Imaging the dim past ----- turbulent times continued
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The feeling of insecurity was always with us. Rumours of imminent trouble remained rife. On this night we were hurriedly ushered into one of the buildings under construction to hide. The adults had wind that something was about to happen. It was late and the night was dark. Suddenly a shrill scream was heard in the distance. Then another. Half an hour later the victims, a couple of Chinese ahmas (servants) were brought to the house to be treated for stab wounds and burnt marks. They had been attacked by robbers.
Many months after that incident and soon after Evelyn’s birth we were transferred to Serdang some distance south of the administrative centre, Kulim. Dad must have been recalled to join the workforce.. We were too young to know the details. We remained in Serdang till the end of the Japanese occupation. Dad was away from home most of the time. His visits were few and far between. Nevertheless we remained in contact. One of the jobs mum had to do for him was to transport rolls of copper wires from another estate. We left very early one morning on a bullock cart with me at the driver’s seat. It took us a whole day to complete the job. On another visit he came home with a sack slung over his back. The content was made up of bundles of Japanese currency. They were not worth much.
Mum was very resourceful. She hired a plot of sawah (wetland )for growing rice . We had a constant supply of vegetable and tapioca including sweet potatoes from the garden next to the house. We also kept chickens and a solitary piglet which I had to kill for food. I was the only one who could undertake to do all the killing especially of chickens. Our living conditions were quite comfortable.
On one occasion we went for a swim in the river not far from the house. Kitty gave a loud scream to let us know that she had caught a fish. As she tried to lift it above the water she realized that it a snake. Shock horror, she threw it away and made for the river bank.
The three of us, Florence, Gilbert and me were the only ones who attended a Malay school a short distance from home. The short cut to school took us through a thick belukar (secondary forest) . We learnt Malay and Japanese and several other basic subjects. I always sat at the back of the class. Whenever we had mental sums I was one of those who could give the correct answer. The teacher would ask us to go to the front and slap the faces of all those who failed to provide the correct solution. It was common practice and widely accepted.
I was quite fluent in Japanese and I remember having a conversation with a soldier who came to the house to ask for an egg. He thought I spoke well.
Rev. Father Vendargon who later became a bishop visited us two or three times from Sungai Petani. His main means of transportation throughout the state of Kedah was his bicycle. He would stay with us for the night, serve mass the next morning and leave for another visit to his perishoners.
James was born in Serdang towards the end of the occupation.