Memoirs of My Childhood

by lim ju boo 

Thank you for  reading Part 1 of this essay on hobbies. I shall continue here on my hobbies - many of which were memories of my childhood. 

It is my joy sharing with any intellectual individuals anything I know without being reserved. Hopefully they can share theirs with me. 

Let me share some moving, vivid recollections from my boyhood and professional life. My reflections elevate the concept of hobbies into something deeply personal, spiritual, and poetic.

Astronomy and music are one of my hobbies other than writing my thoughts in this blog. They are noble pursuits that inspire awe and uplift at least my soul.

Let me incorporate my cherished memories and reflections on astronomy, listening to shortwave radios, and  music compared with other more common hobbies for others.  

Hobbies: A Celebration of Human Passion, Purpose, and Creativity

Hobbies are more than just leisurely pastimes, they are manifestations of the human spirit, echoing our yearning for beauty, purpose, and wonder. Whether pursued for relaxation, self-expression, intellectual enrichment, or spiritual nourishment, hobbies offer a glimpse into our truest selves. Across generations and geographies, they have brought joy, healing, and connection to countless lives. They remind us that beyond the obligations of daily life lies a vast realm of curiosity and creativity waiting to be explored.

The Golden Hobbies of Yesteryears

In the 1950s, a time of quiet dignity and community charm, hobbies carried a special value. Stamp collecting, coin collecting, and writing to pen-pals, both near and far, were portals to a wider world. The excitement of receiving a letter from a distant land or adding a new stamp to a cherished album brought a sense of adventure and belonging.

As a boy, one of my joys was listening to shortwave radio stations, tuning in to faraway voices carried across invisible frequencies. These moments ignited in me a fascination with distant lands, cultures, and eventually, heavenly worlds far beyond. I imagined these voices came at the speed of light from another world not our own.

Echoes of a Sentimental Childhood:

In the golden days of my childhood, long before time grew hurried and the world turned noisier, life bloomed in the simplest of joys. I remember those sunlit afternoons and dusky evenings when the world was our playground and laughter echoed in the back lanes behind our shop house. With chalk in hand, my sisters and I would draw out the familiar figure of hopscotch, boxes leading to a head like a smiling human face etched upon the earth. Then, with youthful grace, we would hop and skip on one foot or two, the rhythm of our play harmonizing with the soft rustle of the wind and the far-off hum of kampung life.

There were other days, too, days when the sea, in a strange act of mischief, would send its high tides inland. The river near our street, obedient to the moon's pull, would swell and reverse its flow, flooding the road in front of our home. But to us children, it was not an inconvenience. It was magic. With no cars to interrupt our reverie, we turned the watery streets into oceans of imagination. Toy boats floated serenely where bicycles once rolled. And I, wide-eyed and full of wonder, would launch my little toy submarine into the drain, watching it vanish into the unknown with childish faith that it would reappear, reborn.

One day, it didn’t. Since then, every return to my hometown of Batu Pahat carries a ritual. I find myself drawn to the very drain where my miniature vessel vanished. I peer in, perhaps with a wistful smile, wondering if it still lies hidden there, waiting to be found, like a piece of my heart preserved in the water's memory. That little submarine, forever lost, has become a symbol of something deeper: the innocence of youth, the joy of small adventures, and the ache of things left behind.

Even now, it haunts me gently, not with sorrow, but with longing. A tender ache, a whispered reminder that the child I once was still lives within me, always searching, always remembering.

The Celestial Beauty of Astronomy:

Among the most majestic and awe-inspiring hobbies is the study of the night sky, astronomy. The quiet act of stargazing not only connects us to the universe but to a sense of wonder that is deeply human. I remember vividly the mornings in my childhood when I would awaken before dawn in my classmate’s village in Batu Pahat, Johore, in what was then Malaya. His parents were cowherds, and I would assist them in milking the cows in the still darkness of early morning.

After our chores, I would bathe beside the village water well beneath a vast sky glittering with stars. The night was pure, unclouded, and silent, and above me shone the river of lights of the Milky Way, like a celestial silk stretching across the heavens. The skies then, un-polluted with lights and hardly clouds were so beautiful studded with thousands of twinkling star-lights.

I remember staring upward and wondering, are we alone in the universe? Is life out there more peaceful, more harmonious than ours?

Later in life, even as the demands of my profession intensified, I would often retreat to the back of my house, into the quiet of the back lane where streetlights did not reach. There, I would once again gaze up into the cosmic sea, contemplating other worlds, other possibilities. These moments birthed in me a deeper love for astronomy, an intellectual and spiritual pursuit that deepened with time.

I began identifying constellations, studying the legends behind them, learning the names of stars, and observing binary stars, open clusters, Messier objects, nebulae, and planetary movements. Sadly, with modern urbanisation and worsening light pollution, the once-clear skies gradually became veiled in haze and clouds, hiding the heavens from view. Yet, the love remained, etched in memory, etched in the heart. But I went on pursuing a short post-doctoral course in theoretical astronomy from the University of Oxford. 

