Back in early 90s, there was a cartoon series called Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. I don't think I have ever watch an episode, because it was really senseless garbage.
Well before I continue further, let me introduce to you folks, cousin AP.
Cousin AP is two years my senior and four years my sister. With that age gap, she is the one that my sis and I hung out with more. There were many holiday sleepovers at my place and some tour and visits together to Malacca.
And then, there was THE tomato.
We had this inflatable tomato (which is probably some free stuff from Kimball ketchup) and it was a real huge tomato. By huge I mean really huge.
Sis and I spent most of our after school hours at Grandma's place because Mum and Dad were teaching in the afternoon session. Since cousin AP stayed there as well, one of our favourite game was volleyball - in the house.
You see, Grandma's place was a real unique wooden house. From outside, the house looked tiny but once inside, the house stretched - what it seemed like a few kilometres to me at that time - from the entrance to the kitchen.
There was a huge yard, and entering the house, there is a corridor adjoining two houses - that of Grandma's and 3rd Uncle.Both have the same design. A cosy living hall upon entrance greets the visitor and a a long walkway/corridor/hall with two rooms, leading to the dry kitchen area. Cross one more door, you get the wet kitchen area, dining area, and a small little hut where Grandma will prepare charcoal fire for cooking. Along the area is my parent's bedroom, and a store room adjacent to it.
My language is not powerful enough to describe how charming the place was. It has since been torn down and a new brick house was built for my dearest second aunt.
Back to volleyball. The middle hall had ceiling high enough and enough distance for badminton. So, we invented volleyball with the big-ass tomato, partly also influenced by a Japanese drama on volleyball players (dubbed in Bahasa Malaysia though).
The hall was used to hang clothing of my other cousins, so sometimes, the big-ass tomato will get some damage as it hit the nail protruding out from the wall. So what we did was to seal the hole with masking tapes. On the day we decided to retire the ailing tomato (too many damages), it was full of masking tape all over it. We tried our best to revive it though but I remember rather vividly, we were quite sad the day the tomato was pronounced dead.
Many a time, we don't realise that happiness can be found in the most simple things in life. We crave for sophisticated and material stuff in order to feel happiness - new car, new house, lots of money, the latest I-Phone 8, holiday to Europe, (and like me, I would really love to have a Schecter Jeff Loomis Signature 7-string guitar - although not so sophisticated though). We end up pursuing that definition of happiness and in the end, we end up lost because along the way, we have miss so much.
It might sound lame that a free gift can bring so much joy to three kids. I bet no one has ever thought a free gift would bring such fond memories even 25 or 30 years later.
And growing up in a rather old wooden house just added to the nostalgia zaman silam.
The blue sky that greets you in the morning as you wake up on a weekend, the stars that adorn the nights, a stroll in the park with your loved ones, comfort of a stranger while you are travelling, (and a big ass inflatable tomato)- how many times you feel a sense of peace and serenity after coming across one of those? How many times did you smile to yourself after the experince?
The simple things in life are free. Therefore, it doesn't cost anything to be happy. The choice is ours.
No one can beat Grandma's stew pork with tau kua and egg! God bless her, wherever she's at.
