My name is Gana

Ama is still in Beruntong she has no idea when she is going to be back. She left home on the 9th of June 2024, She has a bad cough with a lot of phlegm and thinks she has Covid but doesn’t want to visit a doctor. I visited our neighbor today and had tea with them Discussed our respective ailments. Aka came visiting around then and I missed her. She bought veggies for our maid. The maid was glad she had some variety as she was totally dependent on her own home grown green leaves. If not for the maid I would walk into any old Folks home. The house is too big for me to handle alone. When I was working I never felt the need for a smaller house.  It was misjudgment on my part for thinking a joint family system was still relevant. With 3 of you in 3 different continents, the idea of a joint family becomes irrelevant. The one consolation I get is we hail from an ancient civilization and our forefathers were also footloose and it was common to relocate to areas we are comfortable with....

Life is indeed fragile if you are in your 80’s. It was 2.30am. I had to answer the call of nature. Ama was fast asleep and so too was Ani in her room. Fortunately for me Subash who works in Shenyang & Ramesh in Australia had the foresight to convert the washroom into a handicapped friendly one. It had three steel bars and a sturdy sink. The toilet bowl was firmly planted on the floor. After I had used the urinal I spotted a fly had strayed into the washroom. The washroom is always clean as our maid Ani ensures it is washed and mopped daily. We do not have a fly swotter in the washroom for these reasons. I walked into Subash’s room to pick up an envelop to strike at the fly. I found some unopened envelopes, picked two of them and walked back to the bathroom to strike at the fly. I struck the fly and it fell into the bowl. I flushed it down happy I had removed a menace. I bent down to see if the menace had indeed met its fate. I was not holding onto any of the safety bars confident t...

From my Blog Parents should not interfere with choice of careers of children. Ama wanted Vidya to be a music teacher and bought her a “Challen” piano in her Secondary school years. I remember sending her to a music school in Green Lane. Penang from our house in Burma Road. I used to wait nearby to take her back. The junior “Beethoven” had no interest in music or anywhere near it. She was subjected to a lot of torture like pulling of hair and squatting on her to comply. I only got involved when Vidya used to-cry.  However she got away from this phase as Ama realized she had no inclination to be a pianist Anyway they were good lessons as I see Geets had been spared of these torturous punishments. Either that or it is the changing times that can send one to prison for harsh punishment. Ramesh on the other hand had his mind set on engineering and pursued his ambitions with no problems. Subash’s move to HR was a miracle. I remember a time when a recruiter posing as a Career Guidan...

We lived in cow dung floored houses during my primary school days.  One of my tasks was to fetch cow dung in pails to enable my granny to spread it on the floor. Although now I wonder how we could have lived in a cow dung floored house it wasn't uncomfortable then. Once the floor is dried you do not experience the smell of dung. It was only in 1952 when we went to live in a cement floored house. The rent was $5.00 per month - when not paid, the landlord would lock up the only standpipe which was the sole source of water. But we were spared, as the kind wife of the landlord would unlock the pipe for my mother to take as much water as we wanted when the husband went to work. The husband used to wonder how we survived without water and he concluded that the neighbours were helping out with our needs. This landlord had about 2 acres of land behind his house. On half an acre he had erected 4 wooden terraced houses that were given out for rent. The rest were planted with coconut trees,...

I have been on diabetic medication for a long period od time. I take it regularly to avoid insulin jabs. I still can picture Ava pleading with me not give the jab each morning as if she was in pain. Perhaps I did not do it right or I did not change the needle as frequently as Vidya does for me. I can now imagine the pain caused to Ava by a blunt needle.

Today was an eventful day.  Peter, Ben and me decided to visit one of our retired colleagues who I have not seen since I retired in 1993. He lives in Prima Puchong a good 18 km away from OKR.  When I saw him I exclaimed I could not recognize him as he was leaner and had grey hair. In return he exclaimed neither could he recognize me as I was plump when we last met. We exchanged notes as to what happened to each of us over the years. We had the opportunity to also meet his son a bright young man who won a JPA scholarship to do engineering in UK. After he had completed his time with the Government he left to join Maxis from where he retired last year. I had to decline an invitation for lunch as I am on a liquid diet and did not want to disappoint my Doctor who had prescribed me a soft diet. As none of us knew the route back to my house, we had to use Waze but again as none of us were tech savvy there were 3 different voices from our hand phones adding to the confusion. We finall...

Breakfast at home Normally I make do with a piece of toasted bread and a steaming cup of coffee.I call it "dip_dip" as I have to tear a piece of bread, dip it into the coffee and stuff it into my mouth. This was a habit I acquired from my childhood days where butter and jam were luxuries we could ill afford. Sometimes when I need a change I walk down to a stall near my home known as "Hole in the Wall".It got its name as it is actually filling up a hole in the wall between a petrol station and a hardware shop. There a mamak runs a stall selling hot drinks and roti canai, thosai, beehoon and nasi lemak in the mornings.There is a huge tree fronting the stall. It so happened the mamak saw the tree first as a potential that can provide shade for a stall. If it had been otherwise spotted by a Hindu as a resting place for a shrine then there would be a small "temple haram" instead of the coffee stall.The deity had to give in to the needs of the hungry and I...