28.1.2010
Reminiscing Form 1
Just the other day, Koay Tian Soo shared his Form 1 A class photo shoot (above). I am the third one sitting from the left end. KTS is on my left. Boy did it rekindle old memories. Memories of Rifle Range, Hutchings School and subsequent progression to PFS reignited certain electrical transmissions in some glial cells in the hypothalamus and the limbic system. This subsequently sparked some twigs in the cerebral cortex which in turn sent impulses down the central and peripheral nervous systems! I think I will start with the first few days in PFS. In the 70’s, the primary school assessment test was done in Standard 5. We were tested on Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mathematics, Science and Kajian Tempatan. (I think). Incidentally, we were the guinea pigs in 1970 that started the curricula in Bahasa Malaysia (or Bahasa Melayu as it is referred to now). In that year 1974 Primary School Assessment Examinations, only Syed Abutahir obtained 5As. Aqbal Singh Sambhi and yours truly secured 4As.
Syed Abutahir is said to be older than his birth certificate age. He was the school Head Boy and was well composed of things. He was in the school soccer team as a striker. He used to be first in all class exams. In Std 1, both of us got 398/400 to be joint first in class. After that, it was usually he who is first. The others who had the joy of sharing this glory include Aqbal Singh, Lim Eng Seng and I.
An interesting rumour that circulated in Hutchings was that many boys there were actually older than their declared age. It is said that many of them were actually smuggled in churns on board trawler boats. It is interesting to see many Std 6 boys with pubertal growth spurts and facial hairs. I remember Dowlath Ali (many years my senior) who actually had to shave periodically.
Abutahir lost his father (only remaining parent) when he was sitting for Std 5 end of the year exams in which he defiantly maintained his first position in the class. After Std 6, he received a scholarship from MARA (with a recommendation from the Islamic Religious Studies teacher, Ustaz Sheikh Mohamad) to study in a residential school.
Aqbal Singh was then already signs of child prodigy. At around Std 5, he could discuss world politics and about the birds and the bees at length. He was tall and big built. Well, to one who is pint sized like me (the smallest in class), everybody appeared big. He kept a big thick turban which was knotted at his vertex. His father had a grocery shop and was brought to school by a Gujerati shop assistant. He used to have a great passion for Origami and used to carry around his faithful companion “Harbin’s Book of Origami”.
Coming back to the Assessment Exams, the results were the primary determinant of placement in secondary school. Being a feeder school to PFS, about 20 students with the best results will be placed in PFS followed by Georgetown Secondary and Westland Secondary School. I remember some the guys who made in to PFS with me – Aqbal Singh Sambhi, Ahamed Kameel (now Professor in IIU, he later was instrumental in my improvement in studies at the Upper Secondary School stage), Meer Sadik Habib (did well in athletics (athletics captain in Hargreaves house), a hit with the girls in Upper 6, later did Gemology in the US to take over his father roaring jewelry business and bring ‘Habib’s Jewels’ to its present status), Lim Eng Seng (a great rival in studies in Std 5 and Std 6, he left for KL later but reunited in USM – he did Chemistry), Sukhdev Singh (who think is a heck of a hockey player – he got to PFS ‘B’ team as a reserve player, joined MAS as a pilot and is now triple his size), Unnikrishnan (he joined us in Std 3 later joined RMAF, succumbed to IHD at a tender age of 42yrs), Leong Chee Keong, Leong Hoe Chew, Ronnie Cheam, Yong Chee Khuan etc. etc.
It was euphoria in the Sham household during the school holidays.
January came, and I had to sit for an assessment for placing into respective classes. The first thing I noticed during the pre-secondary school days was that there were far too many school rules and regulations. I was fascinated with the school tie that needed to be knotted; of course, nobody in the circle of people that I knew, could or need to know to knot a tie!
The first day of school in Form 1 was a cultural shock for me. There I was, a boy from low-cost flats, standing in the school hall full of tradition and splendour waiting to sit for the exams. There I was with an inferiority complex with minimal exposure to academia compared to those confident lads from high society oozing with knowledge and intelligence from all orifices, rattling in impeccable English whilst clinging on to their 300-odd paged paperbacks of Alistair MacLean and Leon Uris. I felt small, tiny, and I targeted myself for Form 1E. The exams commenced to place the students from Form1A to Form1H.
Results were announced late on the second day of school, after sitting for 3 papers. The teachers called in the names one by one on the second day after recess. I was pleasantly surprised and proud when I was placed in Form1A! I attained 248/300 marks. Rifle Range Boy does it again!
