TO T.S. Khoo, the strong men of the past were not the body builders, boxers or bouncers.
Rather, it was the humble, sometimes scrawny-looking hawker who made their mark on him.
"The hawkers worked so hard for their money," said TS.
"Can you imagine, every day, they walked for miles about the streets, carrying all that paraphernalia, - from huge jars, to hot oil - and all they got at the end of the day was $1 or $2.’’
He remembers how the hawkers would climb up the steep road leading to his house in Devonshire Road - peddling food that ranged from char kway teow to popiah.
"It could also be dangerous - especially for the fella selling yew cha kway,’’ said T.S.
"He would be carrying all that hot oil, plus all his utensils - and climb up that steep road to our house. Just to earn one or two cents."
"That was how cheap things were in those days.’’
T.S. also remembers the hawker who would come bearing ikan bertok, a kind of fresh-water fish.
"He would carry two big jars - the kind used for bathing - and the jars would be full of water and all that fish, and he would ply the streets from morning to night."
"We would buy the fish - at six to seven cents for about ten fish - and throw them into the well. Most families owned their own well in those days."
"We’d then feed the fish with all kinds of fats, such as bak pok (pork lard).
"As the fish grew fatter, it would develop a thin layer of fat between its fins and the flesh. After a few weeks or months, the fish would be fat enough to eat.’’
Ikan bertok was a greyish black fish the size of a palm's length, that had lots of bones.
"The bones were terrible!’’ said T.S.
"It would take a person half an hour just to eat one fish; you have to keep feeling the bones with your tongue!
"I remember my mother's mother used to joke: before you eat the fish, you better write your will!
"But it was very delicious, especially when you masak assam (a Peranakan dish, hot and spicy gravy) or masak pedas (hot gravy); it tastes very lemak (rich and savoury)’’
The fish, being extremely hardy, was hard to kill, too.
"You had to grab them, stick a chopstick into its mouth, and bang its head on the floor, or knock them unconscious. That was the only way to kill them," said T.S.
"These fish are so hardy, they can survive even if they’re out of the water for six to eight hours."
Ikan bertok comes from Thailand, or the padi fields of Northern Malaya. They are padi-field fish, used by farmers to keep away the mosquitoes and the larvae.
It used to be sold at the Kandang Kerbau Market, said T.S., but is no longer available in Singapore.
T.S. Khoo's life:
First chapter
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