Candle 16: Jacqueline Doss

Dear Joanna,

I'd like to first thank you for taking time to do Project Kindle . It's a wonderful idea and will give us a chance to appreciate our Alma Mater.

My name is Jacqueline Doss and I was in school from 1974-1978. After school I went on to study medicine at the Kasturba Medical College , Manipal. I did my compulsory goverment rotation and went in private practice as a general practitioner . I took a break from practice to teach children Speech and Drama . I taught public speaking , poetry recital and story telling . It was some thing I had always wanted to do and it gave me the chance to be at home as the kids grew. I have been back in practice at Mahkota Medical Centre, Malacca since 2007 .

I have very fond memories of BBGS and till today proudly tell everyone that I studied at the prestigious Bukit Bintang Girls' School. I know I am who I am today because I walked those corridors of BBGS. The school song still brings tears to my eyes . I was rather mischievous but hey! what's school without the fun. My fringe used to fall all over my face and my form mistress the now Puan Sri Rathi Khoo used to bring clips to pin it up for me in school. I enjoyed our tedious choral speaking practices and that has helped me train both my children"s school choral speaking teams in primary school. While less emphasis is placed on pronunciation and enunciation I still pride myself in teaching them the importance of it . It may not have won them a place in the national finals but I hope its something they will carry with them all their lives as we do after being a part of BBGS choral speaking heritage.

The Taming of the Shrew was a play many of our teachers loved to do. I guess there must have been many a shrew to tame. In Form 3 after our SRP each form had to take part in thannual drama competition . Mrs Jega our teacher had warned us that we were not to mis school the day after the exams. Those who missed school would have to take part in the drama. We of course we didn't believe she would do it and took the day off to watch the " Towering Inferno". As you guessed there was quite an inferno in class the next day. The group of us who missed class were in the play and yours truly was the shrew . We'll we tried to get out of it but did not succeed . However , I must say I enjoyed every minute of it.

There are so many things I remember like our food sales, our Bible Knowledge classes, Home Science class [ and the fact that I couldn't sew to save my life ] ,the sound of Miss Cooke's court shoes as she walked down the corridors , our assemblies and the list goes on . Today I am confident , eloquent [ In an article Mrs Jegadeva wrote in the newspapers about why she refused to be a choral speaking judge - she spoke of how you could pick out a BBGS girls in Oxford street by just hearing her speak] and I feel a responsible citizen because of everything I learnt not only at home but also in School . I feel truly blessed to have been in BBGS[ Ask my children - They roll their eyes when I speak about my school and can't believe I love it so much.]