrong people".

Most people would be annoyed at having such a fussy grandfather. But not me. I love my Jadi very much. It's very simple why. Because he loves me just as much too. My Jadi has never ever told me that he loves me but I know he does. His actions speaks louder than his words.

When I was a baby, he would hold me for hours on end. He refused to put me down or give me back to my mother. He would just hold me in his arms, cradle me and put me to sleep while standing up. I'm not talking about an hour or two. I'm talking about a few hours.

When I was a small boy, I used to get angry at him. He used to take my toys away from me.

When I was a kid, I couldn't understand why he was being so mean to me. Now I know why. He was afraid that I might injure myself. He took away every toy that in his opinion was dangerous to my well-being. Once, he was so paranoid about me injuring myself, he even took away a plastic sword my dad bought for me (I found the sword ten years later, hidden behind some old boxes on top of a cupboard).

I thought his small lectures would go away as I grew older. Boy Oh Boy was I wrong. He still continues to lecture me on anything and everything imaginable. In the past I would still hear his lectures, but not whole heartedly as most of the time, he'd stop me dead on my tracks while I was on my way to do something else for example, going out etc.

However nowadays, everytime my Jadi stops me dead on my tracks to lecture me about god knows what, I would stop and listen to him attentively. He's not giving me lectures just to have fun at boring me to death. He's giving me lectures so that his grandson would be a successful man some day. He's giving me lectures so that nothing could ever tear me down or beat me to the ground. He's giving me all those lectures just because he simply loves me.

My grandfather is very old now. He spends most of his time praying and sleeping. He was a very handsome man when he was younger (now I know where my dashing good looks come from =p). He's the type of man that never says he loves you, but deep down inside you know he loves you. More than you will ever know.