Yonex!

I'm really not a racket game kind of person... Soccer and basketball are more like it... But it's hard to find kakis to play soccer and basketball these days, with many of my friends already tied up in their families or are already sprouting bellies...

My sis asked me to play badminton today... My bro-in-law and two cousins came as well... Considering I'm not getting enough exercise already, and with the Sheares Bridge run looming, I went...

And to my surprise, my sis brought along my very first badminton racket!!! It was a racket which my grandfather bought for me some 20 over years ago!!! It's a simple Yonex racket, not one of those featherweight Carbonex carbon fibre rackets, but an aluminium one... Not super light, but not excessive heavy either...

My sis had restrung the string some time back and had changed the grip... And my very first racket is still working fine!!!

During my childhood, my father was the only bread-winner of my family... so he's very strict with us spending on things unnecessarily... I don't get to have many "good-to-haves" that many of my friends get... nintendo, game-watch, casio digital watch, toys, etc etc were all out of bounds for me...

BUT... I sometimes do get to have some nice things along the way... I've got my grandfather, uncles and aunties around... Just occassionally... not all the time...

And the badminton racket was one of those things that I could only 'convince' my grandfather to buy for me...

And I remembered that same night where I got my badminton racket, my father scolded me and chided my grandfather for buying something that might give me a chance to damage the furnitures and fittings at home...

Looking back and my childhood, and comparing with the cousins and kiddos in school, it's an entitlement for kids these days to get anything they desire...

Affluence allowed parents to buy many things that their kids want... but should there be a control over it?

I learnt the virtue of taking good care of all the things that I own... Many things that I have are kept for long long time... My 20 year old badminton racket is but just one of those things...

I'm also very gratified and blessed that although my father was so strict over us spending unnecessarily, he was never stingy when I wanted to buy any books to read... And I developed this habit and joy of spending time in bookshops, looking for books and keeping good books... And I still do now...

When I go downtown... the only locations where I don't feel out of place would be bookshops... even when I go overseas, I'd stop by bookshops to browse around...

There wasn't much distractions for kids back then... just TV and radio... I don't really envy parents today where there's simply too many things that their kiddos are obsessed with...

Times are changing... I don't think many people would keep their badminton rackets for over 20 years, and still use it anymore...