Bukit Ho Swee memories

Memories of Bukit Ho Swee

It was in 1963 and I was 10 years old when my father died. My mum with her 4 boys had to relocate from a 3 room SIT flat at Margaret Drive to Bukit Ho Swee. It was Block 5, 281C, Jln Bukit Ho Swee near to the present SEAB Building ( formerly Bk Ho Swee Primary School). We spent about 2 years there. My deepest memory of this block was its common toilet and the stories about suicides being committed there by desperate people (rumours of poverty abound) so much so that I would not dare to go there at night, no matter how urgent I felt in my bowels. I would just do it on a newspaper, wrapped it and then threw into the common dustbin at the other end of the dark corridor, flanked by units.
The toilets, cubicles of about 5 facing each other, were in the middle of the block. There was one set for every level. The floor, of course, was slimy because washing it was an individual matter. We have to bring our own water into the toilet and I remembered pouring some around the toilet basin before using it. Fortunately it was the squat type.
The news of someone hanging himself or herself in one of those cubicles would bring chills to us young boys. On the way out of the house in the early morning when it was quiet, I would walk very briskly and then jumped the steps to hurry.
Surprisingly, there were entrepreneurs within the block itself. My neighbour would sell cigarettes at the staircase landing. At the ground floor, someone would sell ricksaw noodles. Then we had a nice lady barber at the ground floor as well.
I think there were about 4 of such blocks. We could overlook the richer SIT 4-storey blocks near to Tiong Bahru but it couldn’t hide the plight of those who lived in these 6-storey blocks.
Then in 1965/66 we were told to move as HDB wanted to demolish them, so we were relocated to Blk 13, 557-D which was very near the present Tiong Bahru Plaza. It was much better as we have our own toilet now. Still the neighbourhood was as tough as it could be. Many unemployed and thug looking characters around but generally they did not disturb us, knowing we were just as poor. Most of our neighbours would go to Bukit Ho Swee Secondary (now SEAB) or Tiong Bahru Secondary (now where Gan Eng Seng Secondary is located) with its unique lime greenish pants/skirt and white shirt/blouse.
The blocks were all gone. New HDB flats and condominium are being built. When one returned to the area, only the blocks at Taman Ho Swee and Beo Crescent would give me the sense of nostalgia about the place which I grew up.
I wish I have pictures to show those old memories but who would have the luxury of a camera then??