Eldest daughter accompanied us visiting a sick relative in the kampung. Since she had been away for years , she took this opportunity to meet all the aunts, uncles and cousins that she hasn't seen for quite a while.
This particular visit made us realised that as time goes by a lot of things has changed. All the uncles and aunts has grown so much older and all the cousins had left homes. Those houses which were so full of life and there were always food on the table for all to eat at any time of the day ( and night ) are so quiet and empty now.
One of our relatives in his late 80 now living with his wife who is just recovered from bone cancer. He has hearing problem and starting not to remember things . So he just sit at the edge of his bed by himself when his wife do some housework. They just occupy the ground floor of their house and the top floor is left dusty.
Another relative lost her husband 10 years ago and now at the age of 75 she suffers from alzeimer desease. Since she is all alone in the house the children decide to take turn to take care of the mother in their respective houses. Thus the family house is left under lock and key for quite sometime now. It looks like it is going to be that way for a long time to come.
It seems there are more elderly people living on their own now. Many family houses ( rumah agam ) left to rot because the houses are too big to maintain by the children and they are only functional during hari rayas and during the holidays.
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