In History Class, Mrs Raj, wound up in a green sari, Talked around the clock about kapal-kapal Iropah that would dock, occasionally, as I nod Off, Mrs Raj would stop.
"Pull up your socks!" she'd say, like a siren Distressing our ears, and all the poor dears In History Class.
I. PULL. MY. BLOODY. WHITE. SOCKS. UP. And gulp.
"You must mix history up and drink it down" Mrs Raj said in a voice, cold as glass and Seven-Up. "No, no, no! ABSOLUTELY NO. Sleepy heads in class. You go! GO! And stand outside. I Decide. This is a circus, Madness! This is NOT, this IS� THIS IS HISTORY CLASS".
We, the locals, find this funny and laugh. History for us, like the cannons, is a blast.
Someone who'd been to the ISKL - for a period As short as a bell - barfed in the back of the class.
The ISKL is the International School of Kuala Lumpur It is the Upper Class, you and I, are DELETE. NOT THE ELITE, so love song, You and I can read
History and Law But there is not one place INTERNATIONAL, you And I can go, Love song! No matter what seeds we sow The Malay language and elite Sit on our head As we row the same boat
"Duduk! Duduk! Duduk! Sit down you clown!"
"But Teacher, Mrs Raj, you told me to GO!"
"Yes, but you don't go till I tell you to GO!"
"You girls are getting as bold as brass. Don't think I Don't know," she said, lifting her eyebrows, "What You are doing outside THE CLASS."
Then calming down, "History is a subject you cannot Afford to reject, the old truths are always there."
"Ah yes, teacher, the world is laid bare But it is not fair, alas! It only belongs to the fair!" Said one poetic soul whittle thin like a pencil Boring a hole in a desk.
Drama. Melodrama. That's one of the girls from Ipoh Not to sink so low, and mention Michelle Yeoh, Who also Escaped Mrs Raj's History Class With James Bond No Less
Because Tomorrow Never Dies History Never lies.
So many of us go! Love song! It seems so wrong!
"Not necessarily, you know. History is about old Souls, not our rice bowls, learn all you can Spread yourselves out Become a Red Chinese Fan Find another land...
The Bell Rang.
History Test is Tomorrow, alright GOOD LUCK, said Mrs Raj, her voice slipping like sand In an hourglass, I am leaving THE HISTORY CLASS.
"And You, pull up your socks, don't be lazy Or the facts will be hazy. Don't Go Outside The Class," said Mrs Raj, Asking another girl to carry our books To the garage.
"I won't go outside the classroom, Teacher! I'll stay here and wait for the bridegroom Mr Wang is teaching the next class".
"You girls are getting as bold as brass. Don't think I Don't know," she said, lifting her eyebrows, "What You are doing outside THE CLASS."
We, the locals, find this funny and laugh. History for us, like the cannons, is a blast.
The writer is a prize-winning Malaysian writer in voluntary exile. Her published work can be viewed here.