Imaging the dim past ___ 1941

1941 saw me attending school at St Xavier’s Penang . The only reason why I had to go all the way to Penang , 24 or so miles away, was because there was no similar institution closer to home and even if there was one I had to have somewhere to board. Penang was a excellent solution because I could stay with my Aunt at Datok Kramat , it was the same school my dad went to and the school was within reach by a rickshaw. I was seven plus and I was very independent and a bit precocious.
In the interim dad had completed his course of studies to qualify him as a first grade dresser or nurse if you prefer to call him that. Actually he was more than a nurse (male nurse) because he had to look into the administration of the whole hospital of two large wards (male and female) capable of housing at least thirty patients. Admission was free for the estate labourers
I have been tutored by dad at home and that made my transition to school very uncomplicated. What I did at school I have no recollection whatsoever. I remember the things I did out of school hours more vividly. At weekends we would go to the pictures in the afternoon or hire bikes for a ride round the locality . I remember this incident very clearly. I was riding a small bike behind the tin smelter. I was with a friend We had gone up a steep ramp and on the descent I turned left into a side street and I was shocked to see a rickshaw in front of me,. I panicked and as I did not have much room to steer the bike out of its way I rammed right into it. Luckily no one was injured.
Sometimes I liked to have breakfast of rice and curry. I would go to a hawker stall run by an Indian muslim and ask for 5 cents worth of rice with lots of curry gravy. (lima sen nasi quah banyak-banyak). It was cheap in those days.
Mum would visit me frequently throughout that year and in December she took me home for the holidays but on the 17th of December Penang fell into the hands of the Japanese after a short spell of air attacks.