Reliving Childhood

How much have changed since I was born.?It seems to be uncountable.I have witnessed many births and deaths.The birth of our Malaysia-made Proton,I was there to witness it.I wonder how many still remember the days when our roads were filled with cars of Mazda,Daihatsu,Honda and etc.I wonder whether the kids nowadays knew that our first national car is Proton Saga,not Iswara,Wira and so on.Much later,then came the Perodua line of national cars. Back in my childhood,we don't have Playstation or Xbox to play with.We had Transformers,Lego and Hot Wheels for the boys and Barbies and "masak-masak" for the girls.There are games that are played by the boys and girls sometimes to pass time such as "Congkak","Batu Seremban","Ceper"(the bottlecaps),"Sepak Yan","Meriam Buluh" and so on.Everything was played with the limbs and some thoughts.All require no battery to play.Just a place and the simple equipment and we will have fun for hours. While I was in primary school,we had no Gameboy Advance or PDA phone.The games I remembered playing used erasers,ice-cream sticks,a pair of running legs and so on.The classic "Police catch thief" I wonder whether it is still being played in the school compound. It is a game of what we normally term catching. Another game that was famous in my school is what we called "Pepsi Cola 1,2,3."I don't know which genius came up with this interesting idea to dirty our white shoes.This game,I couldn't remember how to start it.Anyway the basic of the game is to put your foot (read:White shoes) on top of the foot(read: previously white shoe) of other people.The guys who got his shoes stepped on is considered "killed" and is out of the game.This game is turn-based.Everyone will have his turn.In his turn,he can choose to move one step or kill.When one is being targeted for a kill,he can evade moving only a step but he cannot move before the "killer" or the guy who is having his turn, moves.Thus this is a game that train our eye-leg coordination and leg reflex.Comes in very handy when applied in evading a tackle in football.Of course,while in primary school,everyone was almost of same height and legs of similiar reach making this game that relies heavily on balance and reflex. As we progressed through primary school,we were exposed to newer games,especially the "Sepak Yan" or "Capteh" as we used to call it.This game requires certain investment,thus it is considered one of the more advanced games.It is basically a badminton played with feet.The shuttlecock is replaced by a bunch of (chicken) feathers tied together sitting on top of a heavy circular base usually made by pieces of rubber from the old tyres.I sucks at this game though as my legs aren't as agile as I would like them to.A minority,like me,learned to play chess then.Being the kids we were,I don't remember finishing a game before we ran out of patience and ended the game prematurely.We just couldn't sit down there and think.We would rather sweat it out. Years back then,the Mooncake Festival and Chinese New Year will always have a special place in my memory.During Mooncake Festival,my two brothers and I managed to coax our parents to buy a lots of lantern.Our house compound would be filled with so many lanterns that will put a starry night to shame.My estimate at the peak of our lantern counts,we had around 50 plus lanterns.Hmm....let's not go into the details how I persuade my parents.As most of the lantern we bought were of the paper and candle type,they could be consumed by the very thing to define them-the source of light.Thus,every year during mooncake festivals,there would be a few death of lanterns being burned to ashes,some newly borned or purchased lanterns.We only bought THREE electronic lanterns,one each for my brothers and I but we realised they weren't as fun as the real lantern.I prefered to feel the heat the candle emit,the randomly flickering light provided by the flame ,the risk of burning the lantern while carrying it and running around, and the sadness and pity of witnessing your own lantern's death.Unknowingly this has taught me the cycle of life,there will be deaths and there will be births. Even the lanterns that were hung around the house "died",blown to the ground by the wind and caught fire.Sometimes,whether we intend it or not,deaths happen anyhow.At the last count,I figured we still have around 10 to 20 lanterns left.It had been a while since we replenish our pools of lantern. Chinese New Year is almost as unforgettable.We would have a lot of firecrackers of different sizes and powers.Although firecrackers are illegal now,we still put our customary red firecrackers during Chinese New Year whenever we can get hold of one.Ahh...one of the advantage of living deep inside an estate.Under the watchful eyes of our parents,nothing had gone wrong then.Sometimes,my Dad even joined ,more like, helped me to light the fuse with the glowing incense held by my shivering hand.Together then we would ran away from the firecracker trying to find shelter from the sound that came with it.Ahh.......those days..... Living in an estate also means that I have a few close encounter with the wild animals.There was a few times,these "neighbours" of mine entered my house without knocking.There was a few times Mr. Snake came to my house to "rest." If possible,we would want to part peacefully.However,being not conversant in the language my Granma and my Dad spoke,Mr Snake and his friends had never left my house alive so far.The worst that had happened so far was when I woke up grodgily,to the shoutings of my Granma. What happened was there was a Mr. snake under my bed.My Granma?She was not shouting to warn me,she was scolding me for being so ignorant of the snake's presence.Mr Snake?He came in moving horizontally and went out unmoving vertically.Considering the fact that I have rode my bicycle over a python once and a monitor lizard once unknowingly,these things were quite normal I think.What a childhood......I can be so blur at times. Then, computer came along in my late primary years and things slowly evolve since then.What used to be a pasttime became a past in time.Things have been changing since then.I picked up badminton,swimming,reading and basketball along the way.This is just a glimpse into what a memorable childhood I had......