Interview with C. Narayanan

by Sim Bak Heng (My Johor Article)
2010/01/05

LIFE in the estate was wonderful. I wish I still lived there but development forced me to move out of the estate many years ago.

Born in Tangkak, my family moved to Kluang when I was 24. We stayed at Ladang Lambak, which was one of the pioneer rubber estates four decades ago. I worked as a pest and disease surveyor in the rubber and oil palm sector while my siblings became rubber tappers. Two years later, I was promoted to estate field staff and I held the position until my retirement in 2004. After I retired, I moved to a terrace house in Taman Desa which I bought in 1996.

The lifestyle in the rubber estate and new housing estate are worlds apart. In the housing estate, the bonding between the neighbours is not as strong as in the rubber estate. When we moved to the rubber estate, we were provided with a bungalow house and the plot of land we occupied was about the size of a football field.

The daily work routine in the estate started at 6.30am and ended at 4.30pm. As we enjoyed a lot of free time after our work, we usually played games and indulged in many pastimes such as growing vegetables, tapiocas and bananas plants. Whenever I had a surplus of this fresh produce, I would give some to my neighbours. Likewise, they would share with me their harvest. It is a sort of barter trade.

There were many fruit trees in our estate which were planted by former residents. We also reared poultry, and some of my neighbours kept livestock mainly to cater to their needs during festivals. Sometimes, my fellow workers would go hunting in the jungle and upon their return would share their catch with me -- the wild boar or deer meat.

We had almost everything in the estate and only went to town once in a while to buy essential items such as sugar, flour and cooking oil. As most of the foodstuffs we ate were not tainted by chemicals and came from our own land, a majority of the estate workers and family members were relatively healthy.

During Deepavali, the atmosphere was especially joyous as many Indian families would slaughter goats while the children played fireworks. Likewise during other festivals, I would share the joys of the festive spirit with my Malay and Chinese friends. We lived a harmonious and peaceful life.

As there was no entertainment including televisions in those days, our employer had engaged a mobile cinema to entertain us once a week. There were four divisions in Ladang Lambak and the mobile cinema, which operated from a van, would stop at one division once a month. Needless to say, we always looked forward to enjoying our four movies per month free of charge. Due to the multi-racial population, movies in different languages such as English, Tamil, Malay and Chinese were screened.

Another bonus of living in the estates was that we enjoyed fresh air, unlike the cities and towns with their grime and dirt.  After all the rubber trees were chopped down to make way for oil palm trees, many Felda schemes were adopted and that was when foreign workers arrived and we had to move out.

I cherished my time in the estate. When I am free, I would sometimes visit the estate and reminisce about my stay there. I would also go out for tea with my old estate friends who are now staying in town.

In our modern housing area, I could not indulge in my past-time like gardening as I only have a small plot of land.  There is hardly any room for poultry too, let alone for livestock. Because we could not provide for our subsistence now, we have to buy everything from the market and grocery shops on a daily basis.

C. Narayanan, 63, a former estate field staff of Ladang Lambak, is staying in Taman Desa, Kluang.