Celebration of Life - 2004

Celebration of Life

-dedicated to Mummy

“Three gunshots rang out in the dead of the night! A body falls to the ground with a THUD! The man holding the smoking gun turns and walks away confident that he has gotten away with it. The full moon in the sky lights up the street.”

This sounds like something you would read in a Sherlock Homes novel, but it did happen.  My mum who was hiding in the shadows witnessed this murder. She was in a complete state of shock. When she finally got hold of herself, she went over to the body and checked his pulse. He was dead.

She immediately called my Dad and told him what happened and together they went to the nearest police station to report the crime giving a detailed description of the perpetrator. They took all the information down and then made her go through numerous mug shot albums but she couldn’t find the killer in any of them. They told her to come back the next day to speak to an inspector.

The next morning, however, we had some ‘visitors’ who turned out to be FBI agents. They were contacting my mother because the local police had reported this killing via the intelligence network and they immediately flew in from USA because the man who was killed was Ben Woods, an FBI undercover operative who had infiltrated a Mafia operation back in the US. He had become a part of ‘the family’ over 4 years. The FBI had a thick dossier of the operations of the gang and was in the midst of putting the case together to prosecute the head honcho. Ben who had after collecting detailed information about the Mafia operations over the years had recently faked his own death and was now out of the gang. He was on another assignment in Malaysia. He was to have gone back in two days and would have provided enough evidence to put the Don away for life.

After making my mother recount the details of what happened and with the description of the man who shot the operative, they were convinced the Don had carried out the murder himself as he felt betrayed since he had regarded Ben like his own son while he was with them. When he found out through his grave vine that Ben was an undercover agent he must have decided that killing him would mean there would be no one to testify at his trial and he would get away scot free!

They asked my mum to be the material witness in this murder and testify at the Don’s trial. Together with what evidence they already had and my mum’s testimony of his tie in with this crime, they would be able to get a conviction and cripple his organization.

However they told her that after testifying, our family would have to be put under the witness protection programme.

“Your family will be relocated and be given new identities. You will have to leave your present lives behind because the syndicate is very well connected and your lives will be in danger”.

She was in two minds now about testifying and decided to ask us for our opinion as to what she should do. Her decision to testify would affect all our lives. My dad, sister and I had no doubt in our minds that she should testify especially since it would help lock away a criminal for a very long time. We were willing to relocate to any part of the world as long as it meant we all stayed together.

With the decision made, the FBI came out to meet with us again the following day. They informed us that we would be given our new identities within a week and as soon as she testified we would be taken to our new ‘home’.

My sister and I were okay with the idea of relocating; however, we thought it would be a shame not to see our family and friends for one last time. We told the FBI of our plans to throw a huge party on the night before the trial. Of course we assured them that we would not let anyone at the party know the real reason, so we just made one up….it was going to be a ‘Celebration of Life’!

We invited Dad’s old office mates, Mum’s working colleagues, relatives, all our friends whom we hadn’t seen in a long time…..in fact everyone who mattered was there!

The party was in full swing when I noticed from the corner of my eye that my mum was sitting in the far side of the room not partaking in the festivities but just observing all the fun that everyone was having. She had a very serene look about her.

I went by and asked her if there was something wrong. She said “no Moleh, (a term of endearment in Malayalam) nothing is wrong! It’s so nice to see so many people here who are helping us celebrate life. You go ahead and enjoy yourself. I am fine here.”

I didn’t make too much of it and continued talking to my friends who of course had no idea that this would be the last time that they would be seeing all of us. I wanted to make the most of it. We celebrated till the wee hours of the morning.

The next day with my son CJ, who was 2 years old in tow, we headed off to mum’s house with our suitcases, ready to be relocated to wherever after the trial.

I found my dad and sister sitting outside on the porch with their heads buried in their hands and not responding to any of my questions.  I knew something was wrong! I ran into the house shouting “Mummy! Mummy!” NO RESPONSE. The FBI agents were in the house. They approached me and told me that my mum was not there.

She had been picked up very early that morning, taken to the trial proceedings for her testimony and was already out of the country to be relocated.

I was dumbfounded! “WHAT? WHY? I thought the whole family was part of this relocation exercise!!!”

They said that it was my mother’s decision. She wanted to be the ONLY one to be relocated because she felt it was unfair to have all our lives uprooted by her decision to testify. She had contacted them late in the night after the celebration and told them of her decision.

I started screaming and hitting them while shouting “NO! NO! NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! It was a family decision. We are ALL going to be relocated” I was beyond hysterical shouting these words over and over and over again!

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My pillow, bed sheet and blanket were drenched with tears! I woke up screaming the same words.

Ah…it was only a DREAM! Phew! Or was it?

Two months go by and my mother is diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

She left us July 5^th 2004, hardly 3 weeks after her diagnosis.

To this day, I still miss my mum and sometimes cry in my sleep at night but realize that she is in a better place with the Almighty as she is no longer suffering with what can be a ravening disease!