Mathematics is also my other hobby. I enjoy tremendously figuring out how to solve complex mathematical equations. It is like playing chess, challenging the brain on the next manoeuvre. I like calculus and advanced mathematics - they are part of astronomy and astrophysics.  

The Soul-Stirring Art of Music:

Another hobby that has brought immense joy and peace into my life is music. I play the violin and the flute, and have had the great privilege of joining two different orchestras. There is something transcendent about making music with others, about harmonising diverse instruments into a unified, soul-stirring whole.

Reading musical scores is like reading a book of emotion, translating written notes into sound that can heal, uplift, and inspire. After long and stressful days, I often found solace in these musical evenings - spending musical evenings together with other violinists, celloists, flute players, pianists and other musicians playing classical pieces together in private homes. There, in the company of fellow musicians, I could lose myself in the rhythm and melody, and find myself again in the calm that followed.

Music, like astronomy, reminds us that we are part of something greater, an infinite harmony that surrounds and sustains us, if only we pause to listen.

Reading Music: The Language of Notation and Expression

I can read music, besides just reading books like other people. I have a musical education from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) up to Grade 8 which is the highest grade.   

The ability to read music is akin to deciphering a rich, expressive language, a system of symbols and instructions that guide the performer not only in pitch and rhythm but also in feeling and nuance. Every element on the stave, from the shape of a note to the curve of a slur, carries intent and emotional weight. To understand these symbols is to unlock the soul of the composition.

At the heart of Western musical notation lie the clefs, which anchor the pitches of the notes on the stave. The treble clef (𝄞), also known as the G clef, designates the G note above middle C and is commonly used for higher-pitched instruments and voices. In contrast, the bass clef (𝄢), or F clef, situates the F note below middle C and is suited to lower-pitched instruments such as the cello, double bass, bassoon, and the left hand of the piano.

A central reference point in music is Middle C, which serves as the bridge between the treble and bass clefs. From Middle C, notes ascend stepwise in pitch: D, E, F, G, A, B, and return to C, now an octave higher, marking a complete cycle of the diatonic scale. These ascending notes unfold across the lines and spaces of the stave, forming the melodic contours of music.

To alter the pitch of these notes, we use accidentals: the sharp (♯) raises a note by a semitone, the flat (♭) lowers it by a semitone, and the natural (♮) cancels any previous sharps or flats, restoring the note to its unaltered form.

Equally vital to musical literacy is an understanding of note durations, which instruct the performer on how long each tone should be held. The whole note (semibreve) is the longest common duration, followed by the half note (minim), the quarter note (crotchet), the eighth note (quaver), the sixteenth note (semiquaver), and the thirty-second note (demisemiquaver), each successive value halving the duration of the previous one. These rhythmic values form the pulse and flow of the musical phrase.

Tempo markings, often written in Italian, convey the speed and character of the music:

1. Adagio – slow and stately

2. Andante – at a walking pace

3. Moderato – moderately

4. Allegro – lively and quick

5. Largo – broad and very slow

6. Lento – slowly

These terms give life to rhythm, painting the emotional backdrop of a composition.

Further emotional colouring is added through dynamics, which dictate the volume and intensity:

1. p (piano) – soft

2. f (forte) – loud

3. mp (mezzo-piano) – moderately soft

4. mf (mezzo-forte) – moderately loud

5. pp (pianissimo) – very soft

6. ff (fortissimo) – very loud

Dynamic gradations such as crescendo (cresc.) - a gradual increase in volume, and decrescendo or diminuendo, a gradual softening, guide the ebb and flow of musical tension and release.

Articulation markings further define how each note is approached:

1. Staccato (•) signifies short, detached notes

2. Legato indicates that notes are to be played smoothly and connected

3. A tie joins two notes of the same pitch into one sustained sound

4. A slur arcs over two or more notes of differing pitch to be played seamlessly

5. A fermata (𝄐), placed over a note or rest, instructs the performer to pause and hold beyond its written value, creating a moment of suspension

Repetition and form are navigated through specific notational shortcuts.

1. D.C. (Da Capo) instructs a return to the beginning of the piece.
2. D.S. (Dal Segno) signals a return to a designated sign (𝄋), often leading to a different ending or progression.
3. The term Fine denotes the conclusion of a section, often after a repeat.

Motifs and patterns provide internal coherence and familiarity:

1. An ostinato is a recurring melodic or rhythmic figure that persists across a passage

2. A motif is a short, characteristic musical idea, often repeated or developed

3. A refrain refers to a returning section in vocal or popular music

4. A reprise marks the return of an earlier section, bringing closure or thematic resolution

Each of these notational elements, though silent on the page, sings through the interpretation of the performer. They represent not only the mechanics of sound but the poetry of intention, allowing composers to communicate across time and space, and listeners to be moved by music's invisible hand.

