Ian On The Red Dot

I’m moving house soon. Besides the packing, or rather the non-existent packing, which is weighing on my mind, moving to the new place is bringing back the memories of growing up in my first HDB estate. Those were really good times.

I remember the steep slope across my block which ended with a drain at the base. My friends and I would take cardboard boxes and slide down the slope. Good times.

Remember trying to catch spider for fighting. I wasn’t ever successful at that but some of my friends were and it was amazing watching how they caught the spiders and pitted them against each other.

I remember playing soccer at the void deck. You’re not supposed to and we got caught by the neighborhood policeman a few times and got reprimanded. In the end, we just gave up and moved to the basketball court to play. Or the uneven sloping field beside the playground. Good times.

I remembered playing until pass dinner time and still wanted to continue playing. The blocks around my area had a particular configuration where all the kitchens faced the carpark. I’ll run to the carpark from the basketball court and shout to my mom who would be preparing dinner in the kitchen and ask if I can continue to play a wee bit more.

Last time no handphone so must like that.

Anyway, I’ve talked about this in much older posts.

I’m writing this one because I really miss playing Hantam Bola, Catching and ‘Eagle-catch-little-chickens’.

The last game is the one where there will be a long chain of players (i.e. the little chickens) with a ‘mother hen’ at the front of the chain. Her job is to protect the ‘eagle’ from getting to the ’small chickens’. It was damn funny to see the whole chain swivel about the ‘mother hen’ trying to avoid the claws of the ‘eagle’.

The variation of Hantam Bola was the one where we formed a pyramid with four slippers. One team will throw the ball to try to hit the pyramid down. Once the pyramid is down, the real fun begins. The team that hit the pyramid down now must rush to the pyramid and try to build it again by leaning the four slippers against each other. The other team will try to stop them by throwing the ball to ‘hantam’ them. Once you get hit by the ball, you got to run back to your base, touch the wall and then try again.

DAMN FUN.

Anyway, who wants to rekindle the void deck spirit in us again? I mean, a bit old already and bones are creaking, but I think I can still play a mean game of Hantam Bola, Catching and hell, maybe even zero point.

So, what are your favorite memories growing up in a kampung or playing in around your HDB estate? Please do share.