Only a few days ago, my friend, Kim Boon, phoned me up to inform me that our friend, Chai Chin, had passed away but he was unable to ascertain the authenticity of the news so he wanted me to check it out.
Next morning I went to the coffee shop to verify the news with a char- koay- teow vendor. He confirmed that Chai Chin had died due to heart attack. He died on the way to the hospital.
It is indeed pitiful to know that my friend, Xiao Chai Chin (萧财庆), had bought a one-way ticket to the other world. Many of his classmates were shocked to learn of his sudden demise.
My last and final encounter with the late Chai Chin was on the morning of August 9, 2013. I went to his stall for breakfast. He prepared for me a bowl of white curry mee which was to be the first and also the final bowl that he would ever serve to me. Before that he had phoned me up several times to tell me that he would be selling white curry mee at a coffee shop in Bukit Mertajam. According to him, he was weary of frying noodles for the past few years and he yearned for a change. He thought that this time around selling white curry mee would open up a new chapter in his business. He claimed that he had made a thorough market survey of the curry mee sold by different vendors in the town and that he was confident that his curry mee would be "one of the best” in Bukit Mertajam.
Jokingly, I suggested to him to put up a banner outside the coffee shop to promote his white curry mee with the following slogan:
'Why Carry Me?
Try Carry Me!
You'll Carry Me Home!'
Chai Chin thought it sounded great and he believed that it could boost his sales of a ‘why carry me' business. On second thought maybe he was kidding with me then.
Chai Chin had many vivid stories to tell us and he was indeed a very good narrator. Quite often he would keep us amused with his interesting stories until our stomachs ached.
One incident was quite dramatic.
As Chai Chin had a mole on his right shoulder, his friends were coaxing him to remove it so that he would not have to be burdened with his family responsibility.
He went straight to a fortune teller in the town to have the mole removed. At that time the fortune teller was busily attending to a client. He casually remarked to Chai Chin in the Teochew dialect, "Sang Kar Chun Tik ,Toa Miang Ta Kea!" (双脚伸直，就不用擔家!) Literally, the fortune teller was telling Chai Chin that once his two legs are stretched out (that is, he has died), automatically he would not have to be burdened with his family responsibility.
Chai Chin didn't get the message. Instead, he went to find a seat in the room to stretch out his legs horizontally waiting for his turn to have the mole removed from his shoulder. While waiting for his turn, Chai Chin was wondering why he had to stretch his legs before he could have his mole removed.
The fortune teller, after attending to his client, turned around and was surprised to see Chai Chin still sitting in the room in 'a Yoga posture' with stretched legs.
Angrily, he shouted at Chai Chin,"Tambai Kia !" (Meaning: Stupid Fellow!)
Now that the late Chai Chin ‘had stretched out his legs', he need not have to see a fortune teller to have the mole removed from his shoulder any more.
Life is impermanent while death is a certainty. For just over a month I haven't seen Chai Chin, when suddenly was he in such a hurry to leave his dear folks and friends without even saying “Good-bye!”
May he rest in peace!
May he be reborn in a higher plane of existence!
No comments:
Post a Comment