My secondary school years 1981-1987 and a cruel night

I progressed to St. Paul's Secondary School naturally, and school life was good when I was in Form One to Form 3..but halfway during Form 4, the shophouse I was staying since my schooldays was burnt down, together with my parent's belonging and their shop. All the things I had were also burnt to ashes...comic books, toys, my first personal computer, Nintendos, photographs, all my personal belongings are all gone that night!

We were at my brother's house watching TV at night after closing shop around 9.00 pm when we received a phone call from a relative staying neaby our shop. We rushed to the shop but it was too late, big flames had engulfed the shophouse...there was nothing that we can do at that moment, but to wait for the fireman to douse the fire. I can still remember my eldest brother saying 'Oh no..the shop is gone, the shop is gone..' I can see he was shedding tears when he saw the fire burning down our shophouse. He was helping my dad running the shop's business after he finished his Standard Six primary school..the event has dampened everybody's spirit..especially my dad's.

Flying slippers and other girlie games..

I think the 'flying slippers' game was played by almost all of the kids during my time, where we stack up some 'cartoon card' in the form of a '^' shape, being the bets. If 5 kids is playing, then each will take out say 2 cards each, and then the 10 cards will be arranged standing up in the middle. Everyone moves back some distance from the card, and taking turn throwing or sliding their slippers towards the cards. Once hit, the card is his or hers..yeah it was played by girls too.

Oh yes, there is another type of game I remembered playing with my cousin brothers and sisters and my niece..Rope Jumping. The rope is made by tying up lots and lots of rubber band together to form a long elastic rope. Two persons hold the rope at each end, swing it in rythm, and the third person will step inside the rope and jump along with it and the counting starts..until the leg got caught by the rope. Then another challenger steps in.

Some other girlie games I participated are 'masak-masak', 'Batu Seremban' and others that I don't remember much.

Rubber band war!

Wow! This is a very exciting game that I always look forward to playing when I was a kid, it's played by two groups of boys, all of them my cousin brothers, consisting of about 5 in each group.

The battlefield? The store at the back of the shophouse...where all the stocks are stacked up high and low, acted as a terrain in the real battlefield.


The weapon? Guns and machine guns made from wood..it looks like this..


The ammunition? Rubber band!! Lots of it..

Aftermath of the war..the person who is always cursing and scolding is one of my uncle, he is in charge of the store, why? because all the stocks will tumble and fall after the game is over as we step on, climb, hide and push through the stocks during the excitement.

All the soldiers would have gone missing when my uncle steps in the battlefield..to avoid being caught and forced to clean up the mess..haha!

1977-1980..end of primary school

Standard 3 to 6 is a rat race in school, nothing much happened in those years. I got a 4A 1 B in the Standard 5 Peniliaian exam, equivalent to the now UPSR taken in Standard 6. Other than that it is all homework, study and exam. I can't find any class pictures for these few years, maybe they are all burnt during a fire which broke out in my dad's shophouse in the year 1983, where most of my belongings are gone in the unfortunate night...

1976..Darjah 2 H

I have a funny yet fierce class teacher in Standard Two, he was a Singh and he acted vey weird sometimes in class.. standing near the corridor and swaying back and forth..and like in deep trance and saying "ajarrr...ajarr.." really dunno what he is mumbling..maybe he is de-stressing..thanks to us!

Nothing much happened in 1976..except with some more severe caning from the teacher for not submission or late submission of homework..what else? I am not a naughty boy la!

Ok..some of the names of my friends which I can still remember by looking at this photo are Lim Kuan Jong, Jeffrey, Lim Chong Teng, Abdul Razak, Ramakrishnan, Goh Yin Seng, Lim Chee Keong, Leonard Chong, Quek Khai How and William.

Starting school....1975

I jumped straight to Standard One without going to kindergarten..smart eh? I study in St. Paul's Institution in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

I realized that going to Std One without going through kindergarten is not so smart after all..I was given a simple assessment test of color, number and shapes by my teacher the first day in school, and I found out that I do not know which colour is which except the colour of my class which is 1B for blue..the next day I was pushed to the second last class..it was hell there as almost all of the students are damn naughty, unlike me who is a quiet one.

The picture on the right is my Std One photo with my class teacher Mrs Lim, it was 1P for Satu Putih..by the way the last class is called Satu Perang which I do not intend to got to.

Looking back at the photo I can still remember some names like Zainuri, Lai Soon Yip, Lim Chin Hong, Mohd Nizam, Lim Chee Wee, Ng Chow Heng, Loh Kwai Fatt,Lee Saul Leong, Chew Chee Seng..they are some of my friends which their name I can still remember till now.

I survived through Standard One though, experiencing some caning and knuckles being 'ketuk' by the teacher using a ruler..it was nothing really..but I swear I'm going to get out from this kind of class next year..which I did! I went to the 3rd class in Standard 2..I congratulate myself for that.

Off to Darjah 2 H..for Hijau

When I was young...

It's not easy to be born into a big family of 13 members..and no doubt I came from a well known family in my hometown, but well known is not always equal to rich. My family business is initially a sundry shop selling sundry goods such as rice, sugar, cooking oils etc, but later transformed into a business of selling prayer items, how it came to be I really have no idea. I was too young to know such things at that time and even until now.

Heard from my dad and uncles that it was my grandfather who started business since he came to Malaya from China many many many years ago..at that time carrying out business by riding a bicycle and the goods are hung around the bicycle..it was known as a 'klentong' man in the past. Maybe the sound of the pots and wares hitting against the side of the bicycle while it is moving makes such a 'kleng klong kleng kong' sound..and maybe it was this that this name came about..yes, it is a malay word 'klentong'.

At which year he came to Malaya I do not know, and at which year he owned a shop to do business I do not know either,you see, this is a disadvantage when you are the youngest in the family. The elder siblings treats me like a little baby because of the age gap..therefore I do not learn much from them or have any serious communication with them either, what do you expect to say to a naive little boy playing beside the 'longkang' and running up and down the stairs most of the time?

I never saw my grandfather and grandmother before, they left the world even before I was born. My only memory of their faces were from two black and white potrait photos hung in the living room of the shophouse on the second floor.

The shophouse has 4 families living together at that time, my dad's and 3 other uncles with their wives and childrens. It was a very crowded house indeed..imagine we have to take turns to take a bath as there were only one bathroom. The business is runned by my dad and his brother, guess it's a family business passed down from my grandfather.

My younger days was spent staying with my sisters and brothers in another house whereby my parents stays at the second floor of the shophouse taking care of the business which is quite far away from where I stay. Well, at least I gotta see my parents and some of my other brothers when they come to visit us every night, usually to watch TV or watching VHS tape, remember at that time there were many TVB tapes for rent and video tape renting business are good. After a few hours, they went back to the shophouse to get ready for tomorrow's shop opening routine.

I do not have much memories when I was young.. some of those memories still stuck on my mind is that there was one particular CNY I was very happy waking up early in the morning of the new year, wearing new clothes and socks, and drinking lots of fanta, kickapoo, soyabean etc..was wondering why this memory still sticks until now. Another unforgettable incident is where, during a family dinner at home, while drinking duck soup, accidently poured the soup on my thigh..I ended up getting angry of the spilt soup, the burning sensation..cried and run straight upstairs to the bedroom. I am a spoilt kid really, with hot temper and a cry baby too :)

Next blog..my school days!