Goodbye Papa #3 : The Wake

Monday afternoon was the wake. My brother, our mum and I arrived at the venue an hour earlier.

This is our first experience with Nirvana. The parlor was very neatly and beautifully organized. The Nirvana Shah Alam center has 7 parlors if I am not mistaken. 

We have been to other wakes which all had a very eerie feel. This one, I told my brother, looked more like our MIA seminar room held at hotels hah..hah...

There were condolence flowers received from me and my brothers'/sister-in-law's associates.

As the afternoon progressed, our acquaintances started arriving to pay their last respects. Family members and relatives showed up a bit later.

Light refreshments were served.

My late friend, Tan Lee Kim (from whom I purchased this bereavement package two years ago), told me that the Nonya kueh served by Nirvana are very good.  

Well, although I resolved not to eat any kueh, ultimately I did have two packs because I was hungry. My partner remarked, eh! you eat carbo! Well...

The kueh were good but I could not help comparing them to authentic Nonya Kueh of old (which were awesome and now hard to come by).

At the meeting on Sunday, we were informed that because we shortened the wake from 2 days to 1 day, the pau that was scheduled to be served on day 2 would be served on day 1 as well. 

There were 4 types of pau - red bean, pandan kaya, chicken and curry chicken. I didn't eat any but my mum told me that the red bean (not too sweet) and curry chicken pau were very good,

Bottled water and ground nuts were also served. 

For hot beverages, there was coffee (Kopi O) and tea, with sugar and creamer provided on the side.

I told my brother it would be nice if they had those coffee machines like the ones at our MIA seminars heh..heh... My brother and I would have had a field day (and so would some of our guests too).

This is how it looked like inside the parlor. The casket was behind the altar.

Dad was quite the handsome fella when he was young.

I am taking a leaf out of my late grandma's books.  She once said, when you die, don't use the photo from your actual age because you would be all wrinkled and not so good looking hah..hah... Use the photo from your younger days when you looked more presentable. So.

I was very calm until my Tua Pek (dad's eldest brother) entered the parlor where he broke down and cried. That's when the floodgates burst. I was very affected and I too shed tears.

This is my mum, taking a loving look at dad. Mum took his passing quite well. She nursed him for 23 years ever since he was diagnosed with cancer in 2001.

Dad was very blessed to have a personal nurse (it pays to marry a nurse), trained in Scotland some more. Without mum's dedicated and loving care, I doubt if dad could have lived so long. 

The wake ended before 10:00 pm when our relatives made a move to let mum go home and rest before the funeral the next day.