Reunion 2008 - Saturday July 12th

The Committee met on Oct-25 and made some preliminary plans. We need our cohort members to indicate their preferences for us to confirm certain bookings.

Please select your preferred venue in the poll above. The poll results will help us plan better in catering to your needs.

We are also appealing to class representatives to get their class to prepare a skit, song, dance, whatever as an entertainment. It's all intended to be an evening of getting together for fun and games, and reliving good old days. Halal cuisine will be catered for our Muslim friends.

More details coming soon .. do check back in the Tuckshop Blog.

If you have any suggestions, ideas, etc, please add comments in this post, or email any of the committee member by clicking on their name.

RI.68.73@gmail.com

In Remembrance ..

Ashok Kumar, Tan Chik Hian, Quek Wan Yue,
Suresh Anandan, Chua Koon Meng, Low Chin Min,
Soh Eng Hwa, Cheok Beng Teck

Their lives were a story we shared,
Two, four or six years we had.
Remember the coconut trees there,
And then the pool we hardly swam.

. . . . . . ~ Koon Guan peterkg@starhub.net.sg 26-Sep-07

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In memory of my friend Ashok Kumar

Almost a month to go, before our ROD in 1976. I was in the Officer’s Mess of 41 SAR, in a late hot afternoon. Our Recce Commander whose platoon was involved in the exercise in Area D, broke the news of Ashok Kumar’s death in an explosion of pyrotechnics near Silvy, which to this day, I think no one could really explain.

Apparently the BOI blamed it on radio waves from the signal sets, but signal sets were used at ranges all the time. As usual, in true SAF fashion, another chapter must have been added in the TSR - regarding use of radios near detonators, but I digress.

Actually I was prompted to remember Ashok, by Koon Guan’s Remembrance column. He was of Brahmin caste, good natured, hangs around with Erat and helped him spread tales about an ex-Newtown girl who was then raising temperatures in RI, in the Annex Tuckshop.

I was truly saddened by his passing then, perhaps because my unit was involved, or maybe he was just too young to go…..

Perhaps it was because he could never ROD. God bless you Ashok ...

. . . . ~ Ser Wah songsw@m1.com.sg 05-Oct-07

______________________________________________________

A tribute to Ashok Kumar ..

Ashok's passing was indeed a shock to the young mind, not yet conditioned to accept such eventualities.

I hadn't been in touch with Ashok much during those months, yet, like clockwork from the beyond, I happened to be at Seletar camp attending a one-week course away from SAFTI and while walking to the bus-stop at the end of the day, a car pulls up (with Mathivanan or Pamanathan, I don't remember). The invite me in for a ride and break the devastating news to me. The accident had in fact happened that very day and I had lost a true friend, forever.

If I could pay one tribute to Ashok it would be his genuine, unselfish caring. Apparently, his own happiness was not that important. He only liked to see me happy and would go to great lengths to ensure my happiness, because that actually mattered to him. Ashok was indeed an icon of selflessness, graciousness and nobility!

On that fateful 19th day of March 1976, one of the words of comfort I wrote to myself in my diary was a quote from Seneca, "The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one".

. . . . ~ Erat alias Viju Menon vmenon@shaw.ca 10-Oct-07

Tuckshop yak ...

from Song Ser Wah songsw@m1.com.sg ...

Secondary One was 39 years ago, so it’s no wonder if our memories have dimmed. When I last wrote about Ashok, Prof Soh added another snippet which escaped me completely. Apparently Ashok not only took Chinese as a second language, he passed it at the “O” Levels. Well that certainly put me to shame, and Bee Lok too, since he claimed his Chinese was as good as mine. Then, Lin How and Yong Chuan via their email, replayed in my mind so vividly, how Master Pates throttled Lim Thian Joo while he was meditating in his Pure Mathematics class. Imagine Master Pates with his plump curled fingers, grasping you just below your head. That one still send shivers down my spine.

So lest we forget, and to keep our memories alive, I shall humbly attempt to paint a collage of some of our misadventures, misgivings and simple fun, as they were 39 odd years ago. Those with larger memory glands please feel free to add more dashes of colour, a bold stroke here and there, just like Prof Soh did. Correct me if I err and forgive me if I stray into the realm of fiction … it’s probably just a sign of incipient dementia.

