The Chiku Tree is all decked up with red banner & pineapple hangings on Chinese New Year of the Snake. (29-1-25)
The wind rose and sent the tree branches dancing as I approached the temple on the morning of Chinese New Year.
I stood on the steps to savour the rustling of leaves & greeted the Chiku Tree. Planted by my dad when we were kids, this tree being has been tended to by kinsmen, kinswomen & friends with rudimentary plant knowledge.
Over the years my brother has picked up our dad’s interest in cultivating Desert Roses. When a plant needs healing, he hangs it on the Chiku Tree to let it rest.
Each season the Chiku Tree brings forth sweet & succulent fruits that feed birds and are given freely to whoever asks.
I arrived just in time to see my Mom picking up a Pineapple decoration which the Wind had sent her from the Chiku Tree. Pineapples are symbols of abundance among ethnic Chinese.
Quietly, she bears witness to all temple festivities, performances & feasts. Banquet cooks & street opera singers catch their breaths under her loving auspices. Our late temple cats filed their nails on her trunks.
With each passing year, my admiration for the Chiku Tree grows. She brings sweetness, provides refuge & inspires trust with minimum fuss.
How auspicious it will be, if we could age The Way of the Chiku Tree! 😄🙏
With my Mom under the Chiku Tree on the first day of Chinese New Year.
My younger brothers & paternal grandma in our Prince Charles Square home. (1976/77)
For various reasons, meet ups with siblings, who are our first childhood companions, seem to occur less regularly than a leap year.
Nearly 50 years on… ( Year of the Dragon celebration 2024)
For some in our growing up years, judgements & ignorance separated us. Thankfully, as we get older, wisdom gained from accepting setbacks & realising life’s fragility can help to mend the drift.
Time spent with siblings also allows us to recall our shared history, relive our favourite moments & seek clarity on episodes that hurt us, so that we don’t have to keep carrying them around.
Lunar New Year outing to Albert Street. (2024)
I’ve known sibling bonds that have cushioned the impact of parental conflicts in childhood and lent support in education & career disappointments during formative years. Sibling bonds can even help weather marital storms & health challenges.
Car ride to Pierce Reservoir (2023)
Just this week I saw a pair of elderly brothers making their way to the doctor’s consultation room. The patient showed signs of mental deterioration and an uncertain gait. And his accompanying brother held him by the shoulder to guide him on his path.
My childhood disability was not just a financial & emotional drain on the family. It was also a burden on my younger brothers who silently bore the taunts that were directed at their sister.
Brothers on a lunar new year outing to Chinese Gardens.
In our advancing years while we can still make time to create happy moments with our siblings to balance the less savoury ones, let’s not wait.
Brothers chatting about cars during Year of the Dragon celebration.
Mandala of Sweets for the Full Moon. May we remember all the pockets of sweetness in life that have been bestowed upon us. May we be forgiving to ourselves & others. May we be receptive to teachings to improve all lives.
Yesterday’s full moon was not only a time for reunion meals for those celebrating lunar new year but also Lailat al Bara-ah for Muslims (day of forgiveness) & Sangha Day (day of teaching) for Buddhists.
Prayers on Lailat al Bara-ah yesterday evening.
In that context, cab fares island wide were understandably higher than usual. Passengers for rides increased even as drivers may have slowed down to fulfill their familial & spiritual obligations.
Instead of lamenting & stressing over the price hikes, I stopped to have a salad. While refreshing myself with the greens I recalled the times where my cab fares were low & journeys were eased by the goodwill of many others.
Messengers of Ease: Oasis Holistics founder, Erika Khoo and media lecturer, Jailani Abu Bakar.
Yesterday was also my yoga teacher’s birthday. She was born in the Year of the Dragon, and is looking stronger each year we meet. In the quiet of the salad shop, I sent her a birthday greeting.
The cab fare had dropped by the time I finished my meal. When I reached home, I was greeted by the sight of the golden yellow moon. ❤️😊
This morning I offered a belated mandala of sweets to the first Full Moon of the Dragon Year.
Mandala of Sweets for the first full moon of the Dragon Year.
May the brightness of her light illuminate our mind & the simplicity of her shape calm our heart so that we may call on the sweetness of life to see us through trying times. ❤️🙏
We are known by the goodwill we send out. These decorations were put up in the common area by a resident whom I have not met.
First Picture with the temple door guardian on the first Day of the Year of the Dragon. (10 Feb 2024)
Each lunar new year, I feel the calling of the temple door guardians and the chiku tree in the backyard of my childhood.
