Goodbye Ah Meng
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_204484.html
The last time I saw Ah Meng was in October, when C and I went to the zoo. We found that the zoo had constructed a special enclosure for her, but within the enclosure, Ah Meng just sat there, lethargically, with hardly any movement. Rather, it was her companion who was happily swinging about the branches. We put it down to old age, and little did we know that she would pass on so soon.
I remember Ah Meng back from the time when I first went to the zoo as a kid. In fact, somewhere in the mountain of junk I call home, there is a photo of me sitting next to Ah Meng about 20 years ago, when I was a kid. That photo used to make me feel very proud of myself because I dared to sit next to the orang utan whilst my cousin baulked and shied away.
Like many others, Ah Meng came to be synonymous with the zoo, and though I can't claim to have gone to the zoo all that often, I do remember going to visit Ah Meng whenever I did. It helped, of course, that the orang utan enclosure was right in the middle of the zoo. I remember before Ah Meng got her own enclosure, I saw her sitting under the branches in the middle of the orang utan enclosure, surveying all around her. It will be hard to imagine a zoo without Ah Meng. Even though you don't really see her around, you know she's there, and in some way, that even personifies the zoo.
She was one grand dame, and though I know there is no way she could have lived forever, it is still sad to see her go-especially in a country which is seeing a lot of grand dames go.
Oh, and BTW, I think what President Nathan said about her passing was quite appropriate-until the last part, for when he added: "But that's life," to me it just totally trivialised everything he just said.