The final journey

For the past few nights, there was a funeral wake in the neighbourhood. The ruckus they made was unbelievable, it was right through the middle of the night till the wee hours of morning. No, its not noise of people wailing or anything morbid. Rather, it was the laughter and the noise of mahjong. From the sound of it, they were having a great time with the game. I almost wanted to call the police.

I don't know why I was a little bothered about it. Maybe I was deprived of my beauty sleep, at the expense of their enjoyment. Someone just passed away, and those (I presume) who were holding the wake for the deceased must have been close family or friends and they must have been saddened by the passing. There were the funeral rites conducted yes, the chanting and so on, which was normal. And in Chinese tradition, I know people do play mahjong to "entertain" the guests. But couldn't they have played the darn game more solemnly? I mean, for heavens sake, someone is dead and the people around are laughing and having a hell of a time? Or at least, couldn't they have "acted" a little sad and shown some respect for the person who was lying in the coffin nearby, who was in his/her final journey somewhere else?