Kim Keat Primary School - A Great Reunion (Class of 68-73)
Do you believe in time travel? Most of us are intrigued by time travel from books to movies. How someone could travel to the future to change the past or go back to the past to alter the future and be a hero. Like the action movie "Terminator", a cyborg was sent from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Conor because her unborn son will one day lead the fight against an AI system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Then there was the romantic movie "Somewhere In Time", where this man got fascinated by a photo of a beautiful actress while he was staying at this hotel where his obsession grew and he travelled back in time through hypnosis to meet her. I don't know about time travel but I know that with a bit of imagination, we could go anywhere we want and those with plenty of imagination are children as they could imagine anything through play. Adults too can be imaginative if you play a lot when young for it is through play that you discover and learn to be creative. It is not too late to play now and be happy. I mean we do not want to grow old without hobbies and friends. So I have some hobbies and many friends and we do not say that we have enough friends and don't need any more, do we?
Talking about children and imagination, I have always remembered fondly those days when we were young children and days of youth - the friends, neighbours, faces, places, the things we do and all kinds of everything. All kinds of everything reminds me of you where "You" were that moment in time. Just like the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3r7Tp7fAZ4 (All Kinds Of Everything - Dana, 1970)
And in those days where we got a lot of movies and songs from Hong Kong, this is the version from Francis Yip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICtgXRj4v7w (All Kinds Of Everything, Frances Yip)
Perhaps those were our most carefree days. I would go back in time and recall those secondary school days - the good as well as the bad. Sometimes my mind wander all the back to the primary school days and of course I would think of the school and the vicinity, the events, the teachers, the food and the students and friends. If I were to get any where near there, the memories would come flooding back so much so that to capture those moments and memory I would pen them down even when I was writing on some other subjects. I did this many times and here is one of the articles I posted some time back:
I believe that someday somehow we could meet but I do not know when or how. I mean in those days, we do not have mobile phones and hardly exchange telephone numbers. I tried searching n social media without success and I am quite good at finding people. Then, one day, it suddenly happened. I met Ong Choon Nan one Sunday at a friend'' daughter's wedding. (See how far we have travelled in time - now we are saying firstly friend's then daughter's). He told me he found Au Seng Lye who is also in contact with Cheong Siew Fun (Carol), Quek Kiow Lian (Josephine) and Tay Gek Kwang. The rest of us who went to the same secondary school and were already in contact were Ong Choon Nan, Loy Chit See, Mansur Husain and Chong Weng Kee. As Lim Watt Poh (Brian) was connected to me on FB we now have ten.
Class Of 1968-1973
We first met 51 years ago and last met and left 46 years ago for some of us. A gathering of priority must be on the cards. If we were to walk past each other on the street anywhere, we may not immediately recognise each other but with the advent of technology, things are much easier. We got connected, all ten of us - Au Seng Lye, Ong Choon Nan, Cheong Siew Fun (Carol), Quek Kiow Lian (Josephine), Mansur Husain, Loy Chit See, Tay Gek Kwang, Chong Weng Kee, Lim Watt Poh (Brian) and yours truly Geoffrey Ng. Shortly, eight of us met! (Chit See and Gek Kwang were not available).
When we met, it was surreal. It seemed unreal that we grew up so quickly and that we are meeting after so many years. There were warm handshakes and hugs. As we sat down, we kind of updated each other to begin with and started recalling those good old days of fun, when we were young and when life has just begun. The places, events, faces, teachers, students and friends. I sang the three lines of the school song that I remembered - "We are the students of Kim Keat Primary School" (first line), Honesty and Diligence (second line which was the school motto) and "that's what we have in mind when we sing our school song" (last line). Some of us were in the school folk dancing group where we used to perform in school and also at other schools, events and venues and even at the National Theatre! When I sang the song of our cowboy dance at the time - "So, so, so, so, me, so. Me, so, la, so, so. La, so, la, la, me, ray. Me, ray, do, do, ray". I was taken aback and pleasantly surprised when Brian sang along without skipping a beat or note. Wow! How did he remember that?! I gave them another song in one of us dances - "See the camel trains approaching, sha li om ba ai ai ai. Softly in the wind comes a scent of spices, sha li om ba ai ai ai." I could smell the scent of spices.
