Tara Zenyora : and the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse
Page 2
“You’re my daughter and I will always love you,” said Patrick, his green eye winking encouragingly. “May you have a blissful union with Prakash.”
“Come Virginia and Lenny, let’s take a photo with Tara and Prakash,” Patrick urged Virginia, his hazel-eyed daughter from his first marriage with an Irish lady. The marriage ended in divorce just after two years. Lenny, a stout Briton with tattoos on his arms, was Virginia’s partner.
Auntie Siew Lan and her husband, Uncle Yong, joined Tara for the photography session. Auntie Siew Lan was Tara’s mother’s youngest sister. Tara was close to her because they often gathered as extended families to celebrate various festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Winter Solstice in the past.
Wearing a maroon silk blouse and navy pants, Auntie Siew Lan was a petite lady with short, black permed hair. S Uncle Yong, looking smart in a casual Hawaiian printed shirt and dark pants, was a medium-height man with a strong and sturdy stature.
“Congratulations on your nuptials, I’m so proud of you. Here are our gifts for you,” said Auntie Siew Lan, passing her a nicely-wrapped present and two red packets for Tara and Prakash.
“Auntie Siew Lan and Uncle Yong, thank you for attending my wedding,” Tara said, delighted. “Please help yourself to the snacks and desserts at the minibar. Come, let me introduce you to Prakash’s family members. This is Ravi, Prakash’s eldest brother, and his wife, Kanchan. And this is Roshni, Prakash’s youngest sister, and her husband, Chandran. Why don’t you mingle and get to know each other better?”
Auntie Siew Lan and Uncle Yong began to enjoy themselves chatting and bonding with Prakash’s family members over at the minibar area. Roshni’s two daughters, Geetha and Anita, enjoyed chatting with Prakash’s best men, Balakrishnan and Namish.
Mayreen helped Virginia and Lenny to get ready for snorkeling. She also assisted Ravi’s son, Lakshmi, who planned for a kayaking later. Yu Han, Tara’s second bridesmaid, lent a helping hand to Auntie Siew Lan’s two sons, Kai Wen and Kai Ming, who wanted to go for a paddle boarding.
After about 15 minutes of the yacht cruising in the ocean, Tara experienced an inexplicable chill down her spine. Distracted by the eerie silence, she felt as if she was in a vacuum in space. She could no longer hear the waves splashing against the yacht or the squawking of the seagulls. Something is not right.
“What has happened, Tara?” Prakash asked, with concern in his voice.
Tara saw his mouth moving, but she could not hear his voice. She wanted to reply to him, but there was just no sound coming from her lungs. Suddenly, the entire party seemed to notice that something was amiss, as people stopped talking and laughing.
A pall of ominous dark clouds appeared, eclipsing the sun. The low wail of the wind changed into a howling monster. Flashes of forked lightning lit up the darkened sky, followed by the rolling thunder and torrential shower. The next moment, the sky opened in a spiral disc like the birth of a galaxy.
Her jaw dropped when she saw strange silhouettes coming out of that spiral disc. Slowly, their shapes began to get less ambiguous and Tara thought they looked like mythical creatures. A white serpentine dragon and a black western dragon were embroiled in a ferocious fight. The black dragon spewed out flames and fire from its mouth, attacking the white dragon, which retaliated by sprouting water to extinguish the flames.
People on the yacht began to shriek but no sounds were heard. None of them could believe their eyes.
Seconds later, the giant black bird twirled around the white dragon, trying to use his sharp talons to tear the white dragon. Flashes of lightning enveloped the two creatures as the fight ensued.
The next moment, the water in the ocean began to form a whirlpool, connecting with the spiral clouds in an hourglass-shaped vortex, while the buffeting winds turned deafening. Pulled by the forces of the sky-to-ocean cyclone, the yacht was tossed and turned mercilessly in circles.
Meanwhile, the ship’s wheel spun continuously on its own and the navigational and communication systems started to malfunction. Rashid, the yacht’s captain, tried to stay calm as he attempted to gain control of the yacht but to no avail.
Passengers shrieked and screamed as the yacht capsized, throwing everyone into the ocean.
