Moving On

We’ll be setting off for Melaka this afternoon. We’ll spend the night at Mak’s house and head back to Singapore tomorrow afternoon, probably with Hakim & Intan on board. They’ve come over for the weekend, with Hakim intended to do a barbecue this evening. Of course it would be nicer to have longer here. It’s always hard to leave. But even a short break is a good way to stay in touch with what’s of fundamental importance in our lives, and I’ve learned to be grateful to have only that.

Yesterday we spent the evening at KLCC and then we had dinner at a place called Ali Baba’s (very original!) along Ampang Road, opposite Great Eastern. The food was plain but satisfying. The traffic was noisy and close, but since the restaurant was all but empty it seemed oddly peaceful. At home I found myself watching a BBC programme called Sounds of the Sixties which finished with Jimi Hendrix playing Voodoo Chile (Slight Returns) on the Lulu show from 1968. Astonishingly alive. Music to frighten the whole family. Great bass from Noel Redding underpinning transcendent stuff from the master. Noi fell asleep.

Regarding things in Melaka: there are big concerns about Nenek’s health, and I don’t think these are going to go away any time soon. She’s looking frailer with each visit we make such that it’s getting hard to remember the sturdily independent tough old lady who once lived across the road in that primitive shack of a place. (It’s still there, having been used as a kind of eating place – I don’t know what’s being done with it now.) Mak cannot look after her on her own, but now Sulis has come back from Indonesia, after a not terribly successful trip home, she has some help. Noi, I know, is looking forward to lending a hand, but it can only be for a short while. The difficulties of the situation are causing some conflicts within the family. I suppose this is inevitable, but it’s sad nonetheless. However, the brothers and sisters seem extremely resilient in this regard. They argue over all sorts but are able to bounce back and sort of pull together at the end of it all. The only thing is, there is no real end to it all. In this kind of extended family new issues are always arising. It’s supportive, I suppose, but draining.