We also spoke about our school's popular lion dance troupe led by teacher Mr. Chua and the troupe's name was "四海" where one of our class mates Lim Song Peow was dressed up and played the role of the Buddha toying with the lions. Some younger folks may not know but those days, original lion dance always comes with the big-head Buddha who holds a fan in his hands and teases the lions. Really so cool. Here it is, the class of 1968-973:
The Teachers
Our Principal at the time was a Mr. Chia who drove an Anglia. There was Vice-Principal Mr. Ravindran that Mansur pointed out. Discipline master was a burly 6-footer teacher called Mr. Yeo (or Yang in Chinese) who has a booming voice. When he confronted any student, they would be shaken and shit in their pants. Our form teacher in primary one and two was Ms Leo who became Mrs. Lee and she was also our folk-dancing teacher. She endeared herself to many of us in those first two years. In primary three and four was Mr. Loh Ah Seng. Mr. Loh looks serious but was very kind to all of us. In our last two years in primary five and six was Mr. Jeffrey Lim. Mr. Lim loves soccer and was quite playful. In those days, he smoked, wear bell bottom pants and never buttoned one or two buttons at the top pf his shirt. There was our geography teachers Mrs. Daswani. Mrs. Miranda was the music teacher and when she started playing the piano, everyone will try to look away for fear that she will call you up to play the recorder. One wrong note and it was the end of days as her reward for your incompetence was a pinch and then a twist of that pinch at your midriff. A favourite was Chegu Fatimah who taught National Language (Malay). She would read and write some and almost always she would tell our folklore on the adventures of Hang Tuah.
Second Meet
We didn't waste time as I was connected with Mr. Loh Ah Seng on FB but I could not find the rest of our form teachers in particular Ms Leo or Mrs. Lee. It was Mr. Loh who helped connect my wife to their form teacher so she wished to see Mr. Loh personally. However, he was unable to locate Ms Leo/Mrs. Lee.
Class Of 1968-1973
We first met 51 years ago and last met and left 46 years ago for some of us. A gathering of priority must be on the cards. If we were to walk past each other on the street anywhere, we may not immediately recognise each other but with the advent of technology, things are much easier. We got connected, all ten of us - Au Seng Lye, Ong Choon Nan, Cheong Siew Fun (Carol), Quek Kiow Lian (Josephine), Mansur Husain, Loy Chit See, Tay Gek Kwang, Chong Weng Kee, Lim Watt Poh (Brian) and yours truly Geoffrey Ng. Shortly, eight of us met! (Chit See and Gek Kwang were not available).
When we met, it was surreal. It seemed unreal that we grew up so quickly and that we are meeting after so many years. There were warm handshakes and hugs. As we sat down, we kind of updated each other to begin with and started recalling those good old days of fun, when we were young and when life has just begun. The places, events, faces, teachers, students and friends. I sang the three lines of the school song that I remembered - "We are the students of Kim Keat Primary School" (first line), Honesty and Diligence (second line which was the school motto) and "that's what we have in mind when we sing our school song" (last line). Some of us were in the school folk dancing group where we used to perform in school and also at other schools, events and venues and even at the National Theatre! When I sang the song of our cowboy dance at the time - "So, so, so, so, me, so. Me, so, la, so, so. La, so, la, la, me, ray. Me, ray, do, do, ray". I was taken aback and pleasantly surprised when Brian sang along without skipping a beat or note. Wow! How did he remember that?! I gave them another song in one of us dances - "See the camel trains approaching, sha li om ba ai ai ai. Softly in the wind comes a scent of spices, sha li om ba ai ai ai." I could smell the scent of spices.
We also spoke about our school's popular lion dance troupe led by teacher Mr. Chua and the troupe's name was "四海" where one of our class mates Lim Song Peow was dressed up and played the role of the Buddha toying with the lions. Some younger folks may not know but those days, original lion dance always comes with the big-head Buddha who holds a fan in his hands and teases the lions. Really so cool. Here it is, the class of 1968-973:
Standing (L-R: Mansur Husain, Au Seng Lye, Quek Kiow Lan (Josephine), Yours Truly Geoffrey Ng, Cheong Siew Fun (Carol), Lim Watt Poh (Brian), Ong Choon Nan, Chong Weng Kee.
