Yesterday I was at Toa Payoh. The Toa Payoh today is so much different from the Toa Payoh I knew when I was a teenager. Many blocks have been upgraded, painted and rebuilt. At least I think it had been rebuilt as the spot where the old buildings were is not occupied by completely new unfamiliar blocks of buildings. The landscape has changed too. It felt more congested.
Taking one of the shuttle bus services, I passed the old block were I used to stay.
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Gone is the open field in front of the block.
Memories are all I have of this old place. Alas, my memory isn't too good. Everything is vague. But whatever I can remember, I can't see much when my bus passed the various location. Only the streets are the same, Lorong 1, Lorong 2, etc etc.
Toa Payoh formed the growing up of my early teen life, learning to be independent. It was the time of comics reading, movies going, and crushes of the opposite sex. Yes, I had my crushes on a couple of teachers as well as schoolmates. How silly I was having the puppy love over a couple of the girls, but too shy to approach them. Those were the times I amassed many comics, building to a huge collection that I had no place to store. Those were the times that I would travelled all over Singapore to look for cinemas that were showing movies I wanted to see. Those were the times when I could watch three movies in a day. Yes, I was growing up. And I was doing things alone, maybe because I wanted to, maybe because I didnt't know what friendship mean back then. I was growing up, confused and everything.
In time, whatever that I could remember, will disappear, just like the familiar sites that was Toa Payoh long long ago.
