.... of my primary school days

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) has very few photos of his younger days since cameras were not easy to come by those days. Photography was a rare threat which you got when your rich uncles or cousins visited you and agreed to take one shot for you. Y S has no photograph of his babyhood and childhood, only boyhood!

Y S remembers that for formal occasions like marriages the service of the so-called "Photograph man" was procured. He would come with his box camera which was set up on a tripod. The bride and groom and the whole entourage which included the parents, grand parents, siblings, uncles, unties, nephews and nieces would be posited according to hierarchy. So, the elder ones got to sit while the younger ones formed a line behind them. Then, the youngest would have to sit in front of those who were seated. The arrangement took a long time because the participants were camera shy and more often than not the older uncles and aunties had to be invited repeatedly. They would always throw in excuses: " Oh! I don't need to be in the picture."' " Go ahead without me.", " I'm not so ready. My hair is not properly done" etc. etc.etc. What ever the excuse, you better not missed them out, or else you would be branded as despising them. LOL

The photographer would then hide under a black cloth with his hand holding the flash jutting out of it. Then, it was the count down, " 1 ,2 , 3" and no "Cheese" or "Konika". While this was going on, Y S would grimace while waiting for an explosion of light from the bulb of the flash. " Pooop" and everyone sighed and smiled.

This is the oldest photograph I managed to salvage from the attic of my family house before it was burnt down some years ago. You can see Y S, second roll, fifth from the left. It was a very multi-racial Standard Two way back in 1960.

Y S had three of his cousins studying with him in the same class ; a neighbour and two male friends. As the years moved on, his cousins and friends moved on to better school in Kota Bahru and Y S was left with only two miserable Chinese friends. But , it was really the age of innocence those days. My Malay female classmates as you can see were dressed like their Chinese or Indian friends. No segregation. No polarisation. No segmentation. No "Ketuanan" this or that.
How this innocence has been poisoned by pugnacious and nefarious politicians for their own gains
is very sad. Walls are being built and not bridges. Is there new hope in 1Malaysia?

Y S had a very difficult Standard One. His initiation took three weeks. ( Y S' daughters went to Standard One in 1990 unaccompanied ) Y S' elder brother pillion carried him on a bicycle and rode several kilometres to reach the school. His poor brother had to position himself at a visible location from outside the classroom for Y S to catch occasional glimpses of him. Once, he hid himself to test Y S' initiation. Hell broke loose. Y S ran out of the class without his school bag and wailed on top of his voice, looking for his brother. The teacher went pale. The class was amused. This went on for several weeks!

Y S was thrown into a totally new world and never had the advantage of going to kindergarten. Kindergarten? What kindergarten in 1960? So, Y S learnt his "A,B, C ......" and " One, Two, Three.... . " " London bridge is falling down ...... " for the first time in his life. Fancy how parents spend a fortune to push their children so hard these day and many go to Standard One already knowing their alphabets and numbers, and have sung almost all the nursery rhymes. " Oh, my four-year-old is into book six of The Lady Bird series, " prided the mothers. No wonder these children feel bored in school.

Being the first child to enrolled at an English school, there was no one to coach him at home.
Y S had to struggle on his own. For attending an English school, his siblings nick named him , " Ang More Beh" or " English horse/ educated." Secrets were exchanged in Mandarin among Y S' siblings so as to fool Y S. Most of the time, Y S was also scolded in Mandarin. That was also the time Y S started to pick up a lot of scolding words in Mandarin.

Y S was never outstanding in his studies, very average. However, Y S was physically outstanding, always head and shoulders above his classmates. For this, Y S was always made to sit and line up in the last row in every Form. Y S' officially duty as far as he can remember is the class blackboard cleaner. This he faithfully did until Form Five, and later as a teacher himself. He could reach the top edges and corners.

Six years went in a whizz. One day in 1964, the teachers were delighted because the Standard Six Examination was abolished. It was automatic promotion to Form One. What a relief ! Y S often wonders whether he could make through the examination!