LIFE BEFORE TVs,COMPUTERS & IPHONES

Life before TVs, Computers and Iphones
(From my book YOUNG EMOTION)

 Many young people nowadays, may be wondering how their parents survived in the sixties, without many of the modern gadgets that they take for granted. Most of us did not have tuition. So we had more free time during our school days. There were many free extracurricular activities in school to keep us occupied. On the other hand, many of us had to help in the home and in the family business. I myself had to learn how to make coffee from the “sock-like” sieves. Yet, we still have fond memories of those wonderful years of simple unspoiled living.

Marbles and Fighting Fish 
 During our primary school days, there were many games to play. Spinning tops, flying kites, shooting catapults, kicking feather cocks and throwing marbles were among the popular games for the boys. Girls would prefer hop scotch, seven stones, skipping rope and hula hoop. Most of the “toys” would be homemade. Tops were carved from blocks of wood, catapults were shaped from forked branches of the jambu (guava) tree, and feather cocks were assembled by fixing duck feathers onto a base made from coin-sized rubber tires. We used to “gamble” with marbles laid in a row, and then we tried to hit them from a distance. Similar bets were also played with rubber bands (which were valuable then) and picture cards. Kite flying was seasonal during the windy days. Although we could buy the kites from the shops, most enthusiasts would pride themselves in making the kites themselves. They pasted coloured rice paper onto light bamboo strip frames, which were tied to a long string smeared with boiled animal resins mixed with grounded glass fragments. The aim was to fly the kite in the air, to try and cut the strings of other flying kites. When one of the kites was cut loose, the children would run to catch the falling kite, often crossing streets recklessly, amidst shouts of joy. Rearing Siamese fighting fish and catching small spiders (there was a recent Singapore TV series called Spider Boys) from garden hedges, and challenging one another were fun, especially with occasional bets. 

Comics and Pen Pals 
 Most of us would have hobbies, a word that is seldom heard nowadays. A hobby is an activity to enjoy and indulge in our spare time. We collected many items, such as stamps, coins, cigarette packs, picture cards, or matchboxes. Stamps were most popular. We would join stamp clubs, and received stamps from England, which we would buy and then mail back postal orders as payment. Some collected stamps according to themes such as flowers, ships, animals or famous people. We eagerly looked for letters (a dying practice) from overseas, with foreign stamps on the envelopes. We learned about names of exotic places like Sierra Leone, Seychelles, and San Marino! Other hobbies would include photography (where we had to learn about aperture, exposure, and depth of field), indoor games (without using batteries) like chess cards and caroms, painting (with real paper and paints) and writing (and rewriting several times without a word processor). During the pre-television days, we spent a lot of time reading. Our favourite books were reading stories from the “Famous Five” and “Secret Seven”, written by Enid Blyton and classic novels by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, which had been adapted into simpler English. The girls would read the romantic stories from Mills and Bloom. We read many comics magazines, such as Beano and Dandy with characters such as Desperate Dan, Jonah and Korky the Cat. The popular drink Kickapoo was made famous by the comic strip Alley Oop. Comics characters like Superman, Batman, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, and Spiderman were our heroes then and apparently now, after being resuscitated on the big screen. We did not know what porn was. The nearest we read were the steamy classics such as “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “The World of Susie Wong”. Before the era of Facebook and emails, many of us had pen pals from near and far. There were pen pal columns in newspapers and magazines, with names of those who were keen on “friendly correspondence”. We selected the persons, according to the age, gender and country and then wrote letters to them. We had to wait for five days for the replies from local pen pals or as long as 2 weeks from pen pals overseas. We exchanged personal information, interests and news from our countries. We learned to take time to put our thoughts on paper in proper English sentences, instead of the garbled words nowadays. 

Back Lane Badminton 
There were many opportunities to take part in sports and games. Every student learned how to play football, cricket, hockey, badminton and rugby in school. Malaysia was world champion in badminton then, with our heroes like Wong Peng Soon, Eddy Choong and Teh Kew San. Thus everyone played badminton. Any house with a garden would make a badminton court on grass, sand or cement. We also played on any empty ground, from gardens with frequent damage to plants, in the middle of the small roads (not too many cars then) and in back lanes, often picking up wet shuttles from the longkangs (drains). I remember playing in Gim Hye’s house in Aboo Sittee Lane and enjoyed the jambu ayer as well. 

