the balestier hill gang

if we were to join teaching later, say in the 90s, i wonder if we would have stuck together. those days, in the 70s, teaching afforded us a lot of time to do things together after school, meaning after 1.00 p.m.

so, although we went our different ways after balestier hill secondary, we still remain in contact because of the bond we had built after spending so much time together inside and outside of the school. we did things like hitch-hiking, going on holiday, staying in holiday chalets and having picnics as colleagues and friends.

thai soon gave up his civil servant status when he joined nanyang junior colleage as a pe teacher. kwan went to bedok south secondary, nah went to woodsville sec (which merged with macpherson secondary in 2004), betty nah and tye thong went to bendemeer secondary, kok weng went to henderson, then to nanyang girls, northland and north vista and i went from balestier to ghim moh, monk's hill and admiralty primary.

all of us, except lay bee and gee peng, have retired and all of us retired before we reached our 60th birthday. among us, only thai soon, the oldest, is still gainfully employed. he coaches canoeing and dragon-boat racing. another person who is still working is doris. she retired in 2006 and went back to henry park as a flexi-adjunct teacher.

we had dinner at pine court in meritus mandarin as lay bee has a 50% discount coupon which had to be used because of the expiry date.

surprise birthday dinner for jenmeet

my ex-colleague jameela called me a fortnight ago to ask if i would attend a birthday celebration they had planned secretly for another of my ex-colleague, jenmeet. it would be held on 6 november but the venue and time had not been confirmed then. i was to get freddie kee, our former principal to go along.

this was planned in collaboration with jack, jenmeet's husband. the idea of a birthday bash for jenmeet came from jack, and he got jameela and one of jenmeet's former colleague from zhonghua to help coordinate the guest list. jack would tell jenmeet that they would be going for a private dinner at moghul mahal.

while i was on the cruise to melaka and k.l., jameela called to let me know that the dinner for jenmeet's 40th birthday would be held at novotel at clarke quay. closer to the date, i was informed that it was an indian restaurant - moghul mahal - located on the 6th floor of novotel.

diana, jameela, lailee (jameela's daughter) and i were among the first to reach the restaurant, just before 7.00 p.m. the admiralty group sat at one table except for jameela who was at the next table with her husband and daughter. about forty guests turned up for the party.

while waiting for the guest-of-honour to arrive with her escort, we were served samosa and chicken. the chicken was very popular with everyone, and they kept replenishing till we asked them to stop as we still wanted to enjoy the main course.

the guest-of-honour finally stepped into the restaurant at 8.00 p.m. she was so overwhelmed - and as we had expected - that she cried. she went around thanking everybody and hugging her female friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues.

after the cake cutting, we made a bee-line for the buffet table. there were naan and saffron rice. the dishes included mutton, chicken and vegetables. the food though simple was good, and i had two helpings.

we were the first group to leave, leaving at about 9.00 p.m.