Indra Shan and RRF

16.3.2010

Indra Shan and RRF

Every time the Shans and the Shans meet up, we will invariably be talking about our escapades in RRF. Just to set the family right – Indra and Rada (@Seetha) are daughters of SM Muthu whose father used to be a man of some standing in his heyday. He used to be a proud owner of a 3-storey mansion in Queens Street, Penang. As is the case with most Indians in Malaysia, we can only talk about our glory days. There is nothing much more for us to show, our ancestors have either drank or feasted our wealth to the ground. SM Muthu, in his single generation tattered his family wealth only to work as a worker in a printing press and later driver-cum-gardener in his silver years with his trophy wife. SM Muthu had 4 kids (Saroja, Indra, Radamani followed by Murthi) and 2 adopted kids (Sambu and Susila). The people those days were quite charitable. Adoption was a occurrence then. According to stories from my mother and Mama, SM Muthu was not an exemplary father figure or much of a provider. He seemed to be more concerned with worldly pleasures and self satisfaction. When his missus succumbed to breast cancer in 1959 (at the age of only 39 years), he left his teenage daughters and adolescent son to fend for themselves whilst he got married to a lady named Lily in Cameron Highlands to start a new family of his own. This was constantly a sore point in later relationship within the family and lack of filial piety of the offsprings to SM Muthu.

Saroja who was not the sharpest tool in tool box was swiftly married off to a Maniam who overindulged in intoxicants. After 3 kids, she went incommunicado and was later resurfaced as Soraya Bee Abdullah in Kampong Baru in Kuala Lumpur, married to Booram Shariff, a bread vendor.

Indra was married off to Shan, a high ranking Government officer in the Boys’ Reform Home and started the Shan clan – Joe, Usha, G and Daniel.

Radamani had to also fend for herself working as a helper in many places including in a whiteman’s bungalow. After a short stint staying with Indra in Johore Bahru (which apparently turned sour), she returned to Butterworth to marry Shan and start a family of her own after a little opposition here and there. On 27th August 1960, they tied the matrimonial knot in Queen Street Mariamman temple. Shan was working as peon in Mercantile Bank earning $110 per month and was the mostly educated person on his side of the family. Life was blissful. They moved from rooms to rooms (Penang Road, Green Lane, Lorong Seratus Tahun, Caunter Hall) till they finally their house in Brown Gardens for $8000 and a brand new Honda 50cub in 1964.

All this while a young Dato Murthi (armed with ambition filled mind and confidence nurtured by his late mother) struggled to make ends meet to finance his education – ironing clothes to pay his school fees of $15 which was a gargantuan sum of money those days, making extra cash by selling match boxes in mainland Penang as the island was a tax-free haven then. During these desperate times, his relationship with Mr Jaganathan (a.k.a. Station Master) blossomed. His completion of Senior Cambridge herald a new dawn and a new lease of life carved by Dato Murthi, all done by himself which makes success even sweeter. We (the Shan and Sham clans) literally grew listening to stories of his trials and tribulations again and again. These stories were best heard from the horse’s mouth, often laced with humour and maybe a wee bit of exaggeration!

Sambu did not complete his studies and went on to do us odd jobs. Susila was a bit precocious for her age, her hormones were raging, and was quickly married off to someone in Johore Bahru but subsequently set off series of heart aches and affairs. Periodically they used to surface during my childhood just like a hippopotamus resurfacing after a dip and vanish just as quickly. Sambu was staying with Rada till all hell broke loose when he got engaged without his sister’s knowledge. Bridges were mended 15 years later when he had fractured his femur and is still in touch with his sister. Susila has no forwarding address.

Now…now…where was I? It appears that these tangential style of writing could be a tell tale sign or a precursor of me being dragged into the kaleidoscopic world of schizophrenia! The Beatles, however, described a girl with kaleidoscopic eyes after LSD in the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.

Oh,yes! Indra Shan and RRF…

The Sham couple was not really well received into Munusamy’s (father outlaw) household which was already overflowing past with 16 over children growing wild like lallang (Amma’s side of story; Appa’s side: silence is the code). Madam Visalachee gave birth birth to almost two dozen of children (in our last count, many many years ago), with at least 3 sets of twins, a few neonatal death and a few were given for adoption. Her obstetric career reigned between 1938 to 1968 (3 years after Sheila was born) – 4 decades of fertility.

This is supposed to be a write up on Indra Shan and RRF but I digress and I digress – oh, what the heck! Like I have said earlier, this is my blog. It is no exercise in literary skills like Lesley Gore sang in 1963, it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.

The Shams resided in RRF between 1970 and 1982. All the Sham’s clan’s memories of childhood will only include visions of RRF in its background and foreground. The 30 by 30 ft pigeon hole of a low cost flat situated on the 15^th floor of Block E housed 5 individuals – 2 adults and 3 children. Our unit had a sitting room which connects to a balcony (15 X 3 ft) overlooking another block of flat, a single designated bedroom (15 X 10 ft), a kitchen (15 X 7ft) and a washroom.

The Shans’ pilgrimage to Penang used to occur on an annual or sometimes biennial fashion. All 11 of us used to cramp up into this tiny flat after rearranging the furniture. There would be lots of laughter in the family. Rada and Mr Shan will be chit chatting till the wee hours of the morning about the childhood days. One peculiar habit (or skill) that they seem to have mastered is the ability to talk and laugh at the same time! They sometimes would be laughing incessantly for no obvious reason without uttering any words. Then they would stop for a minute or so, lull and the storm would start again. Amazing stuff! This, none of the other adults and children could understand.

During one of these trips, the two families decided to have a professional photograph taken at a studio. When we view the photograph now, everyone in it looks so alluring and like movie stars!

We also went for a family outing to the Kek Lok Si temple (a.k.a. Pagoda). During this trip, G got lost in the crowd. Everyone was looking out frantically for him at every nook and corner. G was smart, he was coolly smiling and waiting at the car.

Oh, boy! And I remember all the pranks that we, the cousins did at RRF…

My first exposure to cross dressing happened to me in the corridors of the fifteenth floor of block E. During a game of hide and seek, where I was the seeker, I spotted Sheila wearing Ramesh’s attire (T-shirt and pants) and hold behold Ramesh was wearing Sheila’s green floral batik dress that Amma had sewn, just to hoodwink me!

Then there were the “water bomb” sessions. We used to fill up plastic bags with water and throw them off the balcony targeting innocent people walking between blocks D and E. After throwing our water bombs, we used to duck and have a hysterical laugh especially when we get a hit and the helpless victim tries in vain to what and from where it hit him. These sessions got more boisterous as the days passed. Once, Encik Ahmad, the block supervisor came to our unit to question us after somehow managing to locate us. We, of course, put on our angelic faces and denied everything. Oh, boy! Those were the days…

Then the routine shedding of tears when it was time for them to leave for Malacca.