A Poetic Record

12 December 2020
An auspicious day
says the "Toong Seng" Book
Begetting another thanksgiving Christmas Lunch
Always wishing
that this time it would be
more memorable
then the most recent one
The 27 September 2020
was hard to beat
At least in bottles of whiskeys drunk
and jokes cracked.

Wondered who started the first gathering
many moons ago

The myth has it that it was Ali Kadir
Doesn't matter really
The magic worked wonderfully
fellowship gets reperpetuated
long lost friends reunited
Rivals become hugging bears
Many Lazaruses "rising from dead"
with their stories of panties won
and fishes caught
Or lost
Confirming that the VI Spirit is indeed alive
in the class of 63-69.

This continuing quarterly ritual
of returning "vagabond idiots"
must be the result of uncanny ingenuity
For most leaving school
is goodbye forever

But for this pride of Seladangs
"I am VI!"
is etched forever in their hearts
Like an indelible
Mark
of Pride

My "tiptoed" entry into the Party
did sight something queer
For once we have full attendance
Before the clock struck noon
With many dressed to "kill"
Some Beverly, some Samba, some Tropicana
Some Jack and Jills
The air smelled lunch was ready
The Moroccan lamb was roasting in drizzling Marakkash sauce
"Great !!! Hurrah! Albert is here"
Eddie Eng Cheng saw me come in
And shouted loud and clear
"The Whiskey is here, Glenmorangie and the MacCallan
Burgundy and all"
"They are here !!!"
No starting gun or introductory speech is needed to kickstart a VI party

Tan Sri TCL the ever perfect host
Led me to my table
Already seated with three pretty girls
For VI lasses never age
They only ripen with experience
And blossom with confidence
Keeping their innocence lost
well hidden
Like it never happened
TCL and I
Two thorns among three roses
We must have drawn the lucky straw
(Or so we thought)

Lesley, Siowck Lee and Rajamalar
All sweet, bright and nice
Most thoughtful girls they are
Presenting us with a lovely Christmas cake
Beautifully wrapped in Mistletoes
It was rich in fruit and nuts and rum
Dessert galore we will have.
To remind us of Christmas
and the Grace that comes when belles
adorn a VI function

Very soon a long queue
was coming our way
TCL thought perhaps to inspect the Christmas cake
I thought more like coming to pay me homage
as "Guest of Honour".
We both were flatly wrong
Like "hungry wolves" in heat
Closing in on Lesley were

Vincent Lim, Eddie Eng Cheng
Daniel Alfred, Thor etc
each in turn expressing the surprise, the joy and bewilderment
of finding that their sweet teeny weeny Gurney Road primary school classmate
has turned into a seductive charming "Princess"
I felt great happiness for Lesley
The glow on her face
The sparkle in her eyes
The dimple on her cheek
The impish blush
All tell tale signs of Lesley enjoying the momentous limelight
VI boys often discover too late
That good "wine" can only get better with age

In the absence of "Brother" Greg Ah Heng
I ting ting the wine glass
To seek divine blessing for our gathering
Today of the class of 63-69
"May the good Lord keep the Devil and Covid away
And bless this gathering
With joy and jokes and great fellowship
And Fun,Fun,Fun"
At that moment,
Grace turned solemnity
into partying

Maestro Singer Robert Tan took over
And with his magic swing of hands
And hip
Resurrected and orchestrated
the unruly crowd into the revived
"Cliff Richard and the Shadows" as we blasted out with gusto
Reminding the world
(ourselves really !)
That we are

"The Young Ones"
"And the Young Ones shouldn't be afraid.
To live and love
While the flame is strong !!"

