Heart and Soul: Grandpa’s stories of old money

Towards the end of World War II, the Japanese administration in Malaya printed a massive amount of"banana money", like this old note. Photos: Gary Lit Ying LoongWho doesn't love spine-tingling tales? With the Hungry Ghost festival coming up on Aug 12, do you have any stories of the supernatural to share? Write to us in 700 to 800 words . There is no payment for submissions, and we reserve the right to edit all submissions. Email lifestyle@thestar.com.

Grandpa would painstakingly explain to us the history behind the coin or note. It was always about this dead king or that dead queen in faraway China or England many centuries ago. However, as young children, we couldn’t really comprehend what he was really saying. It was more like “in one ear, and out the other”.

Suddenly, halfway through the night, the light dimmed due to a drop in pressure. Frantically, I pumped the lamp so hard that the kerosene shot out and exploded. Fortunately, no one was injured. Only the hair on the right side of my head was singed, leaving me with a lop-sided look. When I went to school the next day, all my friends laughed at me, with some calling me “Chempelot” head.

It was only much later that I experienced a snowfall – when I was doing my post-graduate studies in Britain. I then discovered from my classmates from the Indian and African continents that such curriculum irrelevance was common among students throughout the Commonwealth. Sometimes, she would insert the coin into a hard-boiled egg. After rubbing the egg on our forehead, the egg would turn black, with grandma exclaiming, “!” . This was quite a common practice among the old folks both during the colonial and post-colonial 1960s.

In secondary school, I learnt that Queen Victoria was in fact much older than King George. Perhaps, grandma believed that the big crown and long beard of King George conferred on him special powers.Besides coins, grandpa also gave me some Japanese banana notes issued during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Whenever I saw the banana notes, I couldn’t help but feel a deep sadness. They brought back memories of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese army in Malaya and around Asia.

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