My earliest memory, I should think, was the birth of my sister, Roseana. I was only two years three months old then, but I can still recall the time when my mother had her labour pains in a pirate taxi.Yes, we did not have a fixed abode then, and had to seek shelter from one relative's house to another. It was really a sad state of affairs, and for Ana's birth, my grandaunt, the late Tok Chik Bee, offered us shelter in her 'hut' at Kg Sekolah Arab, Johor Bahru. We had barely arrived when my mother gave birth to Ana, at around dusk on 21.11.1951. I was too young to understand it then, but my parents really had a tough time in their early years of marriage. My father was only a Hospital Attendant at that time, but through his perseverance and hard work, he managed to secure the post of Hospital Assistant in 1952, I reckon.
My next memory was that of our stay at the Hospital Permai Barracks and Quarters from 1952 onwards. Sometime in late 1953, we (my father, mother, Ana and another sister, Rohaya, born on 29.07.1953 and I) shifted to a brand new Quarters at 1902, Hospital Permai Qrs. It was a big and beautiful house. There were four bedrooms, a spacious hall, a dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms plus lush surroundings where we kids would romp around. In this house, the rest of my siblings were born - Razak (25.04.1956), Rozah (28.08.1957), Rashidah (19.10.1959), Ramlah @ Nina (02.03.1961), Rosnita (21.01.1962) and Rodziah (12.10.1965).
Our neighbourhood was a very quiet and deserted one. We had very few neighbours. Therefore, most of the time, we only had each other for company. It's not surprising then, that practically all the Rahim progeny grew up into quiet , reserved and shy adolescents. I guess it was only when we embarked on our tertiary education that we opened up more to others.
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