Surely you guys will want to have the last word as I yak away in our Tuckshop. So please have your say, one way or the other….and keep out Tuckshop noisy like the old days.

Those were the days my friends …….

Hantam Bola
This was most popular in Sec1. By the time school starts at 1pm, we would be soaked in sweat after an hour of chasing a little ball, just for the sheer pleasure of hantaming the nearest victim. Ko Kheng Hwa was the fiercest with a sharp and vicious throw, and used his height to advantage to catch high balls. Soh Seng Teck and Loh Choon Seng will “give chance” before they whack you. To save my butt I always give these chaps a wide berth. If Lim Koon Guan had the ball, I could still beg for mercy before I scooted. He was such a kind soul, even then. Those more “sedikit atas” like Lim Chuan Poh would be playing Volleyball. Chin Leong and Cheok Beng Teck should be in the basketball court then. And those who should have been in RGS would be mugging in the library ..…. you know who you are.

Chinese Roulette
Lao Lee (aka Mr Lee) our Chinese teacher in Sec1 had a strange way of cleaning his nose. Wrap left and right forefinger with handkerchief (tissue paper not invented yet) and stick them into each corresponding nostril hole. Then drill away in circular motion. Stranger yet was his teaching method, I call Chinese Roulette. He would select a passage in the reading book and start with the boy sitting at the beginning of a row of desks, picked at his whim. The first boy would read a sentence, and if done to his satisfaction, the adjacent boy would read on from where the first left off. This would continue to the next boy until someone faltered. I was seated next to Cheong Fook Chuen, (aka Abu Bakar in 2101 Scouts) a dark tough chap with thick lips and small eyes. I managed to scrape through with the help of my handwritten romanised phonetics. When it was Fook Chuen’s turn, he did not, and received a sharp tight slap on the face, from the hand of Lao Lee .. the same hand that just finished the nose digging.

For me, my blurness during Chinese lessons created untold anxiety that descended into sheer torture in the hands of Lao Lee. Strangely though, I cannot say his Gestapo techniques impeded learning because Chong Chung Nee and Yim Kok Weng simply excelled in Chinese and thoroughly enjoyed their Chinese lessons. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

The Case of the Disappearing Spittoon
Another year, I had the wonderful company of Ang Yong Guan and Chua Meng Hian in my Chinese class. It so happened that Lao Huang (aka Mr Ng) was their arch nemesis. Lao Huang had the habit of clearing his throat with a growl and then dispatching his phlegm with a “ptwweee” straight into our waste basket. In those days they were real cane baskets (plastic not invented yet) so you can imagine what it was like for the duty boy, when given the unenviable task of emptying it. One day before Chinese class, these 2 wise guys hid the waste basket. Lao Huang cleared his throat as usual but not finding the basket at the usual spot, walked to the back of the classroom, but neither was it there. Unable to contain himself any longer, the phlegm was jettisoned through the louver window like a missile, with an even louder “PTWEEEE”. Yet another negative demonstration in personal hygiene from our Chinese teachers.

Basic Instinct Ver 0.0
In the movie, Sharon Stone doing her classic leg crossing move, sans knickers, was in fact NOT original at all. Those of us in Sec 3 way back then had already seen and experienced such simulations by a certain Mrs L*** who was the English Literature teacher. Seated on the teacher’s table with legs crossed and then uncrossed again ... and yet again, in order to satiate her unyielding itch at the oddest places, I think it sent many innocent little boys, (including our future Dr Chan, and future Chief of Defence Force) into uncontrolled spasms, while still clutching their Shakespeare. Well it certainly made Literature class much more stimulating than it otherwise was…cerebral or otherwise.

