Growing up in 1940s Manila

How children kept themselves entertained in the past

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There was no TV yet, and we had a radio. The Japanese, however, censoredeverything. It was therefore radio silence until I was already in grade school when I would stop at a sari-sari store on Calle Economia on the way home, to listen to "Gulong ng Palad" and "Ilaw ng Tahanan." "Ilaw's" introductory music turned out to be Tchaikovsky ("Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini"), which got me listening to an hour of classical music every 4 p.m.

There was no telephone or computer either. People had to write, and my handwriting was awful, so Nanay got me a handwriting tutor. It was a lost cause.

The only toys I remember having were wooden alphabet blocks, and with nothing else to do, I learned to read early. Tatay had brought back from Indiana University Graduate School the 12-volume "Compton's Picture Encyclopedia," a guide to the 1939 New York World Fair, museum guidebooks, and all kinds of other stuff.

Nanay taught social studies and had a shelf of history books. I went through most of them, including the A to Z encyclopedia, which made me an undisputed Trivial Pursuit champion in due course.

I spent my allowance on comic books, mainly "Classics Illustrated," that introduced me to Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Silas Marner, got me around the world in 80 days, to the center of the earth, to King Arthur's Court, and more. I also clipped the weekly illustrated notes on Philippine history published by a Sunday magazine. I wish I had kept them.