Part 3: Chinese New Year and Red Packets

Now, my father’s side is a rather cincai (not particular) bunch. You want to wear black for the New Year? Sure. You want to sweep the floor and throw the luck out? Sure. And boy, do I love that.

For an Indian, my mum is the particular one always saying that we must wear bright colors for the New Year proceeding to wear this Mak Datin bright red shirt with sequins that she bought just for the occasion. There is something very weird about this as even my dad could not care less, coming from the cincai stock.

The idea of wearing shorts during this hot weather so appealed to me but one look from my mum made me change my mind. Thus we went there in bright color but NOT red. However, what greeted me made me go O.o. My aunts were in red. My cousins were in red. Even my grandma for goodness sake was in red. And here I was in yellow, which so did not fit the occasion. Suddenly, I felt small inside.

Throughout the day, we heard various renderation of Chinese New Year songs. There was the slow beat numbers and those horrible trance techno Chinese Songs, which made me, think realize that composing on ecstasy is not good. Plus there is my grandma who seemed determine that I put on weight before going back to good old Kuala Lumpur. She practically forced everything down my throat. Oh the amount of roasted pork, cookies and goodies I ate!

Thus my day was set watching Chinese movies in front of the television. My aunty however had other plans. Now, all my elder cousins are married. Guess who’s next in line? Yeap, and she proceeded to ask the question, “Aiyah girl-ah. Got boyfriend already or not?!?”

Damn, I hate that question. It always puts me in an awkward position where the only response I can give is a smile while various sarcastic comebacks runs through my mind. Reason I bite back my retort is because she hands me this red packet. In this situation, you can never win, really.