3.4.10
Memories of RRF – beyond the neighbours’ scandals
Let me continue with my repertoire of thought logorrheic expressions in verbatim of people with whom we generally grew up with. Starting with A block…
A16-14 lived Gobi Attah who speaks in a very unique way emphasizing on the consonants when she speaks! This Gobi Attah character was a bubbly lady who was my parents’ landlady when they rented a room in the house that she lived soon after they were married. I remember going to this house in Lorong Seratus Tahun when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I remember the chequered tiles at the entrance and the stout Chinese pillars at outside. Little did I know that my good friend, Sasi was running around the same street at that time. It is indeed a small world after all! In the mid 70’s hard times hit Gobi Attah and she subsequently moved in to RRF. She had a son (L. Ganeson) who lived in A15-16 who was working in a bank. He had two sons (Gajendra and Sailendra). I remember the elder son had a great liking for food. The working mother used to prepare meals before she went for work. So, one afternoon when the boy returned and saw the 2 lb. of mutton gravy on the table, he actually finished the whole meal which the mother had prepared for the family for lunch and dinner! I guess the spicy mutton gravy was simply too delicious to resist!
Who is Gobi? I first knew of the existence of Gobi l from the family photographs when I was in primary school. We were both dressed in identical striped attire for a birthday party when I was maybe 5 or 6. Gobi @ Ravindra Kumar grew up in town area and finally made it to Penang Free School. He, however fell off the rat race there and stayed on in the last few ranks of classes of the form. He later became a Moslem convert and was charged with drug related offence. I remember that another son of Gobi Attah also fell prey to drugs.
A8-4 lived the cigar smoking old lady! She had a son and a daughter who never got married for a very long time. The daughter worked as a nurse in a clinic in town. I remember she finally got married. And so did his son to his long time sweetheart. Now, this lady is the same person (size 42) who used to get her saree blouses sewn by Amma!
A5-15 was the humble abode of Mr A Veera and his wife, Devi. Both couple just recently passed away in a space of less than a month (oh, how romantic!, like a Dixie birds in the Tamil literatures which depict the Dixie birds to be monogamous and the surviving pair will soon die after the demise of the other). This, however, was not the case when we knew them in the 70’s. Their household was forever in turmoil like how the West Bank is now, no peace! The couple was forever quarreling with accusations hurled by the husband to the wife of infidelity, pairing her with a jobless younger man staying just a floor below them. Nothing seriously happened out of these squabbles and they lived unhappily till their dying days.
A. Veera was a friend of Appa who started working as a peon at about the same time. He never really got any serious promotions till his retirement. (c.f. Appa served 30 over years in the same premises i.e.33, Beach Street, with many promotions).
I remember attending an entourage which was part of A. Veera’s engagement or wedding. The entourage was walking with the bride but had to hold on to the bride to keep her upright as she kept fainting and vomiting! Mmm.. I wonder if these were symptoms of early pregnancy?!*#@.
A4-17 lived a distant relative on father’s side. He had a thick Madurai Veeran type of moustache and was manning a Shell petrol pump and recently passed away.
Memories of RRF – beyond the neighbours’ scandals
Let me continue with my repertoire of thought logorrheic expressions in verbatim of people with whom we generally grew up with. Starting with A block…
A16-14 lived Gobi Attah who speaks in a very unique way emphasizing on the consonants when she speaks! This Gobi Attah character was a bubbly lady who was my parents’ landlady when they rented a room in the house that she lived soon after they were married. I remember going to this house in Lorong Seratus Tahun when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I remember the chequered tiles at the entrance and the stout Chinese pillars at outside. Little did I know that my good friend, Sasi was running around the same street at that time. It is indeed a small world after all! In the mid 70’s hard times hit Gobi Attah and she subsequently moved in to RRF. She had a son (L. Ganeson) who lived in A15-16 who was working in a bank. He had two sons (Gajendra and Sailendra). I remember the elder son had a great liking for food. The working mother used to prepare meals before she went for work. So, one afternoon when the boy returned and saw the 2 lb. of mutton gravy on the table, he actually finished the whole meal which the mother had prepared for the family for lunch and dinner! I guess the spicy mutton gravy was simply too delicious to resist!
Who is Gobi? I first knew of the existence of Gobi l from the family photographs when I was in primary school. We were both dressed in identical striped attire for a birthday party when I was maybe 5 or 6. Gobi @ Ravindra Kumar grew up in town area and finally made it to Penang Free School. He, however fell off the rat race there and stayed on in the last few ranks of classes of the form. He later became a Moslem convert and was charged with drug related offence. I remember that another son of Gobi Attah also fell prey to drugs.
A8-4 lived the cigar smoking old lady! She had a son and a daughter who never got married for a very long time. The daughter worked as a nurse in a clinic in town. I remember she finally got married. And so did his son to his long time sweetheart. Now, this lady is the same person (size 42) who used to get her saree blouses sewn by Amma!
A5-15 was the humble abode of Mr A Veera and his wife, Devi. Both couple just recently passed away in a space of less than a month (oh, how romantic!, like a Dixie birds in the Tamil literatures which depict the Dixie birds to be monogamous and the surviving pair will soon die after the demise of the other). This, however, was not the case when we knew them in the 70’s. Their household was forever in turmoil like how the West Bank is now, no peace! The couple was forever quarreling with accusations hurled by the husband to the wife of infidelity, pairing her with a jobless younger man staying just a floor below them. Nothing seriously happened out of these squabbles and they lived unhappily till their dying days.
A. Veera was a friend of Appa who started working as a peon at about the same time. He never really got any serious promotions till his retirement. (c.f. Appa served 30 over years in the same premises i.e.33, Beach Street, with many promotions).
I remember attending an entourage which was part of A. Veera’s engagement or wedding. The entourage was walking with the bride but had to hold on to the bride to keep her upright as she kept fainting and vomiting! Mmm.. I wonder if these were symptoms of early pregnancy?!*#@.
A4-17 lived a distant relative on father’s side. He had a thick Madurai Veeran type of moustache and was manning a Shell petrol pump and recently passed away.
that was a great story
ReplyDeleteWOW, u remembered anthe kalithile stories all ah!!!very nice and i loved it
thanks, more to come.
ReplyDelete