The Soft-Ballers
Our cohort should be truly proud of our soft-ballers. I refer of course to those who played soft ball for RI and not simply those endowed in the literal sense. Ong Chong Hua was a superb pitcher and I would credit him with many RI victories. Of course softball is a team game, so to be fair, I have to mention some of the other illustrious team members I still remember well. There was Tan Seng Chee who could be counted on win the support of the girls, no matter how he played, with his chiseled good looks and randy complexion. Julian Pang was the shortstop or maybe not….. but I keep thinking that he was the shortstop then. I wonder why???

Mention of Julian is incomplete unless David Chia is also mentioned in the same breath. “Julian Pang (3rd tone) and David Chia (4th tone)” spoken by a member of the Hokkien platoon like Prof Soh, would sound like “output & input” (if you get your Hokkien right). Like short & tall or earth & heaven, they epitomize the Ying & the Yang, without which there would be no balance under the sky and harmony in the universe. Cheeem right?

Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong (I think Arasu is ringing the bell). Ooops recess time is over.

Gotta leave THE TUCKSHOP & head for Eng Lit class. Yippee!!

ORA Charity Golf 2007 - October 3rd

Seh Chong's report from Raffles Country Club 19th hole

Once a year, a bunch of our diehard cohorts would dust their golf clubs to get together for a round of golf ... all in the name of charity this time. Don’t be mistaken, the golf was only incidental, something to do whilst we catch up with old friends. Judging by the greying hair and bulging torso, ‘old’ is probably the right adjective. But appearance aside, once we met, we were all back to the RI days and very much ‘young’ again.

Reliving the good old days, the conversation invariably was about the teachers, the tuckshop food, the canal (at Bras Basah) and trying to recall who was chief librarian, who was in Red Cross, who did what to whom …etc. These things happened more than 35 years ago and yet through our reminiscing, seemed like yesterday. Forget about work and stress, we were all schoolboys again for that afternoon.

Even though the golf was incidental, it was great fun. The informality, the constant ribbing as everyone tried to put their opponents off their game for the sheer pleasure of taking some money from old friends and to be able to boast about it. All the etiquette espoused by the Royal & Ancient gets thrown out the window and in its place the schoolboy competitiveness surfaced. Just like all the makeshift football, ping pong games played outside (and inside) the classrooms at Bras Basah.

Rumour had it that there would be no meat or veg at Chong Hua’s table for a few days because Chin Leong had not given him enough strokes and won $30. I had to remind Chong Hua it was the same $30 he took from me some weeks back. Its all ‘swings and roundabouts’ – what goes round comes round. But the main thing is to enjoy the journey. That we all did, judging by the conversation over dinner.

In case people cannot recognise the folks in the picture through all the distortion in the lens which made everyone looked ‘fat’ and ‘grey’:

(L-R) Koh Kok Tiong; Naresh; Mathivanan; Remy Chan;

Jackson Loy; Lim Chin Leong; Kong Eng Huat; Ong Chong Hua;
Tan Seng Chee; myself and Loh Yan Hui.
Missing: ( we always had 1 or 2 of these in NS)
Wong Chin Aun and Tan Tor Cher.

Chong Hua said ...

“Many thanks for organizing this golf get-together amongst our cohort.

It was fun but I still feel very sore losing $30 to Buaya Lim in our flight – they never taught the students in the Science Stream about ’compassion and integrity’.

Nice to touch base with all of you even if it’s for once a year. Cheers”


And Yan Hui replied …

“Wa.... Chong Hua, how can?....all the very good & up-right
students in the Science Stream got whacked by you like that??.........

Anyway, I empathise with your $30 lost, ... I lost $20 yesterday too. It still pains a bit, all rather our pride that is, to lose even though that's life, like Seh Chong says. Actually, in the case with Chin Leong, I lose monies everytime to him even when he gives me lots of strokes .. some people are just so blessed in life that they play golf once a day, everyday of the week! How not to be good! ... :-)

Thanks to Seh Chong for organising and all other "old" chums for joining in, we all had fun yesterday while doing a bit of charity. ... Cheers!”

The alphabet, phishing, and pheathers ..

When I wrote this, the Tuckshop visit count has crossed 1,000. Gratifying, encouraging and endearing, indeed. But the "counter" used in the Blog is a simple one; it does not differentiate "unique" individuals, just number of "views". So, the visit profile may well be eighty-twenty, 20% of the cohort contributing 80% of the visits.