Partying is no fun
Nor Complete
Without an act of charity
Especially for a Christmas lunch
Through some members
the "charity arm" of Class 63-69
Is Rotary Alfa Ampang
Partying stopped briefly
as we embraced
This beautiful moment
of thanking Mrs Vincent Lim
as the outgoing President
And congratulating Ganesh
as the incoming President
to guide Rotary Alfa Ampang
in the new year
To kick off our charity program
And remind ourselves of
our civic duty
to the community
the VI moral sensibility
imbued in us
our wish to spread hope
and good cheer
Class 63-69 chose Ozanam
An Orphanage
for abandoned neglected children

Founded by Mrs Elizabeth Vaz
now 92 years old
a retired VI teacher
to celebrate Christmas
on our account
RM 1000 for Delicious Dinner
RM 900 for 2 whole turkeys
RM 4500 for a water purifier system
28 caring hearts
Lots of love
and a "partridge on a pear tree"

Once the mood is set
The Party begins a life of its own
Conversations set in
Hands waving from one end of room
to the other, hopefully to someone
And not waving for Liverpool to win
in weekly soccer wager
Names are remembered
Alzheimer's disappears mysteriously
Chitter chatter
small conspiratorial talks sprout again

"Did you know Madonna and Maradona are the same person???
One just died anyway???"
The class of 63-69 is one big family again

There was food aplenty
TCL the perfect host
makes sure of that
So Waiters came in and out
Loading each table
with the best selection of dim sums this side of Hong Kong
I can peep glutties
digging into their favorite dims and sums
For me the egg tarts
were simply the best

Never to be outdone
by anyone
Our very own Frank Sinatra
felt he was in the mood to swing
and exercise his romantic
effusive voice.

Tan Sri Azlan Zainol
Walked handsomely
to center stage
Never has so much eagerness
awaited a most appropriate
periodic song
"The Autumn Leaves "
Gee! It was a rendition
better than King Cole himself
When AZ rendered the lines
"the autumn leaves of red and gold"
We are all reminded
Autumn is thanksgiving time
The class of 63-69 certainly felt thankful to God
for allowing us green leaves to grow red and gold
depicting our wonderful life
growing up in VI and after VI

The Party went into full swing
As the musical chairs started to move
Roving self appointed ambassadors
Seelan, Robert Tan, Kamil, Thor
Doctor Liew Fah Kong

And Mr Broadcaster himself Daniel Alfred
Not forgetting Eddie Eng Cheng
And Peter Hung Lee
Onn Yusof stood out in style
I believed Onn called on every table
Amidst the din and mongering chatter
The Ambassadors floated around
Waving hi and salutes and salams
To every guests around
Magically recreating
a "1969" afternoon tea dance
Leading the charge was the Tycoon himself
Tan Sri TCL
Repeating the words
"Eat, eat. Drink, drink. Enjoy, enjoy"
Which only TCL can do in style,
majestically

There is forever the "pestilential" group
Sorry I typed "presidential"
But my Apple smart
word corrected it
They hug and control
the whole one end of the hall
The much respected "Liquor Kings"

Hoo Ben, Lim Sew Hok, Eddie Lim Eng Cheng and Wong Siew Kong
Glued and unmovable from their presidential chairs
Not unlike their daily morning kopi tiam meetings
They command respect and attention of All
Through their sheer drinking prowess
and constant shouts of "Yum Seng!!"
Today they were joined by compatriots

Yap Chee Wee, Wing Hon and Tham Chee On
I know that the juice was having the desired effect
Because Wing Hon's usual temperate face has become a permanent grinning smile
Of Burgundy Pink

Of course good food always taste better with the best wines
And whiskeys
We had the top choices on drinks
Today
Selected by Mr Burgundy himself
Me
The score and rating was confirmed
by the end of the day

We have downed 5 bottles of delightful Aussie Pinot Noir
Specially flown in from Yarra Valley
"The Village"
And 2 bottles of very rare 18 years Glenmorangie whiskey
1 bottle of the impeccable 15 years MacCallan
When the tap ran dry
TCL came up with a very very rare Glenroth whiskey
In our cheerful stupor we could not decide
whether we drank too much
or too little
Our usual referee Ali Kadir has gone AWOL
But who really cares
When everyone is happy
And we can still walk the straight Z line!
We have broken the previous record
Made on 27 September 2020

