How Naina’s wedding was arranged

My maternal uncle was a guard attached to the Malayan Railways. His duties involved accompanying the last coach, exchanging coloured flags - usually red and green while passing any station on its journey. The flags were to signal to the driver whether the station was ready to allow the train to move on.

Occasionally my uncle used to invite me to accompany him on his trips. During these trips I would be with him in the last coach as the train meandered its way from Ipoh to Prai in Penang and sometimes Ipoh to Singapore. When I was bored with nothing to do, I would sit down and read a story book or do my homework. My uncle who was a guard had experiences of school boy pranks where the boys innocently threw stones at passing trains. When we passed schools he would advise me to sit inside the carriage. In Prai my uncle used to visit a colleague of his who was stationed in Prai. We became family friends and the friend used to have meals at our home in Ipoh whenever his duties brought him to Ipoh.

As their friendship blossomed my mother agreed to get my elder brother (who my children called “Naina”) married to the eldest niece of her friend. My uncle was not happy. He said he had introduced the family as friends and did not intend for my mum to get into a liaison with that family. However my mum had her own mind and would not be dissuaded from her decision despite the tantrums displayed by my uncle who was her

brother.

And so my brother’s marriage was solemnised much to the protestations of my uncle who was not able to give reasons for his unhappiness. And so my brother and his wife lived happily ever after.

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