Today is the 7th day since my granma passed away ...... The feeling of going back to Malaysia is very different from the previous trips ... This time ... it not a trip of leisure ... but rather one with a heavy heart ..... Grandma passed away peacefully at around 5am on the 5th of July in her sleep ... I was shocked to received a call from my youngest uncle of this heartbreaking news at 8+am the same morning ... After the call, my task was to inform my mother and relatives in Singapore .... Following, I went to the railway station and make purchase for the tickets back to Gemas ...
We went in the next day on the 1pm train, reaching Gemas at around 6pm ... My uncle and cousin was there to receive us ... they drove us in and as we approaches the house ... breathing gets heavier ... as expected, when we reached, everyone was crying .. looking @ my grandma thru the glass .... she is there lying still in the air-conditioned coffin.... no breathing ... *sobz* just less than a month ago, we had just celebrated her birthday ... today .. we are looking @ her ....but this time ....
Later that night, my fifth uncle flew over from London to attend the wake .... crying and kneeling..refusing to stand up .... if this was done by other people .... I would believe it was real .. but its HIM .. I felt that ... not just I but ALL felt that ... WAT A FAKER!!!! .... He left for London for so long ... for more than 10 years ... distancing himself from us ... now he is back ... throwing his boss around ... thinking he is the richest ... once he open mouth is money... Showing off what he has ... ... I am sorry .. but I really felt ... disappointed ... my grandma had missed him so much ... but he is never there .... it was my youngest uncle that had been there always for her ... caring for her ... looking after her ....
On the 2nd and 3rd day ... everything went on as usual ... the rituals and so on ... But later .... he picked up a quarrel with my youngest uncle ... WTF ... its my grandma's wake and he choose this time to quarrel over small issue ... that his name was printed wrongly *just w/o a side .. word is still the same*.. mind you .. its just a free ad posted by the Gemas publisher for the donations made .. its the fault of the printer .. not anyone else ... it is not say the death announcment that is printed wrongly .... making things worst ... he went on to talk about the money that my grandma had left over ..... WTH .... where is his basic respect for a person that had just passed away ... my grandma is still there lying in the coffin ... here he is .. quarrel over all these ..
On the 4th day, the glass panel was lifted ... allowing everyone to take a close look at my grandma ... feeling her for the last time .... before they seal it ...
The last day of the funeral came .. representatives from different organisation and associations of Gemas came .. to pay their last respect ..... after which my grandma was given a grand burial .. we sent her off for the last time ... walking our way out to the end of the town of Gemas .. with all relatives and friends ... the police stop the on-coming vehicles for us ...
After we board the vehicles that was behind us .... and >10 over cars, vans, lorries drove after my grandma ... she was buried together with my grandfather .. in the same place together with my cousin (also my sister), my sixth uncle and others...
After all the ceremony, we went back and took a rest ... then back to Singapore on the 1.40am train ... Reaching Singapore at around 8am ...
Till now, I still cannot believe that my grandma is gone ... But no matter what ... she will forever stays in our hearts ...