I was in awe at the grandeur of Madam K's send-off.
It wasn't a flashy venue.
There weren't intricate decorations.
No silver cutlery, no Fine China, no table settings.
But I've seen many MANY weddings with more sober celebrations than Madam K's send-off.
The sheer amount of garlands, bouquets, stalks upon stalks of flowers of every conceivable colour. Tamil folk music with firecrackers.
The sea of people that crowded the land surrounding Madam K's kampung house (wooden house on stilts).
Rituals, steps, prayers and customs were done so meticulously with no room for error.
I didn't shed tears, for the most part at least, because it seemed ridiculous. She was old, senile, amnesiac, incontinent, bed-ridden, on a liquid diet AND suffering. I actually heaved a sigh of relief that her epic life saw the resolution it needed. Her karmas washed away via physical suffering the past year. I celebrated her death! Of course I shed a couple of tears when they were reeling her coffin into the electric incinerator only because that was my last goodbye to her (certainly promising her that'll we'll meet again in the astral plane).
All the children and grandchildren observed a month long vegetarian diet which also included abstinence from alcohol and attending any form of parties.
We were also forbidden to enter temples and participate in holy rituals for the month only because it was a respectable mourning period.
It was also decided that Thaipusam would be forgone as it followed too soon after her death.
According to the undertaker, since she had passed on such an auspicious time, it is believed that being a guardian angel, she would look after us as an enlightened soul.
He suggested that all her children keep a part of her in their homes in the form of her hand print done on a white cloth with turmeric paste.
In loving memory of Madam K.
(unknown - 2015)
