Brewster Road, Hugh Low Street, Tiger Lane, Leech Street, Clayton Road, Anderson Road, Hume Street, Fair Park…
Ipoh folks would know what these roads are about, but sadly the younger generations are not knowing much about these… as the road names are being changed to something else instead.
I am always pissed when I heard that a major road name is being changed. The local councils always used the excuse of wanting to show more local contents with the road names… but what they have done is erasing part of the local heritage that we have.
Like it or not, English colonisation has dominated a large portion of our country history… there is no point denying the fact, and changing the road names doesn’t mean changing the past.
Sad thing is… the name changing isn’t going to end. It is still happening in Ipoh, KL and all over Malaysia. Nobody seems to care though…
Some of my childhood taboos…
Cutting nails at night
We will kick on something real hard if we cut our nails at night.
Finger pointing to the moon
We will wet our bed if we point the fingers to the moon.
Pointing chopstick on someone
The person that was pointed will need to poo pretty soon (a good way to cure constipation?)
Whistling at night
Some dirty stuff will haunt you if you whistle at night… OR
Snakes will come after you if you whistle at night.
Life is weird.
I lived in a small village for large part of my childhood. Animals and wildlife were often seen those days… snakes, bats, squirrels, giant lizards, chameleon, various kind of birds and insects, and off course the mighty rats.
After years of intensive development, the jungle nearby my village was turn into housing zone. The wild animals, birds and insects are probably extinct from the area… but the rat population still remains as dense as ever.
I didn’t need to worry much about the menace of rats since I moved to Kuala Lumpur about a decade ago. One of the distinct benefits of living in higher floors (condominium, apartment etc.) is the absence of rats… I stayed on the 4th floor in my university hostel, then on the 5th floor of an apartment rented with other friends, and the past 5 years on the 7th floor of a condominium.
I can’t recall any rats encounter over these years in those places; insects were rare as well.
Things are no longer the same though… after I moved to a terrace house last weekend. I haven’t seen a rat in view yet, but their damage has already been seen in just a week… urine, shit and bite marks.
After years of living without rats, I suddenly found myself naive and stupid in fighting this disturbing creature, but things need to be done… the battle begins, and it’s going to be a stinky one.
I believe that all parents will favour one kid over the other(s), consciously or subconsciously… no matter how hard the parents tried, they will be certain favouritism among their kids.
When I was in teen-age, some of my friends seemed to have serious problems with parental favouritism… most of them are from traditional Chinese families where boys are normally more favourable than girls. One of my friends actually ran away from home because of the unbearable discrimination.
The perceptions changed when everyone grew older… those friends that rant about parental favouritism are now maintaining healthy relationship with their families; even the ran-away friend is still keeping in contact with her parents. Perhaps they have accepted the fact that favouritism will always happen, and that it is not really a big deal.
I am lucky that my parents have tried their best to share equal love… there were still favouritism that they might not consciously aware of, but I’m ok with it… knowing that I am loved, what else do I need to ask for?
