DESTINY RULES

The two stories were written by me and they really happened.

One of my favourite songs is sung by Samuel Hui, a Cantopop singer who made his name in the nineteen eighties in the then British colony, Hong Kong. Many of Hui’s songs relate to life. Contained in the songs are many valuable lessons that are applicable to the public. His songs are both inspirational and down to earth. The title of the said song when loosely translated is “Sentiments of a Rolling Stone”. The chorus of the song goes, Meng looi yau si, chong sui yau.Meng looi moe si, mok keong kau. The message the two lines carry is: what is destined will eventually come to be; it is no use going against fate. Let me regale you with two stories of two families who had tried to go against destiny.
My friend Pek Ling told the first story to me. It was all because of my one time craze for macramé. Not satisfied with the basic knots that I learnt from Pek Ling. I had gone to her house to borrow a book on the subject. She invited me into her house. Me being me, before entering the house, I had a good look around the porch. Then I had to comment on the size of the wind chime that she had hanging outside her house. It was really huge and the sound it made was very loud and melodious. Pek Ling said that her brother had made it himself as he loved fashioning things from metal.
I told her that I had initially thought that it was for feng shui purposes. She said it was definitely not. She told me that her family members were not really into feng shui. Besides, they did not dare dabble in it after what happened to a relative of theirs. The relative in question was Pek Ling’s cousin sister. The lady and her husband had been married for more than ten years but had no children to show for it. They were getting desperate. They had gone to many doctors both Western and traditional but were unsuccessful. The couple had even had their Paht Chee analysed. To their dismay they found that according to the destiny code that has been written into their birthdates, they were not fated to be parents. But they did not believe what had been written in the stars. The wife went for fertility treatment. She became pregnant but miscarried after the fifth month. They did not give up and tried two more times but to no avail. They had almost given up on their quests to have a child of their own when they were introduced to a feng shui master. Now this man said that he could help them realise their dream. The couple had heard about the reputation of this master from friends. He came highly recommended as he had helped many of their friends to maximise their business potentials, usher in wealth luck and beget offspring.
With hopes renewed both husband and wife invited the master to do a feng shui reading of their house. When he had done that he advised them to do certain things to activate for descendant luck in a particular sector. There was some form of feng shui arrangement that they had to put in a particular place in the house. Needless to say the desperate couple followed the instructions given by the master to the T. They of course had to pay him a handsome fee for service rendered. In their case, feng shui worked and shortly after that the wife was with child. This time she managed to carry her baby to full term without any complications. They became the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. During the full moon celebrations they invited all their friends and relatives to dinner at a posh restaurant. The feng shui master was the guest of honour. They were ecstatic and overjoyed. Somehow they had challenged fate and triumphed.
But the story did not end there. Two days after the grand celebrations, the baby became seriously ill after a bad fall. The mother who was carrying her child had slipped on a plastic bag that was lying on one of the steps leading to the first storey of their house. She could not hold on to her precious bundle. The baby fell head first down the flight of stairs. As a result, junior suffered severe brain damage. Pek Ling tells me that the doctors at the specialist centre managed to save the little baby’s life. The boy is about seven years old now but has to be institutionalised. He is a moron and does not even recognise his parents.
My mother related the second story to me. It is the story of her friend from the senior citizen’s club named Aunty Poh. This is Aunty Poh’s story. Aunty Poh got married rather early at the age of twenty. Her husband a contractor was twelve years her senior. Theirs was an arranged marriage. She had her first child, a daughter, after a year. This trend of begetting daughters was to continue for six more times over a period of sixteen years. By the time the seventh daughter, Ai Lee, was born, Aunty Poh got rather worried that her hubby might contemplate looking for another female vessel to help produce a male heir. She had gone to several fortunetellers to see if she was destined to have any sons. All that she consulted gave the same answer – NO. But they assured her that her husband was a one-woman man and would not look for another. However, she was not happy, she herself wanted a son. One relative of hers then informed her that there was a young girl who had given birth to a baby boy. This girl’s boyfriend had made her pregnant and then run away. Her parents did not want her to keep the baby and had put word out that they were willing to give the baby up for adoption. Well, Aunty Poh went to see the girl’s mother and did some negotiations. Finally she managed to adopt the baby boy. She named him Kok Leong. Her husband’s family finally had a son to carry on the family line.
