8/26/2012

Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

I received the below article from a friend. The origin is likely from Malaysia but the experience and how we grew up were very similar. I took liberties to change a few words here and there to localise it into our context with some Sinkie names added. It wasn't too long ago when we were all like dat.

Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

Without any maids, our mothers cooked, cleaned and took care of the whole family. They still had time to chat with neighbours. They were called ‘housewives’.

Everyone had candy floss, fizzy drinks and shaved ice with syrups. Diabete was rare and aspirin/panadol cured all illness.

We rode adult bicycles to school, straddling one leg to the other side. Sitting on the seat would mean unable to reach the pedals. Hercules and Raleigh were the top brands. The richer ones had their own mini-bikes. Ironically, we all had problems with our brakes and loosen chains, and after running into the bushes a few times, we learned how to solve the problem.

Prefects were a fearful lot ...more fearful than the teachers. Detention class was like going to prison for a day. We had "public caning" in schools.

NO ONE ever won the big prizes on "Tikam". It was a scam but it did not stop us coming back for more.

Motorbikes were ridden without helmets. It was rare to ride a private taxi. Taking a bus was luxury - we either cycled or walked everywhere.

We drank water from the tap or any source that looked clean, NOT from bottles. Our tummies were coated with steel.

We spent hours in the fields under the sun, playing football, hantam bola, or flying kites, without worrying about UV rays. It did not affect us. Our skins were tougher than cow hides.

We roamed free catching spiders and did not worry about Aedes mosquitoes. We kept our spiders in match boxes and ready for a fight anytime.

With a mere 5 pebbles, girls played endless games and with an aged tennis ball, boys ran like crazy for hours.

When it rained, we swam the drains & canals to catch rainbow fish, none of us were dissolved in rain.

We shared one bottle of soft drink with friends, NO ONE actually worried about catching anything.

We ate salty, sweet & oily foods, bread had real butter and sometimes condensed milk. We enjoyed very sweet coffee, tea, and "ice kacang" but we were not obese because....... WE WERE OUT PLAYING ALL THE TIME!!

We left home in the morning and played all day till hunger drove us back home. When needed, our parents knew how to find us. NO ONE actually watched over us and WE WERE ALWAYS SAFE.

WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONES BUGGING US. Very few had phones at home. We rode bikes or walked over to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! Our TV was black and white.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We did not have birthday parties till we were 21, which was when we started to take notice of girls.

We had not heard of the word "Bumiputra". We only knew our friends by names. Their parents were Pak Cik and Mak Cik or Uncle and Aunty.(This para is the tell tale sign of the origin of this article).

In Badminton, we did not change the shuttle as long as it was in flight. Regardless of how many feathers were left in the shuttle, our game continued... but still Wong Peng Soon made us proud in badminton.

Match-boxes were always "chilly" or "king kong" brand...to own a box of matches from a hotel was something great.

Regardless of whether we could afford one, we always knew Maths tuition was $10.00 a month.

All parties were held in the homes, the kitchens and the corridors were the extensions.

Morris Minor and Volkswagen beetle were on our roads...driven alongside Kingswood, Vauxhall, Opel and Chrysler. Executives of companies drove Peugeot and Volvo. Japanese cars were considered "inferior". Some tried rubbing the paint work to prove if they were made from drink cans.
There were no traffic lights, only roundabouts.

The whole kampongs came together during kenduris and all took turns to "kacau dodol". Chinese, Indians and Malays were all part of kenduris and all knew how to speak Malay.

Our favourite local performer was Rose Chan and the Beatles were the most popular band. John Wayne's westerns on Sunday, screening in open fields were 10c cent per show.

Malay weddings had joget sessions at night, it was the only time to ask the Malay ladies for a dance.

Ketupat were NEVER plastic wrapped.
Football was played barefooted in thorn-filled "padangs", rain or shine... but still Quah Kim Song, Dollah Kassim and Rajagopal made us proud. Some may remember Wilfred Skinner and Twinkle Toe Tan Boon Leong I think, and there was Uncle Choo. We actually beat Malaya/Malaysia in football.


Susu lembu was delivered to our house by our big, friendly and strong "Bayi" on his bicycle. All "jagas" were "Bayi" and no place got robbed.
"Laksa" and "Putu Mayam" man came peddling. "Kacang Puteh" man walked balancing on his head top, 6 compartments of different type of murukus.
We played tops, made our own kites & had kite fighting with glass glued threads, and made wooden guns & used buah cherry for bullets.

Kang Kong was free…easily harvested by the riverside. "Kembong" was 30 cents a "kati" and nobody wanted "ikan pari".

When the Circus came to town, everybody went to see it. It was the best LIVE show I ever saw.

Usually we did not have to BUY fruits. They were self planted or given by neighbours or friends, or plucked from the neighbour’s when they were not looking.


The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. Our parents actually sided with the law and brought the child to be caned in schools! Nobody knew about child psychology !

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned ......HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the government 'regulated' our lives for good !!

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

20 comments:

  1. The walk down memory lane makes me angry at what we have lost.
    Time to blow off steam with more MIW jokes.

    Q: Why won't MIW girls swallow?
    A: They are the spitting images of their mothers.

