The house, up the hill from the school I was to attend in the year I was 7… the scary big man in red and white coming up the road at the side of the house…

The setting: early 1960s… The place: Jalan Chantik, PJ

Months later, a fierce colourful dragon jumping up and down, with its head bouncing from left to right and back and very loud sounds surrounding it… I didn’t know that dragons were real…

The same road saw a very old, small made man, carry a green table on his white, bandaged head. Daddy called him to come in our gate, which was not locked. This man was so black…he must have got burnt by the sun because we see him come past our house in the sun… His table had many small compartments, with several different nuts. As he walked along the road, he used to shout on top of his voice, “Kachang Putih! Kacang Putih!”.

I also thought he was dressed funny. First, he had the white bandage around his head. Then, he did not wear pants. He had a white cloth… like a skirt…

Then, there was an aunty, who wore a funny hat. She carried a long, wooden pole on her shoulder. At the ends of the pole, on each side; hung round baskets….

Another lady, a nurse I think, because was always dressed in white, yet I think she may have just finished school as she carried a rattan / cane basket. But mummy used to buy soap from her. Maybe, after school, she sold soap part-time.

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