My family story#2 - My mother Part 2

My mom was a young mother and she had to quit her job as a nurse to take care of us. From two children the family grew to seven kids with my arrival in 1961. Must be tough on my dad to support a big family like ours on his small HA salary.

So, what was life with mom like? Ho ho, if dad was the stern one, mom was the fierce one. If you were ever in the wrong, got a scolding was alright, got a pinch on your tummy was bad and a slap was the worst. If she ever got into some disagreement with dad, her shouts would be the winner.

The good side of her was, she was good at cooking and baking and her passion for plants and flowers. In the days when eating out was so uncommon, we had all our meals home-cooked by mum. We never run short of vanilla butter cakes and Hari Raya cookies were all home-made.

Under my mom's orchids shed.

The garden would be filled with many kinds of plants and flowers like daisies, orchids, hibiscus and roses. Whenever we went to Ipoh to visit friends or relatives, she would always pester her Abang Mat (that’s what she called my dad) to stop at the many pottery shops along the Kuala Kangsar Road. We also would make a regular visit to the various plant nurseries around Taiping.  When we had a regular gardener (he came like once or twice a week), we even had our own vegetable patch. The land where our house was at Asamkumbang was not suitable for durians (sandy, former tin mining land) but mangoes and rambutans grew well.

Since my mom was a regular customer, many pottery and nursery owners knew her. As a former TMGS girl, she had friends from all races. The ones I remembered as her best friends were one Mrs Chin and Mrs Pillay.

Despite our house was situated on a former tin-mining land, there was quite a number of “wild-life” abounds. During the early years, there were snakes (usually young cobras) that seem to seek shelter among the flower pots. There was also the usual appearance of the monitor lizard and several species of birds. The birds commonly seen around the house were the tekukur, merbok, merbah and the burung “boot-boot”. Others were the Brain Fever Bird,  Ground Sparrow, Minors and House Sparrows. Of course, during the nights, you could here the calls from the “tong-tong” bird.

My eldest brother had set a few traps to capture a few of these birds alive.  We kept them in bird-cages. The few that he had caught were three Merboks and two “barau-barau”. We also bought a small aviary to keep the few Merbahs that my brother had caught. My mom would talk to the birds as if they were little children. Since I was the youngest and the only one still living with her, so, it was my duty to feed the birds and wash the cages.

One Saturday, the officers from Jabatan Mergastua (Wildlife Department) came to our house. They informed us that keeping those birds were against the law. They issued a fine and advised my parents to release the birds. I could not remember how much was the fine but my poor dad had to go to Batu Gajah to settle it (yes, the Perak State Wildlife Department was located in Batu Gajah). After that, we just released the birds from their cages and my mother cried.

Later on, my mom (with the gardener’s and the maid’s help) began raising chickens, ducks and Guinea fowl.  Of course, I had to help in feeding them and also was the one who had to catch them when we need fresh chicken meat.

My 12th birthday. Mom and dad, standing behind me.

To be continued.