Wished the jokes cracked over the years
Had been recorded
A lovely collection it would have made
Of the laughing side of Class 63-69
Pity some of the best are XXX-rated
For jokes,
we can always rely on Doc
Dr Liew Fah Kong
And his surgery jokes
For it is all true
One day a man came to see Doc
"Do you do circumcisions?"
"Yes, of course many times"
"Just a simple procedure"
"I am a bit worried Doc"
"This is my only baby son"
"Have you ever accidentally
'chopped' off that little thing?"
Without hesitation,
Doc asked his nurse in
"Nissha, I circumcised your boy. Is everything OK?"
"Mr Liew. Very good.
GooGoo cantiik."
The man called out his wife
"Mama. Bring boy in quick.
Dr Liew bagus."
LFK is a most able surgeon
safest pair of hands in town.

This report will be incomplete
Without a mention
of our literary genius
and playwright Thor
When he wishes to
He writes a masterpiece
In Malaysiakini
But Thor has this hangup
about me
"Albert, what is your interest in Poetry?
You are straying from your forte"
(Which I have none)
(Really)
"It's a Freudian distraught," I said
"You remember Mrs Lee ?
Our English teacher
She asked me in class
Who wrote
'The wreck of the Hesperus'"
I said "I don't know but I remember a few lines."
"Go on," said Mrs Lee
I did
With great passion
"And her bosom white
as the Hawthorn buds
That bloom in the month of May"
You see Thor, I got caned badly for remembering sensous lines.
That is why as a hobby
I am hitting back at poems as a Freudian therapy
Ever since.

Great mention
should also be made of Vincent Lim
Our camera man extraordinaire
He developed his photography skills
in VI
The story is he controlled the Dark Room
And all the negatives
as only VL had the key
to that mysterious room
We thank him greatly
For without him
we will never have the photo records
of all the wonderful gatherings
over the years
Today VL is wearing
a most colourful Hawaiian shirt
So you don't have the guess who when you see a brilliantly floral
Hawaiian shirt

Special thank you also to
Gan Siowck Lee
who did a splendid video
of the 27 September 2020 gathering
So tactfully edited
Every one looked splendid
Most importantly
She captured the moments
The meaning
The Spirit
of what getting together is all about.

All good parties
come to a happy ending
Especially
when we enjoyed ourselves
well past closing time
Luckily the owner is TCL
himself
As per tradition
Someone will sing a solo
Followed by the whole Party
singing the School Song

Robert Tan has graciously
passed the red neck scarf
to me
To do the solo
this time round
I was spirited to choose
"TODAY"
Largely in appreciation
of the wonderful time
We shared today
You can literally
see tear drops falling
As we sang the lines
"A million tomorrows
shall all pass away
Ere I forget
All the joys
That is mine
TODAY."
I will pass the red neck scarf to AZ
at the next
gathering to sing "Save the next dance for me"
or his own choice.

As we grouped together
Banding ourselves closer and closer
and closer
So that we can sing with one
Collective Voice
In the best tradition
Certain lines loudly spoke out
"Let us next
remember here
All who passed
through this our school
Not one race
But one in feeling"
And more lines
came calling out
With fervour
From our hearts

"Let us lastly pledge ourselves
Ever to uphold our school
In our work
And in our leisure
With such zeal
And in such measure"
We ended our party
With the school song
in gregorian refrain
To reaffirm the
Moral Compass
that VI has forged on
The Class of 63-69

As we bid
farewell and goodbyes
We eyed
the beautifully decorated
Christmas tree
That TCL
has specially arranged
For the occasion
Full of colours, lights,
cheer and joy
But all its fullness
were already captured
Completely
In our most memorable
12 December 2020 Party

Albert Cheok
Senior Economist Australian Treasury
Chief Manager Australian Reserve Bank
Commissioner of Banking HK
Executive Director HK Monetary Authority
Chairman Bangkok Bank Berhad
Presently, Chairman 5G Networks
Chairman Supermax

Red-Scarfed Chief Wine Toaster and his Minions

Ganes receives a cheque for Rumah Ozanam