That's ok. But, we must try to reach out and spread the message to more. Our email distribution list has less than 230 people. Our cohort is about 400. Believe it or not, some amongst us may not use email! (I know of one personally. He also does not use SMS. Another asked me some time back, why the QWERTY keyboard is not organized alphabetically?) So, there may be a few who still prefer the good, old days or ways of communication. Or, they prefer to keep a very private life, for whatever reasons. Anyway, do spread the word, in whatever way you could.

One letter in the alphabet remains a bone of contention, even though we have settled with the "Tuckshop" name. Typo risks? To "F" or not to "F"? Well, inspite of some protests, Chor Leong, with all his legalese conviction, argued the case, citing Stamord Rales turning in his grave, and us being relegated to mere Ralesians and so on .. Well, the case rests for now, with all the finesse, finality and of course, friendship.

I am glad I went fishing last week, even though the conventional wisdom is that the fishes around our shores are so well conditioned they keep their mouths shut! At the end of the phishing line, there were some interesting open mouths .. now we have more photos for our album, and comments in the Guest Book. But we do need more .. as we hope to serve more in the Tuckshop, be it food for thought, inspiration or instigation of sorts.

Not to worry of ruffling any pheathers .. as Prof Chee Kiong has been instigated from the 881 Getai to use such pheathers to inspire his students to greater heights of learning, accompanied by the tenor of his karaoke pitch.

So do visit our Tuckshop soon, and often .. for it now serves more than food for thought ;-)

RI.68.73@gmail.com
Julian pangtowchiang@gmail.com

Our Tuckshop ..

.. more visits and feedback

Our Tuckshop on the Blog is now a week old. The "tuckshop" name was suggested by Bee Lok, over those of canteen, serabat stall, cafe, pub etc. It's simple, unassuming, almost egalitarian, capturing the flavours, essence and ambience of those kampong days.

Of course, the deliberation over the name choice was not devoid of contention. There was a valid concern on the potential risks of a typo in "tuckshop", with suggestions that I removed the "F" key from my keyboard! Wai Ming protested vigourously and the discourse raised into "To B or Not to B", and what would LIFE be without F?

Anyway, thanks to all the feedback, contributions of ideas, pictures, comments and poems, etc .. the visits count is now more than 300. We have only been able to reach just about half our cohort. We must try harder. If you know of anyone I should add to the email distribution list, please let me know.

We have a "Guest Book" for everyone to say something, or even to look for a "lost" friend. I hope everyone who visits leave something behind, instead of an eerie silence. Reminds me of our Bras Basah Rd Art Studio on the 3rd floor, especially when we camped overnight in the Scouts' Den. Any noise in the middle of the night was amplified many times over, and we wondered who could be exercising their artistic expressions at that hour.

Anyway, I do hope everyone will exercise their freedom of expression .. in the Guest Book, the interactive Tuckshop Notice (PostIT) Board, your vote on the Poll, or post an article, joke, photo or poem .. for posterity. We used to have prefects hovering around in the Assembly Hall to impose silence. Well, there isn't any imposition or inquisition in the Tuckshop, so say your piece, please.

RI.68.73@gmail.com
Julian pangtowchiang@gmail.com

First Reunion-2008 Meeting - Looking for Committee Members and Ideas

Report from the 1st Meeting - Wed, July 25, 2007

The first meeting to organise a reunion dinner for Rafflesians cohort (68-73) was held at Wai Ming's House on 25th July 2007. It was attended by Bee Lok, Wai Ming, Puey Cher, Seh Chong, Yum, Chik and Beng Teck

Over red wine, chicken rice, sushi and fruits served by our generous host, the meeting got off to a great start. Everyone showed their trusts in Bee Lok's leadership and he was unanimously elected Chairman again. However, a modest Bee Lok alluded that given the small size of the meeting, we may not have a quorum for such an important decision. Nonetheless, he agreed to be the interim Chairman.

Organising Committee that brought

you the Reunion Dinner in 2003.

