New Year's evening

The temple was far more crowded than the church when I visited them both before noon today. This is a habit I picked up from my wife: visiting houses of worship on New Year's Day. She visited the Kali temple at Kalighat in Calcutta (Kolkata) with my son today while I went to the Novena church and the Sri Veerakaliamman temple in Little India, Singapore.

This was my son's second trip to the temple since he flew home from his college in America before Christmas. My wife took him to the temple the very day he arrived. Usually he objects because of the crowds. But this time he didn't object too much, said my wife. He knows he has to listen to his mum.

Had my wife been in Singapore, she would have insisted we visit another temple at Potong Pasir. That's what we did when she was last here on New Year's Day. But I left home too late; the temple at Potong Pasir might have been closed by the time I got there from Little India.

The temple in Little India was so crowded I couldn't even get a good look at the deities. So I went there again before 5 pm, knowing there would be fewer worshippers then. We go to say our prayers. But we had a rough time last year and I can't pretend things are looking up. My mother-in-law passed away. I had to leave my old job. Uncertainty still stares me in the face. Still, we have to appreciate what we have.

I am savouring this quiet evening at home, in the fading light before sunset, waiting to speak to my wife and my son. They had a visitor when I called them after returning home from the temple. So she said she would call me later. That will make my day.

I may not be wise or bright. There wouldn't have been problems at work if I had been considered good enough. But with age I have learnt to appreciate the little things. A few minutes on the phone with my son and my wife is all I ask for -- till the day we can be together again. I last saw my son in June-July during his summer holidays when I visited Calcutta to see him. I last saw my wife in October when I went to Calcutta again after her mother passed away. We will be together again.