A great tailor....my tailor
I remembered following abah and the whole family to AMICO in Kajang at night, waiting for abah to browse through the stack of "dull" looking cloth. Abah always ended with a black-gray-dark blue cloth, and left me wondering what so great about that "dull" looking cloth. After that hunting, the chinese guy, smartly in his nice pressed pant and well buttoned shirt with a measuring tape around his neck, will "metered" abah at weird specific angles. His name is Peter, and he is my father's personal tailor.
Through out the years of growing up, Abah had numerous pant, shirt and suit that were tailored made by Peter, he was then AMICO. As i grew a bit older, Peter shifted out from AMICO which he shared with his brother, to open his own tailor shop, SMART. A nice shop located near top floor of the famous Metro Kajang.
I barely remember my first experience having a tailor made pant, but it was definitely sewn by Peter. Honestly, i was then unable to appreciate what a tailor made pant means to a real man. Abah always scolded me about my "poor" appreciation of that piece of cloth worn by me. Abah could not be more right. Anybody can see all the traces of my walking path at the end of the pant, by the end of the year, i created a "nice" ragged trimming to my pants.
As the years passed by, I started to have numbers of pants and shirts from Peter. Things changed, and several things still stay the same. I do appreciate tailor made pants and shirts. Plus with my height and size, it was rather difficult to have a fitting length pant, other than my tailored made. That "dull" looking cloth, redefine itself to me as a rich durable piece of cloth. My favourite piece of Peter's hand made products, is definitely his creation of batik and shirt for me, and the nicely sewn Baju Melayu. I greatly into a tailor made cloth, yet as said, several things not changed, the traces of path i took, can still be seen on pants of mine..(haha....i can't help it, it was subconciously done).
Peter as a person, was a nice warm guy. He had been tailoring my father's since I was not born, My father is a client for 30 years. From my father's tailor, he became my tailor. Knowing me as "Anak Ali", he knew perfectly the fit of my father and mine. I remembered once when i was in Form 2, we went to him on tuesday with a piece of white cloth, and asking him to sew a baju melayu for me to be worn for Friday uniform. "Peter, hari khamis siap bolehkan", my father urged him." Oh yo, Ali, mana boleh, ini hari Selasa maa..."...etc etc.... As i know, that thursday, i received my Baju Melayu, and the next day, that baju melayu received lot of positive review and critics from numerous amateur fashion critics. Small adjustment of pants, sewing a sarong, trimming ya's pants, was a FOC service from Peter to our family.
My definite time to visit him is usually before Raya, a week or two before Raya. It had been a part of my raya to have a nicely tailored Baju Melayu from him, a piece that i treasured especially with the cloth i personally bought.
But this year, that piece of Baju Melayu, maybe will not be around..... Peter passed away several months back......For the last few days after knowing Peter's demise, i amazingly realised how surreal it felt to have my own tailor. It was a "taken for granted" privillage of mine. Did not realized how lucky i am to have a marvellous tailor since before i was born.
Sitting here, i am contemplating where to send the "kain" that i bought ;ast week, that suppose to be another of Peter's creation. Now, realized how difficult to replace him, as a tailor. And i know my father and I, are not the only two people who felt that way towards Peter's demise. Being human ... a lot of things that we take for granted. I was blinded to see how important to have Peter tailoring my cloth through out the years. I was lucky.....
Saying that, Yupp, i'm proud to say Peter was a great caring tailor...and he was my Tailor...
