Turtle Channel!!!

Last Sunday, we buried my Ah Kong (pronounced as "gone-ng" not "goong"). He is my grandfather.

I never spoke to my Ah Kong. That's because he only spoke Hokkien, which I completely suck at. Instead, he made funny faces at me and used sign language to convey his meaning. His favourite question to me when I was young was "Chiak Liao Bo?" which translates to "Have you eaten?".

Ah Kong was a very nice man. A very easy man to love, in fact. He had no grudges, and never caused any trouble for anyone. He said "ho" (yes) to everything, had absolutely no demands and was pretty much accepting of anything that came his way. My grandmother would pretty much nag him all day long, but it had absolutely no effect on him. It goes into one ear, and literally comes out the other. He doesn't remember any scolding, any nagging or anything unpleasant. In fact, he was such an easy-going, nice fella that many people called him stupid. Of course, calling him stupid didn't upset him in any way. He would just say "ho" and go about his merry way.

His greatest pleasure in life was eating. He loved fried chicken, praticularly from KFC. Even when he had lost all his teeth, he would use his gums to chew the chicken. Eventually, due to all the unhealthy food, he suffered a stroke in the year 2000, which paralysed his left side.

I couldn't recognise the thin man as my granddad. In my mind, he was still chubby with a head full of hair. I never noticed that his hair was thinning and that he was losing a lot of weight. In the year 2002, he suffered another stroke that paralysed much of his right side. He could no longer eat any solid food, for he could not chew. When he spoke, no one could understand what he was saying except my grandmother.

He met my spouse in 2006. Since my spouse can speak Hokkien, they had a conversation about the lorry his used to drive when he was younger. The number plate of the lorry was 5105. I remember this well, because he struggled for over 10 minutes to tell my spouse the number plate, and no one could understand him. Finally, it became apparent that he was struggling to say "goh-ih-kong-goh" (5-1-0-5), which was not easy because he couldn't move his mouth muscles. He was trying to relate the stories from the time my grandmother and him were running a grocery shop in Penang, where he would carry huge rice sacks onto his lorry and deliver them to his customers. My grandmother ended up telling most of the stories and we had a good laugh.

He sat up to receive the customary tea during my wedding early this year. That was the last time he would sit up again. After that, Ah Kong deteriorated and became thinner. He could no longer get up. During his last week in this world, he could not even speak. He finally passed away on Friday 30 November 2007.

I got the SMS from Daddy in the afternoon, while taking care of my spouse in the hospital. Ah Kong, my Ah Kong, passed away.

I have not cried in a funeral quite like that before. I cried over everything. From the time I saw him in the coffin until the time we laid him into the ground. Normally I would just shed a few tears. This time, I could not stop crying. Ah Kong, gentle Ah Kong, was gone. In death, he still looked like he was about to say "ho". A nice guy to the end. The easiest person in the world to love. God will have mercy on him, for he deserves none other. Goodbye my Ah Kong. I will see you again someday.