Ah gong's diary
There's nothing quite like the pleasure of a freshly organised room. I can't remember ever enjoying spending so much time at my desk; I'm usually reluctantly draped over my brick of an office laptop in the wee hours of the morning drafting meaningless documents.
Tonight, after an afternoon of packing and minor redecorating, I sat at my desk and started typing out a portion of my granddad's diary.
My granddad, Ah gong, as we called him was my maternal grandfather. He was effectively the only grandfather I had as my paternal grandfather had passed on many years before we were born. I never knew what Ah gong did for a living, apart from the fact that he worked for ICS - International Correspondence Schools. I also knew that Ah gong used to study in Raffles College, and was Lee Kuan Yew's contemporary. He however did not have the fortune to continue his studies and had to work after he completed his O levels.
Despite his lack of education, I knew that Ah gong never stopped reading and writing. I knew because during our visits, he would retreat to his desk to write in his diary, and he would occasionally share with us his scrapbook of articles. This were his articles which he had submitted to, and were published regularly by The Straits Times.
Back in secondary school, my sister and I came up with the idea of archiving Ah Gong's diary and potentially publishing it for our own enjoyment. One Sunday afternoon when we we at his place, we sat down with him, armed with our paper and pens and began furiously transcribing his diary. My granddad sat with us and patiently deciphered the unintelligible squiggles.
Unfortunately this project was abandoned when weekend visits to my grandparents house soon got replaced by homework weekends. Busy as things were, I always promised myself to restart this project, when I had the time. I always kept my handwritten transcript of that small section of Ah gong's diary in my top drawer. Each time I shifted, redesigned and renovated my room, I would be careful to keep that transcript in sight.
It has been about 13 years since that first transcript, and I finally sat down to type it today.
Excerpts from his diary, cira 2000s
I was trying to earn as much money as I can from commission from Mr Woo, salary from D.R.L., a small sum from articles I sent on local customs and festivals to the local papers, The Straits Times, The Free Press and Malaysia Tributes. I wrote about events I witnessed in my younger days and also from readings in the China archives in Raffles Museum Library each week. I submitted an article weekly. I would eagerly look at The Straits Times, hoping that they would publish my articles.
Surprisingly, my articles were published regularly over the next two years. The brother of Mr Sim, who was studying at Raffles College on journalism, cannot understand why the articles he submitted were never published. He used to maintain that my articles are not so wonderful. He could not understand all the articles under the name A.S. Lee still appeared weekly. On the contrary, he never had an article published under his name. I became well known and colleagues called me a walking dictionary and would refer any difficulties in English to me!
One day, the son of an MD asked about the words to describe a man who collects coins as a hobby. He knew that one who collects stamps was called a philatelist. The MD tried his best to recall the word but could not. The next morning, he asked his secretary to call me into his room. I was wondering what it was all about. However, when the MD put the question to me, I gave him the answer immediately: a numismatist. He was shocked and from then on, he respected me very much. He also told the 2 department heads not to bother me and my ICS work. I got this reputation due to destiny and not any smartness. I happened to have just read an article on coin collections.
On his experiences at ICS with a useless colleague:
It is high time he got rid of himself as he does not know of any literature books such as (??), The Coilster and the Hearth by Charles Read or even Matthew Arnold’s Sohrab & Radium. So I wonder how he got the position of manager of a correspondence school which teaches literature and other subjects for the junior and senior Cambridge exams!
I confess I have never heard of those books before.
On his family:
Living in a large family, there is always someone who is picked out to be the scapegoat for every misdeed committed and this unfortunately fell to my wife. She was ridiculed by the supposedly close friend, my youngest fat sister, who was now her sister-in-law, and all the rest of the family seemed to listen to her command. This of course done behind my mother’s back. This lump appears to have nothing to do at home and arrives every morning to rule the old homestead. After the three meals, of course at the family’s expense, she would return home late in the evening, sometimes in the trishaw, most of which try to avoid her because of her weight, although this is compensated by her husband’s skinny frame.
