But in my mind I know they will still live on and on... (To Sir with love by Lulu)
My schoolgirl days were spent at the boarding school in Seremban, the Kolej Tunku Kurshiah/Tunku Kurshiah College (TKC). In my mind those days will live on and on albeit fading more and more as the years go by. I don't remember my adolescent years being angsty* but I think there were moments of despair. (Like at the end when an overseas scholarship eluded me!)
Anyway I recall being interviewed for entrance into the college. When asked what I wanted to be in the future, I said 'an air hostess', without hesitation. My father who was also at the interview was quite taken aback with this answer as he was thinking of some career more lofty for me! But hey, what could be more lofty than the skies? I wanted to travel the world and what better way than being a trolley dolly! Anyway my shortsightedness diagnosed soon after put paid to my flying the skies. I digress.
TKC days saw to some lifelong habits, like sleeping at 11 pm or before midnight. It was lights out in the dormitories then. Making up the bed immediately on getting up each morning. Waking up was at subuh and breakfasts never to be missed. Mainstay of lunches and dinners were nasi (rice) and gulai kawah (I don't know the translation, something curry? couldron curry?). I still love the gulai kawah, it being reminiscent of the meals that were had together in the large dining hall.
Life in the dormitories during the Form 1-3 years were quite interesting. We all had to make our beds every morning and keep the floors, windows, mirrors and bathrooms clean. Come night time, sometimes when pontianak/orang minyak/polong (all manner of ghosts!) stories were in circulation, then we joined our beds together, and made a 'tunnel' through our individual mosquito nets so we could see each other and not feel too scared to go to sleep. It was then I remember being really afraid for the first time, of the supernatural.
We had many expatriate teachers from the UK, USA and Australia. Our impressionable years were influenced by these and some very colourful local characters. There was gentle Miss Rachel Vaughn, feisty music teacher Miss Black, handsome Encik Ahmad Dahan and his wife Puan Kalsom, melancholic Literature teacher Miss Sobita Sinha, not too popular Miss Periathamby, Biology teacher Puan Hasnah, freshly graduated Cik Arfah, Cik Azizah, Cik Zawiah, etc. Then there was the Principal, Cik Asiah (who could forget her?).
When in Form 4, I remember I wanted to leave TKC to go back home to school in Pulau Pinang, but I was persuaded to remain. I think boarding school was getting to me then - I was homesick and probably missed my big family. Anyway I stayed till the end. The last year in 1970 saw me as Head Girl but I must have taken my role so seriously that my friends recall my unsmiling, gaunt face. And indeed some pictures taken then testify to this. (Spot the girl with the most gaunt looking face in the photo above and that's me, probably!)
* Angst - anxiety and anguish, caused especially by the state of the world and the human condition (The New Penguin English Dictionary)
1964 - 1970
No comments:
Post a Comment