Rumah Pak Habib

Down memory lane ....

Pak Habib lived behind Mak Sarah's house. When we lived at 262-T Banda Hilir house in 1958-1963, Pak Habib was already an old man and was partially blind. He often sat near the window, with his face sticking out and the sun shining on his face. I remember asking someone how he went blind. According to what was explained to me, Pak Habib had rubbed his eyes after holding or touching butterflies/moths. The dust from the insect's wings caused him to become blind.

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Family photos

Revisiting Pak Habib's house at Perkarangan Masjid Banda Hilir
4 June 2016

I am standing at the corner of Pak Habib's house and looking towards Masjid Banda HIlir. The blue house on the right is rumah Mak Sarah. The white house on the left is rumah Nek Ya Tampin (Bapak's aunt).

Rumah Pak Habib ... it is still the same little house I knew as a small girl aged 5 (1963). Pak Habib would sit at the last right front window facing rumah Mak Sarah. Kids would call on him at this window.

Rumah Pak Habib

Stone staircase of rumah Pak Habib.

A tiny lane beside rumah Pak Habib leads to the rented houses beyond the brick wall with gate, at the rear grounds of Masjid Banda Hilir. Rumah Pak Habib is on the left. An example of a labourer's rented zinc house is on the right. These zinc houses belonged to my great-grandfather Hj Mohd Sharif bin Ismail. They were rented out to Chinese labourers and their families for the lowest rents. Unfortunately, the Chinese living in those rented houses have claimed the houses for themselves and refused to pay rent. Hj Mohd Sharif bequeathed (wakaf) his lands to Masjid Banda Hilir. The land and houses beyond the brick wall & gates are thus the property of Masjid Banda Hilir (tanah wakaf).