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* House rules during the Occupation. Interviewee's main chore was to draw water for cooking and bathing from the well. He had to withdraw at least 30 pails of water. When things got tough, people started to grow their own market garden. They grew tapioca, sweet potatoes, kang kong. Early during the Occupation, interviewee and his brother were sent to queue up for fish in Punggol eight mile market. It was his first experience of rationing. As both of them were so small, they always got pushed to the back of the queue that by the time it was their turn, they only got the smallest fish. Interviewee felt frustrated that he was bullied. He recalled how his stepmother used to make pancakes from 'ragi' seeds, which were used to feed birds before the war. He remembered being perpetually hungry in 1944. He said that the lack of nutritious food had affected his growth. Since they had hens, and therefore eggs, they were allowed to have an egg each week. The rest of the eggs were taken to the city to be sold to his father's friends. He considered his family to be quite lucky compared to those living in the city as they could not rear chickens.

Encounters with the black market. Everyone in the family had malaria at different times during the Occupation. Remedy for malaria. Interviewee shared that they were spared from beri-beri probably because of the weekly egg treat that they had. Once a year during Chinese New Year, they slaughtered a chicken or two and had chicken curry. Returning to school a few months after the British surrendered. Learning the Japanese language. Inteviewee shared that it was fun converting the school's soccer ground into a market garden. He played soccer in between coconut trees in the afternoons. His father got rid of all the English books at home. As a mental recreation, interviewee read the Pears' Encyclopedia from cover to cover many times during the Occupation. No electricity at home. Used coconut oil.

Interviewee shared that there was no Japanese in school to observe that the teachers taught the Japanese language correctly. Information black out by the Japanese such that they did not know that the Japanese were on the losing end. Interviewee said he felt sceptical when the news came the Japanese had surrendered. When the Japanese surrendered, his stepmother told him to buy freshly baked bread and she cooked curry chicken to celebrate the occassion. Revenge-beating for those who collaborated with the Japanese. Communal relationship in Hougang during the Occupation. Interviewee learnt to be very independent and to cope with hardships during this period. His opinions of Singapore today.