I
am back in Kuantan for a short break from the city life. Kuantan a small town on
the east-coast of Malaya is my hometown. I grew up here and spend my childhood
and my youth here. So, there are lots and lots of memories. In a way coming
back here is sort of reliving those memories. I shall write some of it here.
In the forties in the kampong where I grew up there was no air or water
pollution. The well water was clean, and air was so refreshing. The word
pollution did not exist at that time and no one talk about pollution. Now that
with all the talk about pollution I realised that there was also no sound
pollution as well at that time. The reason I am talking about noise pollution
is that when we were living in the kampong in Kuantan we could hear every noise
of the wild, the crickets, the frogs, the birds and everything else that makes
sound. Since there were hardly any cars or buses, lorry or air plane flying by
or any factories that create noise there was no noise pollution as well. The
sounds we hear every day in those days were that which were created by nature.
It was a pleasing sound and soothing to the ears. Now in the twenty first
century the sound pollution is so great that one forgets the existence of
the natural sound that we used to hear in the period when I grew up. The
environment and the atmosphere were natural. Now it has change so much and it
is not getting better. It is the same with water, we got our water supply from
the well or the river nearby. It is clean and could be used for drinking even
without boiling. No one are found to fall sick just by drinking well or
stream water. It tastes good and it is refreshing. Now it is not the same
anymore, all the water we get now comes from the pipes, well or the river water
are not safe to drink. To make sure it is safe to drinks it had to be boiled
first. As far as the air we breathe, it smells refreshing those days, but now,
what with the haze and other pollution it just smells different although the
oxygen content is just suitable for the human consumption. Well that would do
for the time being. Would write more some other time.
Have a nice day.
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