Indefatigable Grandfather of Mine

Grandpa was a robust and sturdy fellow. A six-footer, he was endowed with broad shoulders, a pair of penetrating eyes, dark attractive eyebrows and sharp facial features. He wore his hair like any other ubiquitous china man of the day-straight jet black hair parted to both sides. By my standard, he was a handsome chap.

He was physically fit and healthy. He hardly need to see any doctor. Whenever he was down with any minor ailments, he would seek the Chinese pharmacy halls for traditional cures.

Always attired in a white T-shirt, a pair of khaki shorts and brown shoes, Grandpa cut a fine figure where we lived. When he went out, he wore an Indian pith helmet hat on his head; the fashion of the day, I surmised.

Grandpa was quick to smile. A talking head, he was amiable and made friends easily. His favourite topics were of his times in China and of the hardships he endured during the Japanese occupation.

He was a simple man, thoroughly devoid of any ambition. I guess he was contented with the easy life; as long as there were three meals daily, a pouch of tobacco in his pocket and a pipe in his hand. Apart from smoking and the occasional gambling trip to a nearby village, he did not have any hobby or recreation, whatsoever. Yes, he did enjoy Chinese opera when they came to perform in the nearby towns.

Job-wise, he was zilch - mastering none. He could do no substantial job. As I recalled, he tried his hand at cooking western food for plantation expatriates and hawking fresh fish and beef. I remembered vividly he once operated a hawker stall in an alley selling roast pork and sweetmeats. In a small town, if your merchandise was not up to the mark, your sales would plummet. His business folded up within six months.

As an itinerant hawker, he was equally a wash-out. According to Grandma, on many occasions, amusingly, he would take leave of his senses and the goods on his bicycle by the roadside to flirt with the girls of the nearby kampungs. So during his absence, the other villagers would help themselves to the fresh beef and fish without ever having to pay. For obvious reasons, his younger brother who bankrolled this operation stopped financing him after a while.

Grandpa was neither businessman nor chef but he was good at one thing - doing odd-jobs. When nearby estates wanted weeding done, he would report for the job pronto. When they wanted nearby jungles to be cleared and trees to be fell, he was there. He was very skillful in sawing old tree trunks and chopping them into firewood. He was strong and could throw sawn-off tree trunks into a heap with relative ease.

He could cook. He knew the secret of cooking even though he could not make a career or business out of it. When he was in his 60s, dad gave him the task of taking care of his 4 children whom he had placed in a nearby town to facilitate their education.

I must state that Grandpa did a wonderful job here. Not only was he responsible,he was a budget wizard as well. Like clockwork, he would wake up the children on time for school besides preparing them a good breakfast. On a shoe-string budget and armed with a shopping rattan basket, he went to market every morning. He was resourceful and made many friends with the market stallholders. He helped vegetable stalls by carefully tearing away vegetable leaves and stalks that were rotting or damaged in transit to make them more saleable. His brother who operated a fish stall, often supplied him fish gratis.

He would cook the collected vegetables that were still edible for our lunch and dinner. The rest he sun-dried and stored in a gunny sack.

He was very fit for his age. Every week without fail, Grandpa would transport the big gunny sack of dried vegetables by bicycle to our little farm-house six miles away to feed our turkeys, chickens and ducks.

On the flipside, Grandpa had his weaknesses too; particularly for women and gambling but then that is another story…..

Quote of the Day:

“The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.” ~Author Unknown

Heartsong-Heartstrong