Monday, September 04, 2006

Snippets of life


I was born in 1953 in a village situated at the bank of Sarawak river. I am the fourth child in a family of seven. I have three sisters and three brothers. The eldest, a sister by the name of Segera, passed away at the age of 9 in India. There is no collection of her photo but according to my late mother, the late Segera was a very beautiful girl , fair skin, dark hair and very Indian look.

One might wonder why she passed away in India, thousands of miles from her hometown in Kuching. According to my mother, Segera was adopted by my grand father, by the name Mamu Ghafoor, who brought her back to India. Mamu Ghafoor loved Segera very much. but Segera did not have a happy life in India.  

One day father received a letter from India. The letter came from mamu Ghafoor. He brought along a news that broke my mother's heart. Segera passed away after a short illness. They said Segera was having high fever. My mother cried and cried and felt very sick. But she was a strong woman who have met with lots of challenges in life. She managed to go through the sadness. 

These are snippets of life that I could share with the world about the life of this simple family. Hope it will not occur to others. It's a sad story and always caused me to cry whenever I remember it.