The Way It Ought To Be

I saw something today that was very touching. Very touching indeed.

I went for lunch today in one of PJ's most famous South Indian restaurants, the Grand City. If you've ever been there, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you really should try the food there. A banana-leaf lunch set is less than RM15, and it comes with everything!

Okay, back to the point. I saw an old Indian couple sitting at the next table. I love seeing these old & happy couples, because it fills me with the sense that love really can endure the test of time, especially in these days where divorce is becoming amazingly popular.

But the cute thing was that they brought along their granddaughter, a young girl of maybe 5-6 years. She was the only one accompanying them, and they were treating her like a queen. Oh my, everything seemed to revolve around her. And they were all laughing and having a great time. Which made my day.

This is how things are supposed to be. Happy families, are like this.

The problem is that nowadays, more & more people like to leave their parents alone, in search of better things in far-away places. And the real issue here is that once they achieve fortunes, they don't return to share the spoils with their parents. This is bad enough to begin with, but when you also take into account that the youngsters probably got married & have kids by then too, is just infuriating.

You see, these old grand-couples (which is how I shall refer to them henceforth) were my first real experience seeing well-established or solid love. I mean, when you see them in their old age, still walking hand-in-hand after all these years... it's impossible not to feel warm & fuzzy inside. And for me, it was always looking at other grand-couples, because my Grandfather (God bless him) passed away before I turned two.

Despite that, I still hear the love stories about my late Grandfather and my Grandmother.

Anyway, the important thing is that the generation before mine should make sure that their kids have solid relationships with their Grandparents. From what I hear, I can safely say that there are some who don't even go back for Eid Al-Fitr or Eid Ul-Adha. That saddens me, because I know that there are some members of my generation who don't know their grandparents well, or were not given the opportunity to grow close to their grandparents.

We are our history. And if we don't allow my generation to know their grandparents, how will we know or understand who we are?