He was also very annoying and had an attitude to match and was racist to the core.
So I avoided him whenever and where ever possible.
He was a Sarawakian Fuzhou..The general consensus is that most of the Fuzhou are filthy rich,, but he didn’t appear to be loaded. He was your ordinary Joe..
He jogging route was via the front of my house and if he saw me outside when he was out jogging he did the one thing that he knew would annoy me. He would wave his hand and say ” wanna cum” instead of the Tamil greeting Vanakkam. He obviously knew what he was saying and really loved to rile me up.
We had a lot of common friends and all of them knew how much I hated him.
One fine day, he came to my house without me inviting him over and told me “something smells good”. I was making chickpeas curry.
I couldn’t shut the doot on his face, though I really wanted to.
So grudgingly I invited him to join me for lunch.
Then we got to talking. and I noticed his watch..
Most of the Chinese in Malaysia followed the 5 C ( cash, car, credit card, condo and Country culb membership) and one R. ( rolex). His watch was a Corum. He was the first person other than my father whom I knew owned a Corum watch. And honestly, I thought his was a fake one from Petaling street! ( where you can find copies of all expensive watches)
He did apologize for riling me up..and we did bury the hatchet..
Over time I did hear gossips that his mom is one of the richest women in Hong kong..But apart from his watch there was no outward sign that could suggest that he was rich.
And one day while talking he asked me what is the first thing I would buy if I won a million dollars today and without hesitation I replied ” Louis Vuitton bag” ( by then my mom and my sisters owned a LV). He looked at me and told me ” good for you..you will be making the share holders of LV very happy”.. I was so mad at him..how could he tell me that when he was wearing Corum watch? His watch costs few times more than what I earned in a year!
We argued. He was surprised that I knew the value of his watch.He told me that his watch is a gift from his grand father..and he wore it knowing that no one in Malaysia would recognize the brand..( because you were judged by the Rolex).
His mother indeed was one of the richest women in Hongkong..and he chose not to work in the family business..and was happy to live in a small house in Sabah..
He passed away few weeks ago..but if I could say one thing about him.. it would be that ” he lived a great life” He jogged 10 km every morning and drank a bottle of whiskey every evening. He taught me to gamble..and made me taste the joy of winning a great deal of money and the pain of losing a great deal of money and more than anything he taught me to not make the shareholders of LV happy.
RIP JW.