So on the way home my mom asked me a question today, "Boy, do you miss yeh yeh (Cantonese for paternal grandfather) or not?" Guess all I could do was look on ahead and reply "Yeah, of course" meekly. Then she asked me whether or not I could remember my childhood days.
Of course I could. Those were by far, the most tranquil 5 years of my life. Not everyone gets sent to live with their grandparents during their childhood days, cause their parents are too busy trying to make a living. But for me, that's what happened. I can say for sure I really miss those days. The old house we (my paternal grandparents and I) lived in. We had this open area, you know like you see in the Western style houses, a giant lawn as I would call it. It wasn't like any ordinary lawn. There was a dirt road leading up to the house, and we had this giant tree right beside what people would call our porch. The whole land area of that field (dirt) was probably the size of what we would say is the equivalent of a standard double story house. Kinda makes you think how much cost of living has risen since then. I remember walking down that dirt road, to collect the mail from the mailbox. Yes, I actually had to walk down to get it. I remember climbing the tree at one point only to scare my grandparents quite badly. I remember running around catching critters around the house to play with. I remember sleeping in one of those old style beds with the mosquito netting and hiding all my toys under the pillow to bring out at night.
But what struck me the most was watching one of the "Malaysia My Hometown" videos on Astro, where a man described his childhood with his dad. And I can't help but notice how similar it was to mine, only with my grandad instead. I wanted to learn how to cycle, and the bicycle that yeh yeh had was so big I couldn't even get up onto it. He actually went down the road (and by road I mean both sides were literally crawling with lalang (tall grass) to find the Indian neighbour that lived down the road, about 500m down? Yeah that's how far our closest neighbour's house was. To borrow his kid's tricycle to let me play with. :') Then he would slowly walk me through the steps of how to cycle. Eventually, I was able to cycle not only without training wheels, but also on his bicycle. It's slightly larger than the average mountain bike, in terms of height, but so much thinner. Y'know, like those old style ones. It was easily 15+ years ago now.
Then of course I would need the occasional haircut every now and then. Yeh yeh would then bring me into town to the barber he visited. I can't remember much from the experience but I did remember this. You know how they always use some spray thing to spray a thin layer of water over your hair before they cut it? Yeah, I played with that. I would bug the shopkeeper until he would let me have it then I'd run around and spray people in the shop, my grandfather included. He would just laugh at me, and I'd continue running around.
One of the funniest stories though when was people came to install a street lamp down the road next to the mailbox. I have no recollection of this so I'll just tell it from my parent's view and what they said I did. Workers would come and drill a hole in the ground to place the street lamp, and they would leave at the end of the day. After they left, I would run around the field collecting stones and rocks for hours on end, then dump them all into the hole to fill it right back up! After a few days I told my grandad "Yu guo yao yan nei wan ngo, tong hui dei kong ngo mm hei oak kei ah" ("If anybody comes to look for me, tell them I'm not at home" in very broken Canto).
Once, there was a funfare a lil ways down the road into town. I was begging nonstop to go, and coincidentally my parents had come down to visit as well. We all went there and I remember getting into the bumper cars and driving around and started crying the moment someone hit me. I wouldn't budge from my seat so my dad had to come and get me from where I sat, in the middle of the bumper car zone. Think my grandad was there somewhere as well.
Then, everything else is but a blur. Shifting house twice, going back and forth from Sitiawan, Perak to Shah Alam, Selangor before finally settling here and being enrolled in school. Time just passed and I guess I had quite forgotten about my life before. Every time we had to go back, I just got so angry to be separated from my new life. I would bring my PS2 along and literally hog the tv the whole day but you didn't care, so long as I enjoyed myself.
I'm writing this now, to let you know I have never forgotten. Despite how much I care, I never knew how to show it. It's been almost 2 months now. My only regret is that I wasn't there when you left. I really do miss you, and all those years as a kid.
I love you gramps, though I never showed it. But I guess you knew, right?
This is me, your grandson. Writing to you, wherever you may be. I hope you get this. I know you will. Guess one other thing I regret is that I don't have a proper picture with you, but I guess that's too late now isn't it.
No comments:
Post a Comment