old stories - part 1

i always find it very enjoyable to talk to my relatives about the past... and for that matter, from my parents and siblings, about their experiences when they were young, when i was still too young to know what the hell was going on. it is always very interesting to hear different views and different aspects of each other in the days passed. the following are some stories that i heard over the pass years/ months from my mum.

• my mum was borned on 02 dec 1932. at the time of her birth, my grandparents stayed at geylang lorong 33. the place is still around but she could no longer remember the house she had stayed. during her growing up days, my grandfather would bring her and her sisters out to play when she was a young girl. she remembered being brought to the padang but all these ended after my grandfather got himself a second wife. my grandfather often quarrelled with my grandma after that.

• amongst my mum's sisters and her, she was the most obedient, introverted and naive. because of her introversion, my grandfather gave my mum the nickname "bisu" (meaning "mute") when she was young. my mum was often bullied by her siblings, and even my grandmother. but my grandfather protected her, despite being very strict with her. 

• my grandfather would allocate my mum and her sisters specific houseworks to do. for her, her duties were marketing and cooking. as for my aunts, they were tasked to do other things in the household such as cleaning the dishes. they never got to learn the finer details of peranakan cooking as a result. because of that, she grew up being the main cook of the household and her brothers would all eat only her cooking and not when my aunts cooked. she went on to be the midwife/ cook for my eldest uncle when his children were born.

• besides cooking for the family, she also ironed the clothes of the family. my uncles would not wear clothes that were ironed by my aunts as they often complained it was not "shiny" enough. those days, they would starch their clothes and when ironed, the clothes would look shiny and stiff enough to "stand". 

• my maternal parents always believed that girls are considered a curse. they should be kept out of sight, not attend schools and be confined to the kitchen. as a result, all my maternal-side aunts, less my 5th aunt, did not get any formal education. as for my mum, she secretly learned english from my uncles. at her peak, she was able to speak and write basic english. as for my 5th aunt, she was lucky in that my grand-dad decided to sent her to school and she managed to complete basic-level education (equivalent to primary school in todays' context). she grew up educated, married a principal and moved to penang eventually. 

• during the japanese occupation, life was tough and my grandparents had to sell some of the daughters off as `slaves' to rich chinese families in return for food and cash. my mum and my 3rd aunt were sold to two different families that resided in lim teck boo area (an area near upper paya lebar today). my mum was given the name kim lan and was made to do housework as well as to tend the domestic fowls. during those days, life was bad. they would survive on cassava porridge and nothing else. and to keep them going, my aunt would steal freshly hatched eggs. she would eat them raw and hid the shells by burying them in the soil.

• according to my mum, i had a grand uncle who was taken away during the japanese occupation period. accordingly, the japanese soldiers came to the house one night and took him away after he confessed that he had worked for the harbour board. he never came back. the family learned later that he was killed but never received any further news of the location of his body.

• after the japanese occupation, for reasons unknown, my mum and 3rd aunt returned to my grandparents. the family had moved from geylang lorong 33 to paya lebar kampong (opposite the current paya lebar mrt station). that was where she met my dad who lived just a few houses from her.

• my maternal grandmother never really liked my mum when she was young. my mum said this was because she didn't work as thus could not give her (my grandmother) allowances. on the other hand, my grandmother was closer to my third aunt (my mum's elder sister) as she worked and gave her allowances. for that matter, my grandmother was afraid of my third aunt cos apart from providing her with allowances, my third aunt also was famous for standing up to her rights. she would demand for things and would go as far as to raise her voice at my grandmother. thankfully, my third aunt would also stand up for my mum whenever she felt my grandmother was unfair.

• my mum and her sisters (especially my third aunt) would head to the cinema every other days to watch shows. those days, each ticket cost 60cents and they would watch weekday shows when the cinema was less crowded. some of the cinemas that they would frequent include singapura in geylang serai where shows by p ramlee were often shown, as well as capitol and cathay in town.

• in the old days, workers were categorised simply as clerks (white-collared workers) (or in hokkien - zhai hu), or  labourers (blue-collared workers). generally, clerks were generally more respected and earned more compared to labourers. my grandfather was a clerk and worked in a law firm (think he was an administration assistant or something). as a result, he took back a good salary (relatively speaking). on year ends when he gets his bonuses, he would give $30 to my mum and her sisters. they would splurge on dresses, much to the displeasure of my grandfather. to him, it was the kebaya and nothing else. dresses were for cabaret girls, he would say.

• my parents were ahead of their time. during those days in the mid-50's, a lot of marriages were still pre-arranged. but for my parents, they met, fell in love and eventually got married on 26 oct 1956. i understood that my mum was not well-liked by my paternal grandma (her mum-in-law) and this tension was to subsequently wreck havoc for her.

will add on as i go along...