Since I have started the stories on paternal grandparents, today I will be blogging about my maternal side of grandparents stories. Hmm... how should I put it for A-gong then ... He had already left us even before my sister was born (for your info, my sis is the eldest grandchildren in the maternal side of the family. Thus, this makes me number two *giggles*). I only know through one of his old pictures at A-ma's home. Meanwhile, A-ma's loves her story telling session but sometimes she will keep repeating the same thing. Hehehe ...
A-gong's Life History
I heard about A-gong from my mum actually. It seems that A-gong is the second generation in Malaysia. Meaning Great-grandpa (A-gong's dad) came to Malaysia from Fujian Province in China. They settled down in Muar since then. Since great-grandpa was a business man, that makes A-gong a little master. He rode on a car and wore leather shoes. Yeah, I know that cars and leather shoes are common nowadays. However, in the 1920s, car and leather shoes are only owned those who are really really rich. So , therefore, I guess A-gong life when he was young was very well to do. But, sadly, as you can see from a lot of soapie, A-gong spent most of his days placing bets on cricket fightings (that's what the rich Chinese do during their free time last time). He never really care in learning business from his father which makes the distant relatives to usurp his properties. He just signed everything blindly due to his trust to the relatives. I remembered that there were a piece of land that worth nearly 600-700 thousands in Muar now, in Malaysian currency, of course. Too bad that doesnt belong to our family anymore. Sad ... This makes him become a trishaw rider. Why did he choose to become a trishaw rider? Hmm... I am not sure about that myself but I guess, maybe that's the least hard job to do rather than labouring. In addition, I think A-gong flung his studies. That's why he cant land himself in a good job. I dont know... cos I didnt ask my mum about that. But his was still addicted to gambling. Therefore, life was really tough for A-ma. Poor A-ma .... According to my mom, A-gong was a very good story-teller. My mom loves listening to it but too bad Chinese at that time preferred boys over girls cos guys carried the family name. Thus, mom were not allow to listen. But somehow she find ways to listen to it. I wonder if A-gong will still think the same if he was to stay at current era. I wonder if he would change his perception. If he was still alive, what would he thinks about his grand-daughters whom all excel in their studies ... Hmm .... I dont know ... A-gong died at the age of 50plus due to lungs cancer. It's not genetic but it's because he smoked too much.
A-ma's Life History
A-ma is a half nyonya. Just in case you guys dont know what nyonya is, let me do a little brief intro over here.
Baba (for male) and nyonya (for female) are the Straits Chinese (Chinese that were borned in Malaysia) or known as "Peranakan" that adopted Malay customs partially or fully. This is because, the Chinese migrants from China (mainly Hokkien or Fujian) will take Malay as their wife. So cultures were not passed down on writings but rather they are passed down by generation. They have a different culture from Malay and Chinese. Some are similar to Chinese and some are similar to Malay. But their food are totally unique. You can check them out in the following link if you wish to know more detail info about them.
Or if you are even more interested, you and watch "The Little Nyonya" drama on youtube. Although, it's in Mandarin, but they do have the subtitles. They have a good intro on their cultures over here and the story plot were very good too. Or if you want to visit these culture, Malacca is the best place cos most of the Peranakan settle down in Malacca.
Ok ok I have carried far enough. Time to get back to A-ma story. "Peranakan" are actually quite rich family if you have noticed. They are mainly business family. So this makes A-ma a missy too. Hehehehe ... However, a lot of things changed after the world war II. This story I will tell another time. But being a missy of a "Peranakan" family, you have to be very well in cooking. So A-ma cooking on hot and spicy food are really very good especially the curry. So that makes Ta-yi (Eldest Auntie) a very good cook. Well, my mum cooked very well too. However, the recipe of the dishes were not passed down cos not many of the youngsters nowadays love to help in the kitchen. Therefore, I love helping them in the kitchen whenever I am back to Muar (not on cooking but "sampling" the food the moment it's out from the wok). Hehehehehe ....
Being a Missy, A-ma stayed at home too cos according to "Peranakan" rule, girls cannot get out from the house till they are married. A-ma was a beautiful lady when she was young. She has got a genetically tanned skin. That explains why I am the most tanned among my family (cos the others of my siblings are really very fair ... ermm ... my sis and my bro skin are like soya milk or tofu ... hahahaha ... that makes me envy of them ... ). But not sure if she wear "kebaya" though. I know a little about great-grandma (A-ma's mother). It seems that she had a very very small feet (about 3-5 inches) I think. I am not sure whether this is a myth or a truth. It was said that great-grandma feet was crushed and wrapped in cloth for a long time. After she recovered, she will use two big pails of water to train the strength of her feet. Cos during the ancient chinese, it was said that small feet represent gracefulness of a lady. I wouldnt want to do that. It sounds sooo painful. My mum saw great grandma shoes before and she said, it's really really small like a 4-5 years old kid shoes. Gee... that's exciting. However, I never seen them before cos she said most things were thrown away during the moving.
Ooops seems that I detour again. Hahahaha ... sorry. Well, after the war, everything change. They are not as rich as they used to be then. So it's like a normal average family. Ladies started to step out from the house and work. Or else how could you survive, right? Therefore, uneducated A-ma can only do cooking and cleaning as she was born in a traditional "Peranakan" family. So she got a job as the hospital attendant. But the pay was meagre. Therefore, life got tougher after the war afterall. She worked till she retired and the government are still giving her pension. So that's sounds good, isnt it?
A-gong meets A-ma
How does A-gong meets A-ma? Well, similar to those old chinese traditions, they got married due to matchmaking session and was blessed with 4 daughters (my mom was the second) and three sons. Life was tough for them. They were staying in hospital quarters (meaning those who were working in the hospital can stay there for free together with their family). It was a rundown wooden house (I stayed there during my first 4 years but I cant really remember well though). The quarters were now teared down and rebuild into new hospital buildings. But still they are able to survive the conditions. Except for Ta-yi and mom, all other aunties and uncles were educated and they are doing very well in their career too. 3rd aunt is a nurse, 4th aunt is a primary school teacher. 1st uncle is a pilot, 2nd uncle is a lecturer and meanwhile 3rd uncle is a Major in the army. Hmmm ... due to the harsh conditions, I think the children understand that studies are very important to change their life. And indeed, they really did. Why mom and Ta-yi are unable to go to school? That's because first as I said, A-gong have gender discrimination (sorry A-gong, I didnt mean to be rude here) and second because life is too poor that time that they have to stayed at home and take care of younger siblings while A-gong and A-ma goes out to work. I guess things will be totally different if mom was able to go to school. Cos both Ta-yi and mom are really great people. Ta-yi can learn stuff in just one look (and she can even read official English and Malay letter by self-learning ... amazing huh) and mom is really a good debater, and frankly speaking, although she doesnt get out of the world much but she can talk to you about a lot of stuff ranging from education to health then to politics and her fav is newspaper and drama. But too bad I dont have the good traits of my mom hahahahhahahaa ...... but similar to her I really love watching drama and anime ... hahahahhaha ..... that's a bit saddening.
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