Memory Lane, Penang (1)

use of photo with kind permission of kbp Internet Services

This was Penang Road in 1932, before any of us was born.

OK, some features existing currently and/or in the more recent past may not be present in this '32-era photo, but let's see whether we Penangites or those who are students of Penang history can work out what should be on this special road that lies in the heart of Penang.

Where possible, let's factor in features that we are or have been familiar with. I suspect our task may take a few postings. Please correct me when/where I am wrong as I take you along with me on a stroll down Memory Lane (excuse the pun)!

The photo shows Penang Road going towards the Jalan Prangin-Burma Road intersection and thereafter ending at the roundabout with spokes into Jalan MacAlister, Jalan Dato Keramat, Jalan Bricklin (Jalan Gurdwara?) and Jalan Magazine.

The Malays called the roundabout Simpang Enam (6 'cross' roads) while the Chinese (Hokkien) called it (I wonder whether they still do) gor-p'ar-teng, where the gor means 'five', and if my translation of the full term is correct, '5 Lanterns', perhaps referring to the street lights (lanterns in the old days?) spoking out into five ways?

I suspect the difference between the Malays' 6 and the Chinese 5 could be Lebuh Noordin or in Chinese, Jee Tiow Lor (2nd street), squeezed in between Jalan Magazine and Jalan Bricklin (Gurdwara). Originally Lebuh Noordin was a not-so-obvious minor spoke of that roundabout, and the expansion of an old hawker site between Jalan Magazine and Lebuh Noordin might have perhaps displaced Lebuh Noordin further away from being part of the Simpang Enam.

The hawkers site there was mainly occupied in those days by Chinese hawkers who sold typically traditional Chinese (not nyonya type) stuff. 'Twas not on my list of favourite place for food. But I recall vaguely I might have once bought pickled crabs (yukky) for my grandmother from one of the stalls. I wonder whether the old amusement park, Great World(?) was located somewhere there?

At the roundabout (I wonder whether this still exists?), if my memory still serves me right, there is that timeless feature, the Craven-A [aw ngiow] restaurant.

Thus the photographer in snapping this shot was standing at the northern part of Penang Road, on where there used to be a spit of land jutting out to the circle or roundabout [obviously not yet built in 1932], just in front of the Odean Cinema, which should be just to the right [outside the photo frame].

Chulia Street [or now Lebuh Chulia] - I've lost touch with all the renaming - would be on our left, while there was a lane between Chulia Street [Lebuh Leith?] and the spit of land we just mentioned - I think there was a Bai Mosque, not that the Bais - meaning 'elder brothers' in the Punjabi language, and therfore referring to Sikh Malaysians- are Muslims.

The misuse of the term Bengali by Chinese Penangites in referring to Sikhs had let to the mosque being called the Bai mosque, when it's no doubt being attended by Pakistanis or Bengalis, or more correctly today, Bangladeshis*.

* Bengalis would be people whose ancestors came from the Indian state of Bengal or across the border, from the adjoining province in Bangladesh, hence they're Bengalis or Bangladeshis, while Sikhs should be Punjabis with their ancestors originating from Punjab in India - there's also a part of the original Punjab in Pakistan but the Pakistani Punjabis would be Muslims rather than Sikhs.

A side note - when Malaysians talk about Malay women falling for Bengalis or Bangladeshis, they really mean Pakistanis who could be (Muslim) Punjabis, Sinds or Pathans (Pashthuns), blokes like Shah Rukh Khan wakaka

Initially I racked my rusty memory of Penang to obtain a name for that lane and somehow both Argyll and Leith jumped up - simce then, blogger friends have advised that it's Lebuh Leith while Jalan Argyll is on the other (right) side, next to the Odean Cinema. You can just see the beginning of Jalan Argyll in front of the 'something-Min' Dispensary (see photo) on the right side.

Incidentally, the Odean Cinema holds terrible memories for me. But before I go into that, a few years ago I heard that the cinema was closed down on 30 April 2001. There were moans of sadness, including mine, as the historical building seemingly was allowed to deteriorate.

A bit of history about the name Odeon. This very popular cinema name had been based on the ancient Greek 'Odeion', as the huge open air theatre at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens was called. But other popular amphitheatres of ancient Greece were similarly titled.

Our colonial connections with the British saw this name reached Malaya (later Malaysia). In Britain, Odeon was used as a name for cinemas by Oscar Deutsch, founder of the Odeon Theatres circuit, who adopted it, allegedly on the recommendation of a friend who first saw this appellation in Tunis. His friends teased him that the name 'Odeon' stood for ‘Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation’.

After he died in 1941, his widow sold all his cinemas to J. Arthur Rank of the famous Rank Organisation, who also bought, but managed separately, Gaumont-British Cinemas, making his chain the largest cinema circuit in Britain.

Apparently by 1937, there were 250 Odeons in Britain. When I went to UK for studies, I heard from a British friend that there was a Odeon cinema near Marble Arch, which apparently had the largest cinema screen in London. A Malaysian matey also informed me then that Malaysia Hall was located in Edgeware Road, near Marble Arch, but to be frank, my memories of Malaysian institutions in Britain or London are rather dodgy today. While in Britain, I first started learning how to drink (warm) beer so most of my time were spent in alcoholic mist.

I do not know when the Penang Odeon was built, but since then, I heard it has been re-opened as a Bollywood speciality cinema with a new name of Veenai Odeon. Those of you still in current touch perhaps could be kind enough to update yours truly.

photo by Lilian Chan from www.flickr.com

OK, so on to my terrible memories.

There, at this cinema on Penang Road, I was dumped not once, but twice on movie dates by girlfriends - different bitches, if that's any face-saving consolation for poor ole kaytee wakakaka.

The first experience was very hurting as I was then still young and tender, with a naive innocent 'virgin' heart. Sweetie was my first love, who went to KL immediately after school to fill a temporary job that her uncle arranged for her. By the time she returned 3 months later, freshly sophisticated and KL-exposed, she decided she was too good for an ulu-punya (rustic bumpkin) Penang hick like me, sob!

So my sweetheart dropped me like a radioactive bomb without warning, by not turning up on our first (supposedly) date after her return. She informed a mutual friend (who naturally told me) she did that deliberately to make me cheen-sim ('lose heart' is too weak a word for this Chinese term but it'll have to do), so that I could forget her.

Alas, I couldn't and didn't. In fact I was utterly devastated. I went home rejected and dejected with two unused tickets which, for some masochistic reasons, I kept for several years, together with her photo, to torment myself. She obviously didn't want to have anything to do with one lovesick forlorn ulu-punya Penang bloke and must have taken measures to erase any tracks or leads to her new life.

It was several years later that she attempted to re-enter my life after I had moved to KL, but suffice to say, it was not to be, wakakaka (sob, sob, sob too!).

The second 'dumped' incident wasn't too bad. I met a girl at a bar, got on rather well, agreed to meet the following day at Odeon for the evening movie. She didn't turn up, apologised later that she forgot our date, claimed she had too many beers the previous night, blah blah blah!

Apart from my hey-ho attitude towards her, which as a result of the first incident I grew on much thicker skin. I was also smart enough that time not to buy the tickets until the date showed up. The only annoying thing was that I missed about 5 minutes of the film in waiting for her. Oh yes, I did date her subsequently but I kept clear of the Odeon cinema when I was on dates with the girls, much as I loved the place. The cinema was really bad (love) feng shui for poor kaytee wakakaka.

To continue soon further down Penang Road ........