“Prakash!” Tara shrieked as the forces of the ocean swayed her.
“Hold on to me tight!” Prakash tried in vain to catch hold of Tara.
A huge wave swallowed up the entire yacht. Tara was bobbed up and down, as she struggled to stay afloat on the ocean waves. In an attempt to save Tara, Prakash tried to swim against the raging current drawing him towards the whirlpool. Alas, he was sucked into the spiraling vortex. Soon, everyone was swallowed up by the cyclone.
Before Tara blacked out, she saw herself being enveloped by a golden white light emitted from her emerald jade pendant. Soaking in the luminous light of unsurpassed resplendence, she had never felt so loved, blissful, and at peace. Then, she lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 2
THE DREAM
The sky was cast in a gloomy cloak of dreadful heaviness. Ominous dark clouds gathered, forming a vortex resembling a tornado. Winds were howling and baying like a wolf in the night. Blinding streaks of lightning interspersed with deafening thunders reverberated mercilessly in the sky.
“Mommy! Mommy! Help me!”
Weeping and wailing, a green baby dragon was falling from the sky. A white serpentine dragon swooped down, trying to save the baby girl.
A black dragon with enormous bat-like wings spewed fire from its mouth as it fought with the white serpentine dragon. The next moment, the baby dragon was sucked into the spiraling vortex of the tornado, vanishing into the dark churning waters.
“Mommy! Don’t leave me!” Tara shrieked, her whole body drenched in cold sweat. Some passengers in the flight swiveled their heads to check out who was screaming.
“Are you alright?” asked Mia with concern as she handed her a cup of water that the flight attendant had provided earlier. “Drink some water. It helps.”
Tara opened her eyes; her heart was thumping furiously, large droplets of sweat streaked down her temple, and she felt a tingling sensation in the middle of her palms.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” replied Tara after she took a sip of the water. “It’s weird that I keep having the same nightmare again and again for the past week.”
Mia heard about Tara’s dream the other day. She pondered upon it thoughtfully for a few seconds, as her forehead wrinkled and her eyebrows came close together, forming a frown. She was a well-read woman and instinctively thought of the works of reputed authors such as Michel Desmarquet, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and Dr. Brian Weiss. “Could it be a past life encounter that you were reliving inside your dream?”
“Anything is possible,” Tara concurred as she turned her gaze toward the window in the plane. “I have the funny feeling that the baby dragon in the dream is me.”
Mia nodded knowingly and her eyes shifted towards her carry-on bag that she propped under seat in front of her. She paused for a second, seemingly lost in deep thought, and bent forward to open her purse. Immediately, she pulled out a big book and placed it on Tara’s lap.
“I’m reading this book about the past life of James Leininger who was a WWII pilot,” Mia said, pointing at her book, Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot. “The little boy, James, was able to recollect many of the details of his past lifetimes as a fighter pilot at the age of two. It’s amazing.”
Tara glanced at the book and said, “Reincarnation is nothing new; the Buddha saw His immeasurable past lifetimes of reincarnations under the Bodhi tree. I read many of His past reincarnations in the Jataka Tales before. I’m sure reincarnation is one of the true natures of life that is yet to be proven scientifically.”
Mia nodded. “Yes, you’re right. It’s time for humanity to awaken to the reality of life.”
“Awakening begins with unshakeable faith in
Shakyamuni Buddha, the Teacher of humans and the heavenly gods, the Perfectly Enlightened One, who teaches all beings a path of true freedom,” Tara said with smile, looking into Mia’s almond-shaped brown eyes set in a round face with short, black hair.
Siew Lian was Tara’s mother’s eldest sister and Mia was Siew Lian’s eldest daughter. She had flown all the way from Singapore to provide emotional support to Tara, after she learned about that fateful day. Had it not been for her presence, Tara was sure she would not have been able to cope with such intense devastation and depression, all alone in Penang. It was indeed a blessing in disguise for Tara to have a close relative in Singapore whom she could depend on.
A small beep distracted Tara from those looming thoughts. Immediately, the flights ceiling lights were turned off and the seat belt light turned on. AirAsia’s flight attendants in red and white uniforms walked along the narrow aisle, reminding passengers to fasten their seat belts and pull up their window screens. Another attendant announced using the plane’s microphone that the plane was about to land in Singapore.
