Dinner with Mah-Mah

The kids calls their paternal grandma Mah-Mah and stay in touch with her via phone calls. I've come to know that she sends them SMS too. I never knew she could send SMS until yesterday.

She helps out at the drinks stall in the school canteen and is very popular with the teenagers. She can be naggy but is a fun person to be around with. Whenever she wants to send a message, she enlists the help of the school kids. No wonder her SMS to YK sounded funny, "乖 孙. 你的 肤色 好点 了吗?" ("My well-behaved grandson, is your skin better now?")

That was when she found out that YK had a terrible outbreak of rashes after field camp. When she heard that YK will be leaving for training in Taiwan next week, she asked to see him before he leaves. That was why we had dinner together last night.

With their Mah Mah.

Sometimes I can't help but see a reflection of myself in her. She's a single mother who worked as a cleaner to bring up 4 kids. She was bullied by an ex-husband who not only didn't lift a finger to help raise the kids but continued to harrass her even years after the divorce.

Despite the hardship and struggles, she's jovial and full of life. She may not be very educated, but is extremely street smart and wise. She knows when to say the right things and until now, has never taken sides with her son who is my ex-husband. If anything, she blames herself for not raising him up properly. But really, under those circumstances, who can blame her?  Given the bad neighbourhood they were in, it is a miracle none of them ended up as criminals.

He was charming and intelligent. And I was young and impressionable. We might be the same age but he was miles ahead of me in terms of guile amd charisma. Being the creative sort, he had a million ideas brewing in his head. I was good with words and he was great at making an impression. We made a great team, a little like Nigella and Saatchi.

I used to admire Saatchi for his immense talent but when news of him bullying Nigella surfaced, I immediately rooted for Nigella.

It is no surprise that it was Saatchi who filed for divorce. She probably didn't dare to. I love Nigella and want to see her back on our TV screens, so beautiful, happy and full of personality. Now that she doesn't have to live in fear of  the husband, she's already on the way to a better life.