Cycling – Sweat and Rain 
Except for the few wealthy families, most of us walked or cycled to school. School buses were rare then. During the early morning and mid-afternoon hours, the streets would be flooded with bicycles. Schools used to build long sheds for the parking of bicycles. School journeys could be as far as five miles (we had not heard of kilometers then). The mornings were pleasantly cool (the days before the earth-warming), but returning home in the afternoons could be hot and sweaty. Sometimes we had to cycle back for sports later, leading to sore bottoms and sweaty clothes and underwear! When it rained, we had to wear raincoats. It was against the law to carry umbrellas while cycling. In any case, we could be blown upwards by the wind! We were proud of our trusty “steed”, often with famous brands like Raleigh or Humber. China-made bicycles came later. During our cycling journeys, we looked forward to see school girls cycling in the opposite direction, hoping to receive some reciprocated smiles! Children in those days did not have to go to the gyms. All the walking and cycling provided the necessary exercise. It was only in the mid-sixties that a few students managed to ride the popular 50cc Honda Cub. It would cost around $600 (dollars, ringgit was not introduced yet). Most of the cars in the sixties were European cars such as Morris, Austin, Ford, Fiat, and Renault. When the first Japanese Toyota came out, it was widely ridiculed; the thin car body was allegedly made from Milo tins. There was no air –conditioning in the cars then. At the most, there was a small fan, which blew hot air in the afternoon! 

Beaches and Hills 
During the weekends and holidays, when exams were not too near, we would go on picnics and hikes. Most of us did not swim in pools, even if we could afford to join the swimming clubs. There were many clean beaches, some with fancy names like Moonlight Bay and Miami Beach. There were no big hotels or condominiums then. We had the whole beach to ourselves. One of our friends had a small sampan, which we could row out to catch fresh fish for the barbecue on the beach. Sometimes, we would pitch tents and spent the night on the beach, playing cards, drinking beer and telling ghost stories. We might trek up the hill or cycle to villages or jog across rambutan orchards (especially when they were red and ripe). Hiking up the Penang Hill from the Moon-gate, near the Botanical gardens, would take about 2-3 hours. Some of us had walked round the island, taking three days with sleeping stops in the local school hall or Scouts campsites. Cycling round the 46 mile road round the island would take about 6 hours, especially struggling across the hills near Balik Pulau. We were consoled by the aroma of the durians! In 1964, Yew Oo, Hon Tat and I cycled all the way to Kuala Kedah (about 60 miles) to catch the boat to Langkawi. Iyer (now Sulaiman) took the bus with four girls. We started before 6am and should arrive at K.Kedah at 2 pm. We were delayed as Hon Tat had leg cramps, and we had to detour to Alor Star for him to take the taxi. Yew Oo and I continued cycling strenuously to Kuala Kedah, hoping to catch the ferry. Fortunately, they managed to ask the boat to wait half an hour for us. We took the bicycles as there was no public transport in Langkawi then. Fortunately Yew Oo had a friend who took around in his timber lorry. Langkawi was really unspoilt then with pristine beaches and clear waters. That was the forerunner to “Tour de Langkawi”! Sometimes we would rent the seaside or hill bungalows for a few nights and share the costs. Oon Siew was generous enough to invite us to his family’s holiday bungalows on Penang Hill and along Tg Bungah Beach. One of the bungalow, called Adorable, was known to be haunted! We would eat canned sardines, baked beans and egg sandwiches. We would play games, cards or even mahjong and held campfires and barbecues. Girls would be invited, but there was no hanky-panky. In those days, we were too naïve and innocent or perhaps there were no TV or internet to corrupt us. 

Kachang and Ice-balls 
Of course we spent a lot of time eating, usually at the food stalls of course. They were not called food courts then. The favourite haunts were Dato Keramat padang, Penang Road, Gurney Drive, Pulau Tikus and New World Park. Food was cheap. We could buy a packet of kachang puteh (old spelling) for five cents, thus the popular saying “cheap as kachang puteh”! Sweets were two for five cents. Noodles were around 20-30 cents a bowl. Drinks were 5-20 cents. My father ran a coffee-shop, and he used to remind me of the number of cups of kopi-oh at 10 cents a cup he had to sell, to pay for my fees. In those days we had to pay monthly fees of $2.50 in primary and $5 in secondary schools. None of our classmates went to pubs. We would spend time in the old style kopitiam with round marble-top tables and the classic wooden chairs with specially shaped seats. Ice kacang was 20 cents a bowl, ten cents more with ice cream or with banana slices. Ice-balls made from shaved ice, with red beans or sweet corn inside the centre, and flavoured with rose or sarsi syrup, could be enjoyed for just 5 to 10 cents. Another popular drink was the coconut water sold in a glass filled with strips of grated coconut flesh. There was an Indian man selling curry puffs. He would go round with his basket, singing from the song Clementine, “Oh my darling, oh my darling, karipap karipap!” 

