CHAPTER 21 : THE FAMILY HOUSE

The present house as the younger children (aka grandchildren) know was not the original house. The house had underwent changes at least 3 times. According to my mother, the first house was barely a shack. The walls were made from abandoned scraps of planks and corrugated zinc. The thatched roof was just a thin layer of attap and whenever it rained, one had to scramble to find pots to hold the rain water leaking down. The door was narrow and low and one had to stoop to enter or exit the house. The living room, kitchen and dining area was just in the same room. Curtains were used to separate the living room and the bedroom. A few stools stood as furniture. The floor was just dirt floor.

Mun with my eldest brother outside the 'improved' house

As the family fortune improved, several changes were made to improve the house. The first change was to  raise the height of the house. Better quality planks were used for the walls and the door was bigger and higher (so no need to stoop). The kitchen was moved to the eastern part of the room, leaving the front as living and dining. A table was added. The floor was dirt floor. I remembered this house. There were large covered urns used to store water. and I used to sit on top of the cover of an urn and watch mum as she cooked.

Things improved further and the kitchen was moved to the back of the house. Now the dining area was also moved next to the kitchen. The old kitchen became grandma's bedroom (and I was put to sleep with her). The front of the house became the focal point for family activities. A marble table was added and there were high back chairs in addition to the stools. Now the floor was cement rendered. The roof still leaked whenever it rained.

Sometime in the late 50s, there was a major renovation. The house had more rooms added. The architecture of the house was like the ancient Chinese design. The living room had been enlarged. The back of the house had 2 air wells, with a corridor between the air wells. One air well was used for washing clothes and bathing the children. I remembered mother bathing us there. The other air well was used in the preparation of food. The corridor led to the kitchen and dining. One disadvantage of this design was that the kitchen and dining extended so far back that one would not be able to hear anything when visitors or travelling salesmen came a calling. Another disadvantage was the air wells. Whenever it rained, rain would slosh down the air well and wetting the corridor, making it very slippery. I cannot recall the countless times I slipped and fell each time it rained. So later, each time it rained, my brother and I had to wait at one end of the corridor until an adult came to guide us to the other end. My uncle's room was right at the end of the house, next to the dining area. We spent countless hours in his room playing with his records. That was the time when the "Happy Library" was mooted.....

Now all those changes were initiated by grandfather and probably paid for by him too. When grandfather handed the business to my father, the latter had more control on how the money was to be invested and spent. A few years later (in the early 60s), father laid plans to further improve the house. It was a total makeover. I observed him going through the plans with grandfather. We moved to our neighbour's house - lock, stock and barrel. The old house was torn down and work began. Father bought the materials and engaged some Malay builders. They were skilled craftsmen but were rather lackadaisical in regards to time. They worked in the morning and towards the afternoon, things would practically come to a standstill as they waited for mum to make coffee to go with the goreng pisang or other kuih that we also bought for them. It was part of the deal. In the evening, dad would work alongside with them. We watched them from a safe distance.  Soon the house was completed and neighbours came to admire the 'latest' house in the village. It was father's pride. We threw a huge party and invited all the village heads of household and close friends and relatives to this house warming party.  It was a garden party . Probably 15-17 tables. We hired a chef and we borrowed tables and chairs from the Chinese school. (After all father was the Chairman of the board). The guest brought gifts - new sofa set, new set of kitchen tables and chairs, paintings, mirrors, clocks and there was even a huge grandfather clock!. It was a grand party. The house has stood for more than 50 years and is still standing today.