My Firsts - Childhood Years

There are many firsts in my life that I am not able to tell you - my first crawl, first tooth, first steps. Those memories belonged to my mum. Of course, I am unable to tell you when I first spoke too. However, you can be sure that once I started, I never stopped. My mum said I had too many questions or I told her too many tales. My earliest recollections are vague.

The first time I was aware I had a birthday party - A flash memory of someone walking into our house with this lovely cake decorated like a basket of flowers. Then, this person said to me "Hello birthday girl. Isn't this a pretty cake?" That is all I can remember. When I related this flashback to my mum a few years ago, she was surprised that my memory went back that far. She said that was the prettiest birthday cake I ever had as a child. It was my third birthday. We were living in Canning Gardens, Ipoh.

The first time I was aware I had siblings - I was almost four years old. A very brief flashback of this memory places me in a bathroom scene. My aunt was giving my two brothers and I a bath. We were splashing around and getting her clothes wet. We had just moved to Kelantan. I do not have memories of the journey from Ipoh to Kota Bharu. Neither, can I recall when we moved into our house in Jalan Bayam. I was told later that we were living in a hotel near Jalan Bayam in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. That was in the year 1970.

The first time I knew there was going to be an addition to the family - I was four and a half . I don't remember my mum being pregnant with my sister. I only recall the day she was leaving for the hospital. Dad was walking mum to the car. He told me "you will soon have a brother or a sister." I replied, "I don't want a brother or a sister. I want a puppy."

The first time I was aware I had grandparents - I was probably nearing five years old. My siblings and I addressed our grandparents as Papa and Mama. We had two sets of grandparents. To avoid confusion, we referred to them as Taiping Papa and Mama for my dad's parents; and Malacca Papa and Mama for my mum's parents.

The first time I appreciated a song from the radio - We were in Taiping visiting my dad's parents. I recall sitting by a huge radio and listening to the song "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (click on the button on the sidebar to listen to the song). I was so captivated by the song that I refused to leave the house that instant to accompany my aunty to the sundry shop. I asked her if we could wait till the song finished. I was six then.

The first time I was aware of death - It was a few days after I fell in love with music. Our holiday came to an end. We were heading towards Malacca to spend the remainder of our holiday with my mum's parents. I clearly remember Taiping Papa giving out a strange vibe as I hugged him goodbye. Before walking off, I turned around to look at him again. I found Papa staring at me and he eyes were moist. I asked, "Why Papa?" He did not say anything. He kept staring. We took off waving at him. As soon as we reached my grandparent's house in Malacca, Mama came rushing out with a telegramme in her hands. Dad's father had passed away a few hours after we left Taiping. My brothers and I stayed back in Malacca. My parents went back to Taiping immediately bringing my 15-month old sister with them. That evening I asked Malacca Mama, "what is passed away?" She told me that "Taiping Papa won't be around anymore. He has gone to heaven."

The first time I remember going to school - I was 6 years old and in Mrs. Estrop's class at Fatima Convent, Jalan Kuala Krai, K.B. I recall taking part in two performances for the school concert. The first was singing in a choir. Later, I had to change to a red maxi dress for a dance number. There were four 'little couples' on stage. This leads to..

First time dancing with a boy - I don't remember the title of the song we danced to but the lyrics had some "aiyaya" and some "suku suku" in it. I googled those words and found this - aiyaya karoon main kya; suku suku ho gaya dil. Could this be the song? I found out that this song was from a Hindi movie titled Junglee, produced in 1962.

The first time I learned about the birds and the bees - I was 10 years old. I have no recollection of the teacher's name, though. She walked into class one day and told us that she will not be teaching History. Instead, she will be teaching us the facts of life. It was a very informative session, laced with lots of giggles.

The first time I felt like a failure - I was 11 years old. I had just received my mid-term exam results. My average percentage score was 90%. Yet, I was second last in a class of 48! I was disappointed with myself. Then, I envisioned the hell I was going to get from dad when I got home. When I showed him my report card, he looked at it for a while then smiled. He reached for his wallet and gave me RM1.00 (very big reward in those days). I was surprised and asked him "why?". He said "I told you that if you can bring back perfect scores, I will give you RM1 for every one of them. You had 100 for English." Shaking his head in amazement, he asked "Who was the first girl in class and what was her average percentage?" I told him it was Mazura and she scored 99.9%. Then he commented, "Thank goodness this is not a final term exam or you would have been demoted to 6B. However, if you were in 6B, you will be number one there." I believe Dad tried to console me, seeing that I looked very sad with my 47th position in class. Then he said, "No, forget I what I said. I'd rather you be number 47 in the A class for this term than number 1 in the B class next year."

The first time I had a crush on a man! - oh... my sweet Cikgu Anuar. He was a handsome man who inspired me to do so well during a school term in 1979. He was a 21-year-old trainee teacher from Maktab Perguruan K.B. He taught my class B.M. and History. Cikgu Anuar was fond of pop quizzes and I was always eager to answer his questions. Did I mention he was a good-looking man?
Zainab School had monthly exams and term exams. The school's monthly exam report card had a graph page to show the student's progress. It was interesting to see the graph showing a prominent improvement. woo hoo! My dad was pleased, if not surprised, at the sudden change. I did not tell him why; just that the new trainee teacher was good. Did I mention that Cikgu Anuar was cute? :)



to be continued.....