Tribute to My Grandpa - Weiwen's FotoPage

Nov-20th-2008 marks the 1st death anniversay of my respectful grandpa..

He would drop by the coffeeshop for his usual morning breakfast routine, with a simple bowl of minced-meat noodles & a not-so-hot coffee to go with.

He would drop by to my parent stalls and assist in the simplest chores he hope to contribute by making chilli side dishes and arranging chopsticks, even in his old age of over ninties. Everyday without fail, other than the latter days he was hospitalised..

And of the idle days he would recollect his life events with his grandchildren, of the World War 2 difficutlies he had went through while he was a kid escaping from China, all alone from his family to a faraway land in Nanyang.

He spent his days as young apprentice and slowly went on to become a streetside hawker wiping out plates of char-kway-teow. Abalones were cheap and aplenty that he dreads so much and pretty much preferred to give his Chinese new year plate-doses of abalones to his grandchildren every year without fail. Abalones became my one of my CNY favourite dishes, because i know, they are from my beloved grandpa share.

Of how he earned and scrimped cents for his monthly wage, and how he had eventually managed to earn a proper license from the government to has an official stall in Golden Shoe Complex. A proud owner was he, and finally owning a stall in Mosque Street, which he will quip on whenever I would find time to talk to him.

Alas, the stall was eventually gave up due to government efforts to refurbish the area. Majestic Theatre still stands grandly and directly a road besides, the Meizhenxiang main stall business continue unabattered, escaping the arms of redevelopment. Downtown Chinatown streets have remained an impactful memory in me, where i explored adventurously over the weekends during my toddler years while my grandpa and mum were at the stall busy working. The stall was also the very first place where i started working young as a young kid stall helper delivering pipping hot fishball noodles & fried kwayteows to walk-in diners. The place which served great remembrances to my grandpa too - Of his life and accomplishments which i never fail to revisit each year I'm back home.

How he and my late grandma have struggled to raise my aunties and my dad, the only eldest son. He will gleam with joy that he has a son, and above all, the eldest son. However each time the praiseful phrase wll land in a heavy melancholy tone. He will lament and speak with disdain how his hard-earned savings have been squandered by his unfilial hard-core gambler son. Of how years after years, the incessant pouring of their savings have failed to rescue and wakeup the wastrel senses. Not even his wife and kids. A leopard will never change its spot. How truthful can it be which stands in stark constrast when juxtapositioned with their parsimonious life. That even at his deathbed, my dad was unable to fork out his own savings to settle his last hospitalisation bills, and let alone of the funeral wake burden. And to my chagrin, that this son of his had to scorn loudly at the wake, of the nonchalant attitude over the funeral arrangements & the necessary formalities required.

For this is my very last respect I can give, for being the very eldest grandson of his.

For the forgiveness I need to seek for the years I have been busy engaging with studies and work, away from home and him.

I know what done cannot be commensurated with the love & concern he had shovered over my absence. Of the ominous omens he had sensed, that he had my name called before his deathbed. I am thankful that I managed to fly in and accompany him through his last days before he lost his common senses, and giving in to the death demon. That we managed to relieve him and grant his final wish to be back at the comfort of home, and away from the machines that are slowly torturing him. The very day he finally returned home, the very day he left us.

I will always remember my grandpa for the teachings and guidances he had imparted to me, He has been a great influence to who I am today.

I will treasure the memories he had left with me. Of how he will bring me to my family doctor when my dreadful asthma strikes, of the plain porridge and olive vegetables we always enjoyed together, of the luohan & crysanthesum he will enjoy buying & making cooled-bottles for us, of .....

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