Ah Ma

This week is the start of putting my life back in order. For so long it has been put on hold as there simply wasn't any time for that, as whatever brain cells were left after work these past two years were saved for my studies (my limited RAM size had to be really selective). It has been an exciting but a tiring week. I think my body is still trying to adjust to the fact that it doesn't need to be subjected to a constant state of work, stress and anxiety that for a while it doesn't know how to cope with all that!! (I believe that explained my inexplicable throwing myself into an intense frenzy of working at clearing my house the first 2 days - with almost the same intensity as I did with my studies.)

As this is a time of experimentation and exploration, so too will be the same for my blog as I try to figure out how best I should write, and how to organise it (or do I actually need to think so much???).

So I shall start with the first event I want to blog about -- my time spent with my ah ma a few days ago.

Having had time spent with my loved ones being compromised a great deal last year, I vow to come back with a vengeance. I spent 2 D1N at my Ah Ma's house (as she was at a transitional period where her old maid left after fulfilling her contract and am waiting for a new maid to come).

I got to sleep in her master bedroom which she used to share with Ah Gong before he passed away.

Apparently, this was a portrait drawn not of their wedding day but simply by using photos of my Ah Gong and Ah Ma individually! That explains the awkward proportions of the figures! But that is still a very interesting portrait. According to Ah Ma, Ah Gong was the one who wanted this portrait drawn not too long after their wedding. However as he couldn't afford it, he asked Ah Ma to get cash from his mother for it and Ah Ma ended up getting a scolding from her mother-in-law for that. Ah Ma said she retorted and was subsequently given what she wanted. Think she had a way of getting away with things.

It's amazing then that I realised how one's way of doing things or perceiving events is very much a inter-generational process -- a fact that serves up a welcoming sense of rootedness to my heritage. From the type of cutleries used in the kitchen (those light greyish metallic bowls that we used to have at our old house before we moved to our present residence), to the habitual and almost obsessive storage of NTUC Fairprice plastic bags to the constant state of anxiety about the state of affairs and the fastidious way water are stored and used.

It humbles me too, knowing that there is so much I don't know about the way of doing things and knowing how my various relatives perceives and do things differently from how I would have done, from stories of their youth. A good lesson learnt overall (that fits well with the theme of my blog) as I am never one to be so particular about the state of my house/room/life.

So thank you, Grandma!