There were basically 4 cinemas in the town – Odeon,
Sultanah, Rex and Cathay. Rex and Cathay were relatively far away, so we had to
take a trishaw when we wanted to see a movie. Sultanah was old and the seats
were infested with bugs. I remember to our horror that the bugs followed us
home and my mother went through a rampage killing them off with DDT. Odeon was
the best because it was near our house.
Going to the cinema was a treat especially when my
father went along. There were no tickets for children, so if the cinema was
fully packed, I had to sit on my father’s knee. I could also have a bar of
chocolate or a slice of apple. The apple was especially nice as it was placed
on a block of ice and had a skewer pierced through it. We did not have a
refrigerator then, so anything that was cold was a novelty. The apple was also
salty as the hawker had dipped it in salt to prevent oxidisation. However, when
my mother brought us to the cinema, we were not allowed to buy chocolates or
fruit because they were imported and expensive. Instead we had a bag of melon
seeds which would go a long way through the show.
Movies in those days were not rated.
I practically watched anything that my parents wanted
to watch, from horror movies to Shakespeare’s plays like Macbeth and Taming of
the Shrew. My mother loved ‘Oliver!’ a
1968 British musical drama film directed by Carol Reed. She particularly liked
Ron Moody who played Fagin because she thought he was a brilliant actor. She
read the Mandarin subtitles while I enjoyed looking at the costumes, the
scenery as well as the handsome actors and actresses. That was the beginning of
my love for English literature although much of the dialogue would have been
lost on me because of the thick British accent.
There was one particular movie that I never quite
understood and found it terribly boring. All I remembered was a man walking up
and down the sea shore, reminiscing.
It was David Copperfield, the 1969 version, directed by Delbert Mann and starred Robin Phillips in the title role
and Ralph Richardson as Micawber.
So I watched it again
on Youtube and it was really nostalgic especially when infused with the memory
of me sleeping through the movie and my mother having to carry me home.
These are the lovely
things of our childhood.
It is a pity the human mind cannot remember
all the good stuff of the past. It would be quite a journey if I could go
through the diaries that I had written or the stuff that I had made from popsicle
sticks and match boxes. All lost because of the moving of houses.
There were also very
few photographs then because to own a camera or to go to the photo studio was
quite a big thing.
It is strange how time
creeps up on you – going through childhood, then the teenage years before
becoming an adult and then having a family of your own. Sometimes we forget how
fast time flies until it hits us that we have actually gone through so many
days, weeks and years.
For some there is a
favourite segment to call ‘the best years of my life’. It is difficult for me
to identify which years are better because with every season, there are
precious memories. I thought my childhood was wonderful until I experienced the
excitement of being a teen. Then I thought my university years were the best,
only to realise that nothing beats the joy of being a mother. Now that the
children are adults themselves, I wonder what new things will I experience
next?
Ray Bradbury in Dandelion Wine
says, “I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now,
let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't
forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that.”
If you ask me what I came into
this life to do, I will tell you using Emile Zola’s words: I
came to live out loud. It is to stay true to my principles, to live and give
passionately and to experience new things. Most of all it is to be at peace and
to love my oldest friend, someone who has been with me since birth, someone who
has walked with me in my shoes, someone whom I call, ‘Myself’.
This is the beginning
of a new year. I have lived through many ‘new’ years and I will not take for
granted that I’m going to live many more. I have experienced love and sadness,
joy and pain and as long as there is breath, I will be awash with emotions and
feelings and thoughts and memories.
Life is a beautiful
gift.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA 8 JANUARY 2017
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/01/202682/life-beautiful-thing
