A wake fit for a princess
December 01, 2008 Monday, 07:10 PM
Our reporters describe the farewell for Singapore's Mumbai victim.
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By Carolyn Quek and Teh Joo Lin
IT WAS a hastily-arranged wake.
At about 5.30pm yesterday, when Lo Hwei Yen’s body reached her family home at Lower Delta Road, the florist was still busy arranging pastel flowers that that would line the pathway to where the wake was held.
Shortly before that, chairs and tables that visitors would sit on were transported to the site.
But when the finishing touches were all completed by nightfall, part of the open-air carpark below her Teresa Ville block was transformed into a “party” fit for a princess.
Princess was the 28-year-old lawyer’s nickname, friends said.
It looked like no expense was spared - relatives and loved ones who visited the wake were housed inside an air-conditioned white marquee that would keep them away from mosquitos buzzing outside.
Attention was paid to detail as well.
Jazz music – her favourite type – also played softly inside the tent.
Adding a feminine touch were strands of pearls that hung from the 30 or so beautiful displays of white orchids, spider chrysanthemums and brassicas lining the entrance and inside of the tent.
Each display cost about $100, the florist said.
Bouquets of condolence flowers trickle in continuously
during Mdm Lo Hwei Yen's wake along Lower Delta Road.
ST photo: Ng Sor Luan
Close friends of Ms Lo also turned up in black party dresses; they had been informed via Facebook to turn up in their glamorous best.
“Yen loves glamour. She is the glamour of every party. 'This is the last one we are having with her. And we want it to be a beautiful one - the way she would have wanted,” the Facebook message stated.
Indeed, Ms Lo had led a beautiful existence until terrorism reared its ugly head, cutting short a life way before its time.
The 28-year-old had been held hostage last Wednesday night in the five-star Mumbai hotel she had checked into mere hours before.
During her hours there, the accomplished lawyer had just finished delivering a talk at a seminar, and was also having dinner when armed terrorists barged into the hotel.
Throughout the past few days, intense media scrutiny homed in on Ms Lo’s family as her status changed from unharmed to unknown, and then dead.
But despite having to deal with the horror of her death, the family has understood the public interest in this matter and the public grief.
Through it all, her two younger sisters have taken it upon themselves to front all media queries and were prepared to share her life with concerned strangers.
Today, more wreaths lined the driveway leading to the wake. Condominium staff fretted over the availability of parking lots. The media remained.
They are waiting to see who turns up and for the time that Ms Lo’s husband, Michael Puhaindran, will be ready for words.
Mr Puhaindran, whom friends said was deeply in love with his wife, is still terribly devastated by her death.
At the wake on Sunday, a projection screen was put up showing
pictures of the 28-year-old lawyer with her husband, family
and friends.
ST photos: Jamie Koh
She had contacted him after she was taken hostage. Soon after, he flew up to Mumbai. He was also the one who broke the news to her loved ones back home.
Yesterday, he flew back with his wife’s body, which arrived at her family home in Teresa Ville.
Driving into the condominium compound in a champagne Mercedes, the husband looked a broken man.
“No one should go through what he had to go through,” his sister-in-law Hwei Shan said.
