A : I am Aisha Jamaluddin and am turning 16 years old this year. I am born and raised here in Kuala Lumpur.
H : My name is Hana Jamaluddin and I was born in Petaling Jaya. Aisha has mostly lived here but before this we were living everywhere from the United States, Japan, England, Singapore, Kuwait to India. We had the opportunity to travel quite a bit.
Where did your family come from? And how was it like growing up in your household?
A : Our household can get very chaotic. It is really the survival of the fittest.
H : We live in an animal kingdom. Aisha lives with my side of the family.There's grandma and we have aunties and cousins living with us. I think she has quite an amazing family life, different compared to what I grew up with. When we had to live in different countries, we had no choice but to ensure that we treat each other like our support system. We didn’t have anyone else to support us. I am very happy that Aisha had such an experience. When we moved back to Malaysia, Aisha was only 2 years old. I knew that I wanted the support of a larger family when I raised her. I am glad that's how it is today.
What strikes your emotional chord every time you think about your family?
H : We have a motto that all of us embrace, no matter where we go. It is family above everything. We have learnt that family is something that you can rely on and it gives me so much joy just spending time with them. As I turn 52 years old this year, it became clear to me that certain things in life just cannot be compared to family. But of course, there are sacrifices that needs to be made and that teaches you a lot about life. The moment you figure out the answers to life’s questions and put them in the right perspective, it will all begin to make sense.
A : Our family is my ultimate foundation and turning 16 years old this year really had taught me so much.
What were some of your earliest creative memories with your family?
A : There were no arts and crafts classes for me. It was more sporty especially when I have a family who has been very involved with outdoor sports like polo and horse riding.
H : I have to say one of my earliest creative memories would be something related with horses and polo too. My passion for horses has been developed since a young age by my family. It has stayed with me throughout the years. We still do today together at Bukit Kiara Park and we are grateful to have travelled everywhere that had allowed us to ride horses.
A : I was told by my mother that I technically rode my first horse when i was only 2 months young. It was during one of our vacations at The Shangri-La’ Rasa-Sayang Resort in Penang.
Describe to us how your annual Raya celebration looks like.
A : Our Raya celebrations focuses heavily on family. We only started celebrating Raya at Rembau after the family house was ready. It is a new thing for our family. Rembau is a place where we will have our big family gatherings, especially on the first day.
H : After being away from Malaysia for quite some time, I came to a realization that Raya is such an important time for family. It doesn't matter where Raya is celebrated. Unfortunately, some years the family was split up because a few of us were traveling, in school or at work.
What is the one thing you always feel nostalgic about when reminiscing about your past Raya celebrations?
A : I am not very nostalgic about Raya but maybe the takbir which is something that can only be heard during Raya.
H : I think she is too young to have nostalgia. I have a tons of them! It is always a must for us to visit my father’s graveyard. Always emotional and a bit of a tear-jerker, every now and then. It always makes me feel something whenever I think of him. He has been gone for too long.
Do you have a particular song, movie or film that brings back Raya memories?
A : The takbir raya always gets to me. When we have the opportunity to celebrate Raya back here, there would be men visiting from our local mosque to initiate the takbir raya which announces the commencement of Raya.
H : It is the same for me. The call for prayer is all I need. Unfortunately, we never listened to a lot of P. Ramlee or Sudirman like what most would usually do.
Aisha wears the Mutiara in Gold.
Hana wears the Seroja in White (coming soon).
Both wear Sueka Sueka.
Check out their Instagram for more.
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Photos by Amani
Styling by Haida Yusof
Set by Aida
Background by Miriam
