when doing research on rumah seri banai, she came across some similarities with her grandparents' house (built in about 1948) in betong isle, a hillside hamlet on the southwestern tip of pulo pinaom, legally part of the state of Kedah.
both houses are of the rumah bumbung panjang type, with an open berandah, serambi, rumah ibu, dapur; owned by village headmen (ketua kampong or penghulu), the ground floor portions were used for classes for adults in the 1960's.
her grand father was a retired police sergeant later elected as village headman. she still remembered when scores of people from the village flocked to the literacy classes held weekly on the ground floor level. there was a huge blackboard, several long tables and timber stools.
it was quite an event those days. the ladies in their fine kurungs and kebayas with colorful selendangs (the women did not wear full tudungs then) and the men came in shirts and pelekats with kopiahs. even her grand mother who was not allowed to get any schooling when she was a child benefitted from these classes as she learned to read, write and do some simple arithmetics. she could even sign her name.
a bookshelf was placed at the serambi with books for the villagers to borrow. so her grand father's house was also the village library.
perhaps that was the beginning of her love for books besides getting it from her mother too who would read while cooking and at times the fish she was frying would get burned!
ah, but the beloved house is a derelict now..... a twist of fate that left it empty, uncared for, alone in its old age....
No comments:
Post a Comment