Tempus Fugit

Time Flies, doesn't it. It's been 6 months since I started my course and I was thinking, 'Whoa, where the fuck did the last 6 months go?!' Now that I think about it, these past 21 years have certainly flew past in a flash. It's strange, you know, since years come and go almost unnoticed, but a day or a week usually seems like an eternity. Until it's gone as well, anyway.

So. Let's talk about death. It's pretty morbid, but it stuck in my head right now, so I figured the best way to get it out of there would be to write about it.

Last year while I was still in NS, a month before my ORD, I had to return to camp to do a dental checkup and make an appointment at Alexandra Hospital, becuase all 4 of my wisdom teeth were impacted and had to be extracted. I woke up pretty late that day and was rushing off, but my grandparents told me not to go at that time. I asked them why, since I'd be late if I didn't leave soon, but they just mumbled something and glanced at my neighbour's apartment. The first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of shoes outside, a lot more than usual. I didn't think too much of it, even when I could hear the old lady neighbour crying.
She was living there with her husband while the rest of their family was in another unit close by, like a 5 min walk.
I proceeded to the lift, pressed the button and waited. The crying got louder when their daugher/daugher-in-law, opened their door. She stepped out and stood at the side of it as a paramedic wheeled out a stretcher. Her husband was on it, covered with a sheet. Their daughter and her husband walked to me and asked if I could let them on the lift first. I said yes and could clearly see their eyes were red with tears. As the two of them entered the lift to hold the door open, the paramedics wheeled the stretcher past me and into the lift. I couldn't look away from the body, but when I made eye contact with the husband in the lift, I found that I had couldn't look him in the eyes. There was a sense of guilt in me, but I hadn't done anything wrong.
I rarely saw the old man, but I usually saw the old lady in the corridor. She was a nice old lady. Always greeted me with a smile.
Anyways, the rest of the family entered the next lift with me and one of the aunties were sobbing uncontrollably. After I exited the lift, I went on with my day.

Next were 2 events that happened in the month of November 2008. One is known world-wide and the other, not at all. I'd like to talk about the latter first.

My father's Union was organizing a Family Day event and I was supposed to help out with a car boot sale. Something like a flea market. We were going to sell books that belonged to my father. He said that he wanted to clear up some space, but in the end we didn't sell a single one at all. Pretty sad, considering we were out there in the hot sun for 5-6 hours. We ended up giving a few books to the daughter of one of my dad's friends. She actually liked thrillers by Grisham.
Anyways, a day or two after the boot sale, my dad got a call while watching TV. Apparently, one of his friends just passed away due to a heart attack. I remember him coming up to my dad and asking if we were selling Playboy or Penthouse. His stall was right next to ours as well, manned by his wife and 2 daughters. I didn't know him that well, but he was a funny guy.

The third and final event that I would like to talk about is the Mumbai Tragedy. Ms. Lo Hwei Yen, a Singaporean, was senselessly killed, along with hundreds of others. There's a ton of stuff that I would like to rant about regarding how fucking stupid we, as humans, are.. but I'll leave that for another post.
Ms. Lo is survived by a Mr. Michael Puhaindran. I've never met either of them before, but I've met their father, Mr. S.Puhaindran a few times when I was really young, mainly because my grandfather is good friends with him and the two of them were involved in the Marine Parade GRC. The old men were loud and most of them liked to smoke, but they wouldn't smoke in front of any of the kids.

I didn't know any one of them, not personally. But somehow, I feel like I should have known them. I'm pretty disappointed in myself, because I noticed them only after they passed on.

It's silly and naive, but that's the way I see it.