 |
| Sweet sour feeling - loss of childhood, entrance to adulthood! |
The home loan repayment finally came to an end by early 80s. Early 80s also mark a giant transformation in my life. In 1981, I was in Lower 6 in school - metamorphosis in hairstyle, co-education and mature self learning with new set of friends and syllabus. At the family level, we managed to trans-locate ourselves from a multi-tiered low cost 36 sq. m.pigeon hole to a landed property with our own space and serenity. It was a triumph of sorts for us in finding back our own Beverly Hills.
All my life we were dying to leave this dungeon of a place that housed us through thick and thin.
It did not occur to me in my wildest dream that when my family was bending over backwards to scoot off from RRF that memories of childhood, growing up to the challenges of life, adolescence, the pranks with cousins, the joys of the seasons, lessons in life and the bonding of siblings will be forever treasured for life and immortalized in blogs.
I was secretly hoping to leave behind the persistent doom and gloomy sombre ambience that laced our daily living buried there together with the graves in the Chinese cemetery, which was an avenue where I sometimes solicited for peace of mind.
I remember that faithful day when it was time to send off the larger bulk of items were to be sent by lorry. Ah Leng, Lat’s best friend was standing in the midst of the crowd seeing things go by with eyes welled up with tears which were rolling down her chubby cheeks. Her sister, Ah Keow, much confused with all the pandemonium, asked her sister. To this she answered, “La...La...Latha, ai ki liow. Mai tui chu liow!” [La...La...Latha is going already. She is not coming back. At that juncture, they both start wailing, just like a funeral scene from a B-grade Hong Kong movie!
All these blabbering reminds me of the philosophical lyrics of Rajnikanth in the hit Tamil movie ‘Muthu’ where the Superstar manifests as a sage and delivers his line, adding much to the masala composition of the movie. Quote unquote, “People go to great lengths in pursuit of happiness; some go to temples, shrines, mountains, Kasi, Rameshwaram, Kailash for this. What they do not know is happiness is at the very spot they are, no need to go anywhere, ha...ha...ha...and he walks away.” Or something like that!
*BG, Brown Garden is a middle income suburban neighbourhood in the northeast part of Penang, a tiny island off the western coast of Malaysia. The house was bought in 1964. The area it stood was considered Penang's Siberia then as it was far from town (5 miles away). Now it is right smack in heat of activities- with the Penang Bridge and a university nearby! Needless to say, its value increased by 80-folds!
 |
| Rajnikanth |
*BG, Brown Garden is a middle income suburban neighbourhood in the northeast part of Penang, a tiny island off the western coast of Malaysia. The house was bought in 1964. The area it stood was considered Penang's Siberia then as it was far from town (5 miles away). Now it is right smack in heat of activities- with the Penang Bridge and a university nearby! Needless to say, its value increased by 80-folds!
Would you mind explaining, to your global audience, what or where BG is?
ReplyDeleteThe visual imagery you paint with your words had me smiling.
"metamorphosis in hairstyle" - ha ha, you were trying for longer hair too!
"co-education" - girls! What can one say!
"pranks with cousins" - Oh dear
The last quotation of yours reminded me of a book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coehlo.
An enjoyable read - would certainly recommend it to anyone who missed it the first time round.
Another enjoyable musing - thank you for sharing.
BG, Brown Garden is a middle income suburban neighbourood in the northeast part of Penang, a tiny island off the western coast of Malaysia. The house was bought in 1964. The area it stood was considered Penang's Siberia as it was far from town (5 miles away. Now it is right smack in heat of activities- with the Penang Bridge and a university nearby! Needless to say, its value increased by 80-folds!
ReplyDelete