Penang 1974

Don't ask me to list down the names of the people who used to be in the same class with me at school. I can't recall any of the names out, except for Siva and Yusof. They are different. We are in the same afternoon class. Form 1F.

I remember them well because they teach me how to steal money from beggars and drunkards on Penang Road, Burmah Road, Transfer Road, Campbell Street and Lebuh Chulia. They teach me to mark a beggar and mentally calculate how much he got on him. And they show me how to walk up to a beggar from behind, and push the poor bastard off balance. You've got a few seconds to quickly run your hands into every pocket he has to grab the money. Don't worry about the son-of-a-bitch fighting back because Siva and Yusof are right behind you to crush the bastard just in case he suddenly turns into a superhero with superhuman strength. After this you gotta run faster than the winds. When you've got enough money, Siva and Yusof will take you up to the 3rd floor of Pasar Chowrasta for a drink. Siva knows the guy who run a store there so he can buy a bottle of Anchor for three of us to share. After that we take a No 3 bus to go to school in Jelutong smelling like a cigarette factory.

Aunt Su doesn't know. Pakcik Syed doesn't know either. Aunt and Grandma are in Dungun to know what I've been up to. Around 7 in the evening when I get home from school Aunt Su is in the living room, all cleaned up and powdered down. Pakcik Syed will be home around 10, drunk as a drunk can be. He's gonna mess the kitchen looking for food. Aunt Su will be shouting at the top of her lungs and there will be a big fight between them. I will be in a room thinking why in the world did Aunt send me to Penang to live with these two vermin who, according to Grandma, are my distant relatives. How could that be? How on earth they could be related to us when Aunt Su doesn't even know an Alif from a lamp post. And I've never seen Pakcik Syed pray a single raka'at ever since I came to live here three months ago.