There was one morning, probably about a month back, like on any other working morning, I came out of the house ready to head to work. I'm normally rather oblivious and ignorant, but not on that particular morning. I heard 2 women giggling away, and I extended my neck a little to see 2 aunties happily plucking the mangoes outside my house. Those mangoes aren't mine, they belong to my landlord, but I guess I didn't like the fact that people could be so shameless to continue taking what's not theirs despite my presence.
I walked towards the fence where they were,"Aunty.....", I called out politely. I hadn't figured out what I wanted to say. I just wanted them to know that I saw them. Now, this isn't something I'd easily do, I don't fancy the idea of approaching people or initiating anything, really. But I did, that one extraordinary morning.
They replied in Mandarin. Basically what they said was that my landlord had told them to help themselves with the mangoes, before they were stolen by the passersby. I nodded and smiled approvingly. They then introduced themselves as my neighbors, pointing to their respective houses right across the street. One of them mentioned that she was going to make pickled mangoes and offered to give me some. I declined politely, but she insisted. And she really did deliver those mangoes later that day.
Nothing much happened after that day.
I had a little extra time in the morning yesterday, so I brought some garbage out for disposal before heading to work. My 72 year old Chinese neighbor startled me by calling out for me from across the street. She was saying something and was about to cross the road. I wanted to save her the trouble, so I walked over instead. She asked if I was the dentist she spoke to the other day. I told her it was me. She looked so happy, and offered to cook something nice for me. She said she would deliver it over when I get back from work. I didn't really want her food, but I didn't want to reject her either. So i nodded in dilemma, and offered to come over instead.
After work yesterday, I went over to her place with some homemade dumplings. I was a little nervous, but I had a promise to uphold. She welcomed me in her sarong, which made me a little awkward somehow. With much excitement, she started showing me what she had cooked, which wasn't a lot. There were a small plate of vegetables, a plate of fried fishes and some sambal on a saucer. With so much kindness in her voice, she offered to give me half of the vegetables, but i quickly rejected. My heart broke. There wasn't a lot of food on the table, but she wanted to share. I couldn't comprehend the situation. I insisted that she keeps the food for herself, but as usual, she won and off I went with half her vegetables and sambal. She lives with her daughter and 2 grandchildren who she introduced to me. By the end of the visit, she had gotten my phone number so that she could call me up whenever she cooks something nice. She invited me to drop by to eat whenever I have time, and asked me to bring her along to the market whenever I go. I'm not sure where the enthusiasm came from. She does have a family, so it can't be loneliness. Maybe she wanted me to have some family love knowing that I come from another state. Whatever it is, I'm really touched by her hospitality, however, uncomfortable at the same time.
Is it just me, or is this whole situation really weird? I don't know, I guess some people are naturally and genuinely warm and giving.
No comments:
Post a Comment