The old chiku tree in the backyard is all dressed up and poised for a new beginning. 🙏❤️
The pair’s paintwork continues to shine through decades of incense smoke & fire. They remind me of my late maternal grandfather who quietly braved the storms of life and remained kind.
Posing with the other temple door guardian, who was a comforting presence in my childhood and later on a colossal influence over my interest in religious iconography in my adult life.
The chiku tree continues to thrive and provide for birds, insects and many lives, long after my dad who planted it is gone.
3 generations of women gathering under the shade of the Giving Chiku Tree.
And despite not being the centre of attention, this old tree is dressed in auspicious reds & symbols of prosperity & abundance to receive a new beginning.
Receiving Spring & wishing good ❤️health upon all sentient beings.
May our spirit of renewal continue, and even be enhanced, by time & circumstances. 🙏
Shelter cat, Tenzin, meditates on the condiments before we use them.
Yesterday I had the honour of helping to prepare a lunar new year dish at the Mettacats & Dogs Sanctuary to welcome the Year of the Wood Dragon.
White for new beginning, red for life affirming & green for renewal.
After the animals’ living spaces & human meeting area were cleaned & tidied up, it was time to make auspicious aspirations for the shelter residents and all sentient creatures.
Marcus makes sure the animals’ living space is spick & span.
Each sprinkling of condiments and drizzling of sauces over the carrots, radishes & cucumbers were accompanied by verbal recitations of wishes for health, harmony, abundance & prosperity.
Terry & Marcus unwrapped the condiments & sauces to form a circle of good wishes around the carrots, radish & cucumbers.
The cats looked on with quiet wonderment at the strange human ritual. How can people get so excited about vegetables?
Kenji wonders why can’t he join in the tossing of the salad. It’s not as if he’s gonna eat the vegetables.
As we tossed the artlessly julienned red, white & green pieces to mix well with the consciously crafted blessings embedded in the seasonings, I felt the reunion of thought, speech & action from within. 😊🙏
May the change of seasons that brings about energy shifts enhance the mindful recalibrations of our life’s purpose & positive intentions towards others.
Tam Tam, the cat who lives on the edge makes an appearance as we wish for ease & safely for all sentient beings.
And Bella has gone home to God. Even though we’re sad to lose him, we’ll not let fear or hate win.
Given the threats of animal predators and manmade errors that community cats face daily, Bella’s 16 years on earth is a miracle.
When he was a kitten with gender still unknown, the Canadian swim team named him Bella.
Bella as a kitten in 2006/7.
The student athletes whispered their secrets to him.
Bella always listens without judgement. (Photo credit: Koh Aik Beng)
Local & international coaches & staff fed him or asked about him.
Bella is grateful for kibbles & canned food.
Visitors and parents took pictures of him, and sometimes with him (far away in the background).
Overseas athletes saved up their allowance to buy him treats.
Adults helped out with his veterinary needs.
Bella chilling out with his brother, Topaz by the window of the laundry room.
Despite having a low tolerance for touch, and a high need for distance, Bella has succeeded in bringing many people & nationalities together. He has taught us to be generous with our heart, our money, and our time. And love doesn’t mean ownership.
Bella enjoying scritches from Coach Shahrin in a recent picture. The silent company of cats invites us to pause & breathe.
Rest well, Bella Boy. Even though your entry into & exit from this world were not ideal, in between you were loved by many, and now multi-faith prayers from Singapore to Cambodia, and beyond Asia to the West are being dedicated to you. 🙏❤️
Lunar New Year begins not at a countdown concert, but a trip to the temple of my childhood for me.
The pouring rain this year did not dampen our spirit one bit. We just learn to adjust expectations and accommodate one another’s transport challenges.
Starting the Year of the Rabbit with aromatic smoke offerings that carry our aspirations and the fragrance from this beautiful tree.
Year after year I return to this place to start my year. The temple door guardians are ever so welcoming, and figurines of deities feel like old friends. Being aware that one day all these may not be accessible to me for various reasons makes the yearly meet ups all the more precious.
My childhood temple door guardian.
The incense aroma strengthens my spirit even as my body ages. And the sight of fire and lighted lanterns energises my mind even as my hair loses its colour.
My lovely cousin, Michelle, faithfully records our gatherings year after year. She is also an admirer of batik.
Towards evening when the rain clouds lifted, a little green shoot on the trunk of the Chiku Tree greeted me. 😊
Spring indeed is the beginning of all things and the starting from zero. When we don’t hanker after what we don’t have or what used to be ours, Spring happens in us. 🙏
Posing with Year of the Rabbit CNY decor. Both of us were born in the Year of Rabbit and have been friends since for nearly 40 years.
