Forced Plan - Cont'd

The return trip from Singapore was smooth. There was not much traffic on the road and we cleared immigration and customs very fast. We arrived at Ram's sister's house at just before noon.

After Friday prayers I went with Ram's nephew to visit the graves of our deceased elders, he showing me some graves of relatives which he knows and which I do not know while I showed him those that I know and which he does not know. I was home by about 3.00pm. Had late lunch and was about to rest and relax when I received a call from my brother-in-law that proved the 'forced plan' which I mentioned earlier. The saying "we propose while HE, the Almighty, disposes" holds true everytime. I had planned to go to Mums house later in the evening to prepare for the evening prayer and thanksgiving session. I had planned to attend Ram's nephew's prayer session in his house on Saturday morning. I had planned to attend a wedding on Saturday night. These plans were altered!!

My brother-in-law called asking me if I could rush to my niece's house, only about five minutes away from me, as her husband had apparently collapsed in the bathroom. I rushed to the house only to find the paramedics already there and learnt that he could not be saved. He had a heart attack apparently and my niece happened to come home just at about that same time to find him lying in the foetal position on the bathroom floor. She has three young children, a boy and two girls, maybe 9, 7 and 5 years old, who were then in their rooms, forced by their father earlier to take their afternoon nap!! Hence he was alone when he collapsed. He was only 51 years old. We made arrangements to transfer the body to Mum's house as it is easier to make the necessary funeral preparations and arrangements in mum's house than their own house which is an apartment on the fifth floor. I got the three kids together, helped them gather their clothes to bring along and took them in my car, fetched Ram and headed for Mum's house. While gathering their clothes, I overheard the 7 year old girl telling her little sister, "adek, get you clothes together, bring only the full dresses and do not bring any of those 'sexy' clothes". 7 years old and she already knows what to wear for what occassion. In the car the kids were telling me what happened. They had been scolded by their father for not sleeping that afternoon and that the last time he checked on the children was at 4.00pm as he had scolded the son again for not sleeping by saying, "its already 4.00 o'clock, why are you not asleep yet?". The mother came home at 4.15pm. Therefore the heart attack must have happened at about that time.

This is what I meant by a pre-plan turning into a forced plan. We prepared Mum's house to receive the body, cleared the hall of furniture, removed all pictures on the wall, gathered all the qurans and arranged them together in the hall. We had no notion that the prayer session we originally planned for this evening was to be for the nephew as well. When dusk prayer time came we prayed together in congregation, followed by reading chapter 36 of the quran all simultaneously and thereafter we did the 'tahlil' and supplication to the Almighty the usual way. After the 'isya' prayers all continued reading the quran in groups and in succession throughout the night and managed to complete the whole quran just before the dawn prayers. I led another 'tahlil' after that. Throughout the night, neighbours, relatives and friends came to offer their condolences and prayers. The body was bathed at 9.00am and prepared for the funeral and burial. We arrived home from the burial grounds at about noon. Only then we felt tired, sleepy and hungry!! However people were still coming to visit. By 3.00pm there was already a lull and people have stopped coming.

Ram and I decided to pop into her nephew's house even though their ceremony was already over. We were at least able to meet some of the relatives, her side, who were still around then. We had lunch there, mutton briani, as is traditionally the dish for celebrations of newborns. I was sleepy but the mutton briani kept me awake ha ha!! We chatted awhile with the relatives and went home just after the late afternoon prayers.

I went to bed at 5.00pm, not having slept for about 35 hours. I thought I would sleep for one or two hours and then go for the wedding, but it was not to be. I woke up at about 8.00pm, and it was too late to go to the wedding. Ram said that I was sleeping so soundly that she had no heart to wake me up!! Hmmmmm..... I sent an sms message apologising for our absence at the wedding. We relaxed for the rest of the evening and slept early.

We left JB early Sunday morning arriving home in PJ at about noon. Tessa came home later in the afternoon and helped us clean the house. A new week cycle begins..... we have more plans of things to do ..... but we will just take them in our stride.....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya