Well, A New Look [Almost]

I am trying to salvage all the comments that have been put into this blog by you, right from day 1 by moving to this new template. But I'm sorry good people, all the Comments have gone to their place of repose in the sky. You can put in your new comments now at least: just click on Comments at the bottom of the blog and (I hope) a window will pop up.

We'll have to make do with this arrangement for the time being while I ponder if we should move to another place. Your views are always welcome and your comments are precious. We haven't lost everything though, I still have all your past comments copied to my email, and going through them is like trawling through history. There's the late lamented Long Ladang, and many, many more names that no longer stop here to garce us with their company. I thank them all, and I thank you for being here still.

Farewell Ruby Ahmad

A light has been extinguished and a friend taken forever. I met Ruby Ahmad for the first time in December 2007 and that was to be the last. She was a lively, warm and kind person: a wonderful friend and a fellow blogger is no longer with us, and a good person is gone.

Ruby blogged about many things and through them she shared with us the warmth that was within her. It shocked me when I heard just minutes ago that she is gone. We came to this earth alone and we return to our Maker with our good deeds and the prayers of those who valued our brief presence on this earth. Rest in peace dear Ruby. Alfatihah.

Class of Old

The photograph I published of two ladies cycling merrily in Chendering in the mists of time and of children palying alfresco tugged many hearts. My thanks to Chorekdaggarik for the photo. My friend Ajidul sent me this paean to nostalgia:

"Foto yg deme selit dalam artikel Les bicyclettes de Chendering itu amat menarik. Ia telah mengimbaukan satu zaman yg indah yg pernah ambe lalui sewaktu kanak2 dulu. Selalunya begitulah pada hari raya . Salah satu acara yg kami buat ialah pergi berkelah di pantai . Betullah gamoknye budak2 dalam foto tu sedang bermain to nnusuk ... Sunggoh seronok bermain-main begitu bercampur lelaki dan perempuan innoncently .... ah, those happy days. Dan pada hari raya beginilah kita berebut menyewa basikal di kedai China Lugal depan kedai Pok . Bayar 20 sen boleh 2 jam . Ambe selalu pilih basikal kechil chap singa yg berwarna biru. Ada tiga buah sahaja basikal kechil yg baru sampai pada masa itu."

"The photo you have inserted into your article Les Bicyclettes de Chendering is most attractive. It harks back to a wonderful time that I myself experienced as a child. That was how we spent our Hari Raya. Among the things that we did was to go for a picnic on the beach. I think you're right: the children in the photo are playing hide and seek...How wonderful it was for the boys and girls to be playing together so innocently...ah, those happy days. On such a day we would rush to the Chinese shop called Lugal in front of Pok's shop to hire a bicycle. For 20 sen we had a bicycle for 2 hours. I always chose the smaller, blue colour Lion brand bicycle. Only three bicycles of that size had arrived in the shop then."

Another photo has arrived from Chorekdaggarik. This time it if the Kuala Ibai Malay School, Class of 1948. The headmaster then was Encik Mohammad bin Ali and I presume he is the gentleman sitting on the left.

Another photo has arrived from Chorekdaggarik. This time it if the Kuala Ibai Malay School, Class of 1948. The headmaster then was Encik Mohammad bin Ali and I presume he is the gentleman sitting on the left.

Once again, thank you Chorekdaggarik, and my apologies as Comments is still dysfunctional. If you are in the photo or know anyone in there, or have any comments to make, do drop me an email.

Er, oops...

Since my last posting I have discovered to my horror that all comments have disappeared from my blogs. I do not know how this has happened, or why. Is there a way of bringing them back? Can anyone help?
If you've tried to Comment but have found that the comments box (below) refuses to pop up, please send your comments to me directly at: awanggoneng[AT]yahoo.co.uk and I shall respond to them here.
Sorry there's nothing more I can do. Blogger.com has been no help...perhaps it's time to move on, like the man on the right.

Les Bicyclettes de Chendering

This is a snapshot from the past, as if you haven't already noticed. It hasn't been retouched to show the effects of time on memory. But the smiles are still there, and the pervading happiness and is the young lad walking in the middle of the photo wearing a songkok? Could this have been Hari Raya day?

This was afternoon, judging from the shadows, in Chendering, near the house of Cikgu Zainon Mahmud. And I am grateful to someone who will only identify himself as Chorekdaggarik, for having sent me this fascinating photo of two carefree cycling ladies and happy children at play in a village on the Trengganu shore.

Chorekdaggarik tells me that the lady cycling ahead, the one with the fetching scarf tied around her neck, is his auntie. "My father was at this time a teacher at the Kuala Ibai school," he says, "and my auntie loved to cycle in the open space around my father's house."

There is some uncertainty about the year this photo was taken. Chorekdaggarik brackets it between 1943 and 1948, but could it have been taken much later, say in the late 1950s?

When GUiT was published and the location of the house in the cover photo was discussed, I had to admit that I hadn't a clue as it was taken from a photo library. And then someone I met in London came with valuable information. The house, in Marang, is no longer there as the sea has reclaimed the area. "I know this for sure as my wife's family lived in a neighbouring house," he said.

Perhaps someone will now come and tell me about Cikgu Zainon Mahmud, and where she taught, for 'cikgu' is a teacher as we all know. Perhaps the lad with the songkok will write us an email, and the little girl seen running into the picture in the rear will do that too. And what are the children doing around the coconut tree? It looks to me like they are playing the game of to.