The mundane
“Wake-up son, time to work”. The voice of my father broke the silence of the room and awakens me. “It’s still early”, I hesitated. “If you do not work, then you do not need to eat”, he continued with stern tone. I was 10 years old then. I never understood why I need to work in order to have food to eat whereas, my cousin happily stayed at home. Grudgingly, I lifted my heavy feet’s and headed towards the bathroom for wash-up before tagging along with my dad to his workplace. I had to endure such tormented routine on every weekend at such a tender age when any other kids at my neighborhood were still at their dream. I am the fifth in the family of six siblings after my twin manage to sneak out 2 hours earlier than me from my mother womb. Mom always jested that the doctor said that I was reluctant to leave her womb as I was contemplated with where I was. We stayed in a room at my grandfather (father side) house. Imagine, a room with 8 persons living in it. It’s like a chicken den. The house has five rooms. So each room for one son (My grandfather have five sons). I never understand as to why my parent allowed such living condition in our growing up but one thing for sure, I told myself, “Once I am independent, I’m out of the house for good’.
Dad was not strict in our upbringing. He’s always a soft-hearted person and a responsible father. Mom does most of the disciplining. She often uproot small tree to whacked us in anger when we disobey her directive. We could only run helter-skelter as she goes ‘amuk’ on us. It’s true of a saying ‘boys are boys’. No matter how we’re beaten, we still repeat the same offense. Dad being the eldest in the family of eight siblings was given the task to support his younger siblings. At such, his siblings would grab any opportunity and took advantage of him. His trade cohere with mom. Dad was a plumber by profession and also a rubber tapper. Mom was a rubber tapper and helps Dad in the afternoon. Each day they woke at 4am and work through the day until 6pm or 7pm. By 9.30pm they were sound asleep. Such rigid and agonizing routine to many. Yet, most probably they have accepted that those were what their lives are all about. Both were made to serve grandmother (father side) for 12 years before being abruptly cut off without warning from any financial resources. It was then my grandmother (mother side) comes into picture as both of them doesn't have the mean to survive due to lack of money. Even with such hardship, they would just bite their tongue and swallowed all humiliations and life bitterness. Both are lack in literacy and easily fall prey to anyone who wanted to manipulate them. It is as if they accepted the fact that their life is fated to live at the mercy of another!
The wisdom
I visited my late Grandmother (mother side) regularly when she was alive. A woman of substance and determination. Single handed, she brought up eight children (4 girls 4 boys) as my grandfather was not a family man. Survive through as a rubber-tapper, each day she cycled her bicycle on a dusty red earth road at 3am from Kampung Selamat to Sungai Wangi (Approximate 5 kilometre one way). A metal barrel with the height of 4 Feet and a diameter of 2 feet was tied at the rear seat of the bicycle to store the latex which was collected in liquid form. The latex needed to be sent to a processing plant at the estate. Many a times she would commented as she recalled her rubber tapping days with a rubber estate company in Sg wangi, “The mandur(supervisor) was very strict on the thickness of the layer that we can cut at the rubber tree surface. We’ll be scolded like animal if the slice is thicker than stipulated ( I think each slice of layer cannot exceed 2mm). At time our daily wage i.e., RM3.50 would be deducted if the slice is too thick”. She explained that the rubber tree lifespan relies on the way they slice the layer thickness. The thicker you slice, the shorter the lifespan of a rubber tree.
In the afternoon, she’ll collect rubber woods for cooking and the excess she will cycled around the village to sell it. She also bred livestock such as pigs, chicken and ducks at the backyard of her house just to earn an extra income. She grew vegetables for their own consumption. Even without any entrepreneur training, she used her rational mind to carry out the businesses and patiently planned through her finances. Her pride and joy was when she managed to purchased 2 pieces of rubber estate land.
As I reflected on the day she was laid to rest, it was a heart wrenching memory. Though she has all the riches to live as a queen, yet she chosen to live as a pauper. Her death was excruciating as she was inflicted with bone cancer. She left a legacy which I will never forget, “Never hammer a nail in a decayed wood” ¾ we should never look
down nor intimidate another person who is weak. Indeed she was driven by her legacy and proven it with flying color Even though she herself struggles in her own hands to mouth routine, she never failed to show her kindred heart by giving aid in our education (her grandchildren) and provided the necessary needs. She practically shared with us what she had and was proud with it by showing great pride in her action.
