Something miraculous occurred over the weekend and it was never
done before. For the 1st time, I engaged in a heart to heart chat
with my mother. Prior to this miraculous day, I was always busy. I
am busy either with coursework during my university days, or busy
with chasing girls; busy with playing the latest computer games or
busy with OTs. This Saturday was like a god blessed Saturday.
Somehow on that day, there was no OT at work, somehow all my
friends were unable to meet up with me and somehow my internet
connection went down. I was bored like hell, but I was determined
to go out. As such, I had this crazy idea; why not go out with my
mother?
We had dim sum and somehow we ended in a starbucks café. Trendy
Huh? To be in a starbucks café with your MUM. Anyway, she spoke
about my grandma, and tales cum gossips about her siblings, the
sort of daughter-in-law and mother-in-law conflicts and battle of
wits between her mum and my uncles wives. Such battles were as
exciting as reading Romance of three kingdoms.
And she also talked about her childhood. You see, growing from a
poor family in the kampong area, my grandma could only afford to
send her to a private primary school run by the communist party
then. It was the 1960s yeah. As such, she has very good dealings
and friendship with a lot of communist friends. She recalled once,
there was a huge raid on communist in the kampong area, and in a
decisive manner, my grandma instructed her to burn away all her
textbooks and photographs with her communist friends. It was so
exciting.
Then we also talked about her childhood misdeeds. The most
memorable event was when she saw a huge stack of scribbled papers
wrapped in a plastic bag outside her home. Thinking it was trash,
she threw it, only to realize later that those were illegal 4d
bets. You see my grandma has accepted money from the syndicate to
offer their place to safe keep the betting slips during raids by
police. The triad towkay was so furious that they threatened to cut
off the hand my mum used to throw the slips away. It was eventually
resolved by my mums friends who were senior leaders in the
communist echelon. In fact, it may seem ridiculous but the
communist party enjoyed wide support among the Chinese community in
that era.
Another funny incident occurred when she moved to HDB estate in
Whampoa area. Then while playing in the estate one day, she
stumbled on a clock which was hung on top of a tree, hidden
partially among the leaves. The clock looked new, and out of
curiosity, she climbed up the tree, and tampered with the timing,
adjusting the hours and min hand. An hour later, there was a huge
ruckus in the void deck. Little did she realize that the clock was
placed there by an illegal football betting syndicate, where the
position of the hour and minute hand indicated the payout rate and
match date. The ruckus happened because those folks placing the
bets are furious at the mis-interpreted payout rates from the
tampered clock. My mum sure made the syndicate lose money like hell
then!!!.
Anyway, at the end of the day, all I want to convey to you is,
please spend some quality time in chatting with your parents and
you will realize most of them had an exciting childhood and family
experience. That knowledge on retrospect will in turn make you
understand why your folks insisted on raising you up a particular
way. Treasure it and start making time for such quality chats!
