RIFLE RANGE BOY

In the late 1970s, as my future laid bare before me, I found no time in anything but my books. I looked  at watching movies as three hours of wasted time that could otherwise be spent on something more worthwhile, so I thought. At that age, everything was either black or white, factual and goal orientated. Watching the then Tamil movie which showcased hirsute stars in unkempt hair and their un-touched up face narrating mind-stupefying cheesy village stories was a turn-off. Its songs, despite be blared incessantly by my neighbours on their music devices, were just white noise.  Actually, it was an annoyance, as something I had to run away from to find solace at the quiet corner of the cemetery or empty classroom in the school to jam-pack precious information into my grey cells. That was the time when SP Bala and Illayaraja were churning out hits after hit that just passed me by. Occasionally a song or two would come to my attention clamouring from my father rickety radio. I did...

@AryamanBodh One of the regular feature during my childhood days was the visits by lonely housewives to engage in a prolonged banter with my mother. In RRF, my childhood home, a new neighbour had just moved to our oft-emptied next door flat. In came a seemingly perfect family, the head of the family, a tall, lean man donning dark glasses in the midst of the dimly lit corridors of the neighbourhood. He would walk as if he had a severe case of cervical spondylosis, straight-backed, walking straight ahead without tilting his heads even for a moment as if he had a mission in life like a racing horse prancing on with blinkers. The wife, a slim lady with long wavy hair and polyester floral sari with a faced stained in turmeric powder, an Indian natural skin whitener and scar-blemisher, would follow suit, well aware of the roving eyes around her. To complement this seemingly perfect couple was a pair of children of every dream of a middle-class family of the 70s - a daughter and a son....

Back home in RRF, money was always hard to come by. Many a times we, as children, wished that those frequent squabbles of our parents over money (lack of) never arises. As part of economising and savings, Amma used to ink down a monthly budget for the family. Sundry goods were always enlisted and bought in advance from a particular shop, with cash of course. Amma made it a point never to buy on credit as she believed that it would always spiral out of control. She learnt her lesson well, thanks to her father who singlehandedly burnt off his whole family fortune in a single generation! When I look at the budget that she had penned, it would appear as money was just enough. No place for unexpected misfortune or malady. Of course, she would supplement her income through her sewing skills. Pretty soon she carved a name for herself amongst the occupants of RRF. When the coffer started welling, never overflowing, she would give out loans to pathetically poor and uninitiated inhabitants...

16 Vayathinilae   ( 16 வயதினிலே ,  At the Age of 16, Tamil, 1977) This movie is considered a watershed in the Tamil film industry. It marked the superstardom of its three main actors, and it also opened the floodgates for outdoor shooting and 'art' life-like stories revolving around life in the villages. Slowly, the use of makeup diminished. It was alright for the main characters to look unappealing, dark and oily faced! After establishing herself as a child star, this 14year old starlet Sri Devi, acts as a 16-year village lass. After this flick, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan hardly performed together in a full-length feature film anymore as they became too big a star on their accord. This village themed flick became a precursor for the innumerable Tamil films of the similar genre that followed where unrefined colloquial language was the order of the day. Many copycat movies followed some bordered on testing the intelligence of the viewers with its thinly thought plo...

HIP, HIP, HIPetizer!  “Roti Benggali or “Benggali bread”, despite popular belief, does not get its name from the Bengali people group, but from the word “Penggali” which means shareholders. In 1928, Sheik Mohd Ismail from Madras, India, set up Roti Penggali (Bread Shareholders) a s a business with his founding friends at Transfer Road, Penang. Local residents mispronounced the word ‘Penggali’ as “Benggali” and that, along with its mis-association, got passed on until today. The bread is enjoyed in a variety of ways by the different cultural groups: the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. It's so sedap with 'sup tulang', as 'roti bakar kahwin' and absolutely yummy dipped in 'overnight' curry! What's YOUR favourite way of eating Roti Benggali?

Scenes like this was common around Block G. The blended spice makers would be balancing their merchandise (masala) on their head, not potatoes as shown here. There was a time in RRF, when G Block was vacant for a long time. Later as the Kedah Road underwent some development programme, the bulk of its dweller were mass evacuated and placed in the lower couple of floors there. These people were initially were quite reluctant to vacate their Kedah Road ancestral homes but relented after much prodding. They were quite contended with their lifestyle and livelihood of selling grounded spices in the market nearby. Their ancestors, Mussalman from Thenkasi area of Southern India introduced the trade of aromatic freshly grounded blended spice for instant stomach tickling South Indian cooking. Their main reluctance of relocating being inability to continue using the mammoth wooden grinder with massive hand held wooden poles! They did not want the whole flat t...

1927-2012 After living a full life to a ripe age of 80 something, Amachee slumbered off to the land hereafter. It is funny that when someone passes on, we only think of the good times and funny times that we spent together in their lifetime. Amachee was one of the few relatives who used to visit us when we were exiled in RRF. Her lighting trips up north from Seremban (106, Templer Road) will be unannounced. Hive of activities will ensue to make the house presentable and tea will be prepared in a jiffy. She would update Amma about the latest happening in the family circle - who died, who married who, latest scandal, etcetera. The tea is not complete if not with some accompaniment. That is when I would be summoned to the rescue to buy some biscuits or such from the shop downstairs. On one particular visit, I had a crash course on dentures and food selection after buying a variant of Mung Bean Pastry    (tau sar piah) with gooey sticky paste. Only then did I kn...

1981 was a good year. It was also a watershed year for the country. It was the beginning of the reign of DrM with the loss of independence of judiciary and the country embarked on its unsatisfiable appetite to glorify monetary values instead of human values as a sign of development and progress. ( The money maketh a man ) And 'Bette Davies Eyes' by Kim Carnes was No. 1 on the BillboardYear-End Hot 100 singles that year. Financial situation was improving in the Sham household and it was time to move from RRF back to BG. 1981 was the year the SPM results were out - sending smiles to all in the family, the first in the family (paternal side) to pass SPM! RRF Youth Club had decided to honour me with a gift as I was one of their tuition students. Months before the results were out, Amma decided to send me to Mama's house to roughen and toughen me (a city boy) up, hoping that one or two of his street-wiseness and survival skills would rub off on me. (I do not know how much it d...

This one goes out to CC and all those who are undecided about certain things in life and decide to ass around with other peoples' probably less than 2-sens' senseless worth of bray (advice)! Also to those who are upset with certain comments of other individuals. My words of wisdom - whenever you feel down, think of this cute donkey and smile! Growing up in a lower middle class family in the pre-Merdeka era must have been a good time for children to be exposed to story telling from their elders. Entertainment as we can imagine must have been scarce. When putting rice on the dinner is a daily struggle, everything else is secondary. Television was not existent - TV Malaysia came into existence in 1963. You have to be born with a silver spoon to have unlimited access to story books. My sisters and I, born in early Generation-X (1961-1981, by definition), did enjoy a little bit of comfort by our parents' standards in the form of easier access to story books,  newspapers a...

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 fath...