At around 6:30am, the wheels of the plane touched the smooth runway. The sky was still dark outside and Tara could hear the sound of several seatbelts unclicking. Tara, however, had zero motivation to stand up and collect her few odd belongings from the overhead cabin. Gazing at the window, Tara was lost in a reverie, recollecting what had transpired in the last few months. It had been more than three months since the bizarre accident had occurred. Melancholy and misery were still clearly etched all over Tara’s haggard complexion. She still experienced a pang of grief in her heart whenever she recalled that freak accident.
Tara was unconscious in the hospital for five days. When she regained consciousness, her memory was muddled and she was confused to find herself on a strange bed. The doctor told her what had happened: someone found her lying at the beach of Batu Ferringhi in Penang. The police were perplexed as to how she had managed to be swept by the ocean all the way from the Langkawi Sea to land on the beach of Penang. It remained a mystery.
Tara remembered the blinding, radiant light emitting from her jade pendant before she passed out. Deep in her heart, she knew it was the magical emerald jade that worked its miracle in protecting her from the storm. Mother was right; I must wear the pendant at all times.
After three months of extensive searching, neither the yacht nor the bodies were found. Eventually, all search efforts were suspended and all those on the yacht were assumed to be dead. It was like a replay of Malaysia’s MH 370 incident where no bodies were found after the flight disappeared from the radar.
Before they took the flight back to Singapore, Tara bid final farewell to her family and friends by scattering flowers into the ocean onboard a yacht.
“Rest in peace,” said Tara, breaking down completely and crying all her heart out when she thought of her daddy, her husband, her best friend, and her beloved Auntie Siew Lan.
“I’m sorry daddy….I shouldn’t have harbored bitter resentment against you…” Tara sobbed, tears gushing out from her eyes. She remembered how her wrinkled faced and white-haired father grinned with huge contentment during the Chinese Tea Ceremony at her father’s colonial mansion in Penang.
“Honey, you look so lovely, just like your late mother. She wore Qun Kwa too when she married me,” Patrick chortled when he saw Tara who don a red traditional Chinese wedding gown called Qun Kwa. Then he turned to Prakash donned in Changshan and said, “Promise me to love Tara unconditionally.”
Memories of how Patrick doted her came flooding back: he read story books to her every night, taught her how to ride a bicycle and how to swim in the pool. He also brought Tara and Siew Lee out for yummy treats every weekend in Penang.
Her father’s behavior toward her mother started to change ever since he had a mistress who happened to be his personal secretary in his wine trading company. Whenever he encountered hiccups in his business, he lashed out his frustration by verbally abusing her mother. There was once he physically abused her mother, resulting in multiple bruises on mother’s arms. The sorrowful tears in her mother’s eyes made Tara ache with resentment toward him.
Tara still remembered what her mother told her, “Forgive your father, no matter how unfair you think his treatment of me.” As the Chinese idiom goes, ‘The tree wishes to remain still, but the wind will not subside; the children wish to support their parents, but parents are no longer around.’ Tara regretted immensely for harboring bitter resentment against her father. If only I had a second chance, I would spend more time with my father and love him wholeheartedly, she thought.
Mia was quietly patting Tara’s back to comfort her. It was not easy for Tara, but she knew time would heal her grief, and she was right. Although she continued to feel despair and sudden pangs of overwhelming grief, Tara was ready to go back home to Singapore to start a new chapter of her life.
CHAPTER 3
THE PERANAKAN MANSION
After seven years of studying and working in Singapore, the Lion City was a place where Tara called home. She was glad when she walked out of the airport and smelled its fresh air. It was a beautiful Garden City with an abundance of nature and greenery. The breaking of dawn was especially beautiful. Gloomy clouds that loomed ominously on the horizon slowly disappeared, replaced by the orange pinkish hues that splashed across the sky like the work of an Impressionist artist.
Tara and Mia took a taxi back to Mia’s home in Emerald Hill. They passed by Singapore’s iconic landmarks such as the Marina Bay Sands, the Art Science Museum, the Gardens by the Bay, and the Merlion. Tara adored the Merlion – the mythical creature with the head of a lion and the tail of a fish. The lion was the king of the jungle, and a fish tail was the passport to freedom in the ocean. Best of both worlds, she thought.
