A Near-Death Experience

A Near-Death Experience

It happened in one of the Grant Advertising's annual party in 1971 or1972. It was held at the Royal Selangor Lake Club, on an evening like any other evening. And I experienced my first and only out-of-body experience.

Because there was a swimming pool and I did not know how to swim, I had read up on what to do if I was to fell into the pool accidentally or was pushed into the pool by a workmate. I learned that I should not struggle and stay calm. I also informed 2 or 3 workmates that I could not swim.

As the party was in progress, I was shoved into the deep end of the pool. It was a long way down and it took forever to reach the bottom, and I  hit the floor of the pool and began my ascent to the top. So far, so good. I had kept calm, kept my arms open. (Perhaps I should have kept to the side...)

At that point, I made a mistake. I took in a gulp of water and a sequence of strange began to happen instantly. Suddenly all the key moments of my life flashed by, very quickly, like a bunch of photographs shown at warp speed. I saw my father reach out to shake my hand when I informed him that I had passed my Senior Cambridge Exams...

The water had loud symphonic music playing inside my head. Loud but soothing. Suddenly I felt a great sense of comfort and somehow I realise that death can be calm and comforting and not scary nor frightening.

Right after my father,  I was bombarded with flashes of bright light. I saw a man whom I had never seen before on a desolate and empty field with a fence and a gate. He was standing by the open gate and I instinctive knew he was a relative of mine, and he greeted me with the audible words in Cantonese. "Ah Wing, you have come ah?" He could have been by biological father whom I never met.

Right after, I felt a hand grab a wrist of mine and I quickly tried to grab more of whoever who had come to my rescue. It was my boss and Art Director Ashoke Gokalae. Ashoke saved my life that evening, and I had not thanked him properly then.

Years later I read an article on Near-Death Experience and knew that I had one.

If you should fall into the water by accident, try to stay afloat and avoid trying to swim. Swimming is one of the most dangerous things to do and to avoid it fighting with your natural instinct to swim.

The Daily Mirror tells what to do in an unexpected fall into the water...
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-avoid-drowning-you-fall-10491690

A photo from the past.
A jacket sewed by my late sister who wanted
me to look hip and not drabby.
Near-Death experience was around this time.

My early Grant Advertising days with Securicor as one of our clients.

Happy days with my mother at our RM30 a month Shaw Road low-cost flats.

We moved from Kampong Pandan to these flats after the May 13 incident.
She lived a long life, bidding us farewell at age 92.