I will break off for a while here to pay my last respects and salute probably one of the greatest people that I have ever known in my life - my great grandmother...
Was told by my mum that she passed on at 7am today...so in my state of mourning and deep reflection, I hereby present this tribute to her...
A legendary lady in her own right, she was born just when the Chinese Revolution of 1910 happened or after that...in the instability of the times in China, she managed to brave the elements and sailed down to Malaysia where she struggled with a lot of boat immigrants to try to find a new life overseas...
No doubt she would have heard of the favourable times in Malaysia compared to her hometown in Fujian...the thing I was not sure was whether she had met her husband by then...that was one thing which I cannot ascertain forever...
She struggled and tried to make ends meet, but somehow luck seemed to get worse for her...no one would have known about a crazy group of Asian idiots who wanted a 'co-prosperity sphere' for themselves...and when my own hometown was invaded in early January 1942 - my great grandma was caught together with her husband like so many Chinese peoples in Asia...
However, just as luck would have it, just as she was to become executed after great grandpa was slain by the Japanese sword...when she was next in line...she was spared. That, as she told me herself, the Japanese would leave her for another day.
That day never came of course - that very next day the Japanese under Yamashita stormed Johor Bahru and subsequently smashed British hopes at a certain City hall with their surrender. But she was spared - instead asked to do slave labour and grow crops for the troops - if I did not get my facts wrong.
When the war was over, she moved in with my grandfather and his kids as she had nowhere else to go - that now my mum vividly remembers as she slept in the same room with great grandma until her wedding to my dad. And my great grandma never forgot the care that was given to her by grandfather and the rest. The gods' blessings were with her as things improved in the 1960s...she recovered as well - she managed to see to see her own descendants expand their families and see her grandchildren, and subsequently 2-3 decades later, her great grandchildren.
It was then when she decided that she discovered with her reborn life, she decided to do something that she never did - tour the world and meet new friends. It was remarkable as for one like her she never did something like this since she sailed down from Fujian - she travelled alone for the next 2 decades to and fro between Singapore and my hometown...and made many new friends in Singapore itself. And she was overjoyed to be here...I would always remember the time where she even made the trip to Tiong Bahru to buy the famous buns for us. To tell the truth, the reason to why I strived to be a 'street directory' is all due to her unpresevering spirit - if she can remember places so well, so should I as well... In those times she would always take care of us and ask me to check phone numbers as she would always recorded her visits to her friends...
However, as time caught up with her...so did her body and subsequently, her spirit...she got weaker, and was unable to move - needed constant taking care of already...in the last 5 years or so she was not the same familiar chirpy old lady that I knew - as she began to lose her memory and not recall a lot of people.
But some things that matter to her a lot somehow do not go away...in her dying days my grandma told my mum that she would constantly mention great grandpa's name...and wished my grandpa and us well... So at the end, just as when it seemed that she would not remember anyone...these thoughts kept coming back to her. But at the same time, as these moments happened while her physical condition deteoriarted, I told my mum that her time was really not long...soon...
And then she passed away today...my grandma told us that she died happy - a smile on her face.
My emotions are so mixed....on one end I feel heartwrenched - if there is such a word - but on the other hand, I feel at peace now that with that, I am certain that she has lived a long and meaningful life. To be able to see the world, enjoy various things at various stages of her life, and yet be appreciative of the many things that happened to her - I know that she has gone to seek her next life in a better world.
In the end, this - to my great grandma - my blessings go to you and go happy after enjoying a very long life...
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