My Primary School I

Halfway servicing my customer's PABX, I realised that it was almost half-past twelve and so, my customer had to perform his Friday prayers and won't be back until after half-past two. Since my old school was nearby, I decided to shoot some pictures. I mean, without any shopping centres nearby, sitting on the sidewalk for two hours is not a very good thing.

I wanted to do this for quite some time, with or without a tripod or some fancy wancy lens. Since today is the last day of the shool term, there were not much students about which means I can shoot in peace. A word of warning though, this and the next few posts would be full of photos and long winded stories about my memories. Skip this if you think its too boring. Here we go.

For most of my student life, from Kindergarten to Secondary, it was always on Bukit Nanas (Pineapple Hill?) but don't ask me why it was named Bukit Nanas since most of the people who remembered it only mentioned tigers and elephants in the jungle. The hill houses St. John's Primary School and St. John's Institution. Next to it is the Convent Bukit Nanas and leading up to the hill was the Fatimah Kindegarten which has now disappeared. During that time, it was THE school to be in. There, you can mingle with a Minister's son, a rich man's son and some future leaders, really. But for me, its just a normal daily grind of waking up early in the morning, carrying my schoolbag, failing in exams and so on. Ha ha ha ha ha!

On the left used to be an Indian man with his stall which
sells newspapers and also a lot of toys, especially those
Action Jack figures. They are simple figures and with no
screws or glue to hold them, just a head with a long spine
which you insert into the body to lock it. I love to play
with them in the water and almost everywhere. The stall
also sells stink bombs ( I just kept it in my pocket because
the bottles looked so cute) and flat styrofoam planes you
can fly. The best were the Spitfires with the propellers

Minutes before the school bell rings, I would rush up the long
stairs. Before this, I would not dare to venture out and away
from the assembly point.

Somewhere on the right, is the workshop for those
students taking part in the Workshop Studies. I did
not get the chance but ended up with Moral Studies
years later. That really screwed up my life. Cheh!

This is the assembly point and my Father would fetch me and
then followed me here until it was time to leave for office.
I would stay with him every morning and play with his metal
digital LCD watch until I got older and he got me to take the
schoolbus. Also, I remember one afternoon where an Idian
boy was running about playing "catching" with his friends and
apparently, he could not stop in time and crashed into the
concrete edge. Minutes later, blood came gushing out. Another
was my Indian classmate in Standard one who has a lot of yellow
stuff coming out of his ears all the time and the teacher had to help
wipe it. I did not see him again from Standard Two onwards.

Another view of the assembly point. Pity they put up this green shade the
last few years. Spoils the scenery if you ask me. The Headmaster and his
assistant would stand on the podium and deliver their announcement
before we enter our classrooms. We go to class in the morning from
Standard one to three. And from Standard four to six, we had to
switch to afternoon. This was very bad especially when it came
to Fridays. Either you go home early or you get to come in
after two. Why its bad is because the schoolbus would not
stick to the schedule for Fridays. In Standard four to six,
I was bored for two hours while waiting for the bell to
ring. Since I do not dare to go out beyond the school
compound, I was trapped......

This is the sepak takraw court. On the left is the classroom for
religious studies and just under the middle, is the entrance to
my standard one class (left) and the canteen (right). On the
right and out of the picture, is my Standard two class.