To be Fair

Her Sense of Humour is Timeless

This is the scene by the Malacca River, painted from a photo taken by Apollo, my Art Teacher.

Malacca was where my grandparents lived.My mom has 7 brothers and 6 sisters. Grandpa left China when he was 17 and arrived in Malacca to earn a living. He worked hard, married my Grandma via the arrangement of a matchmaker and ran a sundry shop lovated behind the Kuan Ying temple. His 15 children were his troop soldiers, responsible for cleaning onions, sorting out dried scallops imported from China, and unpacking freshly ground coffee beans from Granduncle's coffee factory located a few streets away. When we were kids, we loved visiting Grandma. Not so much for Grandpa for he was always the stern one and always caught us not holding the Chinese calligraphy brushes with the right grips.

Grandma however was funny, loving and cynical at time. She became our instant hero when she stepped on a cockroach with her bare foot, killed it without even a winch . I told myself then I had never seen anyone so courageous in my life. To Grandma, there was no fixed rules and nothing can be that complicated in life. She was funny, sarcastic and possessed a timeless sense of humor. Her remarks always made us laugh rolling on the floor even everytime when we talk about them.

Grandparents are no longer alive . I always vist their grave in Nilai on my way back to Johore. Grandma's picture on the tombstone always has this mischevious look from the corner of her eyes. Probably she had again succeeded to jibe at grandpa once again with her sacarstic views. I guess mom takes after her, who as an avid observer, has never failed to make us burst with her funny remarks about what she sees in everyday life.

Tomorrow I will be flying to HK to take on my new role as COO of a very large operation. I promise myself no matter what happen, I will not lose my sense of humour. Like Grandma, no matter how difficult the road ahead is, there is always a simple way out. When all else fail, the most rejuvenating nutrient of life is none other than our sense of humour.

posted by Vegie @ 11:46 PM