"Ayam" anyone? by Tan Kok Hua

3 years in the same lower secondary made SSP an ‘old’ boring school. But, somehow starting Form Four was like joining a new school. There were so many new faces and it was nice to meet up old TMIS mates too. However, some SSPians remained territorial e.g. ‘Charcoal’ (Choon) Seng who would occasionally pick a fight a two with boys from other schools. Just like the hala2 bell bottom pants of that time, a new trend in fighting styles also emerged. No more Chen Xing, Chen Kuan Tai, Ti Lung & Fu Sheng. In came, Lee Hsiao Lung. It was fun seeing Choon Seng posing like Bruce Lee when he fought this Pekan Nenas guy (forgot his name) who was much taller than him. Wah, just like the Game of Death, the final episode.

After the Form 3 examination, we thought Four Four should be a honeymoon year until we came to know the big gap between lower and secondary school subject depths. What the heck was Mr Wong Wee Boo trying to tell us when he plotted strange looking curves on the board and putting little delta Y’s and delta X’s all over the place. And, everyone failed the 1st Physics test in class, with the highest mark at 33. Only then did we know Mr Seet. Plotting curves using the flexible lead was indeed primitive compared with the calculators that my daughters use nowadays. Those stainless steel slide rules must be museum pieces now. And, there must be a better way to teach speed and acceleration than those ‘ticker’ tapes!


Our Form Four class was located at the block nearest the school entrance, just pass the bicycle shed. It was the left corner lot on the 1st floor. This was a perfect location to see the whole school went by during the change in sessions. For Tian Gee (SMB Benut) & others, it was just the right spot to screen those Form 5 girls passing by. We had to set up a code of ethics not to disturb friends’ sisters when Tian Gee unknowingly wolf-whistled at my sister’s group.


A less aggressive way to welcome new students and make new friends is through some sports activities. A group of us found interest in volleyball. Not sure who started those afternoon volleyball ‘friendlies’. There were primarily two groups of us. Those trained by SSP’s Mr Teng Peng Lam (our Class teacher in Form 2F & Form 3F, I think), and those from SMTK. Students in Mr Teng’s class would no doubt be influenced into playing volleyball for he was the school coach. [Mr. Teng wrote very well on the black board. He liked his writing so much that occasionally he would go to the back of the class to admire his work. How’s that for vanity?].


The ‘SMTK’ team was a tough one to beat. Of course lah since they have the best setter in Kim Teng [taught Economics to friends after volleyball – what a good example of selflessness] and the best spiker in Chee Peng. They also have better average height advantage in Say Ping, Meng Kwang and Bak Seng (Size XXXL), not to be mistaken with the other Bak Seng (Size M). It was difficult trying to block these SMTK spikers. We have to depend on Sek Siong, Seng Tee & Tat Cheong (where’s he?) to do the blocking. It was even tougher trying to squat and dig in those tight trendy trousers close to knee lengths. You also needed to dive to save those deadly net drop shots known as “ayam” probably because of the way it was executed.


If kung-fu had eagle & tiger claws, volleyball had chicken claws!


All these moves created much stress in the seams and we frequently ended up splitting our trousers. No wonder the feeling was always more free and airy when we cycled home. I also had to stop by Broadway (ok, ok, “Da Lu”. My Chinese is koyak becos’ a group of us preferred to sit at Lau Ong’s class instead of attending Chinese lessons) to re-adjust the ‘spiked’ spectacles frame. The winners had the privilege of first access to the pail of iced sarsi from Lau Ong’s canteen which is a luxury in those hot afternoons. Loosers also need to keep the net. I think after a while, we mixed-and-matched to have more even matches. Kiasu lah! We all learnt how to ‘ayam’ each other so frequently that it became too predictable. To those volleyballers, thanks for your friendship & the fun.


The SSP sports hall was also a basketball battle ground too. The best basketball match has got to be the teachers vs students match on Teachers’ Day. I remember hearing shouts of “sa hap pan, sa hap pan” (plywood in Hokkien) not knowing what it was about until I saw Mr Satthapan ‘dribbling’ and trying to control the rebound (nearly up to his height!). Quite a hilarious sight to see but his spirit of having fun was to be admired. What a gentle gentleman he was. I used to wash his car when he sent it to our petrol station for service. Other ‘teachers’ customers included Mr Prasad and Mr David ‘black&white’ Rabindran (easily the neatest dressed teacher in town).


So, that was a bit of story from Form 4 for your reminiscence.