Thursday, February 25, 2010

pranks of kampong kids





thinking back about the pranks we played on one another when we were kids in the kampong, i think it reveals a streak in meanness in each one of us. or we put it to our being too young to consider the consequences of our actions and the pyschological harm done to our victims.

i have blogged about how we would rub the rubber seed continuously on some hard surface before pressing it against the flesh of our friends to give them a scorching time.

there were other acts which we carried out to embarrass our friends or to cause discomfort or unpleasantness to them.




one of the pranks that we would play was pulling down the loose pants of our unsuspecting friend, especially in the open and often in the presence of girls. you have to remember, in those days we went about - like what the hawaiians say - hanging loose: we did not wear underwears.
it was not like in this video clip where the men and woman all had undercovers.




another mean act of ours, which would cause discomfort to our victims, was to get the ripe red fruit of the macarthur's palm and rub it against the skin of our victims. when the sap of this fruit, a favourite with birds, comes into contact with the skin, it will cause one to feel an itching sensation. our poor friend would quickly look for water to seek relief to wash away the offending sap.



another trick which we played on newbies is using the stalk of the lallang flower. you can only play this once on some uninitiated ones. once they have tasted a mouthful of it, they will not fall for it again. the flower of the lallang is rather cottony. we would tell our would-be victim that the stalk was sweet. the moment, the victim put his lips to the stalk, we would pull it across and he would end up with a mouthful of the cottony stuff.

in this high tech age, children no longer have any use for things found in the natural environment.

5 comments:

peter said...

When we were in the scouts, we squeeze a tube of metholated Colgate and rub chilly padi to the private genitals of a tenderfoot scout when he fell asleep. Can you imagine the porr fellow in the middlf od the night?

yg said...

peter, that's not only mean; it's torture. even on my palms, i already find chilli unbearable.

Yu-Kym said...

The lallang prank is funny without being too mean. The others are mean but... very funny! :D I won't want to be a victim.

Lam Chun See said...

Good thing I never had Peter as my army instructor or my senior in the U. Anyway, from what I hear, today's rugby players are still just as 'naughty'.

nah said...

Oh yes, one of the pranks was to use a piece of hardened tar from the road to irritate boys who had gone for a hair cut. The porous hardened tar when it is pushed against the short hair behind the head can cause discomfort. Another prank was to tap on someone’s shoulder and then pretended nothing had happened. I also remember pupils sitting at the back throwing pieces of chalk at pupils sitting in front. The victim usually had no clue who was the offender. Another prank which was dangerous was pulling away a chair just before the unsuspecting person was about to sit.