Growing Up Part IVX

I have an hour window while waiting for my flight back to Singapore at Chennai airport. I thought maybe I can write a bit more of our family in Telok Anson when I was growing up.

During end of year school holidays, our family normally went back to JB to stay with Tok Bi and my aunts. Also there, we were reunited with our youngest sister, Farid. There was not much that I recall of Farid during those years as we were normally apart most of the time. By then, Farid was already walking and running about.

The house in Ngee Heng where Tok Bi lived was small. When all of us were there it was really crowded. Some slept in that one bedroom, and the rest will have to roll out mattresses and slept on the floor. Our Aunt Siti was a stickler for cleanliness and neatness. She’ll normally get quite riled up when we overslept or woke up late as it would disrupt her routine to sweep the whole house in the morning.

Facilities in that house left much to be desired. Only one small bathroom to share by all or us. Toilet was outdoors somewhere away from the houses, as it was still using the bucket system. This had to be shared with the rest of the neighbours. Although I was quite familiar with this from the younger days at Kampung Kubor, I wasn’t really comfortable with it. Unlike in Kampung Kubor, the outdoor toilet was ours alone. Here, we had to share with the neighbours. The peak period was normally in the morning. There would always be a queue. Funnily enough, those waiting their turn were patient. So far I had never seen anyone that was desperate. Small children like Farid for instance, need not do their business there. All they had to do was simply do it at the drain outside the house, and flush it with water after that. Most of the people there reared chickens. Therefore, hens and roosters run about the area looking for food. Their favourite was always when some kid did their business and would start pecking at “it” as soon as…..

When we were there in JB, sometimes I attended to Farid when she had to do her business at the drain. My job was simply to keep the chickens away from her. Farid is a smart girl. I noticed that she could fend for herself without my help. What I remember most about her those days was that she used to run around with only her panties on. Normal actually!!!

Sometimes late at night, my aunt would want to visit the out-house. She would then make either me or my brother to accompany her. It wasn’t that I didn’t like to accompany her, except that it was really boring waiting for her. While waiting in the dark, I would be eaten alive by mosquitoes. The smell I could live with. Furthermore, it was really dark and quite far away from the house. The trees would throw creepy shadows from the moonlight. Sometimes it would creep me out that I ran back home. My aunt would get angry when she found me missing from my post. I argued that if she could come back on her own, then why would she need me to accompany her? She didn’t answer me on this, but it was Bah who explained that it was not that she was frightened of ghosts, but rather being a young lady, she could be disturbed by rowdy boys. I understood the reason and from then onwards, I was never derelict my duty.

Besides the school holidays, we always came back to JB for Aidil Fitri. As far as I can remember, Bah never failed to come back to JB for the festivities. It was always a joyous occasion for us but can be very, very tiring too. The visits we made from house to house were never ending. But again, that was the way Bah was, he never failed to visit a family member as long as he was near them.

Those journeys back and forth JB and Telok Anson usually last the whole day and sometimes an extra day. The reason for this was that Bah would stop and visit our relatives almost every town that we came across. If we couldn’t do it on the way down, we would certainly did it on our way back. From Telok Anson our first stop would normally be Kuala Lumpur. Then it would be in Melaka where mum’s relatives were or we would visit our great and grand father’s grave at Trengkara. Next up would be Muar where his sister was there. Batu Pahat would be next where mum’s brother resided. Pontian where mum’s sister family could be found.

Those long trips although tiring for us, would have been very tiring for Bah too because he was the only one who drove. The only thing that he needed was a damped cloth to wipe his face from time to time. I think that kept him awake and fresh. If you knew Bah, you would know that he was fond of passing wind. We knew when it was coming when he shifted his backside. Each time he did that mum would always scold him, but Bah would always laugh it off. We kids knew that mum didn’t really mean it, as we guess that was one of the ways they teased each other. Fizah would always laugh loudly each time Bah let go. My brother and I tried to keep her quite because her laughing only encouraged Bah more as he could keep it coming. After a while all of us would go into a fit of laughter when mum couldn’t keep up with her pretence any longer. Although the journey was tiring it was nevertheless enjoyable, except the part when I had to ask Bah to stop from time to time for me to be sick!!

My flight is boarding now, so I'll post this as soon as I get back. Hope I can find more time to tell you from my perspective of growing up with my family.