The wheels on the bus go round and round...

9.3.2010

The wheels on the bus go round and round, just like the circle of life! Only the wheels get bigger…

Quote from Wikipedia…
Penang boasted an efficient public transport network right up to the 1970s. Electric trams, trolleybuses and double-deckers used to ply the streets of Penang.
The public bus service in Penang was the first one started by the British in Malaya back in the 30’s with the introduction of tram service and GTMT bus service. It also served me well in my childhood all the way to early adulthood until I managed to own my first car, a second hand Nissan 120Y in 1989.

A few days into Standard 1 in 1970, I was left by Appa at the kacang putih seller’s stall in Prangin Road Bus Station for me to board the Yellow Bus No. 77 to go back to Brown Gardens. It was a long journey taking almost 45 minutes via Customs Village. Taman Tun Sardon and its adjacent development was nonexistent then and the bus had to go around Green Lane via Yeap Chor Ee Road to come to Brown Gardens through Sungei Gelugor. Later on Bus No 11 was started by City Council but it stopped at the Aquarium. I do not think I used that bus to come back from school.
After the financial tsunami, I was taking the bus again from RRF to school with bus Nos. 1-JB, 10 or SC6. As the population in RRF tripled and quadrupled (circa 1974), alighting a bus to school became increasingly difficult. That explains why I used to be perpetually late for school in Std 5. I, however, had a very understanding teacher in a bespectacled ever smiling kind hearted Mr Cheah Yeong Chee. He had never scolded me for being late even when I once
landed in his class after recess! That explains why I got 5th position in Std 5 examinations.
The City Council buses that serviced the RRF usually made a U-turn at Boundary Road. In order to secure a place in the buses, some passengers will board the bus before it may the U-turn and pay an extra fare (5 cents for school children, later it was 10 cents). I, of course, rather push, shove and wriggle myself through the crowd and get a place on the bus than waste 5 cents! Sheila who later started taking the bus when Lats started going to school, paid the extra fare to get to school on time.

I was given monthly bus season tickets (which used to cost $2) which entitled me a trip to and from school once a day. Occasionally I had to attend extracurricular activities in school some afternoons. I would use the season ticket when the bus conductor sometimes does not punch the card if he is busy. On other days, I will have to fork out (or rather mother) our own money. The interesting story here is the fact that school children’s bus fare from RRF to Jetty is 15 cents. The fare from RRF to Lorong Kulit (which is midway) and from Lorong Kulit to Jetty is 5 cents each. Do not ask me how I found this out! Therefore, to save on 5 cents from the bus money that Amma gave, I used to get down at Lorong Kulit, take another bus (to avoid the embarrassment of being identified) to Jetty. Boy, things I used to do to save 5 cents! All these saved monies used to go into my lucky plastic chick piggy bank. And without my knowledge, my sisters (I suspect) would occasionally dig into it to indulge in their favourite tidbits, like dried figs and dried plums. I used to call these delicacies “Chinaman’s nasal droppings”!

An embarrassing moment occurred once when I was in Form 2 whilst struggling to get on a bus. I used to love to carry an old luggage type of suitcase bag to school against the advice of Amma. It was in a depilatory condition and the latches did not work very well but I insisted on using it on sentimental reasons. In midst of the struggling near Han Chiang School, the latches gave way and all the contents of bag was strewn all over the road much to amusement of others and embarrassment on my part. While all this was going on, guess who was on the same bus witnessing the whole fiasco? Who else but my sister Sheila! She had a field day blackmailing me to relate the whole incident to Amma. Well, I later obtained a secret weapon to counter her blackmail. She had dropped a soft drink bottle (Fanta^®) on the concrete floor of the living room whilst posing as singer holding the bottle as a microphone! And she was singing, “Fanta Fanta minuman keriangan…” and pop went the bottle. By the way we used to have soft drink bottles (usually half a dozen) stacked in the refrigerator for years just in case some important guest turns up at our doorstep. Nobody really visited us except for MKS, Raja Ammah, H Block Indra, Mama, A8-4 old lady, Dass (who was shy of his ebony coloured wife), old lady from E14-10 (who was a flasher in her own way), the Bee with a hearing impaired husband (E7-12) – ah? ahhh!. And machinery of life went on churning at full speed…

Pearls of wisdom:

One who does not remember where he came from will not reach where he is going to! It is easy for others to say that he who has reached his destination had forgotten his past but only he will know the pain of thorns and stones that bled him enroute his destination.