Good old days - nostalgic ........... For all our good friends who might miss the good ole days... Father gave 70 sen for cheap matinee shows which normally started at 10.30 am on Saturdays and Sundays - 50 sen for the ticket and 20 sen for return bus fare, makan not included. Nobody paid 1 ringgit for the Reserved seat. Believe it or not, we had double-Decker buses owned by the Toong Foong Omnibus Company. Whenever we boarded the bus, we would run to the upper deck to get a view of the journey. The familiar double-Decker Toong Foong bus 5 sen for kacang putih and 10 sen for ice ang tau. Sometimes, ice ball only 5 sen pau ang tau and half red sugar, and the other half black sugar or sarsi. Never, never, never talked or mixed with girls until Form 5. Learned the Waltz, Cha Cha, Rhumba, Foxtrot and Offbeat Cha Cha from a classmates sister. First time dancing with a girl, nearly froze and the heart went botobom, botobom ... Standard cure for headache, take Aspro. We took a lot of sweet stuff like candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups .... And diabetes was rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was a remedy for fever. Tonic water always taken at the first hint of Malaria. First time used a modern toilet, I squatted on it as I was used to using the bucket system toilet. Our children will not know the danger of visiting the outdoor toilet at night, nor jumping in fright when the man collect the bucket while you are doing your business. Toilet paper is torn up newspaper on a hook which you have to crumple first before applying. White toilet paper was an unknown luxury until I left home. With mere 5 pebbles (stones), we could turn it into an endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best), we boys would run like crazy for hours. We caught guppies in drains/canals and when it rained, we swam there. We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies, bread and real butter, and drank condensed milk in coffee/tea, iced kacang, but we werent overweight because we ran, cycled or climbed trees all day. We fell from the trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and Still we continued the stunts. We never had birthday parties until we were 21. We never heard of bumiputra and neither 1Malaysia Because we were already one Malaysian. When parents found out we were caned in school, its certain we would get another round at home. Parents always sided with the teachers. We fly kites with string coated with pounded glass powder and horse glue, and we cut our hand on the string. Happiness is winning a kite with a local samseng. I forgot, we also have to make our own kites to suit our fighting styles. We are the last generation to know how to use Logarithm tables and slide rulers. We had telephones which were really, really heavy weights. And I believe, this generation produces The best parents because we remember The hard times. No one can go back and change a bad beginning; But anyone can start now and create a successful ending.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 05:19:23 +0000