Candle 28: Shaz M Zain

First of all Congratulations to the Reunion Organizing team & Back2BBGS for all that you’ve done! A splendid blog! I have been reading about Project Kindle since it started, but never thought to write in as I thought maybe I’m not good enough to be in it, but then, none from my batch responded and I was approached to send in, so here’s my story…

I was at BBGS for 11 years, from Std 1 (BBGS1: 1988 - 1993) & up to Form 5 (1994-1998). It was the best time of my years…Its all I remembered about my childhood, even my sisters also went to BBGS, and I have to say we all share on thing in common, we are proud to be a BBGSian!

What I miss most about my primary days are “main getah” , “batu seremban”, “galah panjang” before school starts or during recess. I wasn’t one of the good obedient ones as I used to break rules and be called up to the teachers room, once or twice to the principal’s office. There were many forbidden places for BBGS girls during that time and among them are Karyaneka and 7 Eleven! I used to visit Karyaneka, that was right opposite the school at that time, on days that I stayed back for computer classes, and of course I brought a gang (my close friends and partners in crime at that time was Sarah, Aireen, Andarmi, Izliana, Safina) with me, it was like a small adventure of ours visiting the different state houses, the mini zoo and also entertaining the Mat Salleh, there was once, they actually got us to sing the ‘Negaraku’ and recorded it on tape. We also went to 7 Eleven to get our Slurpees occasionally on those days we stayed back…I don’t really remember where the money came from since I only got 30 to 50 cents a day for pocket money but it was there somehow… Other than that I don’t really remember what I did, but there were complaints but all this small adventures of us never did reach the teachers & our parents..thank god!, anyhow I turned out fine didn’t I?



In secondary school, my fondest memory was of course the Choral speaking – we took this seriously every year, we always did our best and I really enjoyed the times we spent rehearsing and the interclass competition,. Other than that there was this after assembly singing conducted by Mrs. Abraham. And the most colorful event during the year was the sports day, the cheerleading competition was always an awaited event! I really loved it especially when Green house kept winning those years! Yes I was a full fledged Green house member, loyal all the way, unlike some who changed when they crossed from primary to secondary! Next best event is the Teachers Day, I always looked forward to the teachers singing the song “Saya Guru Malaysia” and their performance with the students. They were such a sporting bunch!

Another note on Choral Speaking, I remember one historical event that I am so honored to have been a part of. We once did a presentation for the Director General of Education in 1997. The poem was all about him as he was retiring, but the guests really enjoyed it. That dinner took place at the old KL Hilton at Jalan Sultan Ismail. Also, our class won that year for interclass competition – the judge was actually at the dinner at KL Hilton (I think there was some biased-ness since we didn’t think it was that good compared to 4sc2, which did better that year, but it’s ok, they won the next year! But they were a bunch of sour grapes for the entire year and hated our class for it!)

On the friendship in BBGS,I was in classes 1k – 6k in primary and form 1U-3U and then 4&5sc1. I managed to make lots of friendsand I still keep in touch with most of them. We just had our batch reunion last year and were able to trace about 70% of contacts. To name a few I still keep in touch with are Eliana, Amyrah, Azita, Nur Fareedza, Haslina, Hasliza, Nani, Hana, Sh Syikin, Nurul Asyikin, Poova, Fikriah, Faizah, Nina, Adriza, Noor Hazlin, Najua, Zahirra, Baemisla, Farrah, Zuien, Lili, Diana, Audrey, Ti Min among others.

Teachers were also great, and it's nice to know that some still remember me from those days, when we met at the recent reunion at Pavillion, this was what they told me or implied:

• Pn.Jagdip – she was my teacher in Std 5 I think, teaching English, she always scolded me for being naughty and she remembers me as that only! *laughs*. I remember meeting her again in SBU, and she remembered my name then…
• Ms.Jeyanthi – She was my science teacher in Form 2. She was telling us how she missed BBGS, how things are not the same anymore. She says we are independent, we didn’t need to be chased after to get work done be it social events or homework! Also, she said all they did was threatened us to get things done, and it was done! We were a good bunch…
• Pn.Wahiddah – Class teacher Form 1U & 2U (year 94 & 95), she remembers us too. And she’s still small and we have grown taller than her now (she said this!) *laughs*.
• Mrs.Lyla Roberts - My English teacher in Form 4 & 5(sc1) - 97 & 98. She did something really nice for me back in Form 4, you see, for the Choral Speaking at Hilton (explained above), we had to wear these peach baju kurungs with kain batik and there wasn't any with my size, she went to get the same peach material and got it tailored to my size, I actually told her it's ok, I didn't want to join, but she insisted and went out the extra mile anyway...so yeah for that I'm grateful.
• Pn.Azawiyah – didn’t really teach me, but she remembers me..

The other teachers that taught me were Mrs.Chong (Maths & Physics), Ustazah Rohaizan (Agama), Ms Kok (History & English), Pn Halimatus (Chemistry), Pn.Rohaizan (Biology), Pn Zarina Abd Rahman (Science & Maths), Pn.Zarina Othman (Geography), Pn.Baynum (Science), Pn Norhayati (Malay and History), Primary school: Ms Kua (Standard 6 class teacher), Pn.Norhayati (Standard 3 class teacher) , Pn.Ranjan (Standard 2 class teacher) & Pn Norziah (standard 1 class teacher) – Those are the few that I can remember: Thank you all.

On some rules I loathed about back then, but kind of miss now:
- Wearing house badge is a must!
- Ribbon on the hair (ponytail)
- Spot checks
- Offence slip which translates to picking up rubbish after recess
- Toilet cleaning
- Class deco competition
- No rolling up sleeves (baju kurung)
- Cangkuk at all times (baju kurung)
- Queuing up outside the class after recess and being checked from head to toe by the prefects

On leaving BBGS in 1998, I joined matriculation under UKM in 1999 and subsequently went on for Actuarial Science in the same University. When I graduated in 2003, I joined a local bank as a Junior Executive in Risk Management Department and did my masters in Finance part time from RMIT . I recently left the local bank for a better position and hopefully future to join an Islamic Foreign Bank. I wouldn’t have come this far if it’s not for the strong foundation built during school days, BBGS has been a great part of me and is still is.