After taking a turn into Emerald Hill Road, the taxi drove past an entire stretch of road with colorful Peranakan shophouses.
Peranakan, also known as Straits Chinese, is a distinctive community with mixed Chinese and Malay/Indonesian heritage living in Malaysia and Singapore. Many Peranakans can be traced back to the Chinese diaspora in the 15th century from China to Malacca and Singapore. These Chinese merchants subsequently married the local Malay women. The male is known as Baba and the female is known as Nyonya. Many of the Peranakan cultures and practices are a potpourri of Indonesian, Malay, and Chinese traditions.
Tara saw a group of five ladies dressed in the Nyonya blouse and Javanese batik sarong, mingling around and giggling among each other. Some of the ladies noticed Tara looking at them and they smiled back indulgently.
“Mia, did you see the group of ladies in the traditional Nyonya attire at that shophouses? They look so lovely and charming!” Tara commented, nudging Mia to take a look.
“Where are they?” Mia followed Tara’s direction she saw no one donning the Nyonya attire.
Tara craned her neck and pointed to the shophouse again. “Right in front of the orange Peranakan house. They are still there. Don’t you see them?”
Mia shook her head, wondering what was wrong with Tara’s eyes; there was absolutely no one matching her description.
Tara gave a bewildered look at Mia, wondering if she had seen something others could not see. But the sight of a grand peranakan-styled bungalow soon caught her attention and the taxi pulled over in front of it. Mia’s father named it the Blue Mansion as the entire bungalow was painted a shade of pastel blue.
The main door was made up of teakwood and looked magnificent. The walls on each side of the door were adorned by a pair of huge traditional Chinese red lanterns on each side. There was a red, wooden plaque with gold-gilded Chinese calligraphic characters “Yin Shui Si Yuan,” a Chinese idiom that means always remembering one’s roots with gratitude for our predecessors.
“Welcome back ma’am,” A domestic helper cheerfully greeted them at the door. “Please, let me help you with the baggage.”
The bungalow was cavernous, and the interior resembled a tastefully curated
private museum. Taking a walk in the bungalow made them feel as if they were stepping back in time. Everything, right from the floor and the wall tiles, to the light fittings and even the furniture were made up of both Chinese and Peranakan antiques. The eclectic balance in which the antique Peranakan were arranged harmoniously was refreshingly impressive.
Tara headed to the living room and settled down on a set of ornate mahogany Chinese sofa inlaid with mother-of-pearls dragon motifs. The sight of the antiques and the sensation of her tired feet on the large rectangular Persian silk carpet reminded Tara of her late mother, who was a Chinese antique collector.
Her eyes fell on the four seasons Chinese landscape paintings and she was moved by the inexplicable beauty. Colorful Peranakan objet d’art such as the tingkat (food carrier), covered jars, as well as Chinese antiques such as Ming dynasty blue-white porcelain vases, Yixing purple clay teapots, and bronze vessels were prominently displayed in the lacquered rosewood cabinet.
There were traditional Chinese round bookshelves with some spiritual books arranged neatly on the shelves: The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama, The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, Still Thoughts – Jing Si Aphorisms by Master Cheng Yen, The Art of Forgiveness by Jack Kornfield, Real Happiness by Sharon Salzberg, How to Free Your Mind by Thubten Chodron.
Numerous medals, trophies, and silver plates of accolades awarded to Mia’s father for his philanthropic works, clan associations, and temple activities were displayed on the elaborately carved elmwood cabinet. There was also a human acupuncture model, a figurine showing red points and lines. That was a reminder of Mia’s father’s profession as a traditional Chinese physician who subsequently established a global conglomerate selling a range of health products. Mia’s husband, Wei Guang, took over the management of her late father’s business after his demise.
After relaxing for a while, they were ready for a scrumptious meal. Traditional Nyonya delicacies such as kueh dadar, kueh salat, kueh lapis, and ondeh ondeh were served on pink and turquoise green Peranakan plates on a round, white limestone dining table.