My grandfather died a month ago so we went down for the wake. He died peacefully at the ripe age of 97 leaving my grandmother alone. Everybody went home to Manila, Philippines to grieve including those who have already migrated to New York.

It was like a reunion of sorts because most of them haven’t seen the country for at least 5 years or so. It was a frenzied time for me as everybody wanted to keep abreast of all that has been happening and they wanted to see the changes and developments done since they’ve been away. We went to different shopping malls everyday and would only come home at dusk to recite the 9 day long prayers for the dead.

My then 92 year old grandmother did not like to be left alone when we went out. With a husband who just died and all her children home, she wanted to be around them all the time. It was not at all easy to bring grandma in our mall tours. She wasn’t quite as fast as she was when she was younger so we had to bring a wheelchair wherever we went for her to keep pace with us.

One of our destinations was the Mall of Asia or the MOA as it is fondly called in the Philippines. It is the 4th largest mall in the world and has a land area of 42 hectares. It has a floor area of 410,000 square meters and attracts 200,000 foot traffic everyday. Imagine bringing a 92 year old woman there.

So we were inside the mall and pushing grandma in her wheelchair steering left and right to avoid people traffic, when a golf cart passed by. A golf cart! Inside a mall! It was my first time in the Mall of Asia and frankly I haven’t seen anything quite like it. We hailed the cart and asked the driver if he could tour us around.

One of our companions took the wheelchair and i hopped into the cart with grandma and Mae, one of her granddaughters. The ride was absolutely great because MOA was really huge. The cart took us around the mall and having an elderly woman with us was no problem at all. What usually would take us a long time to go to didn’t take time at all.

Being in a golf cart inside a mall had its advantages too. When we were pushing my grandmother in a wheelchair, people did not bother to get out of the way. When we were atop the golf buggy, people made way as they saw us coming.

The golf cart could really come in handy getting around a large area. It is easy to imagine it touring around a large estate or even in a nursing home. The elderly could get around without exerting too much effort at all.

Golf carts used to be seen in country clubs only but there is a much wider variety of purpose it can serve. It started out as a sport vehicle, but as of today it serves not only golfers but the elderly and physically challenged as well.