I'm looking forward to transcribing more of Ah gong's diaries, once my aunt has managed to surface them. More to come in time, hopefully sooner than later.
Tonight, after an afternoon of packing and minor redecorating, I sat at my desk and started typing out a portion of my granddad's diary.
My granddad, Ah gong, as we called him was my maternal grandfather. He was effectively the only grandfather I had as my paternal grandfather had passed on many years before we were born. I never knew what Ah gong did for a living, apart from the fact that he worked for ICS - International Correspondence Schools. I also knew that Ah gong used to study in Raffles College, and was Lee Kuan Yew's contemporary. He however did not have the fortune to continue his studies and had to work after he completed his O levels.
Despite his lack of education, I knew that Ah gong never stopped reading and writing. I knew because during our visits, he would retreat to his desk to write in his diary, and he would occasionally share with us his scrapbook of articles. This were his articles which he had submitted to, and were published regularly by The Straits Times.
Back in secondary school, my sister and I came up with the idea of archiving Ah Gong's diary and potentially publishing it for our own enjoyment. One Sunday afternoon when we we at his place, we sat down with him, armed with our paper and pens and began furiously transcribing his diary. My granddad sat with us and patiently deciphered the unintelligible squiggles.
Unfortunately this project was abandoned when weekend visits to my grandparents house soon got replaced by homework weekends. Busy as things were, I always promised myself to restart this project, when I had the time. I always kept my handwritten transcript of that small section of Ah gong's diary in my top drawer. Each time I shifted, redesigned and renovated my room, I would be careful to keep that transcript in sight.
It has been about 13 years since that first transcript, and I finally sat down to type it today.
Excerpts from his diary, cira 2000s
I was trying to earn as much money as I can from commission from Mr Woo, salary from D.R.L., a small sum from articles I sent on local customs and festivals to the local papers, The Straits Times, The Free Press and Malaysia Tributes. I wrote about events I witnessed in my younger days and also from readings in the China archives in Raffles Museum Library each week. I submitted an article weekly. I would eagerly look at The Straits Times, hoping that they would publish my articles.
Surprisingly, my articles were published regularly over the next two years. The brother of Mr Sim, who was studying at Raffles College on journalism, cannot understand why the articles he submitted were never published. He used to maintain that my articles are not so wonderful. He could not understand all the articles under the name A.S. Lee still appeared weekly. On the contrary, he never had an article published under his name. I became well known and colleagues called me a walking dictionary and would refer any difficulties in English to me!
One day, the son of an MD asked about the words to describe a man who collects coins as a hobby. He knew that one who collects stamps was called a philatelist. The MD tried his best to recall the word but could not. The next morning, he asked his secretary to call me into his room. I was wondering what it was all about. However, when the MD put the question to me, I gave him the answer immediately: a numismatist. He was shocked and from then on, he respected me very much. He also told the 2 department heads not to bother me and my ICS work. I got this reputation due to destiny and not any smartness. I happened to have just read an article on coin collections.
On his experiences at ICS with a useless colleague:
It is high time he got rid of himself as he does not know of any literature books such as (??), The Coilster and the Hearth by Charles Read or even Matthew Arnold’s Sohrab & Radium. So I wonder how he got the position of manager of a correspondence school which teaches literature and other subjects for the junior and senior Cambridge exams!
I confess I have never heard of those books before.
On his family:
Living in a large family, there is always someone who is picked out to be the scapegoat for every misdeed committed and this unfortunately fell to my wife. She was ridiculed by the supposedly close friend, my youngest fat sister, who was now her sister-in-law, and all the rest of the family seemed to listen to her command. This of course done behind my mother’s back. This lump appears to have nothing to do at home and arrives every morning to rule the old homestead. After the three meals, of course at the family’s expense, she would return home late in the evening, sometimes in the trishaw, most of which try to avoid her because of her weight, although this is compensated by her husband’s skinny frame.
I'm looking forward to transcribing more of Ah gong's diaries, once my aunt has managed to surface them. More to come in time, hopefully sooner than later.