and the story begins..

publicity and complications scare me.
and thus i've moved...

www.scern.blogspot.com

It felt as if the funeral scenes from Singapore Dreaming were re-playing right in front of my eyes.. the burning of the huge paper house, the walk behind the big lorry carrying the coffin to the gravesite..
‘cept that the mournful hokkien song the old auntie was singing at the end of the movie was replaced by my ah ma’s heart-wrenching cries and screams of grief at my ah gong’s coffin..

Different forms of representation.. same level of impact.

I’ve never seen my ah ma lose control like that before.. the usually smiley, bouncy grandma that I call ‘the huge-ribena-berry’ in private was gloomy, teary-eyed and obviously missing ah gong a lot.

Their parting would have made the perfect ending to an eerie, tear-jerking love story.

ah ma comes down with flu and needs to see the doc, she tells bed-ridden ah gong to wait for her to come back. Son drives ah ma to doc. Car mysteriously breaks down on the way back. Ah ma comes back to find ah gong already gone.

It’s the stubbornness in ah gong.. they say.. refusal to let anyone see him go like that..


Ah ma and the rest of the family were not the only ones grieving.
Johnny, ah gong’s beloved pet dog, like the rest of the family with a piece of cloth pinned to their sleeves, had a piece of beige nylon tied to his collar.
And while the whole family was sitting in front of the coffin praying with the priest for ah gong, johnny forced his way through and sat down with us.

Right at the front among the ranks of the sons and the eldest grandson.

Message:89
“ah gong just passed away. Take leave on Friday & Saturday. We go in on Thursday.”
From: Dad
4.11pm 31-OCT-06

The SMS came in short and simple. What followed was a shocked, motionless 5 seconds in the middle of chinese literature tutorial. I scrambled out of class and gave a call back… flashes of ah gong holding on to my hand from the last time I saw him came crashing in my head.. but the only sentence that kept repeating itself was “I din see him for the last time..”

too fast i say. Too fast..

gone is the man who’ld go around collecting durians just for his grandchildren because “the singapore children don’t get to eat good durians”

gone is the man whose only words to the grandchildren were “have u eaten? Eat more!!” but yet could encompass so much love in them

gone is the man who loved his wife his entire life even though it was an arranged marriage..

gone is the man I inherited his love for dogs, cats and all kinds of animals from..

gone is also the man whom I respect, love and will always remember..

“like a strong, sturdy tree devoured by starving termites from the inside.. uprooted by the relentless, chilly wind... u remain tall in my heart.. having protected me from the scorching sun and the battering rain .. showering me with love like the falling leaves..thank u so much …. thank u..”