MY mother, Madam Janaki Bai Devadason, died at 3.25am on Friday, Aug 12, in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Seremban’s Mawar Medical Centre. Two and a half weeks before that, she had suffered a multifocal stroke, which weakened her and took away her ability to swallow.
At 94 years and two months of age, she was frail; this final medical challenge proved terminal.
The fine team at Mawar diligently and compassionately helped my mother throughout her last 17 days on earth. I was — and always shall remain — thankful to Dr Jeeva, Sister Goh and the entire ICU team for taking such phenomenal care of her.
During my sessions at my mother’s bedside while she was conscious, I read to her from the Book of Psalms. Each time she dozed off, I reflected on how profoundly fortunate I was to have had my mother actively involved in my life these past 52 years.
My mother and I shared a birthday: May 22. She was born in
1922, and I in 1964, on her 42nd birthday.
She and my father, Daniel Devadason, split up when I was a year old and my older sister Viji was 10. Our father stayed on in Malacca to cultivate his law practice, while the three of us moved to Seremban, where Viji and I benefited from the wisdom and strength of our phenomenal mother, our Mummy!
Mummy inculcated in us countless life lessons, including how to view and treat money. Her superlative capacity to teach us was in keeping with her reputation as a high-calibre English teacher.
I learnt these five personal finance lessons just by watching, as she managed money wisely when Viji and I were children:
NEVER shortchange people — We rented a long, narrow terrace house, 7 off Wise Road, in Rahang, Seremban. We owned neither a car nor a telephone, so when emergency calls had to be made, we walked to our neighbour’s house at number 9 to use the phone. My mother never took things for granted. She timed the length of our calls and paid precisely what they cost.
WATCH your money like a hawk — She budgeted using an envelope system. Each month, upon receiving her salary, my mother withdrew the appropriate amounts and placed her money in envelopes earmarked for rent, groceries and utilities. And, when I started Year One at St Paul’s Institution in 1971, my daily allowance was five sen. Each morning, she would help me to put on my uniform, always ensuring I had a crisply ironed handkerchief. She would knot that day’s five sen allotment into one corner of my handkerchief to guarantee the safety of her hard-earned coinage.
CHARITY begins at home — Although we weren’t rich, she made sure we were comfortable, even as she earmarked cash to help her younger brothers in Seremban.
BUT, it does not stop there — While she focused on helping family members and keeping us afloat, she was never tight-fisted. My mother always put money in the offering bag in the Tamil Methodist Church in Seremban. She also made sure Viji and I had our own offerings to give. And despite the financial stress she must have experienced, she always gave cash and food to those in need.
NEVER stop reading for enjoyment and edification — She was a mega fan of the Reader’s Digest magazine and of the abridged novels in its catalogues. She filled our home with books and was the person most responsible for inculcating my love affair with reading and my appreciation for the boundless depths of the English language.
Much later, when I began making a living as a writer, I never forgot that it was my magnificent Mummy who taught me about the unbreakable steel connections linking Education, Knowledge and Future Earning Power.
I owe her much; I miss her more.
Twitter@RajenDevadason
The writer is a Securities Commission-
licensed financial planner, professional speaker and author. Read his free articles at www.FreeCoolArticles.com. He may be connected with at rajen@RajenDevadason.com, on Twitter @RajenDevadason and on LinkedIn at https: //www.linkedin.com/in/rajendevadason