“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” - Jonathan Safran Foer
Last night, the ladies were asked to recite the surah first followed by the men. As usual, Habsah and I volunteered to be firsts so that we could chit-chat quietly at the back of the class. We whispered and giggles as we recalled our old teachers, most of them we have already forgotten their names.
Habsah and I attended one Malay medium primary school in Kota Bharu. The rest of my three sisters attended the same school too. Sekolah Perempuan Merbau was one of the oldest schools situated in the middle of KB town. I was there from standard one to standard 6. My memory of my primary school years was vague but I still could recall Cikgu Nik Fatimah, the Head Mistress and Cikgu Cik Sayang my class teacher when I was in standard 4. What I could recall of Cigu Cik Sayang was, she would have her very long cuticles painted bright red with cutex for a week, once every month.
During that period she had nasty moods and we were so very scared of her. She looked different, evil in that sense, with her long hair, extra heavy makeup, bright lipstick and long red fingernails. Behind her back we called her ‘Puntianak’ and once a while when she laughs, we expected to see a glimpse of fangs jutting out of her wide mouth. But during her ok moods, she was a good teacher and she taught us arithmetic and because of her, I excelled in my maths subjects and got me where I am now.
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