Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

3 days after Eng's Papa died, he was cremated in the grounds of a Buddhist temple along with his personal effects (eyeglasses, cigar pipe, watch, fountain pen, etc.). The next day, we all went back to the crematorium. The caretakers sifted out Papa's bones from the ashes and piled it on a table as shown on the right. Each member of the family except Mom, from the oldest son followed by his wife and kids, to the second son, etc. down to the youngest sibling and his children, took turns picking up a piece of bone from the table (using chopsticks) and placing it inside the urn. The urn was then placed inside the temple.

Papa's urn is on spot #297, one of many. A plaque cover like on the ones around it will soon seal the urn in. Mom's spot is the one on the right beside his (#298).