The Lonely Playground

I recently went back to my home town after so long. It felt really good to forget about work for a while and enjoy the moments with loved ones.

"Cik Adik, jom pergi jalan-jalan tengok taman ni, especially dekat playground. Lama giler tak pergi sana," I got my sister to accompany me touring the neighbourhood one late afternoon. I suddenly felt like going to the playground area and wonder what happened to it. I've seen it from far but I've not stepped my foot there for more than 10 years. Nah, at least 15 years. How does it really look like now? I tempted to go for closer look.

My sister had warned me earlier that the playground was no longer like how it used to look like. "So be prepared with the 'new look' Aida," I cautioned myself. 

We drove around the neighbourhood and finally reached the playground. I got out from the car and entered the playground to look closely. Thanks to my sister's early warning, I was less shocked to see the current condition of the playground.

It was absolutely different. Instead of the soft, sandy surface, grasses are wildly outgrowing the whole area. The swings are upside down, broken and unfixed. The colourful paints that used to cheer the whole playground and attract the children to come and play had certainly faded. The used-to-be white, clean slides were just too filthy. In conclusion,  the playground is in an abandoned state, wrecking from day to day. 

Every time I go back home, childhood memories will automatically replay in my mind. Where did I generate most of the memories? It was from this playground.

I would like to believe that my sister and I were the first to 'attack' the playground, and we were accompanied by our late grandmother. Don't get me wrong. My late grandmother didn't play the swing nor the seesaw. Since we were just too young to go on our own, she accompanied and monitored us to make sure we were alright. 

I noticed after that, more and more children from the neighbourhood came out to play at the playground. It was normally behind the fence kind of communication or play outside the house, but with the playground, we had the entire space for us to play. How awesome was that? The playground was like the world to us.

Besides playing the swing, seesaw, slide and others, we utilised the space and equipments to play police and thief and 'kejar-kejar' (it is sort of 'catch me if you can' kind of game). It was pretty adventurous back then. The girls played hopscotch, which was pretty cool and less painful since it was on sandy surface. The bigger boys played soccer since there is a field in front of the playground. I also remembered that we had competition on who can swing the highest, jump out from the swing's seat at the highest peak and land while standing (like a gymnast!). Well, I was one of the naughty kiddos who loved to do that! Thank goodness I can still stand and walk normally until today.

In short, the playground was like the ultimate rendezvous for all of the children in the neighbourhood to meet and play. The playground was at its peak of popularity before mid 1990s. 

Yes, that was extremely long, long time ago. Too long that day by day, lesser children came to the playground. And now, there are no children at all seen playing at the playground since the last few years. 

It used to be full of laughters but now it is just so quiet and lonely. Cats and dogs are the new 'residents' of the playground. I guess everyone has grown up and moved on with their lives. The same goes with me. I moved out from my parents house to further my studies and now I am working in the capital city of the country.

I believe most of my childhood neighbours had also left the neighbourhood to pursue their passion and life commitment. Perhaps there are lesser children in the neighbourhood now. Well, if there are anyway, it would probably not be the same. Nowadays, Ipads, tablets, game consoles etc. have become the 'playground' for most children. The art of playing with mates outside the house seems not to be very attractive any more, sadly. 

I left the playground with my sister. As much as I was dismayed to see how abandoned it was, I, however, felt glad that I got a chance to play, used it and created memorable moments from it to be remembered for the rest of my life.

This used to be my playground. It was 'the' playground and it was a happy one. 

But now, it is nothing more than a lonely playground. The wind that blew the dried leaves away ratified it.