Just want to put on record that today has been a good day for me.
It was a very nice birthday party and his family members had been very nice to me.
His mother gave me a jade bangle just now. Told me she hope I could join the family soon. Was very touched by the sweet old lady's gesture.
Going back later tonight.
ORIGINAL POSTING
Going to Malacca in a short while. It's the birthday of his nephew and niece.
His is a small family. So, everyone will be there.
I can't remember when was the last time I attended a kid's birthday party before I met him. I never have one as I don't celebrate my birthday. Even if I had wanted one, I don't think my family could afford the luxury back then. Yup, my family was that poor. Honestly, I can't even remember the birth date of any of my nine brothers and sisters....or those of my arwah bapak and mak...I remember the dates of their passing though.
As for his family, they celebrate almost anything. They make it a point to gather for the occassions. They even celebrate Christmas despite themselves being Taoists. Just for fun lah, he used to tell me. I have been resisting his attempts to make me celebrate Valentine Day for the past nine years. My best excuse for avoiding such nonsense is my religion. Normally he would shut up when ever I said Islam prohibits or discourage me from doing certain things.
Anyway, his habit of celebrating this and that actually has more positives than negetives. For instance, him, his two sisters and cousins, some from Singapore, used to gather in their kampung to celebrate their late grandmother's birthday. Do you all know when is your grandmother's birthday? Well, now, they honour her along with other departed family members during Ching Ming.
They make the effort to go back to their kampung, hike up the hilly cemetary, clean up the graves and pay respect to the souls of the departed. It's a practice which instils a sense of family values and respect for the elders.
It's one of the things I envy of him. His family is the best of his world...and I will not take that away from him....
"His family is the best of this world . . ."
ReplyDeleteKeep it that way dont take him away from them. Find someone of your own race and religion. Apa malu sangat dengan Melayu ke?
Big Cat
DeleteWhy your family is so poor? DUMNO is not doing anything for Rakyat and still satay them? DUMNO give RM100 but they took many times more than they give to Rakyat? So they are good that they give some shillings to Rakyat but very very naughty that they take many pounds behind our back/
Typical DUMNO don't care about the miskan. Only know how to korek2. DUMNO talk about religion but never follow. I feel sad when BIg cat comes from poor family. We choose good Government so that people can be better off. After 50 years under DUMNO, people are still poor even we produce oil, palm oil,H2O etc but tell us how come Sinkapoor who has to buy H2O have higher income?
Delete"My family was that poor" "Nine brothers and sisters"
ReplyDeleteWell, there is actually an Anglo-Saxon word to describe your dad. With nine brothers and sisters, sad your father was more concerned with the stiring of his loin then uplifting his family.
This anon's father must had raped a wild pig and the animal gave birth to him/her. That's why he/she got such pig brain to insult someone who is no longer alive like that. Most likely one of those DAP cybertrooper pigs.
DeleteListen pal,
DeleteIf you recognise you are poor than do something to uplift your family and not spend time and energy procreating. You find it difficult to look after your family because of poverty but procreate more children and keep the misery and difficulty going on.
On the issue of pigs, guess who are usually the richest, smartest, top achievers? Its those who eat pork. Remember the phrase bodoh macam lembu. You are what you it. There you have it Anon. 08.09
WOit...must be some dungu opening his fly-trap here.Where got contraceptive methods accessible during those early days lah, some more to poor people in the rural areas. Family planning and sex education is still in a bad stage even nowadays.
DeleteMy father did his best with us, every single one of us has achieved something in life thanks to his effort to ensure that our future is better than his, so thank you very much for that insult to my dead father as I will keep it in mind when dealing with snooty, contemptuous privileged urban dwellers who have no idea about the life of the majority of rural folks, the marginalized and the uneducated of the 50s who within a single generation have managed to produce today's engineers, surgeons, and corporate leaders. My father was one of those poor laborers being looked down by the likes of you, but we can proudly say that we are all doing fairly well thanks to him.
DeleteMesti ni Cina DAP racist punya komen. Tak pasal-pasal nak kutuk Melayu. Elok lah Melayu Pas dengan PKR sokong dia orang bagi kuasa kat Malaysia ni. Belum berkuasa pun dah kurang ajar. Dah berkuasa lagi hebat la gamaknya.
DeleteCould be an Indian DAP cybertrooper too. They are the worst as they need to please their Chinese masters.
DeleteWhat an arrogant A-hole! This is what you get when you dont know history. The pendatangs from China had big families and many kids during those days too. Baby girls given up for adoption to Malay families is quite a common thing. They can just breed and give away so easily!! Thats how loving and caring of your kind !!
DeleteAt leasttrespect the dead, those days they treasured having more kids now people prefer more cars and more houses .....kids buat susah je.
DeleteSo you can't really discuss with someone who only eats pork to be clever ........srill backward. nothing with with pork to be clever......
hey anon 09.39 why do you care about others family , they dont complaint even they are poor , look at bigcat , who told us the good story and being a hardwork .
DeletePeople like you , drive honda , Bmw , Mercedez and still complaint everything and blamed racially to others race . If others race poor and rich you still blame them for everything , people got many kids you also complaint and degrading them , shame on you !
Look at bigcat story from bigcats knows , even they are poor but still they working hard for their beloved family
Lah...tak kan lah satu lilin atas one home-made cake pon tak boleh. Ibu kalo bijak dan creative will find ways to make it a memorable event, no matter how poor. Mine did Amin.
ReplyDeleteSebenarnya memang bukan amalan keluarga saya tiup lilin dan potong kek sambut birthday masa tu. Masa tu celebrate birthday macam tu kira mewah lah macam orang putih. Anak buruh macam saya masa tu tak terfikir pun nak celebrate birthday.
Deletetak payah tipu lilin pon tk apa. doa selamat aje. some sort of a giving syukur :)
DeleteDear Bigcat,
ReplyDeleteI too came from a big family...there are seven of us, 5 sisters and 2 brothers. Our family back then relied on the income of my Dad who was in the Police Field Force (read not rich either, just enough to tampong keluarga), while my late Mum, God bless her soul, kept the house and all of us out of mischief. And yes, birthdays are just any other days, no pomp and glamour except for 2 red hard-boiled eggs for the birthday boy or girl. I guess I carried on that practice in my family now. Although we can afford it, we normally celebrated our only daughter's birthdays by going to the bookshop or a short day trip (the last being the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary last December), no parties or candle-blowing. I guess its not the parties etc but the effort by parents in making the birthday day slightly special that makes the day.
Big Cat,
ReplyDeleteLike your postings........
I too came from a poor family. My late father passed away when I was only 6 years old. I have 4 younger siblings.........
My mum single handly brought us up. Those days we had only one meal of rice a day.
Birthday was the unheard vocabulary.
With my kids, no big party but a cake on every birthday till they left to study abroad.
BigCat: How good are you with chopsticks ? Excel in chopsticks. All the successful East Asia people use chopsticks.
ReplyDelete