Tradition
A Cheng Beng Letter to a Friend
|
Tradition
A Cheng Beng Letter to a Friend
|
Bengali roti MY DEAR PAT This is to let you know that Peng is here. She flew from San Francisco to Singapore and then here. Her husband did not come this time because you know they are so scared of Muslim countries! They think there are bombs every  corner! I remembered Peng's favourite is chicken curry with Bengali roti toast so I bought a loaf for 60 cents from the bicycle man who comes this area every day at 5 pm
Tomorrow I will go with her to do Cheng Beng. It is going to be very hot. It wasn't so hot last year and we already have one month of it. It is a pity you are not here to enjoy the chicken curry and taste my cooking but it cannot be helped, not everyone can afford to fly here every year I know. But I just want you to know I have improved in my cooking. My popniah is getting popular. The shops are selling all sorts of offerings for Cheng Beng from China like canned beer and stout, hand phones, perfume sets, jewellery, cigarettes, shirts and so on for MR1.50 per set. Even bra and panty sets are on sale but they cost MR3.50. When we went to have some cha koay tiaw at Carnarvon Street we looked for the bra and panty set but they had sold out, the woman in the shop told us. |
| "Hell tickets" It will make you laugh when I tell you that "Hell tickets" made locally are on sale for a trip to California and back. 
The local boys thought up this idea of a trip to California and back on a MAS plane and the ticket has the MAS logo on it. The silly MAS has even made a police report complaining about the insult to them and would you believe it the police raided some shops in Johore and confiscated the "tickets"! I see that the MAS and police have no sense of humour and the police have nothing else better to do? Don't you think that our local businessmen have brains too?But just listen to this. According to a Chinese paper a young man burnt pictures of pretty girls to send to his father and this made his mother very angry. The man replied that he was sure that his father needed good company in the other world! Young people nowadays! My friend's sister dreamt last night that their grandmother was looking for her shoes and could not find them so next day she phoned her mother to get a pair of shoes to burn for grandmother. Mother found a pair of paper "Bonia" shoes in the market and bought them. The papers say that about 23,000 people are expected to visit graves this time. But I think there must be many more. I was surprised to find that most good hawkers stalls are sold out before 12 noon in Pulau Tikus. It was'nt like this last year You remember my cousin Ah Kheng? He died suddenly in London and he was so young. My aunt bought a paper video tape player and some blank tapes for the kong teik. She asked my brother and his friends to label the tapes with the titles of Ah Kheng's favourite movies which included the Vietnam war film "Full Metal Jacket". |
|
Beng Beng's son has joined a born again Christian group and refuses to go with his mother to Cheng Beng so she has asked us to help her with her things. Why can't these people realise that we are not worshipping devils but only remembering our loved ones by cleaning their gravestones and making paper offerings? Well I must stop now.
Cheng Beng is an annual festival for visiting family graveywards Kong teik: a ceremony for the dead |
|
The Asian Centre |
|
______ INDEX Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK Home
Railway
Slaves
Riots
Eurasians
Baba's Past
Sayings
Cheng Beng
East Timor
|
_____________________ The Penang File Issue 21 |
