Yesteryears by Richard Ho

Photo of Redhill Flats



A Common Past

The following post is by Richard Ho who grew up in and witnessed these tumultuous and eventful years. His piece opens up a window to that common past, we all share. Redhill or Ang Suah as it was then called was side by side with Bukit Ho Swee (Ho Swee Suah) and Or Kuay Tau, Henderson Road. These were gang infested and notorious areas but bursting with a life and spirit of their own.

Yesteryears by Richard Ho



Growing up in the years of the 1950’s and 60’s cast indelibly fond, not necessarily comfortable, memories of our boyhood and teenage years. Those times of relative poverty, under development and lack of technology curiously forced a curious mix of simplicity and innovation into most of our lives.
Cleaning up after arising usually to cock crows where I lived in true blue heartland of Redhill, where gangsters strolled with as much casualness as chickens, cows and pigs, was done with a shallow metal container of water, a small towel and a wee bit of toothpaste on a toothbrush. Rushing to the nearby primary school on foot, after a standard breakfast of bread with kaya and Milo or Ovaltine, was par everyday as no digital alarm clocks and maids were in existence then.

School was easy as the study load and competition from classmates were lackadaisical at best. Instead of projects, tuition, extra-curricular activities or any activity that taxed the mind, afternoons were spent doing corrections on schoolwork and napping. Lunch and dinner were always home-cooked as austerity was an enforced part of most housewives with working class husbands. On occasions when we managed to save a dime or two, we “splurged” on fish ball noodles, sold then at only 10 cents with soup or 20 cents for the “dry” version. That old man of a hawker would push his cart with wheels to the same spot everyday from about noon to the late afternoon.

In the evenings, it was a luxury to catch a movie at the open-air cinema that was made up a pre-determined area surrounded by canvas. Many clutching wooden, rattan or canvas stools would pay 10 cents to catch perennial favourites like Superman or Chinese gongfu master Wong Fei Hoong. Some cheated by sneaking in through some poorly tied up bottom parts of the canvas. A hopeless scrounger, I tried it once, was caught red handed and never attempted it again. The only tidbit available in those days was kachang puteh, a variety of fried nuts sold by the Indian man. Sold only at 5 cents per rolled up paper packing, it was savoured only very occasionally.

On most other nights, time was spent listening to Lei Tai Sor, the iconic Cantonese story teller over Redifussion, who commanded armies of listeners made up of housewives, some of their husbands and most of their children. On top of his legendary story telling skills, he chose exciting ancient Chinese martial arts stories that listeners then found compelling and easy to follow. Listening to pop songs in programmes anchored by famous DJs like Larry Lai was also a must, especially for “Top Tunes of the Week” and those that allowed listeners to request songs to be played for their friends and relatives.

Redhill then and now. Behind the old flats can be seen the new skyline.

The teenage growing up years were more active on account of more friends, a tad more money and arguably, higher maturity. After contributions from a group of neighbours, we bought a football which was highly usable on the medium sized field lying in the middle of three adjacent blocks of one-storey flats. I remembered once playing goalkeeper for a team that was literally camping in our opponent’s half, I caught a woman neighbor only in a black bra and panties combing her hair in the living room with the wooden windows wide open. On the slightest excuse, I had myself put on the bench after that sighting.
To the cinemas we went. It was only 50 cents at cinemas at the now defunct Great World and only a dollar on downtown cinemas such as Capitol. It was not just the movies that made some of us go to the cinemas. Cheap cigarettes at 5 cents each made puffing in darkness an adventure of sorts.

Technology slowly dawned on us. My more technically inclined elder brother self made an amplifier with very cheap parts bought from Sungei Road and together with a cheap record player, bombarded the neighbourhood with the latest pop songs by Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley and local pop group The Quests, amongst many others. Records came in singles or LPs (long playing records). A black and white television drew a fifth of the neighbourhood to our flat each evening. Then there was the rotary dial telephone which came with a circular dial that required numbers from 1 to 0 to be turned one after another. It would take a longer time to get through a number if it contained more of the 6 to 9 digits. So memorable was the phone that up to now I still the number of our first phone – 648140. Only six digits then.

All said, those carefree, careless and mostly rein-free days shaped our characters today in less definite ways than those of the following generation. School was deemed just a must-do, not a passport to a fabulous job and a highly secure future. Being from Raffles Institution, it was a shoo-in for me when I blindly applied to be a teacher. I was just asked the names of my school and myself during the 15-second interview. I got the job, of course, but just after some two weeks, I felt it was not for me. But my Mother told neighbours, “What a crazy boy! He got a job immediately after putting down his school bag and he doesn’t it.” And those six or seven others who reported to the school in Pasir Panjang also urged me to stay on. Very naively, I did and gave up my pre-university education which I regret to some extent now.

Growing up from boyhood and as a teenager during the relative poverty and under development in the 1950’s and 60’s cast indelible memories in the mind. Those of the following generation had theirs filed in a variety of technologically assisted banks. Indeed, economic progress over the years has afforded Singaporeans with the use of technology to reshape their lives in ways that were untenable to those who grew up in the leaner years.

Despite the absence of computers, cellphones and digital cameras, amongst many others, those years cast very fond memories of experiences and lifestyles that bonded familial ties, neighbourliness and friendship in stronger ways. The simple lifestyle that ran through my entire estate in the true heartland area of Redhill bonded people together naturally.

Except on rainy days, waking up in the morning was initiated by the crowing of cocks with the absence of digital clocks or maids.