TO SIR WITH NO LOVE

Everyone has their favourite teacher. Mine were many; from primary school till postgraduate. My favorite was Ms Tan Moon Geok in primary 2 who instilled my sense of worth and self respect. However the teacher that I couldn't stand the most was Cikgu Tanzizi. He was the disciplinary teacher and also taught us Science & PE during standard 4. I don't remember the lesson but I still remember his constant bully.

Terima kasih sebab tag gambar aku. Dalam ni takde gambar Cikgu Tanzizi. He he

It started from a harmless tease but gradually became personal. He would loudly made nasty comments about my face, my school uniform and my tudung (I was the first among the very few who wore tudung in my school, back in 1983). He would punish and humiliate me for small mistakes while the class crook escaped scotfree (I was the head of class then). He made me stand on a chair for one whole period because my parents had refused to sign a consent form for a certain vaccination. He even subtracted a mark from my exam paper when my answer was actually the right one but awarded free marks for the rest of the class just to prove his authority. But the one I remembered most was 'the electrical current'. One day during a free period he suddenly became interested to teach Jawi (after he found out that I didn't bring the book). Unfortunately more than half of classroom also didn't bring the book. So he made us line up with our fingers pinching the ear of the person next to us. And he stood in the front pinching a student's ear, the first in the line. He bellowed "karan!!" and started to twist the ear and we supposed to twist the next person's ear too. So the 'electrical current' flowed from student number 1 to student number 25. Of course it was hilarious because it involved the whole class, not just me. Lucky me.

But one day, he came to the clinic where I did part time locum last month for consultation and to take medication for his heart problem. He didn't recognize me but of course I knew him. He was still looking good, still very articulate, totally unlike my imagination of him would become; haggard, frail looking and begging for my forgiveness! In my mind all I thought was it's payback time! In my head I was planning; should I swap his medication with something else? Give him poison instead? Should I tell him straight ; "You big bully! See what happened to you now!"

My husband's story has another twist. The most hated secondary school teacher who used to bully him had the cheek to borrow money from him when they accidentally met years later. And he tried to borrow money from his other former students too. Of course my hubby politely refused him.

But what did I do to Cikgu Tanzizi in the end? Nothing. Didn't want to embarrass him. Didn't have the heart to actually harm him. But didn't want him to feel proud of me either. Maybe deep inside I've already forgiven him. But not yet ready to forget.