The Federation of Malaysian Chinese Guilds Association, through the Penang MCA, distributed 1,000 mattresses to flood victims at Taman Seri Rambai in Bukit Mertajam on Wednesday.
I grew up in Ayer Itam village in a very poor family. Would you believe me if I were to say that then I did NOT sleep on any mattress, even old type daggy ones, until I was 18 years old.
That was when I bunked in a government-owned dormitory in KL on joining a government agency after schooling. The iron beds and kapok mattresses in the dormitory was luxurious to this kampong kid, wakakaka.
For 18 years of my youth I slept on a simple grass mat (not mattress) laid out on a wooden floor or a Chinaman-type gunnysack camp-bed.
I wonder what the former, which was less than 5 mm thick and called ch'au ch'eoh in Penang Hokkien (literally grass mat), did to my albeit-young muscles and bones, wakakaka. Effectively, it was sleeping on a bare wooden (and sometimes bare concrete) floor, but the grass mat was supposed to minimise the ground chill from affecting our bodies. .
On waking up, all I needed to do to clear the area was to roll up the grass mat and tucked it away until the night.
On waking up, all I needed to do to clear the area was to roll up the grass mat and tucked it away until the night.
The Chinese-type gunnysack camp-bed was less punishing to the body but was costlier to buy/own.
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far more simple than above, with only 4 legs gunnysack was used as material for the bedspread |
How the world has changed.
Come on...the mattresses given out were just basic foam mattresses, not the fancy spring mattress photo that you posted.
ReplyDeleteIt was appropriate to give out simple but proper mattresses to people who had lost everything in their homes during the floods.
Actually, it is a 'satu sindiran' - don't forget Tivoli Villas?
DeleteThe Japanese are still sleeping on futons.
ReplyDeleteMost ordinary Japanese houses are so small that their sleeping space doubles up as common living space during the day.
DeleteSo the roll-up Futon is a necessity.
Japanese who have the opportunity to reside in countries where homes are more spacious happily trade this for a proper bed.