24th Aug 2009.
Location: obviously in front of my PC . ( at home actually)
My Childhood - part 1. The early days.
For the benefit of those who have known me only recently, I was born in G.H in KL but my home was in Serdang, a very quiet and remote area but nevertheless a lovely and conducive place for my early years. I am the only child for my parents and when you are the only child, you often get branded as spoilt brat or mummy's pet. Well, it wasnt like that for me. My parents were not well to do and my dad was only a clerk in the Agriculture Dept in Serdang. My first memories of my childhood was the wooden kampung type of government quarters which was my first home till I was 4 years old.
That house was actually quite run down and termiite infested. So the government people approved my dad's application for a newer unit in 1961. Thus we packed up and moved to a brand new unit just about less than a mile away.( those days we never knew the metric system.)
My pre school days were spent mostly around the house where my closest friends were all the imaginary type. Other than those in my mind, there were those who were my father's workmates who often dropped by after work to enjoy a nice chat over a glass of tea and some vadai that my mum is famous for. We subscribed to Malay Mail and I remember is used to cost only 15 cents those days. My mum at that point was not able to speak in Malay as she was born in India and came to Malaya in 1955 when she was 18 years old. More about that in another story.
My earliest friends were from the Arokiam family and there was Selvarajah, Francis, the twins Teresa and Mary. there were the younger ones Elizebeth, Lourdes and Assunta. She was obviously born in Assunta Hospital in PJ.
I started this article on the 24th but I stopped and was distracted by a whole lot of stuff over the week. This shall be part 1 of my early childhood and in my next one I may come out with part 2 or continue with the deejay scene here in Malaysia. Anyway signing out at 12.21am 29th Aug.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Gandhi and his Retro Music.
When did I first hear of the term "retro music"? If Im not mistaken, it was over the THR Radio station back in the early 90s. Now, that was a great radio station as far as the Klang Valley crowd is concerned. We were exposed to celebrity deejays who were not from the "tetap dan berpencen" fraternity of RTM's stations. Of course the Blue network had its share of "celebrity deejays". Connie, Janet, Nubert, Joey, Varsha, Nor Nikman, Alan Z stand out as evergreens. They also had a great tag line for their station, Station of the Nation. But am I straying away from the topic?
By the way, I started my permanent career as a deejay back in 1985. My first job was at this place in SS2 called Trollinger Lounge. Nothing much as far as excitement but it was a great place to do my practice to hon my skills in beat mixing. By the way there was another outlet called Trollinger Jalan Universiti where there wasa band downstiars and a deejay console upstairs. Here, was where I met a legendary deejay from Solosa Sounds called Richard La fabre. He went on to be one of the main faces of the early THR station. Oh ya they had a tag line too, called "The Attitude Station".
They started playing sounds of the 80s and called it retro. Well, to me, retro is "looking back". It could be anything from early 2000 to way back to tyhe 60s. But as a deejay, it peeves me off when punters come to the deejay console and request for "retro" and expect me to play Sweet dreams by eurthemics or I will survive by Gloria Gaynor. They seem to think I dont know my music if I end up playing Roses are red by Macband.
Now that brings me to the days where I used to hang out besides the deejay console in Trax Disco at the basement of Wisma central. They had some great deejays there. Ravi Abdullah, Najee and who can forget Jake, the man who said he will never be caught playing any stuff from non black artistes. We now know better. I used to be allowed into the deejay console to give Jake a break so that he could do his "PR" with the ladies. Thats when I was allowed to spin afew records for the crowd. This was in the mid 1988 period. Faces was jam packed every night with deejay Brian and Rao who were the residents there. Me? I was in an obscure Lounge in Wisma Macoba along Lornie Road. It is now known as Jalan Syed Putra.
That was the year Jake became the top deejay in a competition organised by the legendary Joe Siva. Brian is now a recognised studio producer in Singapore and Rao? well he is now retired. I was also carrying my 12" singles every Sat and sun day afternoons to Ampang Park's 3rd floor which housed TOP TEN Disco. I was the deejay spinning at their weekend Tee dances. 3pm to 7pm we ( me and DR Sam the deejay) rocked the kids. Cover charge was RM6 and that got u a watered down glass of Coke. No alcohol served. And our rivals at that time was Picadally Disco in Damansar Jaya. better known as Piccet. Top 10 was converted to Hearts Club, a Canto pop joint every night but on sats and sunday afternoon attendance was somehow by only the malay teens. Not a single Indian or malay. Other than the deejays and light jockey. What did we play? the best and latest in RnB and we rocked the place. Oh ya, nowadays the same stuff we played is called> RETRO.
