Friday, 10 December 2010

GEMS from MAZNAH's AUTOGRAPH BOOKS. (CsH)

It is  the equivalent of a Facebook.  Near the end of each school term, especially during the final year of Primary School  we would be given a present of an Autograph Book for the purpose of collecting quips and quotes  from friends, relatives and especially our teachers. 

It became quite a challenge to fill up your book and I do feel for the teachers who were chased by 30 to 40 pupils for their wise thoughts and signatures.  The seeds of the paparazzi  scramble were sown then.  Secretly, I think the teachers felt quite honoured to be asked.  And they would feel quite insecure if no pupil went up to them for 'contributions'.

Oh how I envied my sister for her TWO autograph books from 1953 to 1954.  I've been leafing through those pages again and again .  I knew almost all of her friends in her books.  Her teachers were mine as well and of course we 'shared' the same relatives!

I am sure she would like to share her treasured collection with my readers.  It is almost a historical document of the social life and relationships,  of language and communication  from 60 years ago.  And mind you, children then could write complete sentences and spell exact words instead of  LOL,  gr8 and mwah mwah!!

There were messages of friendship like:

                         and
                     


                                       
There's also a dose of good advice like
                                                


I especially love these cheeky recommendations.
                                            

                                          

And of course the ultimate dream and ambition for all young lasses!
                                   


And here's one of my favourite poems .  It seemed that our teacher Mr Thakurta also liked it a lot.
                  
                                        
This very mature advice  came from the brightest girl in my sister's class.  She became a dentist and she had the 'privilege'  of tending to my teeth several times.
                         


But these home-made  poems are the real gems.  Today it would be a difficult job to discover such innocent DIY pomes.
                                  
                                    


I shall end on my cousin Rohani's note.  More treasures later.

                                                          






                                                                                                                                                          











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8 comments:

  1. Awang Goneng10 December 2010 at 20:17

    I have a pen,
    My pen is blue,
    I have a friend
    My friend is you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. anak si-hamid11 December 2010 at 00:55

    Thank you AG,

    That's good one.

    In the middle of the ocean
    There lies a rock.
    On it was written
    Forget-me-not.

    Try to beat that!

    Hope you're keeping away from the angry young 'uns in your town.

    ReplyDelete
  3. cermin2mirror11 December 2010 at 02:38

    That was really a beautiful words in the past.
    Sincerely,I tend to follow the trends of the youngsters of this age when I started to write.Mostly abbreviations as per their SMS.Maybe the world is running fast now and the trend in writing is by using all those abbreviations such as GR8,LOL,BRB, etc etc.We dont have the SMS at that time and we only have paper and pen.
    Its great to see all those write up.Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. anak si-hamid11 December 2010 at 03:35

    cermin2mirror,

    I'm so glad that someone who moves with the present pace of life appreciates these period pieces from my sister's and my past.

    Life maybe slower then but I think we managed to achieve much more in our relationships with all and sundry.

    Thank you for visiting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr Bojangles12 December 2010 at 11:09

    Or,

    drink hot coffee
    drink hot tea
    burn your lips
    and think of me?

    Even stretching way back to the long bygone days, when I was in the cadet corps, is one which I still remember from the school cricket captain and mentor of sorts.

    Learn to march straight, he encouraged, and you'll soon be Field Marshal; after all Hitler too was a corporal once...

    In the days when German Panzer units and Stuka dive bombers were the rage in war movies, and the Desert Fox (Wüstenfuchs) a hero to adolescents, I suppose he meant it as a compliment.

    Thanks for a good read on this lazy Sunday evening.

    ReplyDelete
  6. anak si-hamid13 December 2010 at 08:21

    Thank you Mr Bojangles,

    I'm glad you did not become a Field Marshall otherwise you wouldn't have the time or inclination to do your thoughtful comments.

    Glad you found the posting a good read on a 'lazy Sunday'. I prefer Calvin and Hobbes!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. ph13 December 2010 at 12:50

    During my time, the favorite was,

    FRANCE-Friend Remains And Never Can End

    ReplyDelete
  8. anak si-hamid14 December 2010 at 02:30

    Thank you ph,

    I also used such acronyms but you were all so much younger.

    How come these remained unchanged?

    Remember the story of the woman who sent a condolence message to a friend and she wrote LOL at the end - thinking it meant Lots of Love? She didn't know that it spelled Laugh Out Loud!

    You have been warned!

    ReplyDelete