** 丧礼进行曲 **

On the day Ah Gong passed away, Suharto turned into another angel as well. Date: 27012008, Sunday.
We hurried down to where ah Gong used to stay (where his wake will be), changed into white tee, see Ah Gong lying in thy coffin, followed by rituals. Day 1, everyone was busy and very moodless.

Day 2, Ken and I did not go to work. After tidying up the storeroom @ hm, we went down to the wake again. Prayers start at 7pm every evening. This nite, more people came, wreaths started to stream in. I sat around with the cousins to fold "金纸". The obituary was out in the chinese newspapers. We left shortly as we need to work the next day.

Day 3, we went down slightly late due to work commitment, managed to attend the prayer session.
Dad and mum came to pay their respects. Jo and frens came too, very kind of them. We left for home when our frens left.

Day 4, as today is the final nite of the wake, Ken and I stayed till 2plus in the morning. To pass time, we played poker cards and mahjong.
Earlier, something "怪异" happened after our dinner. We were sitting around the table when there was a commotion from a table nearby. An uncle was behaving strangely, he appeared to be toking to himself, sometimes thrusting himself back n forth, sometimes hitting his hands against his laps, making loud "piak piak" sound. And also singing loudly.
I dun understand and can't figure out wat he was singing. Some relatives were beside this uncle, one of our aunty was even holding her hands together as though she was praying to the uncle. It seems kinda fun to watch him and we were realli curious wat had happened to him. Did he do that on purpose to grab ppl's attention? Or did something realli possessed him?
In the end, the monk who's doing the prayer rituals tried to speak to this uncle. The monk even handed the uncle his handphone to speak to someone on the other line, but it seems not to be working. The uncle started to stand up and walked towards the carpark stairways. I overheard the uncle spoke in a harsh, male tone and suddenly in female tone. I felt terrified for a min, I was thinking, that's definitely not fake, I was stunned!
After much coaxing, the uncle still behaved weirdly and even told the monk that they must do proper rituals for Ah Gong. Anyway, in the end, the monk decided to start on the prayer rituals and we all went ahead.
After the prayer session, we do not see the uncle liao!
Call it bizarre or what, we heard frm a cousin saying the uncle was possessed by "十八罗汉"!
Hmmm...I only knw "十八罗汉" are all man right? So wat's with the female voice and singing?
Seriously, I got no idea.
Nvm, I do not wish to know either. Do you believe? Well, the world is full of strange happenings.

Day 5 - the final send off.
Reached at 9.30am, took off our slippers and wore socks only. Followed by final prayer rituals before the coffin was closed. We walked around a couple of times to see Ah Gong for the last time. We were not allowed to watch when the coffin was finally closed. "Why can't we watch?" was some of the young cousins' concern.

Ken dedicated a song to Ah Gong, "Goodbye My Love", played by the live band during the funeral.
"good-bye my love 我的爱人再见， good-bye my love 相见不知哪一天"

The final procession - all the sons and daughters and eldest grandson got to hold on to the van which carry the coffin. The rest of the family followed behind. The road was filled with 佛经 played frm the van. Some passerbys stopped and watched. Well, typical Singaporeans!

It was my first visit to Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium, the hall was like a theaterette. Very modern and classy. The whole process was fast. I think it took less than 20mins and everything was done. It was sad, very sad! 89 years of life spent in this world, you came a long way. 2 hours of cremation seems to be express train ride to heaven. At least, no need to queue anymore, or do they have to?