Some Things OLD By Nyonya Penang

Some Things OLD

I was flipping through some old photo albums when a small angpow dropped onto the floor. Ooooh…..ang pow, huh? I cannot even remember how the angpow ended up among the pages of the album – opened it and found this :-

A ONE CENT note issued ‘IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS AND MALAY STATES’ dated 1^st JULY 1941… This makes it 66 years old!

And I found this too:-

A ONE RUPEE note issued by the GOVERNMENT OF INDIA dated July 1972....this makes it 35 years old. I remember this note and 2 pieces of unusual-looking plastic 3-D stamps from BHUTAN were given by a friend who was studying in Chandigarh, India at that time.

And I like to show this not-that-old ‘SA-PULOH RINGGIT’ note too. Just about 10 years ago or so, I was back in Penang to clear momma’s cupboard and accidentally found a small stack of 10 pieces of this red-coloured notes neatly wrapped in old and yellowed newspaper and hidden among her beautiful sarongs and exquisite kebayas. RM100 those days, was a lot of money and I guess momma saved and hid the money for emergency-use.

Momma passed on in the early 70s and for many, many years after that, I just could not bring myself to clear her possessions. Each trip I was back in Penang, I would unlock the cupboard, looked at the contents and then locked it back. And when Poppa finally left to join Momma in the mid 90s, I decided to do a thorough clearing of their cupboards….and more than 20 years after she left me, momma still had something for me. I miss Momma and I miss Poppa.