This sister ranked 7th out of 13 siblings, I ranked 11th. When I was growing up at our boutique at Aleppo Street, she was the most senior sister as the other elder sisters were married and left home. I supposed therefore that she had added responsibility to look after the six siblings below her.
As was the trend then, she went to the Chinese school as opposed to an English school. I remember vaguely that after she completed Form 3 which was the highest education level at the Chinese school, she worked for a short period of time. Then hurriedly, the same for all girls her age, a matchmaker proposed a couple of prospective husband for her. Our parents, after serious consideration including consulting close relatives, set their eyes on a good gentleman whose family run a well-known Chinese restaurant, Hotel Au Ciel Bleu.
My relationship with this sister and her husband was really close. Firstly, I was, in line with the strict Chinese covenant at the time, the chaperon to my sister, whenever she went on a date. I remember my brother-in-law came to our house after our boutique was closed for the day, to fetch my sister. He came in a taxi which stayed with us for the duration of the date. I sat in front next to the chauffeur, while my sister and brother-in-law strolled at Champ de Mars and Reine de la Paix, two popular parks. We also went to the movie to watch Quo Vadis at Cinema Majestic. I was thrilled when the Ten Commandments were spoken on the big wide screen and I was able to recite it word for word in my heart. I also remember we went to an exhibition at the residence of prominent businessman Mr. Lai Fat Fur near Champs de Mars, showing products from China. There and then my brother-in-law bought a bicycle for my sister which she proudly rode to work the following day.
Courting period was by custom very short, three or four months. The Chinese Almanac was faithfully consulted to find an auspicious day to tie the knot, based on the birth dates of the bride and the groom. Most marriages were held on a Saturday or Sunday as attending a wedding on weekdays was an extreme inconvenience to the guests. Several days before the wedding day, the groom and his family, in line with tradition, came to our house to formalize the family union by bringing in gifts, the lavisher the better the prestige. All members of our family had to wear new clothes on the wedding day. For me as a kid, I had a pair of new cotton grey pants and white short sleeve shirt and a pair of new leather shoes.
My sister and brother-in-law moved in a two-room unit within the compound of Hotel Au Ciel Bleu on Dr. Joseph Riviere Street. The Hotel was run by my brother-in-law and his elder brother, with their father as the Chef, their mother had passed away a long time ago.
This sister was not in the best of health, she was always tired, dizzy at times. My mother often took time off from the boutique, to attend to her. Some relatives suggested that she drank urine which I, at my young age, was qualified to provide. It did not help. My mother suggested that I went to stay with my sister to provide assistance to her, basically in taking care of her two small sons. Thus, I lived five to six years of my early years at my sister’s home.
I looked after the two boys when I came back from school, fed them, bathed them and played with them. During that era, we heated bath water by dipping an electric rod into a bucket of water. One time, silly me, while I was drying the elder boy after a bath, he slipped out of my hand and felt from the table to the floor. Imagine an adult falling six feet, miraculously the boy was fine, no broken bone, not even a bruise. I learned later that small children have soft bones and are less susceptible to injury.
My brother-in-law was responsible to source provisions for the restaurant, including early morning visit to the Central market to buy meat, fish, vegetable and ingredients. He routinely brought home for me a pair of roti from a famous roti stall at the market. I have not since found a close match.
My brother-in-law was a good and generous person. He gave me a monthly allowance of twenty five rupees and I was able to save two hundred rupees over two years to buy a brand new bicycle. Raleigh was the Cadillac of bicycle, followed by Humber, both manufactured in England. My saving was disappointedly only good for a less popular brand, nonetheless I was really excited with my new bike.
The elder brother of my brother-in-law took care of the business during daytime, and after five my brother-in-law took over. Therefore, my sister systematically played cashier after six in the afternoon. Business closed at about 10 pm and my brother-in-law stayed behind to tie any loose end until close to midnight. When he came up to the room, he regularly brought me a bowl of shark fin soup or other delicacies, and at time a glass of Porter beer. He said Porter beer was good for health.
My brother-in-law and my sister did not have a lot of leisure time as they had to be at the restaurant 7 days a week. Occasionally they went to see a movie or attended some Chinese theatrical performances such as “Butterfly Lovers”, a legendary Chinese tragic love story. My brother-in-law in his spare time read book and played the accordion with a local band. He taught me harmonica. My sister had a foot pedal Singer sewing machine, Singer was the best and most popular brand, and she made simple dress as well as sewing tablecloth for the restaurant. By extension, I also became skillful in operating the sewing machine and doing stitching work.
The wife of the brother of my brother-in-law also participated in the running of the business, such as wrapping wonton, coordinating take out and acting as cashier. Her five children came in after school and together with my two nephews, they brought life and colour to the environment, though the two sisters-in-law kept a tacit distance, a common phenomenon.
Summer in the city of Port Louis was very hot, and the best quencher was a cold Coca-Cola. Shy at asking my sister for a coke, I often pushed my nephew to plead for one which we then shared. Coke came in glass bottle only, two sizes small and big, and refrigerated in a rectangular cooler filled with cold water and lumps of ice.
My sister was fond of certain snacks, namely green or red bean soup. In the evening an old Cantonese folk often roamed the streets, with two containers dangling over a bamboo pole sitting across his shoulder, shouting in Cantonese “Red bean soup, Green bean soup”. I hurriedly descended, not wanting to miss him, with a huge enamelware mug, to meet the seller on the street. My sister was also extremely fond of French pastries, the Éclair and Cream Puff, which I rode my bike to buy at a French pastry shop close to Government House.
Both my sister and brother-in-law were one of a kind. They were extremely good hearted, I never heard either raising their voice or getting angry or emotional. I was deeply saddened when I received news after I had left for Hong Kong, that my sister passed away due to blood complication. She was only 32 years old. In 2016 when I visited Mauritius and went to pay my respect at her burial ground, I saw a picture of her fixed to the tomb. Somehow, I was stunned to realize that she was the prettiest among all my already pretty sisters.