When I see my teenager son seated at the computer table, I am transported back to the days when I was his age. How different were the activities which we had indulged in compared with the present generation. While the youths of today spend most of their time in front of their computers, engaged in endless chat-room conversations or online games, their counterparts in days of yore did just the opposite.
Even though 40 years have come to pass, I still have vivid recollections of my days spent under the sun. Though we did not have computers, Play Stations and handphones, boredom never featured in our vocabulary. I hail from a small town nestled between the hilly terrain bordering Kedah and Perak. I remember that every outdoor activity that my peers and I engaged in came complete with an unwritten and unique set of rules. The timing and duration of every popular pursuit that we indulged in seemed to follow a chronological order, like the seasons.
For instance, there would come particular time of the year when we find ourselves suddenly playing with tops. Every child would then go in search of suitably-sized tree branch. With a folding knife in hand, he would slice off the wood bit then be hammered carefully into the tapered end. The nail head would be snipped off with pincer, after which it would be honed to a sharp point with aid of a file.
The so called "top season" had turned some of us into experts in making our own tops. However, for the inept ones, they had to settle for a less elaborate design which could be made by driving the whole length of panel nail right through the middle of a pinang seed.
As for the rope, the free end would be glued using rubber latex to keep it from fraying. The other end would be knotted and secured with a bottle cap to act as a stop when spinning the top. When interest in top-spinning waned, another game would magically surface to take its place. It could be playing with bottle caps, flattened with a hammer and with a loop of thread inserted through two holes punched into the center of the caps. Using the thread, the metallic cap would then be spun at top speed to sever the thread of an opponent.
This game would then give way to yet another popular interest which involved lining up flattened cigarette boxes in a row on the ground, only to be mowed down lalter using pipes of rounded cement slaps flung from a distance. Another favourite pastime was collecting rubber seeds and turning them into minirattlers with dried stems of coconut fronds, bent and inserted through the middle of the seeds.
We discovered, too, that when the green fronds were twirled into a tapered spiral form and blown with mouth, beautiful high pitched as well as buzzing sounds would emanate from the large hollow end. Other times would be spent on fashioning our own slingshots from the twigs of guava trees or shaping and pasting our own kites from sliced bamboo shoots.
And yet there were some who enjoyed catching colourful dragonflies by their tails, or plucking the green pointed leaves off hibiscus plants wherein could be found the tiny "fighting" spiders.
Other more adventurous indulgences include swimming in rivers and cooling oneself under a roaring waterfall. The bolder ones would wander into jungle fringes to collect berries which were eaten on the spot. Some would venture into soggy softness of padi fields to catch vibrant-coloured fighting fish, at the risk of being bitten by leeches. Having the nerve to peel off leeches lodged between the toes was nothing to shout about.
As for girls, they filled their free time playing seven stones, rope skipping and hopping on the airplane shaped square boxes scrawled crudely with twigs on the ground. Another favourite pastime was collecting the tiny bright red seeds of Flame of the Forest. They girls played with the seeds by throwing them into the air, and catching them with the back of their palms.
Origami was another engaging pursuit. The kids took delight in folding pieces of paper into attractive shapes. With so many varied activities to keep us occupied, we had so much fun. We grew up strong, healthy, high-spirited and with treasure trove of memories.
Sad to say, if nothing is done to preserve these pursuits, a time will come when they will be forgotten or at best, be relegated to inconspicuous corner of the National Museum.
