Puasa & Raya

I first learnt to fast at the age of eight. Throughout the fasting month was the school holiday. By the end of the first week, I could see my neighbours mejemur tepung dan gula. By the end of second week, all the women folks would be busy making kuih. My mother would be busy menyiapkan baju-baju tempahan orang. She would be paid a dollar for a pair of sarung and baju kurung. Baju dan kain perlu "di-sembat". Itu kerja susah oi!

I had to help my grandma at the kitchen. Tukang henjut telor. My grandma would put 30 - 40 eggs in a large container, and I kena tepuk telur 'tu sampai naik. Campur tepung dan gula she made lovely "bahulu" dan "bangkit". Kuih-kuih 'tu kena bakar api atas/bawah. With all the gula she received from her 'murid-murid', she would make a variety of halua. Namely
1. Halua cermai
2. Halua Betik.
3. Halua Belimbing.
4. Halua Kundur.

Halua cermai yang paling I suka. Best!
Other than halua, she would also made "Lengkong Bersakar".

It was a blessing, none of us contracted diabetes after the "sugar-fiesta".

Games We Play

Usually, after the Quran lessons, a few of my friends would stay back. We played games like five-stones, hide and seek, hop and skotch and rubber-band game. On weekends we played "masak-masak".

We were also very innovative then. We would panaskan "sepit rambut" and then curled around our hairs. See! we have curls. We even made our own brooches. We panaskan "damar" on a piece of spoon and than placed a safety pin at the centre. There we had our brooches.

Back at the kampung, I played games like "galah panjang", "bola lubang", "card game" and "ceper". I even played marbles, tops and kites. We would played untill late evening. Occasionally mother would come along with a rotan to force me back home.

Ask my children about these game? They would give you a weird smile.

Our Quran Class

When we were staying at the postman barrack, in Jalan Dagang, my grandma was a Quran teacher (Guru mengaji). Every afternoon there would be about 20 - 30 children coming to the house for Quran lessons. My grandma used to have a long thin rotan in her hand. Everone of us had to 'menderas' (revise the previous day lessons) before we enter the room.

We were to recite one by one infront of her. Grandma would use the cane, just in, case she was not happy with the performance. At times, when someone completed the "Muqadam" and move on to read the Quran, the parents would bring 'pulut kuning and curry'. All the 'anak murid' will share the pulut and curry. More treats when someone had reached 'juzuk 15' or 'khatam Al-Quran'.

My Grandma used to say
"Anyone who can recite the Quran easily would excell in life"
I think there is truth to what she had said.

What did grandma get for her services?
Sugar.
What did she do with the sugar?
...... ....... ......
Let's find out soon

Snacks & Tit-Bits

During my days at Jalan Dagang, I would follow my mother to a nearby sundry shop, (Owner named Ah Lek) to buy the monthly supply of rice, flour, suger, etc. etc. I would have my share of tit-bits. My favourite - asam kechut, asam manis, tahi lembu (a kind of asam. Imagine naming asam as tahi lembu?) kuaci and sometimes bila tiba musimnya - buah tanduk.

During those days there were no plastic bags. Everything was wrapped in newspapers. For goods like rice, flour and suger they were put in 'kelongsong kertas', made up of layers and layers of papers.

A tin of biscuits was a must to buy. We would dip the biscuits in coffee for our breakfast. The biscuits came in two versions - 'kabin tawar, kabin manis'. Sometimes my late grandma would fry the 'kabin tawar' and pound them finely. Than she would add grated coconut and 'Gula Melaka'. She would called it 'sagun kabin tawar'. At other times, my late grandma would jemur (put in the sun) the left over rice for a few days - sampai kering. Bila 'dah kering dia gorengnya sampai garing. Kemudian diprosesnya sampai jadi 'sagun nasi kering'. Bila musim durian tiba my late father would buy a big basket of the fruits. Habis dipelbagaikan hanya kulit aja yang tinggal. My late gradma memang kreative.

At primary school days, I used to buy 'opak-opak' cicah dengan sambal. Sometimes and most of the times my baju would be smeared with the sambal. Bila sampai rumah my mother pun mula pasang "radio-gram" dia. Other tit-bits yang menarik pada masa itu:

1. Kacang Putih
2. Gula Ketuk
3. Air Batu Kepal
4. Rojak Petis
5. Bubur Terigu
6. Jeruk Jambu
7. Alusmitai (how the heaven we got the name, I don't really know).
Note: Alusmitai is actually candy-floss

Transport to School

How do I go to school those days?

During my primary years my friends and I walked to school. It was not the distance that matters but it the 'fear' that had been whispered into our ears.On the way to school, we had to lalu a rubber factory (later become an ice-factory). Kononya disitu ada "keling sabit" dan kononnya disitu ada banyak kepala budak sekolah tergantung. Tak jauh dari situ ada pulak batu batu besar yang berwarna hitam. Itu yang dipanggil "batu belah batu bertangkup". Kononnya ia akan mencekup budak-budak yang menghampirinya. Sampai aja kawasan 'tu.

Cabut! Run as fast as we could.

Sampai sekolah mencungap-cungap. But as days went by we got over our fear and enjoyed the walks to school.

Sepanjang Sekolah Menengah I cycled to school. I could recalled when our tires got punctured, we had to push our bicycle to the bicycle shop in Jalan Zabedah to get it repaired. Sometimes when the shop owner was too busy, we had to do it ourselves. During those days, the bicycle were an imported goods. We had brands like Raleigh and Robin Hood.

We not only cycleed to school but everywhere else. During my RTC (Regional Training Centre) I cycled from my house to High School. My friends used to draw me on my bike and wrote

"A. and her iron horse"

It was only after I became a trained teacher I stopped cycling. The roads then were too busy. So whenever I wanted to go to town, I would walk. I would walk from home to town and then t00k a trishaw home. Then the ride only cost 30 cents.

Sekarang kalau tak ada Rm10 siapa nak kayuh.
Nilai duit berbeza betul.

SMC Classes

Our friends in SMC classes are in different age groups. The youngest were born in 1946 but we had friends born in 1944, 1943. This is where we switched the medium of instruction from Bahasa Melayu to English.

The first few weeks were in total horror. We could not understand our teachers and we were not suppose to utter a word in Malay.

Kena denda!
The prefects (we called pipit) were up and about to "saman"us.

For English - we were made to learn "the 8 parts of speech". Nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc. etc. Finaly we were to write lines after lines. What a waste! but that was how we learned. Mujarab pulak 'tu. Boleh guna sampai kat university.

Than we had - The weather report.
The daily news.
Apa yang seronoknya - its more of the same.

How did we actually pick up the English Language? I think it is through constant repetition. For the first days we couldn't make out what they were trying to teach; but through constant repetition we manage to learn the language.
By the end of the SMC classes we were able to speak fluently in English.

Begitulah keadaannya. Jangan putus harap - ajar dan terus ajar.
The pot of gold is the end of the rainbow.

Primary Years

I could recall a few things we studied there. In standard one we used the "papan batu" and "kalam batu", only in standard two we were given books and pencils. We had Jawi, Rumi, Kira-Kira, Tawarikh and in standard three we learned a bit of English. The teachers in the Primary Schools wore a set of uniform. The ladies would wear baju putih and kain batik. The men would wear kemeja putih and plain trousers (normally black or brown). And so did our Agama teacher.

For kira-kira we'll start the day by "congak" - mental arithmetic. Secodly reciting the "time-table" 1 -12 by hard. We were taught basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At the end of standard three we have to sit for an entrance examination to Special Malay Class.