urn run - final leg and the price
The sip of cask
strength did not give us a hangover. We had awakened up early and enjoyed a good
continental breakfast at the restaurant of the hotel. From nasi lemak to roti
canai and fried egg; It was perfect for a good start.
We packed
everything and headed to the thousand buddha temple with the help of the google
map. The temple was situated around the largest cemetery in KL. The huge cemetery
held over 10000+ of graves. The cemetery was separated into different part
which were managed by different organizations.
We arrived at the temple and I found out that the temple had
expanded; a few more new building were constructed around the main temple.
We found the office
and was greeted by a female staff. After signing a
few documents and paying up the relevant fee; she had directed us we to the old columbarium for the pickup process.
There was another young
female and a foreign worker waiting for us at the praying desk with the urn. The
detail on the urn was verified by us and I proceeded with the final prayer before
the journey.
I had prepared 3
red packs just in case my parents wanted the prayer to be done by the monks.
However my brother told me that it was not necessary. I left those red packs to the
young female and asked her to share it with the foreign worker and the office lady staff.
I knew that both
the female staff were orphans which was adopted by the temple as I heard the
story about temple was running an orphanage and some of the orphan would stay
back to serve the temple.
My brother had
given me a surprise look when I placed the urn in the Ikea basket and fixed it
securely with the safety belt around the backseat. I told him that I am not
stupid enough to carry the urn on my lap for the whole journey. I had more than
20 years securing object on the backseat with safety belt…..
The drive was
smooth and we had stopped over around the Pagoh R&R for lunch. The Malay mixed
rice with the ayam masak merah was tasty and up to standard. After the brief
stop we managed to arrive at Kulai around 1+pm.
We had met up with
my sister in law who had arranged the cubical purchase at the P memorial park. A
middle-aged male was assigned to us and we had headed to the columbarium for
the relocation.
It was indeed a
good spot with good view. There was this strange smell which was quite
irritating during the drive from the office to the columbarium. I did not ask
around but was aware that something was interfering the process, all I could do
was prayed….
The position of
the cubicle was just as promised, eye level and nicely located near the exit of
the hall. I placed the urn and did the final ritual. The smell had gone away
after the placement.
Everything was set
and three of us had headed back home.
I enjoyed my dinner at a food court later that evening with my family; I discovered that nothing was below RM5; a decent meal with drinks would cost more than RM10. The price hike was steeper than I expected for the past few months.
The next day, I
had driven my parents to the memorial park again after breakfast. It was time to let them see the effort we had put in for the past few months.
My parents expression told me that they were satisfied with our arrangement when they saw the final
setting.
I waited for a
while as they offered their chanting. I looked at the cloudy sky and flashed
back what had happened many years ago. The final days of my grandfather, the
funeral, the cremation….
Once, my dad had
told me that he would like to move the urn to a better position if he could afford it;
well, wish had come true finally…..
I had taken a
flight that night from Senai airport to KLIA2 as my flight back to K city which operated by double A was scheduled at 8am the next day.
While passing the security
check, the alarm rang and how careless I was to misplaced my Leatherman knife
in my hand carry bag…..Worst of all, my parents had left the airport and only
thing I could do was to surrender it to the Imigressen.
It had accompanied
me for more than 10 years and travel with me thousands of miles across the continent.
I got my final hit later when I reached KLIA2. The staff at tune hotel at KLIA2 front desk had told me that
I had wrongly booked the hotel at Aeropolis.
I mumbled the 4
letters word start with F and rebooked a room as I was too tired to move on….
While laying on bed
after a refreshing hot bath, I had tried to think back what had happened; the pocket
knife and room booking were the price that I had to pay for dealing with the
dark side. The heavy smell was the final warning and I had ignored it and proceeded
with the final ritual. There were so many obstacles during the tour; all of the
tricks that aim to let my ancestor laying elsewhere was the work of the dark side.
I had fallen into Alam
Bunian and awaken early after a few hours of deep sleep. I had done the final
packing and headed toward KLIA2.
A smooth check in though
but I did not lay my hand on the salted sesame pancake (Ham Jin Bang) as the
stall was not open yet at that early hour (it had also closed early on the day
of my arrival)
The rest of the
journey was uneventful and I was greeted by Ving and Xian at the airport few hours
later.
Apart from the
money and time spent with a loss of precious belonging, I had never regret of
taking a walk down the path….
Source:
urn run - final leg and the price
