Remember....

The World Cup Football is almost over. Germany versus Uruguay on Saturday and Spain versus The Netherlands on Sunday. Yes, football fever is on, even here in sleepy Teluk Intan. This brought to mind the football final in 1974 between Germany and Holland at that time. That day was the day i bought my first televion set. It was a National T.V. set and a black and white one. The shop had to deliver it in time so that we can watch the final that night. What a treat for my dad as he loved watching football. So it was football which made me buy my first T.V. set. Since then, this is the 10th world cup that i'm watching on T.V.
You can imagine the amount of bettings that are going on at this time. Large number of people have already fled the little town of Teluk Intan.....for fear of the moneylenders. Here we call them the 'Alongs'. My students told me that many people have borrowed from these loan sharks to make bets. Well, the results have all gone wrong. They had to leave town because they just can't pay back the loan sharks.....principal plus the interest, this can be quite a hefty sum. Well, even students in schools make bets. Few lucky ones will be enjoying their ice-creams for some months to come. Bets on ice-creams....loose three ice- creams but if you win, you'll get thirty ice-creams. I still cannot make out how they bet, and i guess i will never understand...........