Without fail, she always gave aspiring words that I should not confine myself with timid and complacent peers. “Guard your talent and nurture them well”, she often reminded. One fine day, she caught hold of me and quoted, “Do you want people around you to draw a circle and make sure that you are inside the circle for the rest of your life?” At such tender age, I could not grasp the meaning behind those words of wisdom. She took the liberty to elaborate the sentence. “Many people around you expected you to follow your father’s footstep. Cocoon in one place and stayed in the so-called comfort zone.” In another word, I will take over my father occupation as a plumber, married and reside in my hometown. At that point of time, I can’t find anything wrong because my father is able to feed six of us (3 girls and 3 boys, including me) and I certainly do not mind continuing the occupation as my career. I was contented with that thought for many years until an incident changes me completely.
The Awakening
One fateful day, when I was 14 years old, my mom requested me to accompany her to the bank. She told me to instruct the cashier counter to deposit the money as Fix Deposit. Feeling confident, I obliged with her instruction. Walking towards the cashier, I said with confident in Malay, “Saya ingin menyimpan wang ini sebagai simpanan tetap.” Which translated as, “I would like to deposit this money as Fix Deposit”. The transaction seems to be going well until the cashier revert with a query, “Wang Pokok ini, bila sudah matang, apa awak nak buat dengan bunga?” which translated as, “When your principle amount is mature what do you want to do with the interest?” I was puzzled. Not knowing what to reply. Taken aback, I dug deep into my intellect mind to figure out what is ‘Pokok’ and ‘Bunga’ in banking term? Literary, ‘Pokok’ means ‘Tree’, and ‘Bunga’ means ‘flower’. What it got to do with the Fix Deposit? I was self-assured that I had learned many vocabularies in school but now being dumbfounded and caught red-handed by my incompetency. While my mind was still wondering on how to reply, a Good Samaritan who stood beside me seem to know my predicament, offered an explanation to me on what the cashier queried. I told the Good Samaritan that I would like to add the interest to the principle when it is mature. The Good Samaritan taught me how to convey the message. My confident was recharge as I face the cashier. After giving further instruction to the cashier, I managed to complete the transaction as per my mother directive.
After the incident, I asked myself, “Will I be illiterate like my mother and father? Is the career as a plumber really what I want? As my mind was lingering with doubts, only then I recalled what my grandmother said earlier, ‘Do you want people around you to draw a circle and make sure that you are inside the circle for the rest of your life?’ My eyes and my mind were opened as I begun to understand the meaning of the quote, that is, “DO NOT LET PEOPLE AROUND YOU DETERMINE WHAT YOU CAN DO OR CANNOT DO”.
The Challenge
I decided to chart my own path. To step out of the circle, I need on-going education as the milestone to change. Education is a double-edge sword. The edge can cuts through any obstacle or it can be left idle. Together with our mind, education in turn becomes knowledge and it is a dynamic tools that never stops evolving. When it stopped, we’re either in vegetative form or six-feet under. As long as we put our mind to it, we can succeed in any endeavor Therefore, complacency must not gain any grassroots in our mind. With new-found determination, I continued to complete my secondary education. Sad to say, I hit a hurdle when my SPM result was frozen due to unfortunate scandal that involved my teacher. When the result was release two month later, I persisted to continue my lower six although being told to continue on the following year because I only had 3 months to catch up with all the Lower six syllabus. A quarrel ensued between my father and I when I was insistence to continued my studies. He uttered “See whether your stomach could be fed with education”. The next two days, I abstained from any solid food and would only drank water when I’m hungry as to prove to my father how determine I was. Indeed, a great deal of lesson was learn after the stint. No matter how distinct a person may excel in life, food is always necessity to survive. My perseverance paid off as I managed to complete my STPM the same as my twin brother with quite a good results. I further on with the tertiary education in IT and chosen my career path without ever turning back.
Epilogue
Today, I had achieved once I thought is impossible. The best part is, it does not stop at my career. I still venture into the unknown as I strongly believe that being well-literate does gives me freedom to go beyond without anything to hold me back. I’m certain that a person life will only stop evolving when they stop their pursuance to achieve greater height. I realize I’d taken my grandmother (mother side) legacy and planted it deep inside me and is hopeful to pass down the legacy to my children i.e., “Nurture our talent well”. The key to carry out such legacy are determination, perseverance, patient and purpose driven. Without the combination of such virtues, we’re like pouring salt into the
sea¾means our endeavor will lead us nowhere. Therefore, each person should put aside any hindrances that comes their way and hold steadfast to their talent as to allow them to move beyond their life frontier.
Written By Ling Chin Huat, Daniel
21/02/2013 for Toastmaster Club competition international on March 2013
further illustration made by Ling Chin Hing(His Twin brother).