Yesterday we repeated our favourite pre-celebration ritual of vegetarian meal, temple visits and decoration shopping in the Fortune Centre area. The last time we could do so maskless & free, was in 2020.
At the vegetarian cafe where we ordered longevity noodle. My lunar birthday fell on 1 Jan 2023 this year.
In 20 days’ time the Lunar New Year will be upon us.
It was good to see the old folks up and about at the vegetarian cafe. They were happily taking food orders and heartily conveying their choices to the kitchen.
The evening puja at Sri Krishnan Temple had started as we walked by. The aroma of incense offering and intermittent peal of brass temple bell lifted our spirit.
A moment of calm amidst the aromas of incense and peal of the prayer bells. Lord Hanuman watches over us as we pose for a picture at the beautiful Sri Krishnan Temple.
At the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple (Goddess of Mercy), devotees were quietly praying outside the closed temple gates as dusk fell.
A few steps ahead, we chanced upon a shop called “Good Neighbour,” that appeared to be only selling household goods. As we ventured further in, an array of chinese new year decors in shades of vermillion & carmine greeted our eyes.
Blessings and Prosperity are in our hands.
Even though it was near closing time, the staff and cashier remained hospitable to browsers and handled each customer’s enquiry good-naturedly.
The young man at the cashier counter code switched effortlessly among English, Mandarin, Malay and Hokkien depending on the language being used to address him.
“When beautiful people talk to me nicely, I will speak clearly too,” he shot back cheerfully when we expressed amazement at the accuracy of his Hokkien pronunciation.
After he had helped us take a picture with the Year of the Hare (Rabbit) decor, he respectfully wished the two of us elderly Rabbits good health and many years of new year jaunting to come.
With the multilingual and good natured Malaysian boy. We named him Golden Lion.
When my friend wished him the blessings of good employment & kind employer for all round prosperity, the carefree boy with studded ears and golden streaks in his hair listened intently & bowed lightly.
Our first day outing of 2023 came to a sweet close as we stopped for local ice cream wrapped in bread. Above us the nearly full moon shone.
Freedom is eating local ice cream wrapped in bread under the open evening sky.
One of our black cats used to climb on these branches and increased his endearment quotient with my first & second uncle one million times.
My dad grafted this Chiku Tree, and my grandpa attended to her while she was taking root.
Come Lunar New Year, my youngest uncle prunes her to renew her, and my mother and her sisters dress her in red khata and red lanterns to celebrate Life.
Being in the backyard & surrounded by forgotten articles have not diminished the Chiku Tree’s significance in our family one bit. .
Over the years this Tree has given many of her fruits, enough for the birds and humans to enjoy. There is no conflict. Cats file their claws on her trunk & branches. There is no complaint.
On New Year’s day, my brother pointed out the budding shoots that were emerging from the nodes on branches.
Budding shoots to welcome Spring.
I sat under her newly trimmed branches to speak to my dad and my grandparents, and to thank the Chiku Tree for staying alive so that our family members may gather under her numerous loving arms year after year.
The peace found under a tree is available to everyone regardless of economic status.
First Tutee and his uncle meet Ollie for the first time in 2 years today. (2-2-2022)
First Tutee and his uncle dropped by with Nasi Lemak today to wish me Happy Chinese New Year.
First Tutee is now nearly 11 years old, as tall as me and seeing Ollie for the first time since 2020.
Pleased that Ollie still remembered him, and that the scene outside the window where he used to sit to practise his spelling and writing, had remained unchanged, he gushed shyly about spotting his childhood sweets on my dining table.
First Tutee’s childhood sweets, White Rabbit.
I asked him to help himself to the White Rabbit Milk Candy pieces. I had prepared a new bag of them for him to bring home later on.
As he unwrapped the candy, he mentioned several times that White Rabbits were his favourite childhood sweets and that he was also born in the Year of the Rabbit.
First Tutee’s delight at seeing Ollie and recalling the names of Hakim, Kitty & China Black who have since passed on, his smiling at the sweets of his childhood and feeling right at ease in a space where he started his preparation to enter primary school showed me a reunion doesn’t always have to revolve around a big meal.
First Tutee with Kitty in 2018.
Food & drinks aside, a reunion is also about returning to the people & place that make us feel supported.
Same cane chairs, different occupiers. First Tutee is now going on 11. (2-2-22)
And if reunions are meant to evoke memories to embolden us to move forward, then it is wise that during that encounter we refrain from fishing for details in someone else’s personal life unless they are offered on their own accord.
Going home for reunions is such a big deal across cultures & evokes many conflicting emotions in some. May each reunion be a time of reconciliation and mutual support like the one that took place with First Tutee today.
Lisa Ong 