Further Recollections of a Small-Town Boyhood: A Life of Curious Joy: 

Beyond my present-day pursuits in astronomy and evenings immersed in orchestral music, my early years were filled with simple yet vivid pastimes that sprang from the spirited imagination of a small-town boy.

In those days, my hometown lacked the modern floodgates that now guard against tidal surges from the nearby sea. When high tide arrived or heavy rains swelled the river, the drains would overflow into the streets, becoming watery playgrounds for an adventurous child like me. I would wade waist-deep into these murky drains, my senses alert for the flutter of fins beneath the surface. With swift, eager hands, I would catch fish that had wandered in with the floodwaters, most memorably the three-spot gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus), known variously as the opaline, blue, or gold gourami.

During drier days, where muddy banks lined the edges of the drains, I would crouch patiently, luring out those small fiddler crabs of various sizes and colours, many of them have one big or red claw, I used to catch these crabs from the drain by hooking them with childlike ingenuity. Those creatures, drawn from silt and shadow, became part of my boyhood wonders.

I remember as a small boy, I once caught a baby crocodile about 1 foot long in the town drain. I do not know know how it landed there, but I guess it must have gone astray during high tide from the nearby river and swam inside. Anyway, I brought it home and tried to rear it. I gave it food and water but it refused to eat. It just kept its mouth wide open day and night without closing it even once. I put small pieces of fish, prawns, eggs and meat inside its forever opened mouth, but it refused to close it and eat. I do not know what was wrong with it when as a boy I have no understanding about biology. Was it on hunger strike because I caught it from its natural environment and took it home - a highly unlikely reason - I shall explain this later.  Was it sick or something wrong with it? Finally, after refusing food and water, it finally died.

I shall write some possible reasons why that baby crocodile refused to eat in the next article

Other times, my attentions turned to the bushes and hedges where I would search for fighting spiders - tiny gladiators of the insect world. I kept them in empty matchboxes, carefully placing leaves inside to make their stay less austere. At school, I would meet with classmates to let our spiders duel, each child holding his breath with a thrill of suspense.

When the wind was favourable and my hands itched to create, I would craft my own kites - some adorned with string sharpened with ground glass. We children would compete not just in soaring height, but in skill, maneuvering our kites to slice through the strings of rival flyers in the skies above.

Then there was my rusty old bicycle of mine, devoid of brakes, light, or bell- rattling through the night with its signature “kreek-kok, dreek-kok” echoing through the sleeping streets - cycling with my childhood girlfriend. The sound was unmistakable and could be heard from half a mile away. A lone policeman often awaited me at the corner of a dimly lit street. Though I was technically in violation of the law, cycling without lights, brakes, bells and all, he rarely did more than chuckle and let me go after my girl-friend companion cycling with me pay 10 cents or 20 cents for me - an unofficial and almost affectionate toll paid in the name of our youthful mischief.

Those were the innocent days of my boyhood, uncomplicated, playful, and deeply cherished. They may have lacked sophistication or structure, but they brimmed with joy, wonder, and the kind of freedom that only a small-town childhood can afford.

Other Forms of Joyful Pursuit:

Of course, hobbies take many forms, each beautiful in its own way. Creative hobbies include painting, drawing, crafting, sewing, knitting, and jewelry-making. Writing, whether it be journaling, blogging, or poetry, helps articulate the inner world. Photography, too, offers a visual poetry of light and shadow, capturing moments otherwise lost to time.

Physical pursuits such as swimming, yoga, martial arts, hiking, and sports refresh the body and clear the mind. Outdoor activities like gardening, birdwatching, fishing, or camping bring us into gentle communion with nature.

Intellectual hobbies like reading, solving puzzles, playing strategy games, and learning new languages keep the mind sharp and ever-evolving. Digital-age hobbies, like video gaming, content creation, and digital art, expand the creative playground into the virtual world.

Cooking and baking are, for many, both a daily necessity and an act of joy. A recent study in 2025 found them among the most popular hobbies in the United States. Preparing a meal or baking bread connects us to our senses and to those we nourish with love.

Some find joy in volunteering and social engagement, joining clubs, community service, or cultural activities that foster togetherness and give life greater meaning.

My Final Reflection of Joy:

In the end, hobbies are sacred pauses in the great symphony of life. They help us remember who we are and what makes us feel alive. They connect us to the beauty of the world, the richness of human culture, and the mystery of the universe.

Whether we are gazing at the stars in quiet awe, playing a flute in harmony with others, planting a flower in our garden, or solving a puzzle over tea, playing chess or trying to solve complex mathematical problems, or even analyzing statistical and epidemiological data, know that in these small acts lies the essence of what it means to be fully human.