"PEOPLE "..YOU WOULD NEVER FORGET...

[nirosha sen]

okay - here's my unforgettable person to this day - She was a Chinese elderly lady who was the Methodist pastor's wife. Both of them ran a small Chinese medium kindy a long time ago, right next to their church. I was the sole Indian child, shy, retreating and recessive.

Her name was Moksi Leong. She was especially kind to me compared to all the other kids. I suppose I was the lost sheep that needed extra vigilant tending to because I looked different.

I remember one fine day, when I trudged my way to school and got wet in a heavy downpour. Afraid to take shelter anywhere, I valiantly braved the bad weather and driving rain to make it to the door-step of the Kindy. Wet and apprehensive to enter the class, I dawdled. I huddled close to the warmth of the wall next to Moksi Leong's room, not realising that she had spotted me. Shivering with both the cold and fear, I inched my way into her room when she beckoned me. I dripped rain water in a small puddle when she assessed my state.

In Chinese, she told me to remove my dress and hand it to her. While I waited in my undies, she made me dry up in a big fluffy towel and gave me a round seater to sink into. Scolding me for daring to continue my journey to school in this bad weather, she ironed my dress. Soon I had a nice, dry dress to wear and she sent me back into my class-room, explaining my predicament to the class teacher.

At the end of that year's Christmas pageant, I was chosen to be an angel with my very own halo and wings. It was largely thanks to Moksi Leong's selection.

To this very day, I remember Moksi Leong and her act of kindness to me and reaching across racial barriers to befriend me. Years later, I happened to go back to see her but she was no more there. By now, she must have passed away too, but I shan't forget her sweet smile ever!!

[NM]

I feel I have to have to write this down.....

Phaik Sim was a tall Chinese girl, whom I got to know when I was at the uni in the UK. She was a year senior to me and in a totally different field - she was doing accounting and I was doing chemistry.

We got to know each other in a Malaysian students meeting and became really good friends and what's more, we found out we actually came from the same small town and studied in the same school!!!!!. She was such a fine person - quiet, very humble, never loses her temper, soft spoken, helpful, level-headed and religious, while I was a short-tempered girl, very talkative, impulsive and a happy-go-lucky kind of a person. I always admired her qualities and always told myself I should try to have at least some of her qualities, especially the 'temper' part!! It never worked.

After her 3rd year, she shifted to London to continue with her Certified Accounting course. After my finals, we went for a short holiday together. I lost my temper a few times, sadly with her!! Even then, she forgived me and kept telling me life is short and we have to make the most of it. And the very first thing I should do was to control my temper.

I tried..seriously....I came back to malaysia, started work and always remembered her advises. 4 years after I came back, I received a call - Phaik Sim was back and wanted to see me. When I saw her, I realised she was very thin and didn't look at all healthy. I worried for her health. She did not tell me anything, except that she was happy with my achievements (in work as well as my life).

2 months after our meeting, I had a call asking me to visit her. I really tried but did not make it due to some other matters at home. A week later, she was taken to China for a treatment and 3 weeks after that, I received news that she died in China!! Her sister told me she had leukemia and some blood disorder.

Oh! How I cried that day! If only I had known! Or at least, if I had tried to see her when she called, I would at least have had the chance say thank you and good bye to her!

Now, after 10 years, the pain is still there (I am crying as I write this down ) but I will never forget this very good friend of mine who has taught so many things in life!! GOD bless Phaik Sim's soul!!

[Badri]

Omigosh! What a retort!!

On a serious note, thanks Niro and NM. Those were such heart warming tales. NM, thanks for facing up to all that grief and still posting your tale. What a lesson!!

On a similar vein, I knew this guy who was a colleague of my boss. Both my boss and this guy would travel all over the world with work. I had always noticed this guy carrying a largish suitcase with him wherever he went. I was intrigued and asked my boss about it. He didnt know either, but promised to ask his colleague the next time an opportunity presented itself.

And when he did, what a lesson it was to all of us! What he had in that suitcase was a portable dialyser kit. He suffered from a kidney abnormality right from young age, and would go back to his hotel room to do a self-dialysis!!

And not once did he complain, despite his hectic travelling schedules! When we both learned of this, we promised each other to remind ourselves of him the next time one of us complained about anything!!!

[NM]

Thanks Badri! When we see other people suffering much more than we do and still bear it with a smile, our own misery becomes very insignificant!

[Nichiro]

Hello Friends,
Such heart warming tales of the chinese teacher of Nirosha and NM's friend.
This proves there are noteworthy people all around us . It is just that we keep their memories to ourselves only.
Such people like SR, Teacher,Phaik Sim and the kidney patient make this fabric called LIFE.
Please continue friends.

Nichiro

[nirosha sen]

Am eagerly awaiting Pava's contribution, Pa!! She normally has something heartwarming and witty to share as witnessed from the Stories section!

Let's hear it, Pava!!

[Badri]

Pava's on a vacation pa! Out visiting her sons and daughter-in-laws!

One of the luxuries of aging gracefully, I think!

[Nichiro]

Dear friends,
From today, I will remain a dormant member only.
Nichiro

[Anoushka]

I can write about loads of people here but I want to start with someone very very special to me.

I want to share about this wonderful lady who I have met only a few times and who I have learnt to love.

Let us call her Valli. Valli must be in her late sixties now, but she looked like a 75 year old about 8 years ago when I last saw her.

She was not educated, and like most girls in her village, she was married off at a very young age. And before she realised, she had two boys and her husband passed away when she was carrying her third son.

I do not know if she had a happy married life and if she went out travelling with her husband, etc but after her husband’s death she never left the house for nearly the next two decades. Her father-in-law took care of her and the children till he was alive. He never let her step out of the house.

When I met her, her children had grown up and the last son was getting married! The only city that she had been to other than her own town (which is Tirunelveli) was Bombay, because two of her sons lived there.

For a woman who had never left the house for two decades and had little influence of media, she was a very broad minded woman. The last son got married to a girl of his choice and she did not argue or fight about it. She accepted her third daughter-in-law just the way she had accepted the other two.

The last daughter-in-law, let us call her Sunitha, was a girl who lived in cities all her life. It was interesting to watch the mother-in-law - daughter-in-law pair bond with each other. Valli who had never lived in cities told Suni that she could wear anything that she wanted, including jeans. She sent Suni and her son off to Kutralam on a picnic and asked Suni to take a second set of clothes so that she could have a good time in the water fall! To Suni's great embarrassment Valli even offered to wash Suni's clothes (Suni refused to let her do so)! The short time that Valli and Suni spent together was probably one of the best times that Valli had in her life! Suni would sneak in snacks for Valli which she normally did not get to eat and Valli would get “uthiri malli poo” and tie it up for Suni because the “mallipoo” in the shops were not good enough for Suni according to Valli.

When Suni ran into problems with her husband later on in life she ran to Valli instead of going to her own mother. Valli listened to the whole story patiently and told her son that if anything was wrong it was his problem and that he should apologise to Suni! Such was the greatness of this woman.

I have lost touch with that family but I think about Valli from time to time and I hope and pray that God keeps Valli happy wherever she is!