Tales of us kids

Have anyone read the article written by Hanis Zulaikha regarding her childhood memories?

I read it on her instagram.

When she was young, she and her 6 siblings stayed in a cheap flat and their parents had to work really hard to support them.

So the kids took care of their younger sisters at a very young change.

So I passed my phone for hubby to read.

I said 'Wow, I thought she was from middle class family'.

So we started discussing about our childhood.

How life in those days were tougher than this era.

An average income of a family was much lower compared to now.

Hubby put down the phone 'Ala ni susah mcm I dulu ni'.

Ooooo.

I remember the tales told by his sisters about their childhood.

There were 6 of them so their father had to support the whole family but my MIL took care of kids, made kuih for extra money and etc.

Me: Oooh syg, I kecik2 dulu pun susah. We didn't have much.

Hubby: Ahhh u takyahla. U xsusah.

Me: I susahla. Dgr ni. Once, daddy took me to Pasaraya Peladang in Mergong, Alor Star. He didn't have much because it was tge end of the month. I wanted a new Luna color pencils. I only want Luna not Swan or Stabilo. It costed Rm 5 as I remember. I took it to the cashier and daddy whispered that he didn't have money to pay. So I had to put back the color pencils.

See, I was 'susah' too.

Hubby: Can u imagine, RM5 at that time seemed so big right?

Me: Tak cukup 5 rgt?hehehe. Tp zmn tu majoriti org susah. Even cikgu pun tak sesenang skrg. Tp ada kwn i lg susah.

Then one day mama came back from KL and she bought a huge Luna color pencils from Mydin.

I had the biggest color pencils set in my class.

Hahaha.Ecstatic. Everyone wanted to be my friend. Huh.

Friends:Cipahhhh!! Kami nak pinjam kaler hangpa boleh?

me:hmm boleh tapi hangpa jgn sharp na.

Friends:Cipaaah nak pinjam sharpener boleh?

me:boleh hmm tapi hangpa jgn tiup tau nanti sharpener berkarat.

At that moment husband and I shrieked hilarious with the statement. 

I wonder who started the thing about don't blow your sharpener or it will be rusted.

So...

I remember there was a boy in my classroom. I was in standard 2. His school uniform was..

hubby: yellow?

me: hehehe no.They were grey. Even on the first day of school every year, it was dirty grey. I didn't know why. But my teacher always asked for his school fees every day. And I thought why didn't he just ask his father for the fees.

One day, my class teacher got angry with him because he was kind of playful. Standard 2.

So she said,' Faisal, awak ni asyik tak tumpu perhatian saja dalam kelas. Nak jadi apa? Nanti besar awak jadi nelayan mcm bapa awak'.

The boy's expression changed immediately. He looked down at the desk and I could see tears flowing down tickling the cheeks. His father was a fisherman in Kuala Kedah. Just a small fisherman. That was why he couldn't afford the school fees.

Kesian kan?

hubby: what does he do now?

me: I don't know. I was in standard 2. I can't remember much.

Look back on the years, this generation has a different kind of challenges but the socioeconomy has improved I guess.