My Heart Goes Out ...

That was a pretty long night.

Took my flu medicine and pain killer, went to bed at 10pm.  Thought of giving my body a good night's rest hoping that it will be up and about well the next day.

"Ring.. Ring...", it was 1.50am.

A man who sounded desperate wanted to know if Nirvana provides Ancestral Tablet at Nirvana Shah Alam.  

Undoubtedly I answered him "No problem, sir".

"Please let me know if we could meet you at Nirvana Shah Alam's temple at 5am in order for us to select an Ancestral Tablet for a little girl aged 9 years old;  And we are scattering her ashes to the sea by 8am.  She has got to know where is her final resting place before the scattering ceremony starts".

My heart was feeling very uncomfortable and my breathe was heavy. I could never bear to hear young children die.  Help them, do your best to help in whatever way you can, I told myself.  Suddenly, I was wide awake as though I never consumed any of the drowsy flu medicine.

5am was far too early for us to meet for this purpose, the Memorial Park will still be dark, the sales office is not open yet and there will be no site personnel on duty.  Except for security personnel, the entire Memorial Park is practically not operational yet at 5am.  After much persuasion, I managed to calm the man down at the other end of the line and  convinced him to meet at 7am instead, when the sun is up and one hour before the office is open.  

I continued to stay up after the call, working online trying to shortlist a few good locations of Ancestral Tablet for this little short-lived soul.  To be honest, I was a little jolted by the call.

By 6.45am, we all met up at the temple.  The Security Guards were very accommodating and opened up the temple without delay.  The departed young girl's parents made a very quick decision, completed the purchase and rushed back to Port Klang for her final journey. In the meantime, the installation ceremony of the ancestral tablet was scheduled at 10am, about 3 hours later.

While they were gone, I made the necessary arrangements for the prayer service;  A nun was engaged and the prayer materials were bought.  In my mind, I thought these are the least I could offer to keep this little girl's soul rest in peace.

The chanting took a little more than an hour and the parents were relieved that their little princess has a place to herself, in a cosy ambiance which exudes a sense of calmness, for the departed and the living.