Cartoons and Stars 
 Movies were a popular form of entertainment. The famous Cathay, Lido, Rex and Odeon cinemas were like our second homes. Tickets were sold at different prices, $1.20 for the first class seat at the back of the theatre, then 80 cents for the second class seat in the middle, and 40 cents for the seat in the front rows. Some cinemas had balcony seats, meant for the richer patrons, with seats at $2.00. We would wait for the popular shows to come the second round, perhaps three months later, for prices that were 40% less. Older shows would be shown on weekend mornings, called the matinees, with ticket prices at $1 for balcony and 50 cent for the stalls. Of course, those cinemas were before the Cineplex sound systems and cushioned seats! The only problem was the frequent bites from bed bugs. There were no hand phones to disturb us, instead there were crackling sounds from those eating kwa-chi (melon seeds) or groundnuts. The feature movies were often preceded by the Pathe newsreel (no CNN then), and then cartoons (Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Pop-Eye) or the Three Stooges. We already had coloured movies in the sixties but wide cinemascope screens came only in 1958. The first such movie was the musical “The King and I.” I stayed next to the New World Amusement Park which was like an old version of a theme park, with merry-go-round and dodgem cars, food stalls and gaming machines. There was a small cinema (called Globe) inside, which only had netting side-walls, and we could watch old movies for free. There was a theatre, with just five feet high sidewalls, which often showed Chinese wayang operas. Occasionally, Rose Chan would perform in that theatre and I had the opportunity to watch her for free (by standing on a stool!) Unfortunately, I was only ten years old and did not “enjoy” that experience. We had our share of hero-worship of film stars. Popular screen stars were Elizabeth Taylor, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas, and Charlton Heston. The last mentioned acted in biblical epics, such as the “Ten Commandments”. The movie was so long (about 3 hours), that there was an interval in the middle of the show for us to come out and buy drinks. Our school would arrange for special screening for school children at student prices.  

Radio & Redifusion 
Television came to Malaysia only in 1964. Even then a small black and white TV set would cost about $500 (a car would cost about $7000). Colour TVs came only in the 1970s. So we listened to the radio with only one RTM station with four mono AM channels, to cater to the different races. We could tune in to shortwave (with a lot of crackling noises) to the BBC and Voice of America. At that time, the Radio RAAF, broadcasted from their airbase in Butterworth, was very popular, characterized by the Australian accent of their DJs. Sometimes there were live broadcasts of events such as the Thomas Cup badminton or the Malaya cup football. With just the voice commentary, we had to use our imagination, when we tried to follow the game with its smashes and drop-shots or the goals. Even more ubiquitous was the Redifusion, which was a two-channel radio that was transmitted through telephone wires. With a monthly subscription of $6 a month, we could listen to pop songs or Cantonese stories which came in series over several months. We were able to request our favourite songs and dedicate them on air to our friends. A popular programme was the Top of the Week, where we would guess the following week’s most requested songs by sending Hacks sweet wrappers. If our lists were correct, we would get a cash prize of about $30. If nobody got all the top 8 songs in the correct order, the cash prize snow-balled till as high as $500, which was a fortune then. I entered one quiz show and won a dozen bottles of Brand’s Essence of chicken. Gramophone vinyl records were the only medium of recorded music. Later, recordable tapes in the form of reels came in. Cassettes were introduced only in the late sixties. However the record and tape players were not affordable for many us. Our favourite singers were Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Cliff Richard, Doris Day and Connie Francis till the arrival of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the mid sixties. Those songs had melodies and words we could understand. 

Girls and Dancing 
 We seemed to have matured during Form 4 and 5, when we were 16 and 17 years old. We began to show interest in girls. We had a nickname for the girls, Alley-oops! I attended my first party in Form 4 and learned how to wear a tie. I tasted my first beer but never enjoyed it. I even tried my first puff of the cigarette but was so nauseated with it, that I became an anti-smoking advocate in later years. By Form 4, we began to mix with girls from Methodist Girls School and St George’s School and the occasional Convent School girl. There were picnics, barbecues and dance parties. We tried dancing (not “lam sing”) the Foxtrot, Waltz and Cha Cha Cha, though not many of us were good. Our generation saw the introduction of the Twist by Chubby Checker, followed by some crazy dances called the Shake, the Hustle and the Jerk! There was usually no liquor, except perhaps the occasional punch and beer. Boy-girl relationships were by and large innocent. There were a few couples who paired up, but we never heard of any scandal happening. 

Blind and Orphans 
 While waiting for our university admissions after Form Six, the former classmates of Form 5 science got together informally as “The Club”. In addition to regular gatherings in the homes and picnics, we would volunteer to help the blind in St Nicholas Home by reading to them. We tried learning Braille so as to help transcribe reading materials, but it was not that easy. Once a week, we would accompany the blind children to Chinese Swimming Club, to help them enjoy the water. Some of us also volunteered with the Ramakrishna Orphanage, by playing with the children, helping their studies and even painting the walls. In one election year, I was selected to be one of the helpers in the counting of the votes. The counting went on till 1 am, and we were provided snacks and an allowance of ten dollars. 

Fun and Friends 
 Without TV, we actually played sports and not just watched the televised games. Without computers, we read and wrote proper sentences (with occasional reference to dictionaries and encyclopedias). Without mobile phones and Facebook, we went out and met our friends more often. Of course the modern gadgets have made our lives more convenient, but they are no replacement for the fun we had enjoyed, the friends we had made, and the fulfilling experience which had enriched our teenage years.