Essays

When I think back about my childhood, many vivid memories spring to my mind. Some are pleasurable while some are painful. Regardless of the quality I attach to these memories, they constitute the early experiences of my life and they help to make me the person that I am today.

The most vivid memory that I have is about the time I fell from a coconut tree. Though I fell from about three feet, I dislocated my elbow. I can still recall the process of falling and the immense pain and discomfort afterwards. I was about five at that time. That accident makes me extra careful whenever I climb a tree now. A repeat of a bad experience is definitely not welcome.

As I grew older, I remember sitting side-saddle on the horizontal bar of my elder brother's bicycle while he pedalled us towards a small farm nearby- There we would feed ourselves on the way back. I had to watch out for the police because my brother told me that I if were to be caught riding side-saddle the police would arrest me and put me in jail. Now I know that he was just frightening me to be on the alert. He was too lazy to watch out for the police himself.

My elder brother taught me many things. I learned to make flyable kites and spinning tops. In addition, we would go around fishing, Catching fish had its ups and downs. Ups when we managed to catch a small amount of fish, and downs when we became the victims of water leeches, Ugh! Just thinking of them now makes me feel creepy. The first time I saw two black slimy leeches struck onto my legs, alt I could do was scream. I was in utter panic until my brother came to rescue me by removing the leeches. This was no easy task. He had to put saliva onto the head of the leeches before he could manage to pull them from my leg. The places where the leeches had bitten bled for some time. Later on, I learned to remove the leeches myself. I also learned to recognize the approach of these yellow-bellied bloodsuckers thus minimizing my contact with them. It is not a pleasurable experience, this attack by leeches. I know a friend who would testify to this. He did not know that he was bitten until his hand became swollen to about four times its original size.

We learned to respect the living creatures in the countryside- No single living being ' rules nature. We are the hunters and the hunted at the same time. The most important thing is to recognize our position.

Later on my elder brother went overseas for further studies. I miss him but fortunately I had a group of friends living in the neighborhood. We would play all sorts of games and go exploring all sorts of places. We were lucky to live at the fringe of town where the natural surroundings were not destroyed yet. Now the streams and farm are gone, the victims of polluted drain that was once a stream of cool clear water brimming with life. No longer can we hear the call of the birds and animals. Instead we hear impatient blast of car horns and the roar of bulldozers churning up the once beautiful land. I mourn the destruction of the living bountiful land and the subsequent erection of nameless houses all arranged in neat sterile ' rows. I wonder what sort of childhood memories the children living in these houses will have.

As years rolled by, my friends and I grew up. Most of them have left the neighborhood for more lucrative jobs in the big cities. Some of us remained over here. We have lost our childhood. We are like strangers to one another now, for we have our separate lives to live. The only thing that binds us together is the fact that we share the same childhood memories, memories we will always treasure.