Birthday greetings

A belated birthday greeting to Voon Siew Nam (6th May) and Ling Liong Wei whose birthday falls on 9th May. Walter Chamber's birthday is on 15th May while Frank Apau's is on 18th May.

Birthday greetings were a rarity at that time. Teachers did not come in to "sayang" the birthday boys and girls like today's teachers. My son went to a school in Tukau and his form teacher helped each child to celebrate his or her birthday. That was a good year for him. Parents chipped in by sending boiled eggs and a small birthday cake. In the 1980's teachers were trained to instill moral values through activities like celebrating birthdays and sharing of gifts during festive seasons.

In our days at Tanjong, many of us did not even know our birthdays! When we registered ourselves, we brought torn and tattered birth certificates (some did not have any I remember) and our Principal could not figure out the birth dates. Actually many of us who were born in the forties and fifties did not actually have birthdates because our fathers were illiterate and they did not understand the importance of birthdates.

To all those who celebrate birthdays, you are lucky to know exactly when you were born to your mothers, I can say Happy Birthday always.

But to all those who were born but would never know the exact dates of your birth, we belong to another faraway culture of yesteryears. (sigh) We have other things to worry about and value. On the bright side, we can be as young as we wish, or as old as we wish!

More to come.