Thursday, November 5, 2009

Kuala Kangsar Banjir!

Don't worry, it happened nearly 43 years ago.

These pictures were taken in January 1967 in Kuala Kangsar. I believe it was Raya day, as we were all dressed up. And I am sure the occasion was not the flood per se.

(Here we were at the kaki air near the clock tower roundabout. This is the road leading to Bukit Chandan and Lembah where the jetty of Sg Perak is if you want to go to Sayong. Nowadays though one can cross the river via a bridge.)

Nowadays with the Chenderoh and Temenggor dams, I don't believe Kuala - as we affectionately call Kuala Kangsar, will ever be flooded again, unless of course if something catastrophic were to happen. Nauzubillah.

But like Kota Bharu and Kelantan during the monsoon every year, here too we would be enjoy ourselves too in the main street of Kuala Kangsar. I bet you, if you were to go to pekan Kuala nowadays, you would be able to recognize this part of town. Nothing has changed that much; and I love it the way it was.

Kuala Kangsar is of course our 'kampung' on my paternal side, and beyond it being our kampong, it was also our hometown after we moved to Kuala from Taiping in 1978 (to the protestation of us kids, who were by then so accustomed to the bigger town that is Taiping after moving from Lenggong at the end of 1972). In the family, in the end, we have two groups - those who speak with the Northern slang of Taiping and those who speak the Perak slang.
Of course then us elders would always mock the youngsters for the then perceived less-than-refine slang.

That's the golden triangle for us - Taiping, Kuala Kangsar and Lenggong. Towns I would call home at certain points of my life.

Here are the Hariris with Opah Wan Tak and PC Mat at Jalan Besar Kuala Kangsar during the 1967 flood.

Here we are again at the Sg Perak where it burst its bank that year. I was just four years old then, with my sis and an auntie. This is the road leading to Bukit Chandan I guess.
That's Mak with her sis-in-law aka our auntie and her mother aka our 'grandmother'.
Here we are in Talang at my grandpa's house. I guess these were us after our raya in the flooded town of Kuala. That's my grandpa Bab. The house is still intact in Talang.

Talang of course was not flooded, but then again this house was on stilts, so it does not matter if it flooded or not.
Now I am bored. Where is my PS2? Oh sorry, wrong decade. Hehe... Where is my little red corvette? Or with my cowboy dress, I need my gun!

Now I am really bored! What a big yawn. May be by now I was wondering when this picture taking session was going to end. Hahaha.

I am glad bapak was much into photography and recording those moments then. The problem being the photographer is that he would almost always not be in the pictures.

4 comments:

  1. Rahman, What a great writeup of the happening in those wonderful days of our youth. Nostalgic indeed. A period so beautiful that only folks who live through it would appreciate the quality of life at that great time in our history.

    It was a period that politic of what we see today has yet to show its ugly head. There was so much peace and tranquility and every moments, be it a flood seem to be of some enjoyment to folks at that time.

    The black and white picture are indeed priceless.

    Have a nice day and take care.

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  2. Pak Idrus, thank you for the kind words. The pics are indeed priceless.

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  3. I was born in kuala kangsar, lost all my books & everything just after I had finished Overseas School Cert (1966) Clifford School. What an event, always in my memory, especially the Clock Tower/Perak River/Kangsar River/Bazaar

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  4. Haa, I'm 'Orang Kuale' too! Now I'm working in Kulim, but I drove back to Kuale almost every weekend to visit my parents. Mr. Sarjeet, glad to know your're Old Cliffordian too! Actually the water level in 1927 and 1967 floods was marked at a stairway at SMKRPK.

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