e-Paper
V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
August 9 is special to Mr George Koshy. Not only is it his birth date - he was also born in 1965, a few hours after Singapore became independent.
To add to the national connection, he was delivered by Dr Benjamin Sheares, a gynaecologist who went on to become Singapore's second President from 1971 to 1981.
"This year's National Day is special because I'm turning 55," said Mr George with a laugh at his apartment in Ang Mo Kio which he shares with his mother Mary, 88, and brother Thomas, 61. "I'm extra happy because CPF money is coming my way.
"But the celebrations will be suppressed because of the Covid-19 situation. It is a big disappointment as I always look forward to the big National Day Parade on TV. I have never missed it."
Nevertheless, he is planning a small bash with his close friends on Monday, a public holiday.
"In the earlier years, my birthday parties were always a family affair," said Mr George, a Malayalee.
"We celebrated it at our house or at my sister's place in Hougang.
"Over the past six years, the parties have been mostly with friends at Hard Rock Cafe or Bar on 5 (at the Mandarin Orchard hotel)."
The earliest birthday party he remembers was at the age of five when the family lived at Leicester Road, near St Andrew's Secondary School in Potong Pasir.
"It was a big affair with a lot of members from my church (Malankara Orthodox Syrian) attending," he said. "Also present was our bishop, His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews II, who came from Kerala. It was good fun."
Mrs Mary, who was born in Mavelikkara, Kerala, and came to Singapore in 1946 along with her father John Koshy, who was in the British Army, remembers her son as a chubby boy who liked to run around in a batik shirt and a pair of shorts.
"When he arrived at 5.10pm on August 9, 1965, he was heavy," said Mrs Mary, who was a kindergarten teacher for 25 years. "He weighed nine pounds (4.08kg)."
She does not remember much about Singapore's independence day because she was in considerable pain.
"I went into labour and was in pain for three days," she said. "The medical staff at Youngberg Memorial Adventist Hospital (run by American missionaries along Upper Serangoon Road) wanted to do a caesarean delivery, but Dr Sheares said no.
"He told them that the child will arrive on August 9. And my boy duly did."
Mrs Mary and her husband Thomas George, a Kerala-born British Army veteran who made Singapore his home in 1945 and died in 2013 aged 95, began to consult Dr Sheares after they were introduced by her brother P.K. Koshy, 85, a retired lecturer.
Mr Koshy and Dr Sheares' sister Jansen were teachers at Swiss Cottage Secondary School.
"Dr Sheares, who was previously professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Kandang Kerbau Hospital, was doing private practice then," said Mrs Mary. "He had a clinic and I consulted him for nearly seven months.
"He was a nice man and ensured that the delivery was smooth. After that, we were never in touch with him."
Mr George's big National Day moment came in 1990 when he was selected to recite the National Pledge at the Padang.
"Some 80 of us who were born on August 9, 1965, were called for selection," he said. "At the end, 25 were selected because it was the 25th anniversary of independence. I was one of them."
According to Mr George, they had rehearsals on six Sundays at a room in City Hall, each lasting from 11.30am to 9.30pm.
"We were well prepared," he said. "It was the most beautiful National Day Parade for me. I could see Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the Cabinet ministers at close quarters.
"I knew some of them because I was a deejay then and used to emcee government functions which they attended.
"It was also the year when Jeremy Monteiro and Jim Aitchison came up with the National Day song One People, One Nation, One Singapore. For the first time, there was a different beat to the National Day celebrations.
"It was euphoric. I was in the middle of the Padang surrounded by 10,000 people. It was unbelievable that I was celebrating my birthday with the nation. I stood out from the crowd."
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of independence, an exhibition was also held at the City Hall's atrium, where Mr George's cut-out figured prominently.
"There were cut-outs of 25 of us who were born on August 9," said Mr George, who was a deejay for 11 years and cruise director with New Century Cruise Lines for 13 years. "There were write-ups about Singapore's history alongside each cut-out.
"An article about the exhibition with our photos appeared in The Straits Times."
Sometimes, on Aug 9 Mr George, who currently works as commercial and purchasing manager at New Port Duty Free, goes out for a meal with his St Andrew's Junior School classmate Roy Thomas Frederick, a fellow Malayalee who was also born on Aug 9, 1965.
But he will never miss the National Day Parade on TV.
"The fly-past, the columns of military men and vehicles and the fireworks, it is simply spectacular," he said. "It gives me goosebumps every year."
He misses Singapore's old kampong spirit when the family used to live at Rosyth Road, Upper Serangoon.
"I never want Singapore to change because I enjoyed my childhood," he said. "But Singapore has to change because we want to be ahead of the others.
"I know that I have to embrace and accept the change. We are in the age of digitalisation. We don't even have to be at the parade to get the feel of it. I want Singapore to be the capital of the world."
Mrs Mary too looks forward to the National Day period every year because she was born on Aug 8, 1931.
"There's a lot for Singapore to celebrate," she said. "I have seen it all. We used to live four families in one house with one bathroom to share. Now we have such luxurious houses.
"Now you can get everything you want. In Singapore's early years, we had few choices."
"The medical staff at Youngberg Memorial Adventist Hospital wanted to do a caesarean delivery, but Dr Sheares said no. He told them that the child will arrive on August 9. And my boy duly did."
- Mrs Mary Koshy