Sitting (L-R: ??????) - Waiting for more to fill in the seats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fzJGxpcenc (The Best Of Times, Dennis DeYoung and Styx)
Tonite's (that night) the night we'll make history. I'll take any risk to tie back the hands of time. Our memories of yesterday will last a lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fzJGxpcenc (The Best Of Times, Dennis DeYoung and Styx)
The Teachers
Our Principal at the time was a Mr. Chia who drove an Anglia. There was Vice-Principal Mr. Ravindran that Mansur pointed out. Discipline master was a burly 6-footer teacher called Mr. Yeo (or Yang in Chinese) who has a booming voice. When he confronted any student, they would be shaken and shit in their pants. Our form teacher in primary one and two was Ms Leo who became Mrs. Lee and she was also our folk-dancing teacher. She endeared herself to many of us in those first two years. In primary three and four was Mr. Loh Ah Seng. Mr. Loh looks serious but was very kind to all of us. In our last two years in primary five and six was Mr. Jeffrey Lim. Mr. Lim loves soccer and was quite playful. In those days, he smoked, wear bell bottom pants and never buttoned one or two buttons at the top pf his shirt. There was our geography teachers Mrs. Daswani. Mrs. Miranda was the music teacher and when she started playing the piano, everyone will try to look away for fear that she will call you up to play the recorder. One wrong note and it was the end of days as her reward for your incompetence was a pinch and then a twist of that pinch at your midriff. A favourite was Chegu Fatimah who taught National Language (Malay). She would read and write some and almost always she would tell our folklore on the adventures of Hang Tuah.
Second Meet
We didn't waste time as I was connected with Mr. Loh Ah Seng on FB but I could not find the rest of our form teachers in particular Ms Leo or Mrs. Lee. It was Mr. Loh who helped connect my wife to their form teacher so she wished to see Mr. Loh personally. However, he was unable to locate Ms Leo/Mrs. Lee.
It was of course more difficult for Mr. Loh to remember everyone of us as he would have taught too many students over so many years but gradually he remembered some details and names. Mr. Loh sounded the same way he was back then. Mr. Loh looked stern back then but he has always have a soft and kind heart. Just like Hokkaido ice-cream.
I told Mr. Loh and reminded him that on one Saturday almost 50 years ago, I chanced upon him and Mr. Jeffrey Lim playing table tennis in the P.E. room. What I saw was a bare body Mr. Loh with rippling muscles with well-built biceps and chest pumped out just like Bruce Lee. Perhaps I was the only one who knew this. The young Mr. Loh of that time has thick black hair that was well combed probably with Yardley, Brylcreem or Tancho. He sported black rimmed glasses and would not be out of place if put on the front cover of any vinyl records like the Quests. I might have freaked him out with the details but he remembered.
Truly, these two meetings were very special moments to cherish. It was Yesterday Once More.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlrWUiK-vNo (Carpenters)
Those were such happy times not so long ago. Every sha-la-la-la, every wo-o-wo-o and every so, so, so, so me so still shines. You listen to these older songs with such simple yet powerful lyrics and you are immediately encapsulated in a time zone of its own.
While penning this, it crossed my mind to share this song written by the great Joni Mitchell in the late 60s but she recorded it only in 1970. You can find it yourself but what I would share will be the one performed by then Hong Kong teenage heart-throb at the time, Agnes Chan. My dad has that vinyl album but it was lost in transition and over many years and I have searched for a CD version to no avail even after searching at all that top, biggest and specialty record/CD shops and also from overseas. Even when I was in Hong Kong each time. And I am actually pretty good at searching - for things and people. It was for almost ten years. I was about give up yet harbouring a thought that I might just get it one day and then it happened, at the unlikeliest of places. I found it at a stall displaying and peddling CDs at the podium of a shopping mall in Tampines. As I walked in I heard Agnes Chan's voice. It was exactly the very same album!!! Bloody hell! Now they have Spotify! What took them so long? So now I have to share this song as it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ojFUaGLQ6k (Circle Game, Agnes Chan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtoiF8yofSc (Sweet Dream)
(You should also check out the rest like Devoted To You, Turn Around and Mother Of Mine, etc. (even though some are cover versions)).
"And the seasons they go round and round, And the painted ponies go up and down, We're captive on the carousel of time, We can't return we can only look behind, From where we came, And go round and round and round, In the circle game".