Note how happy they were? How much food and wine
they consumed? Can we emulate this? Join us to find out

The following decisions were agreed upon:

1. Date of Reunion Dinner - 12 July 2008 (saturday) [Please note that the earlier date was wrong]

2. Venue - RI (subject to availability and confirmation)

3. Indicative cost - $ 100/- per pax (any surplus will be donated to RI)

To be close to the wine cellar, it was also agreed that future meetings be held at Wai Ming's house until the committee got too big and/or we are deemed as public nuisance by Wai Ming's family and/or neighbours.

The Committee invites fellow Rafflesians to be:

1. Volunteers to join the Committee. Fun is guaranteed.

2. Representatives to represent various groupings such as Pre-U classes, Sec 4 classes, those who left RI after Sec 4 to join other institutions such as NJC, Victoria Sec School, Singapore Polytechnic, etc. The key performance indicator for representatives is to track as many Rafflesians as possible and persuade/ beg/ threaten/ seduce/ kidnap them to come to the dinner.

We are also seeking proposals for the following:

1. A theme for the dinner such that anyone who had spent 2, 4 or 6 years during the '68-'73 period can relate to.

2. Programmes that will make the evening nostalgic and interesting.

So, if you are interested in joining us or if you have any great ideas, please reply to: RI.68.73@gmail.com or provide as comments to this post.

Thank you

RI (68 - 73) Reunion

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Next Meeting - 30th August 2007

Well, at least some people are reading this Blog. Puey Cher had a few emails to inform her that we have got the date wrong and others volunteering to join the Organising Committee. Well, the wheels have started turning.

The following had indicated that they would like to join the fun of Organising the Event: Jackson Loy, Yong Chuang, Lin How, Lai Sim, Myrtle, Chee Kiong, Roy Varghese and Naresh. There are now more than 10 of us. Wai Ming has a big compound in his house and can accommodate more. As many of us have commitments, it is good to have a big committee so that we can always have a critical mass for our meetings.

The next meeting will start at 7 p.m. on 30th August 2007. Please contact Puey Cher at pckoh5@singnet.com.sg if you are interested in coming.

Also, the committee has started the mammoth task of updating the mailing list. Some of you had changed jobs and your old email addresses are no longer valid. Earlier, we had sent out a list of people whose emails had bounced. If you have the latest email address of those on the list, please forward them to Puey Cher.

It appears that people are still not forthcoming to offer themselves as class representatives. Maybe the KPI in the earlier Blog appears to be a bit daunting. So, we have set a more modest KPI for the class representatives: to help collate and update the mailing list of your class.

Finally, we think this Blog can be good focal point for our cohort to keep in touch. So, if you have any thing to post, you can post directly in this blog, or if you prefer email, please contact: RI.68.73@gmail.com

Thank you.

New Blog on the Kip .. Soldiering on ..

Dear friends,

Beng Teck has sadly left us. But we will continue what he had started. This blog is a "meeting place" for us to find keep in touch and recall, if not relive, the special moments we treasure in the 68 to 73 years. And of course, a tribute to Beng Teck.

I have been "volunteered" by Prof Soh Chee Kiong to inherit the responsibility and task of continuing this blog. Since I could not retrieve the earlier password used by Beng Teck to create the first version, I had to create a new blog, and transferring the earlier postings across. So, do bookmark this new blog in your browser, http://ri-68-73.blogspot.com/ and re-post any comments if I have missed out any.

By the way, this is OUR blog. You are all welcome to post any item of interest. Of course, I am sure you all know the "do's and don't's". And the lawyers, judges amongst us will remind us the limits and responsibilities of freedom of expression. I will also share the blog admin password with a few of the committee members, so that there will always be a continuity.

Well, although the blog was started for the purpose of the 12th July 2008 reunion, I believe we could also use the "new technology" of having the blog serve us as a kopitiam, serabat stall, pub, speaker's corner, or whatever you prefer .. a place where friends gather.

So keep the blog alive .. post your comments, critique, suggestions, pictures, videoclips etc directly onto the blog .. or if you prefer to email: RI.68.73@gmail.com

Julian Pang
pangtowchiang@gmail.com