50s

Dedicated To All those Born in 1950's & 1960's...

Without any maids, our mothers cooked , cleaned and took care of the whole family. They still had time to chat with neighbours.

Everyone had candy floss, colored drinks and shaved ice with syrups. Diabetes was rare and aspirin cured all illness.

We walked or rode adult bicycle to school. The richer ones had 5 speed gear installed. A Raleigh bicycle was around $80 and we always had problems with our brakes.

School pocket money was only 10 to 20 cents. A vege pudding cost 10 cents. Prefects were a fearful lot and more fearful than the teachers.

The people wearing helmets were firemen and Trishows were a popular public transport. A ride back home usually cost less than $1.

Ride in a private taxi is rare. Taking a bus was luxury - we either cycled or walked everywhere.

We drank water from the tap and NOT from bottles. Plastic wasn't around yet, water tumbler to school was glass bottle. Refrigerator was a luxury item and food are cooked with firewood or kerosene stove. Washing machine? No no, all clothes were hand washed - wooden wash board was the way to go.

We spend hours outdoor under the sun, playing football or flying kites, without worrying about UV ray. It did not affect us.

We roamed free catching crickets and did not worry of Aedes mosquitoes.

With mere 5 pebbles, girls played endless fun games everyday and with a tennis ball, boys ran like crazy for hours.

When it rained or flooded, we swam the drains & rivers.

We shared one bottle of soft drink with friends, NO ONE actually worried about catching anything.

We ate salty, sweet & oily foods, bread had real butter and condensed milk. We enjoyed sweet coffee, tea, and "ice kacang" but we were not obese because....... WE WERE OUT PLAYING ALL THE TIME!!

During holidays, we left home in the morning and played all day till hunger drove us back home. When needed, our parents knew how to find us. NO ONE actually watched over us and WE ALWAYS WERE SAFE.

WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONES BUGGING US. We rode bikes or walked over to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

We did not have air conditioning, Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no sense surround sound, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We have not heard of the word "Bumiputra". We only knew our friends by names.

In badminton, we did not change the shuttle as long as it can get in flight. Regardless of how many feathers were left on the shuttle, our game continued and we used wooden racket.

Match-boxes were always "chilly" or "king kong" brand...to own a box of matches from a hotel was something great.

Cigarettes were Matterhorn, Consulate, Rifle, White horse ... 60 cents a pack.

Regardless of whether we could afford one, we always knew Maths tuition was $10 a month.

Austin, Morris Minor and Volkswagen beetle were on the roads. Japanese cars were considered "inferior". There were no traffic lights, only roundabouts.

The Beatles were the most popular band. John Wayne's westerns on Sunday Cheap Matinees were 30 cent per show. Shaw brothers Chinese movie ruled the cinemas.

Malay weddings had joget sessions in the night, it was the only time Chinese men ask the Malay lady for a dance.

Ketupat were NEVER plastic wrapped.

We played "gasing", made our own kites & had kite fighting with glass glued threads and made wooden guns & used seeds from plants for bullets.

Beedin was free…easily harvested from bushes. "Kambong" was 30 cents a "kati" and nobody wanted.

When the Circus came to town, everybody went to see it. It was the best LIVE show.

Usually we did not have to BUY fruits; they were self planted or given by neighbours or friends.

We hardly ever heard of any robbery and thieves only go for chickens, ducks, shoes or bicycles.

One mother easily took care of 6 children. Today even 7 children would struggle to take care of one mother.

It will take a book to write all down.

The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. Our parents actually sided with the law ! Nobody knew about child psychology!

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned ......HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as a kid before things took a turn in the 70s.

P/S. I ain't the author of this message.