How can we now drag our feet to slow the circles down I wonder? I look towards Hong Kong now and listen to Agnes' voice, sing the songs that Sam Hui brought to us and I also thought of Bruce Lee. We are truly captive on the carousel of time. Time, it can ravage and consume us.
I realised later that apparently meeting old classmate can be a dangerous affair. I read that in Thailand, at one such gathering, a man killed his old classmate in the first meeting. LOL.
It was good to have met so many of you and Mr. Loh and I hope that we could meet again now and then. I am glad to know all of you and your family are healthy, happy and successful despite the challenges of our time. We rode it! Blessings!
I told Mr. Loh and reminded him that on one Saturday almost 50 years ago, I chanced upon him and Mr. Jeffrey Lim playing table tennis in the P.E. room. What I saw was a bare body Mr. Loh with rippling muscles with well-built biceps and chest pumped out just like Bruce Lee. Perhaps I was the only one who knew this. The young Mr. Loh of that time has thick black hair that was well combed probably with Yardley, Brylcreem or Tancho. He sported black rimmed glasses and would not be out of place if put on the front cover of any vinyl records like the Quests. I might have freaked him out with the details but he remembered.
Truly, these two meetings were very special moments to cherish. It was Yesterday Once More.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlrWUiK-vNo (Carpenters)
Those were such happy times not so long ago. Every sha-la-la-la, every wo-o-wo-o and every so, so, so, so me so still shines. You listen to these older songs with such simple yet powerful lyrics and you are immediately encapsulated in a time zone of its own.
While penning this, it crossed my mind to share this song written by the great Joni Mitchell in the late 60s but she recorded it only in 1970. You can find it yourself but what I would share will be the one performed by then Hong Kong teenage heart-throb at the time, Agnes Chan. My dad has that vinyl album but it was lost in transition and over many years and I have searched for a CD version to no avail even after searching at all that top, biggest and specialty record/CD shops and also from overseas. Even when I was in Hong Kong each time. And I am actually pretty good at searching - for things and people. It was for almost ten years. I was about give up yet harbouring a thought that I might just get it one day and then it happened, at the unlikeliest of places. I found it at a stall displaying and peddling CDs at the podium of a shopping mall in Tampines. As I walked in I heard Agnes Chan's voice. It was exactly the very same album!!! Bloody hell! Now they have Spotify! What took them so long? So now I have to share this song as it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ojFUaGLQ6k (Circle Game, Agnes Chan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtoiF8yofSc (Sweet Dream)
(You should also check out the rest like Devoted To You, Turn Around and Mother Of Mine, etc. (even though some are cover versions)).
"And the seasons they go round and round, And the painted ponies go up and down, We're captive on the carousel of time, We can't return we can only look behind, From where we came, And go round and round and round, In the circle game".
How can we now drag our feet to slow the circles down I wonder? I look towards Hong Kong now and listen to Agnes' voice, sing the songs that Sam Hui brought to us and I also thought of Bruce Lee. We are truly captive on the carousel of time. Time, it can ravage and consume us.
I realised later that apparently meeting old classmate can be a dangerous affair. I read that in Thailand, at one such gathering, a man killed his old classmate in the first meeting. LOL.
It was good to have met so many of you and Mr. Loh and I hope that we could meet again now and then. I am glad to know all of you and your family are healthy, happy and successful despite the challenges of our time. We rode it! Blessings!
Sorry for being a bit long here. You have to understand that I am merely compressing 50 years into a couple of moments where the overloaded memories came crashing into my world. The years, they just melted away but "there'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty, before the last revolving year is through".
Finally, I am sharing this on social media in the hope that once again, some where, some how in cyber space more of you could find us. If you were from KKPS and our class of 1968-1973 in Kim Keat Primary School, hook up! Time may fly...over us but always leaves its shadow behind. Thank you KKPS for being our school!
If only we could save time in a bottle. I'll open a couple of bottles a day like a beer and watch the bubbles, feel the fizz and effervescence and pretend that time stood still. We're captive on the carousel of time. We can't return we can only look behind from where we came and go round and round and round in the circle game. We did travel back in time. About 50 years. Thanks to all of you! Take care. Till we meet again!
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