The whole family doted on the boy. He was a beautiful baby with very fair skin and fine features. His mother and seven sisters loved him dearly. The boy in turn loved to be around his sisters, especially his seventh sister, Ai Lee as she was only two years his senior. Even his father was fond of him. Kok Leong grew up to be a polite and well-mannered boy. Academically he was an average student but since his parents were well off they sent him to London to further his studies after he completed his secondary school education. He was to study accountancy at one of the universities in England’s capital city. His family only saw him once during the four years he was abroad and that was during his first year when he returned for the summer holidays. Consequently, they only received cards and letters from him telling them that he was doing fine and not to worry about him. When he finished his studies, he did not immediately return to Malaysia. He told his parents that he had found work in a firm in London and wanted to gain some experience before returning. His mother was upset because she missed her son very much. However her husband and daughters had convinced her that the work experience in England would do him a world of good and so she was pacified.
Two years later, Auntie Poh received a postcard from her son saying that he would be returning to Malaysia. He gave details of his flight and arrival time. He had written to his seventh sister, Ai Lee, who was residing and working in Kuala Lumpur, she would meet him at the airport and return with him to Ipoh the following day. The dear lady was so happy and excited that she would finally get to see her precious son after five years. She had gone to the market early that day to buy meat and vegetables to cook his favourite dishes. The eldest, second, third, fourth and fifth sisters who were living in Ipoh, Menglembu and Taiping had gathered at the house with their own families before lunchtime to wait for their youngest brother’s arrival. Both his fourth and sixth sisters could not be there as they were away on tour in China.
As the hour drew nearer for the return of both Ai Lee and Kok Leong, Auntie Poh grew impatient. She kept looking out of the window every few minutes. Her husband and daughters told her to relax as Kok Leong would be returning soon. While they were talking, her eldest grandson shouted, “Seventh Auntie is back. I can see her car.” Everyone present quickly went outside to the front porch to welcome them. From where they stood everyone saw Ai Lee at the wheel but next to her was seated a girl. Where was their brother? Where was Kok Leong? What had happened? Did anything happen to him?
When the car stopped both the ladies got out. There were only the two of them inside the car. The girl that had come along was very beautiful. Her complexion was smooth and silky. Her long hair was dyed light brown highlighted with blonde streaks. Her skin was very fair. She had on a sunhat and was wearing designer sunglasses. The attractive and tall lady had on a sundress which accentuated her slender and shapely figure. For an instant all present were so mesmerised with the looks of the beautiful lady that they had forgotten about the person they were expecting. Then Auntie Poh asked Ai Lee, “Where is your brother? I thought you are supposed to bring him home”.
Suddenly, the beautiful lady walked towards Auntie Poh and said, “Mama, it’s me Kok Leong. I am home”. The two couples in the stories above dared to challenge fate. They attempted to change what was not decreed in their life book. The Chinese believe that our lives are predestined the moment we are born. To try and alter what a higher authority has set would mean forcing fate. In the first story, the couple who were not destined to have any children but insisted on getting one, got their wish but to what dire consequences. They have the agony of seeing their child who will never be able to call them or even know who they are. It is just as good as not having a child. In Auntie Poh’s case, she was not destined to have any sons but she insisted on adopting one. Finally, her son had a sex change and became a female. The two stories perfectly exemplify what Samuel Hui was trying to put forward in his song, if something belongs to us, we will eventually have it but if it does not belong to us we should not try to use force to get it. For by doing so, Fate might have some unpleasant surprises in store for us.