Stories My Papa Tells Me: His First Kite-Flying Experience

My papa was a kampung kid. Then again, who wasn't back in the days? Grandpa works with the police, not as a policeman but an admin clerk of some sort. So he gets transfered around from time to time. Anyhow, papa's childhood seemed to be the most memorable in Baling. I believe that when he began to hit his early teenage years.

Today, a delightful story came up. From green tiny soldiers (which were already a litte old school), we went back further into time when little boys play in big paddy fields.


"I remember last time kite was only 20 cents. When my father bought us our first kite, we were so excited we couldn't sleep. We got up at about 6 the next morning when it was still dark outside and went out to fly our kite. By 7 we came home already. Hahaha. The grass was still wet with dew and every time our kite fell, it got wetter and wetter and eventually torn. Our brand new kite didn't even last an hour."


One story eventually led to another. From his own silly kite-making stories to the great "Ang Mor Lao" people that makes the most awesome kites with glass threads on. But it is this short little story that he started with that puts a smile on my face (and a good laugh). That's when I thought, it's time to pen these stories down somewhere. Hopefully, this will be the first of many. :)