By the way, I started my permanent career as a deejay back in 1985. My first job was at this place in SS2 called Trollinger Lounge. Nothing much as far as excitement but it was a great place to do my practice to hon my skills in beat mixing. By the way there was another outlet called Trollinger Jalan Universiti where there wasa band downstiars and a deejay console upstairs. Here, was where I met a legendary deejay from Solosa Sounds called Richard La fabre. He went on to be one of the main faces of the early THR station. Oh ya they had a tag line too, called "The Attitude Station".
They started playing sounds of the 80s and called it retro. Well, to me, retro is "looking back". It could be anything from early 2000 to way back to tyhe 60s. But as a deejay, it peeves me off when punters come to the deejay console and request for "retro" and expect me to play Sweet dreams by eurthemics or I will survive by Gloria Gaynor. They seem to think I dont know my music if I end up playing Roses are red by Macband.
Now that brings me to the days where I used to hang out besides the deejay console in Trax Disco at the basement of Wisma central. They had some great deejays there. Ravi Abdullah, Najee and who can forget Jake, the man who said he will never be caught playing any stuff from non black artistes. We now know better. I used to be allowed into the deejay console to give Jake a break so that he could do his "PR" with the ladies. Thats when I was allowed to spin afew records for the crowd. This was in the mid 1988 period. Faces was jam packed every night with deejay Brian and Rao who were the residents there. Me? I was in an obscure Lounge in Wisma Macoba along Lornie Road. It is now known as Jalan Syed Putra.
That was the year Jake became the top deejay in a competition organised by the legendary Joe Siva. Brian is now a recognised studio producer in Singapore and Rao? well he is now retired. I was also carrying my 12" singles every Sat and sun day afternoons to Ampang Park's 3rd floor which housed TOP TEN Disco. I was the deejay spinning at their weekend Tee dances. 3pm to 7pm we ( me and DR Sam the deejay) rocked the kids. Cover charge was RM6 and that got u a watered down glass of Coke. No alcohol served. And our rivals at that time was Picadally Disco in Damansar Jaya. better known as Piccet. Top 10 was converted to Hearts Club, a Canto pop joint every night but on sats and sunday afternoon attendance was somehow by only the malay teens. Not a single Indian or malay. Other than the deejays and light jockey. What did we play? the best and latest in RnB and we rocked the place. Oh ya, nowadays the same stuff we played is called> RETRO.
Monday, August 10, 2009
my first ever blog
Hello to all the people out there who may just be reading this 1st ever article sent in by me. Well, to start off, I am a Malaysian based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the age of 52, I felt it was time to put my 2 sen worth thoughts on line and try and relate to my peers. Here is the biggest problem I am facing as I pound on the keyboard of my humble computer. WHAT WILL YOU PEOPLE like to read about? My personal life? Hmm. or would you like to know what I think about the world in general or Malaysia? Well I suppose, I will be dabling into a wide spectrum of topics along the way. I suppose, I will be coming out with at least 1 article a week. Well I would like to have feedback from you people out there.
Back to bit about myself... I am happily married with a lovely and understanding wife and 4 children who have all seemed to grow out of the label of being "children:. They all seem to think they are grown ups with not a care in the world. Not a day passes by without me or the wife worrying about their whereabouts or their safety in this urban jungle called Kuala Lumpur. Oh Ya. I have 4 kids as I mentioned above. The eldest is going to be 20 in December. She just graduated from college with a Diploma is Counselling. ( Hmm.) Now she isnt sure about which college /Uni to persue her degree. Meanwhile all she does is go to bed at 2 or 3 am and wake up just when mummy has cooked a nice lunch. ( you see, her room is close to the kitchen) Meanwhile she is also in a dilemma as to why she doesnt seem to loose weight!!! ( go figure).
My second kid is our only son. What can I say about him? Well, for one , he seem to be more hansome than me. Thats what my business associates tell me. Well I am proud of that fact and its also because of the fact that me and the wife are of different races. That sort of makes my off-spring very exotic looking. Our contribution to making a perfect MALAYSIAN Race. Im all for mixed marriages. Oh Ya back to my son. He isnt academically inclined but he seems to have a knack for automobile repairs. ( He has not got his lesen yet)
Now the 3rd one has just enrolled in a college in Bangi, or is it Serdang? Aiya, you know IKRAM & UNiten area. She apparently found Corporate Communications interesting enough to convince me to enrole her there.I only said yes coz the fees structure was within my budget. She seems to be adapting well to the enviroment and also the foreign macho looking students who never fail to whistle at her as she passes by the boys' hostel on her way to classes.
