The Postman would be doing his daily routine around 9.30am and in his bags contained numerous news of various nature. Those looking forward for the arrival of the Postman were normally lovers deeply in love, wives whose husbands away working outstations or overseas, parents looking forward for some news of their children studying in the university or other learning institutions, corresponding pen pals and others waiting for some important news like waiting for job appointments but the worse must surely be the lovebirds. Those males in love had better not use his service because the end result could be fatal, like loosing your sweetheart to the ‘informer’. In this case we used an ‘informer’, one who would extend our message to the other party. The Postman was the most reliable while the latter could create many undesirable results. So communication with third parties could only be conducted through two channels the Postman and through words of mouth but of course if both parties stayed in the same town. However, the telegram still need the service of a Postman for delivery. Companies used the service to inform new recruits to report for duty urgently. In most cases, telegrams were used only for informing the death of a family member or those extremely sick. For a much faster service, the Post Office offered the service of the telegram and because it was more costly charging ten cents per word, we used as fewer words as possible. It would take a day for the other end to receive it if locally and two to three days outside Muar town. At the other end the service of the Postman was the only source for delivery. For communication with third parties we used the Post Office and so we wrote letters and had them sealed in an envelope with a ten cents stamp and had them posted. The most famous TV series was Peyton Place and Perry Mason and once a week that was a show aired in the evening called The Shindig. Some had their aerial fixed much taller to get two more channels from the Singapore broadcasting. There was only one channel of black and white that began transmission from 6pm till 11.30pm. Although televison was already introduced in Muar town, only a handful could afford and they had to fix the aerial taller than the coconut tree in order to get a good reception. We read all the news from the daily newspapaer and through the radio. When their phones rang, it was like a thunderbolt and someone in the house may get a heart attack. Even though they had telephones, they need to contact one with a phone and as a result their telephones became a part of their interior decoration and the ringing sound could be heard even by the neighbours. We had no telephones, only the rich installed telephones which were hardly used. He was our only hope of communication to the outside world. The Postman was a celebrity during my younger days and the most sought. This world famous group that hailed from England expressed their mental suffering for not hearing any news from the people they loved and longed for, and if England could not satisfy the communication needs of these Beatles, the situation for some youth in Muar town was even worse. When the Beatles sang the song ‘Please Mister Postman’ it was in 1965 and if we go through the lyrics, we can imagination the frustration of not getting a letter or even a card from our loved ones.
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