My Home Town

My Home Town
By Lintang bob Yong
“I took a little trip to my home town…………….” I sang as I drove.
Those catchy lyrics of Paul Anka’s song reminded me that I must, no matter how busy I am, make a visit to the village where I have spent one third of my life time. My home town is in the state of Selangor and about 20 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur City.
Being busy like anyone else, I have postponed the trip more often than not; even though the place is accessible by easy means of transportation.
My late father, a tin-smith emigrated from China 75 years ago, set up his business in Salak South (now called Salak Selatan ). I was born in this tiny township where all residents were later resettled in a fenced up village, named Salak South New Village. This resettlement was orchestrated by the British Administration during the ‘emergency period’ and is situated just five kilometres away from my birth place.
“I only stopped just to look around………..” I continued singing.
The village I knew has changed beyond recognition and I felt like a total stranger in it. The name has been changed to ‘Kampung Baru Salak Selatan’. The old road leading to the village from a trunk road was no longer there. Instead, I found myself driving along a high-way, named Sungei Besi Highway and I had to navigate myself to find the slip road that leads to the entrance of the village. The notorious landmark; a wooden movie theatre which was then the centre of the villagers’ entertainment has disappeared. This made it more difficult for me to locate my late father’s shop which was just a stone throw away from the theatre. As a teenager, I frequented the theatre often.
Eventually, I found my bearing and stopped by a row of seven wooden shop houses. Shop numbered 2 was where our family stayed and I had great memories of my neighbours’ children as my playmates. We used to play under the cherry tree in front of the shop. The shop was sold after the death of my parents. The cherry tree was gone and the shop numbered 2 had made way for a three-storied concrete building. My childhood friends are also no longer staying there. The rest of the shops, looking the same as they were; though the owners and businesses had since changed hands many years ago are still standing. One particular famous medical shop, known as Thien Teck Tong is still around. I met up with the youngest son whose father was a Chinese sinseh and learned that he has taken over the business after the death of his old man. There was also a bicycle repair shop, the business of which is now run by the grand children and they have turned it into a motorcycles repair shop. I remember that there were also two sundries shops but the businesses are no longer operating now.
Wanted to look around more, I drove along those roads that I used to hang around with friends. In the olden days there were not many motor vehicles on the road so it was relatively safe to play along the roads. Sometimes we cycled to the nearby ponds and caught fighting fish. During school holidays, we even climbed the adjacent hill to the other sides of it.
The birds were singing………..
Continued my journey, I could see some of the houses look the same and familiar but many of the wooden houses are rebuilt with bricks and concrete. I felt sad when my memories flashed back to the times I spent my childhood days with friends playing in their houses. Though I felt a sense of guilt and regrets for not keeping in contact with them, my heart was singing and wanting to revisit my home town again, perhaps with luck, I might be able to meet up with some of my childhood friends.
And so the music, it goes on and on………….