Which now brings me to our youngest girl who will be sitting for her UPSR exams in less than 1 month time. Thank God, the Minister of Education came up with the assurance that students who have all the while been studing Maths and Science in English will have the chance to continue all the way till Form 5 in English!!! My youngest is now in the midst of having stress release sessions by dancing Bollywood dance scenes.Actually I peeped in on her moves. Not Bad lah.
Thats as far as my family . Also hanging around the house and making no positive contributions at all to the household economy are 2 cats.
A little bit more about me. Hmm I am a Gemini. I only read my horoscope at the end of the day. I am Malayalee by birth ( notice I didnt say Indian) Married in 1988 to my better half who has a bit of a problem explaining which state she is from. I really dont know why Malaysian Malays love to ask " asal mana". Actually, she was born in Kuala Trengganu but moved to Temerloh and Kuantan. You see, her dad was in the Government service. He got transferred alot back in the 70s and 80s. Finally she moved to Kuala Lumpur in the early 80s.
I will on another day write about how we met and fell in love.
I studied in Jalan Sungei Besi Primary school from 1964 to 1969. Thats the school that is quite close to the old airport. Some of the teachers have passed on but my headmistress will always have a special place in my memories of my childhood. Mrs Yap, God Bless your Soul.
Well, thats all I have for now. Good Night Malaysia and see you next week.
Back to bit about myself... I am happily married with a lovely and understanding wife and 4 children who have all seemed to grow out of the label of being "children:. They all seem to think they are grown ups with not a care in the world. Not a day passes by without me or the wife worrying about their whereabouts or their safety in this urban jungle called Kuala Lumpur. Oh Ya. I have 4 kids as I mentioned above. The eldest is going to be 20 in December. She just graduated from college with a Diploma is Counselling. ( Hmm.) Now she isnt sure about which college /Uni to persue her degree. Meanwhile all she does is go to bed at 2 or 3 am and wake up just when mummy has cooked a nice lunch. ( you see, her room is close to the kitchen) Meanwhile she is also in a dilemma as to why she doesnt seem to loose weight!!! ( go figure).
My second kid is our only son. What can I say about him? Well, for one , he seem to be more hansome than me. Thats what my business associates tell me. Well I am proud of that fact and its also because of the fact that me and the wife are of different races. That sort of makes my off-spring very exotic looking. Our contribution to making a perfect MALAYSIAN Race. Im all for mixed marriages. Oh Ya back to my son. He isnt academically inclined but he seems to have a knack for automobile repairs. ( He has not got his lesen yet)
Now the 3rd one has just enrolled in a college in Bangi, or is it Serdang? Aiya, you know IKRAM & UNiten area. She apparently found Corporate Communications interesting enough to convince me to enrole her there.I only said yes coz the fees structure was within my budget. She seems to be adapting well to the enviroment and also the foreign macho looking students who never fail to whistle at her as she passes by the boys' hostel on her way to classes.
Which now brings me to our youngest girl who will be sitting for her UPSR exams in less than 1 month time. Thank God, the Minister of Education came up with the assurance that students who have all the while been studing Maths and Science in English will have the chance to continue all the way till Form 5 in English!!! My youngest is now in the midst of having stress release sessions by dancing Bollywood dance scenes.Actually I peeped in on her moves. Not Bad lah.
Thats as far as my family . Also hanging around the house and making no positive contributions at all to the household economy are 2 cats.
A little bit more about me. Hmm I am a Gemini. I only read my horoscope at the end of the day. I am Malayalee by birth ( notice I didnt say Indian) Married in 1988 to my better half who has a bit of a problem explaining which state she is from. I really dont know why Malaysian Malays love to ask " asal mana". Actually, she was born in Kuala Trengganu but moved to Temerloh and Kuantan. You see, her dad was in the Government service. He got transferred alot back in the 70s and 80s. Finally she moved to Kuala Lumpur in the early 80s.
I will on another day write about how we met and fell in love.
I studied in Jalan Sungei Besi Primary school from 1964 to 1969. Thats the school that is quite close to the old airport. Some of the teachers have passed on but my headmistress will always have a special place in my memories of my childhood. Mrs Yap, God Bless your Soul.
Well, thats all I have for now. Good Night Malaysia and see you next week.
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