Tribute...

This post will be a tribute to the uncles that I never got a chance to meet. Today was quite the eye opener. I think I’ve gotten to know my mother and my maternal side better today. How come? Now, that’s the story that I have to tell…

Today, I woke up early to send my youngest brother to school. He was supposed to buy some supplies for his test today so I had to wake up early to buy it for him. Anyhow, this resulted in me not sleeping till 11 in the morning… so, I ended up gaming a bit till about 10 then started to help mum out in the kitchen. We were making Chinese New Year goodies.

My mum and I were talking about all sorts of stuff, mainly gossiping. Anyway, the conversation somehow came to her two younger brothers that passed away very young. The first younger brother drowned by the river. He was watching my uncle swimming by the jetty, when a boat came in and knocked the little fella into the water. My uncle, was only around 6 years old.

Mum barely remembers him, but the other uncle that died was the one that seemed to draw some sort of emotion out of her. She was thinking and remembering him as she told me about him. Her second brother was drowned by the sea.

I don’t know what my uncle’s name was, but I know he passed away when he was around 15. My mum was already married to my dad for about a year or so and was staying in Miri, what happened was he went out to play with his friends and they were by the beach. The fishermen had told them to go home because it was high tide and dangerous. My uncle and his best friend were left behind by the other group and somehow or rather drowned.

I was once told that they went back to get the ball and got dragged out by the currents. The fishermen there didn’t hear the boys call for help, so they didn’t know they were drowning. What was devastating was the group of friends they were with. My mother said that she hadn’t really liked the family of the kids my uncle was playing with. They were really terrible from what my mother described.

Initially, when my grandmother was worried because my uncle didn’t come home, she went to ask that family where he might be. They told my grandmother that they were playing by the large monsoon drain near the house. Terrified, my big uncle dived and swam from one end to the next, looking for my uncle. Mind you, it was getting dark. After searching for hours, my big uncle was sure that his younger brother had not drowned in the drain, so he went back to the house to ask the family where his youngest brother was.

Imagine the anxiety of the family? My poor grandparents went to the house to beg them to tell them where their youngest child was. My uncle was there too. I’m from a very traditional chinese family and begging does not come easy to these kind of people. When they finally told my grandparents that the boys were by the sea in the evening, it was too late. The time was about midnight.

My mum got the call and flew back immediately. She still believes that if they had found out the boys were out at sea, they would have been able to save them or, if not, save my grandparents the anxiety. My mum was rather upset when she told me about this. She told me that her youngest brother was doing well in school and was a very good kid. My dad used to play chess with him apparently.

So yeah, this post is a tribute the uncles I never met and for those that I never had the honour to meet…