Bapak....(3)

Bapak was a man of his words. He honoured his words. Promises were made to be kept. Punctuality was a virtue. He hated people to be late even the news vendor or the bread man. He hated to wait for people yet he would prefer that he waited for that person rather than vice versa. He was a very responsible person towards his family and friends. His adage was to do the best to your ability. Whatever you did, made sure that you had done the best you could. I held on to these principles. That was why my colleagues told me that I had to learn to work smart rather than hard. Yet, his principles rang and stuck in my head. At least I had the satisfaction that I had done my best.

He was a disciplined man. He loved to read and instilled that in us. All of us loved to read. In fact, all of us carried books everywhere we went. He did not say much but when he deemed fit to speak out, beware!!! He never lost his temper that we were afraid IF he did lose it. We were taught to respect each other whether we liked that sibling or not!!! :=))) We learned to accept each other's individuality and respect their principles. Nobody was pressured to be like the other. We were and are who we were/are. We loved each other for better or for worse. We may complain and bemoan about each other yet, at the end of the day, we belong to each other. "Blood is thicker than water".

As far as I could remember he was always proud of our achievements whether academic or otherwise. He never expected you to be anything less than what you could be. He never belittled your academic achievements. Some may be better than others yet, he accepted and tried to encourage and gave his moral support. Of course, he had hoped that his children would turn out as doctors, lawyers etc... We tried :-D
I would say we turned out quite alright. We made him proud.

He would go to all lengths to make sure that we went to the best schools. All of us were sent to English medium schools far away from home. He would not send us to the kampung school. Thus, we never did mixed around with the local folks. We had no friends after school because we lived quite far from our school friends. In a way, this forged the siblinghood of the sisters and brothers! We always had no money as the missionary schools required school fees monthly. Books had to be bought. He always borrowed from his good friend, Mr. Dawson. As he had no children of his own, he always lent a helping hand. Bapak did not like to owe people. He made sure that at the end of the month, he paid off everything. Even after his death, he did not owe anybody any large sums of money. We followed this principle too. We do not take loans or borrow unless we really, really had to. So, we live by this adage - live within our means. What we don't have mean we don't need. Such simplicity. Makes our lives uncomplicated. Wise man with wisdom beyond the centuries. Thank you Pak, for these lessons which could not be found in any self-help or motivational books!!!