By Shaun Ng
We were getting ready to hop into my father’s car thinking that we were going to the restaurant to celebrate Chinese New Year with my aunties and uncles.
When I opened the car door, my father laughed and asked, “Why are you going into the car?”
I was confused by what he was saying. “I thought it is Chinese New Year and we are going to eat dinner with our aunties and uncles,” I asked him.
I finally went back into the house and saw my parents in front of the laptop! Didn’t they care about celebrating Chinese New Year? I thought.
Why are they not celebrating Chinese New Year, like before?
My parents saw me and invited me to sit next to them. “Say hello to everyone,” my mom said with a big smile.
It was a Chinese New Year gathering on Zoom. Everyone was on their phones and laptops celebrating Chinese New Year! Even my cousins from other countries were on Zoom, too. Joy couldn’t express the feelings I had that day because I rarely saw my cousins prior to this special Zoom session.
There were laughter and chats around the room. It was interesting to see that the older generation was able to use the digital platform to communicate. We all had great fun, despite not being able to meet in person because of the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the government.
By about 10 p.m., everyone was slowly leaving the zoom meeting. I will never forget the good old days when we used to meet each other in person and although this year, it was on Zoom, the mood of celebration was never dampened.