Thursday 19 November 2009

The Swinger (CsH)

I am certain there are many out there like me - who love swings. You cannot tell any child to keep away from swings and slides. We were fortunate to have both at our Pasir Panjang English School.




The swings are under the tree to the left and the slides are on the right.



This is a photo of the same tree taken on the 6th of November.


Somehow it was usually the girls who preferred the swings and slides. Perhaps it was because the rambunctious boys chose to create their own wild games.


You are a master-swinger if you are daring enough to stand on the seat while you are still swinging. You begin by placing your bum on the seat and kick your feet on the ground to give you momentum. You keep on rocking forward and backward to increase the speed and 'length' of your motion. Then you carefully move your body upwards so as to enable you to stand up while slowly pushing your arms upwards on the 2 sides and from then on the sky's the limit. Off you flew and suddenly the world became a different place , the view grew more and more expansive from the increased height- and the air moving you or you moving the air filled your lungs and made you laugh and scream out loud at one and the same time. WHEE!!! I can still feel that exhilarating soaring of the spirit today. Oh decrepit old age! The landing and getting back to earth was easy except for one problem. The cheeky boys (and girls) would be screaming too with yellings of "I can see your knickers! No shame, no shame!"


And talking about knickers - mother warned us about playing on the slides because it seemed that some girls had fallen and were badly injured. But I ignored that warning - how could she ever have found out my disobedience? Well, she did because she found the evidence when she was washing my knickers which had turned discoloured and marked from the constant friction on the slides. So kena bantai (received a spanking) , but it was worth it.


This is a well-known Malay Nursery Rhyme about swings which I learned in my Malay Language lesson at PPES.

I love the last verse of this Rhyme - and here is the gawky translation.
Swing as fast as you can
Until the day's end
As many pass you by
You are left alone high and dry.

Some may consider the last two lines sad and lonely. But it's quite blissful to be a solitary swinger - when you can combine unalloyed joy and solitary thoughts.



And how we cried when we listened to this song of a beautiful girl singing and riding on her swing - from the movie Bawang Puteh, Bawang Merah.
Especially the last line Aku-lah anak yatim piatu ".I am a child without a mother or father" not just simply an orphan. Isn't that the one big fear of any child?





But then life is littered with swings and roundabouts.

6 comments:

Helas木村 said...

haha... that time MAYBE the boys r playing a game call Police and Thief.. hehe.... and usually kantoi kuat main di sekolah when mum check the collar of the uniform.. if the collar got brown line.. haha then mum call and SWING also.. if not swing with a belt, swing with hanger and.. worth it until now..

well life goes on.. (^_^)

Kopral Matsah said...

Here's another one that I remember..
Buai tinggi tinggi,
Sampai atas atap
Belum tumbuh gigi,
Dah pandai baca kitab.

Sung, by wishful parents while their toddlers are on the swings.
Were there see-saws in your school..where one or many sat at each end of the plank balanced at the centre and each side moved up and down alternately. Then the naughty one will slide away when he's down causing the opposite fellow to come down with a massive thud and a sore backside.

anak si-hamid said...

Helas,
I think you've got a wonderful mum. A little spanking does one no harm. Just look at you-quite a nice kid-a credit to your mum and dad.
And for that comment - can belanja tosay or not -when we get back?

Kopral Matsah,
We were not so lucky, no see-saw. Were you one of those little horrors who tipped your see-saw mates?
Yes I remember that little rhyme. My mother used to sing that to her grandchildren. She had hopes for them - her own children were too much of a handful!

imsunnysideup said...

Oh---those two swing. They don't build them like they used to. They were so high and the chains supporting the seats are so long we can actually really swing them high....well, at our size then , we probably thought they were high. ...and those on the swing....it was heroic, sort of, to jump off the swing when its at the peak height. What stupid ideas we had then ha !

I remember those who could not get the swing would climb up the supporting post right to the top.
Thats probably why they only have those really hugh trees---no way we could have climbed them .....unless it was Howward the coward !

Anonymous said...

Aaaa, the beautiful latifah omar. Notice, she is half naked, well ok not. Berkemban. My mum says there wasn't a ruckus over this sort of thing back then.
tj

anak si-hamid said...

Anonymous Dec. 2,
Thank you for the comment. I think during the times of our fathers and grandfathers people were less neurotic and narrow minded - and less obsessed with the state of one's garments. There was greater trust in people to behave properly and decently without being 'supervised' by Big Brothers in jubahs.
We even had a word to describe that mode of clothing - like you said- berkemban.
And Latifah Omar looks gorgeous-one of my favourite heroines, other than my number one Zaiton.