WHEN people learn the location of the neighbourhood I grew up in, they will ask if I live next to cages filled with monkeys.
Not everyone knows where Lembah Keramat is and that’s why I often explain to them that it is opposite the National Zoo.
This will usually be greeted with some “oohs and aahs” before jokes about living next to the primate enclosure are made.
Despite living close to the zoo, I have only visited it twice.
Online descriptions will tell you that Lembah Keramat is a Malay reserve area in the Gombak district, with a largely Malay-Muslim community under the Hulu Klang state constituency in Selangor.
My family has been living in the AU5 area since the late 1980s. The National Zoo and my house are separated by the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2), which was a much narrower two-lane road back then.
What I remember most about my childhood is attending the school nearby and my frequent visits to my grandparents’ house in the same neighbourhood.
In the early 2000s, my late grandfather, fondly known as “Tok Wan”, would fetch my cousin and me from school in his old Nissan Datsun.
He would bring us to the sundry shop, Syarikat Sulaiman, and let my cousin and me pick any snacks or toys, such as Tora and Ding Dang, which were the craze among students in my school.
The sundry shop, which is still operating, not only sells groceries, but also provides special delivery services.
Schoolchildren usually go there to find last-minute art or science project supplies.
It is where my cousins and I would cycle to buy ice cream, which we would finish up before reaching our grandparents’ house.
Sometimes, my older brother, who is six years my senior, would use his bicyle to take me to the Wak’s cart opposite the sundry shop, to buy tau fu fah, soya milk and fruit drinks.
I once dropped my brother’s favourite ikat tepi plastic bag of orange assam boi drink on the way home and I think he still holds a grudge about it.
In those days, all the neighbours knew each other. Everyone knew what their neighbours were cooking and children were free to roam places such as the skate park.
Located next to the sundry shop, the skate park would be filled with children in the evening. Many children flocked to the place to show off their “shredding” skills. Others preferred to ride over bumpy hills with their bicycles.
Sometimes, my classmates, who had dial-up Internet access at home, would invite my friends and I over to surf the Internet, play online games and update our MySpace accounts.
This was an “upgrade” for us as we moved from playing house to updating our top eight friends’ list on MySpace.
That was our only access to the Internet, unlike now when everything is at our fingertips.
My friends were from all over Lembah Keramat as the neighbourhoods were close to each other.
Back then, we attended home tuition classes conducted by a teacher called Sir Ganesh.
His house in Taman Permata would be packed with many students from public primary and secondary schools. He taught mathematics, English and science.
In my secondary school years, many tuition centres were established in Hulu Klang, but Sir Ganesh’s classes continued to be popular among students.
Sometimes, I drive past his house to relive the memory of the time I spent there with my friends.
Another fond memory is Hari Raya gatherings held at my grandparents’ house, which was only two blocks from my house.
That was the only time when my siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, including those who attended university or worked overseas, would gather.
During the festive season, the MRR2 would be congested as there is a famous lemang stall called “Lemang Pak Ali” just metres away from the zoo. Many people would queue to get their hands on the lemang.
Lembah Keramat remains the same, albeit with more development. We now have the Melawati Mall nearby, which has its own cineplex.
The sundry shop and the skate park remain a favourite haunt of children and youngsters. The only difference is that those patrons are likely to be children of my classmates or childhood friends.