Taking a stroll down memory lane

I had a chance to visit this place called Time Tunnel at Cameron Highlands recently.  It brought back so many memories of my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.  About 2,000 artefacts including photos and newspaper clippings, are displayed, some date back to about a century ago whilst some were those from the post-war era. 

I salute the owner of this museum for hoarding these priceless memorabilia for the viewing of the public. He should be proud that his eccentricity is admired and earning him not only some income but also a respectable reputation. One wonders where he managed to find space to store them. Mind you, he even keep stuff such as bicycles, barber chairs, counters, benches, wheelbarrows and even part of handrail of staircase, not to mention furniture such as shelves, stools and tables.

The following exhibits during my time attracted my interest most.

One of my favourite pastime was playing with paper dolls.  How basic were our toys then compared to the glamourous Barbie dolls in this era?  Not having enough money to buy the paper dresses or costumes did not deter us (my sisters and I) from our passion.  We resorted to making our own clothings, often creatively drawing the latest fashion to don the pretty and sexy looking models.  We actually treasured much more of our own custom-made clothings than those we bought. 

Born into a poor family but with conservative upbringing, we were not allowed to go outdoor to play. We used to live in a 3-storey flat with a rooftop.  Our boundary was up to the rooftop where there was a vacant and open space for us to play.  Hence, we still got to enjoy the s-called 'outdoor'.  Roller-skating was the in thing then.  I still remember we could only afford a pair of roller-skates which meant we (three of us girls) had to take turn playing. Of course, this sharing often ended with squabbles amongst the sisters.

Yummy! Sarsi and Fanta Grape (not in this picture) were our favourite soft drinks.  Why were we so crazy over these soft drinks?  We were not so lucky to be able to afford soft drinks anytime we wanted.  Festivals such as the Chinese New Year or Hari Raya Puasa celebration seemed to be the only occasions we could savour these carbonated beverages.  Not forgetting the once-in-a-blue-moon wedding dinner where we could have almost free-flow of such drinks.  Nowadays, kids are so lucky that they can have these drinks anytime they demand for them.  It's not surprising to see most households stocking up these drinks too.

Yay! a telephone.  It was only during my upper secondary years that our family could afford subscribing to a telephone line.  Prior to this privilege, we had to queue up forever for our turn to make calls at public telephones.  Due to budget constraint, we started a reimbursement system.  Each caller had to pay for the calls they made by paying (10 sen for each call) right after the calls.  There was a container for the coins placed next to the telephone.  If my memory doesn't fail me, I could recall we even started a more organised system.  A record book was place at the side of the telephone.  Each call had to be recorded by the caller, with the caller, telephone number and duration clearly jotted down. 

The monies collected were never able to cover the bills each time.  Again, a lot of finger-pointing resulted as to who made the most calls or longest calls or to mobile phone numbers.  This is the 'disadvantage' of being born to a big family. We never failed to be heard.