    Q: In the MIW doctrine, when does a fetus become a human?
    A: When it graduates from law school.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This generation, the baby boomers, produce the worst managers. Today, this generation holds the leadership position. Yet they are the one who hire FT. They damned our young people. I used to hold some leadership position. And if you have been in management position before, you rub shoulder with these people, you realise that they are idle, and like to play office politics,

    The baby boomers produce also the worst politicians. The demise of Singapore is started by Goh Chok Tong, and LHL later acceleration the whole process. They have no feeling for the people.

    Elsewhere, the baby boomers also give lots of problem. The demise of USA can also be attributed to baby boomers, who hold key positions today and do not care about the country.

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  3. We had less to worry about then, our parents were happy with us as long as our report book is not all red. We dont care obout hygiene or cleanliness. Are our children a happier lot, I guess not! They have housing, education, career to worry about and slog like a cow.

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  4. Sorry redbean.
    I'm still angry. And I have a dirty mind right now.

    Q: What does a female MIW consider to be a minimum standard for foreplay before sex?
    A: An hour of begging.

    Q: What do you call a female MIW who allows sex after only 30 minutes of foreplay?
    A: Easy.

    Q: What words of seduction do MIWs use before they screw you?
    A: Trust me. It's for the greater good.

    Q: What's the MIW version of threesome sex?
    A: Using both hands to jerk off.

    Q: Why don't MIW women get AIDS?
    A: They only marry assholes, they don't fuck them.

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  5. Red bean, the whole article described my childhood accurately and I did all the things u outlined.

    But now knn that all I can say

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  6. You guys are bloody old. Time to think about how you want your coffin to look like.

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  7. You can sulk your bolster in your coffin

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  8. Old?
    That feeds my creative juice for more PAP (Pro Alien Party) jokes.

    Q: How can you tell if a dirty old man is a PAP man?
    A: He says, "Wanna BUY a piece of candy little girl?"


    Texting for Senior PAP citizens:
    ====================

    ATD - At the Doctor's

    BFF - Best Friends Funeral

    BTW - Bring the Wheelchair

    BYOT - Bring Your Own Teeth

    FWIW - Forgot Where I Was

    FYI - Found Your Insulin

    GGPBL - Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low

    GHA - Got Heartburn Again

    HGBM - Had Good Bowel Movement

    IMHO - Is My Hearing-Aid On?

    LMDO - Laughing My Dentures Out

    OMSG - Oh My! Sorry, Gas

    ROFL...CGU - Rolling on the Floor Laughing...Can't get Up!

    WAITT - Who Am I Talking To?

    WTFA - Wet the Furniture Again

    WWNO - Walker Wheels Need Oil

    GGLKI - Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking in!

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  9. Plastic wrapped ketupat. That's the limit.

    Now people live in fear of germs, accidents, and 2nd hand smoke. Plus you have to watch your language or you risk 'offending' someone.

    Like I said, the culture in general and men in particular have become PUSSIFIED.

    Technology has moved forward, the culture has definitely gone backwards.

    Got history?

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  10. Every experience the writer went through evokes fond memories of those days.

    Sure, we went through a period of have-nots compared to today's material plenty, be it food, clothing, housing, transport etc, but it was, on hindsight a toughening experience that help us in body and soul. We took every obstacle in our stride.

    Today's generation is bound to ask us the usual question: Do you want to relive the old days when Singapore was a swamp before the PAP came into power? I would not try to answer that question nor convince them. But suffice to say, I do find life then more meaningful with plenty of time to smell the flowers.

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  11. ... and smell yu tiao too.

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  12. 2.15 pm, I think he prefers your young and warm mouth lar. Very different u know. U mean u don't know the difference meh?

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  13. hi redbean, even though I am not from your generation, I do think about a life on a slower pace and where there is time to sit down and watch the world move slowly.

    to the generation that built singapore, I thank you all for the effort that was spent to make singapore a modern city that it is.

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  14. Ok all quiet now...

    Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver his National Day Rally 2012 speech on Sunday, 26 August 2012 at the University Church Centre at the National University of Singapore.

    Let's pray and give thanks. Amen

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  15. Once a year Talk cock time. The rest of the year just show cocks

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  16. i cringe whenever the sycophantic audience laugh when the pm makes a stupid joke during national day rallies.

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  17. The younger MPs is just a cover up.
    So that you don't see the truth.
    It's a political party of very old men.

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  18. Hope
    Heart
    Home
    Hypocrisy

    He preached like Kong Hee - inspirational.

    I hope the court will judge rightly.

    Amen.

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  19. Big heart boh.
    Does he has one?

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  20. The problems really started in Singapore when LKW managed to push out all the original good ministers and civil servants . These are the ones that had the ideas and the drive to improve Singapore and create the gracious society that it was renowned for .
    Since then it has been quantity not quality in Singapore , mainly because of government bonuses linked to GDP .Many of us loved Singapore , but today are leaving , as this wonderful island and its population is being destroyed

    ReplyDelete