1964. first day in primary one she wore a full skirted flimsy yellow tea gown and stood out in a class of deep blue box pleated pinafore and white blouse clad little girls. her school uniform was bought on that very day.
during recess her grandpa brought roti canai. she bought a glass of cold syrupy drink sold by the sisters.
her grandpa sent her to the convent school about six miles from their house on his big bicycle. the next week she took the yellow bus each day until an incident when she tried to walk home from school made her grandpa immediately buy a black ford prefect PA3366.
that was the first car in their hillside village. and her grandpa being the headman, it was rather useful.
she tried to walk home after school that day because the bus she normally took was being repaired. another bus assigned to replace it didn't stop when she waved to it as it moved out of the bus station. being 7 years old she didn't stop to think about taking the next bus after another hour.
she started to walk home feeling terribly brave in the hot afternoon sunshine. she walked alone carrying her small black plastic school bag.
after about a mile she saw trouble ahead in the form of a herd of cows walking in her direction!
and she was terrified of cows!
she stopped in her tracks wondering what to do. just then a miracle by the grace of the All Mighty. her brother and a few friends came cycling along from behind her on their way home from secondary school!
from then on she went to school by car. her grandpa took along some other kids too for RM7.00 per month. it was the beginning in the area for some kind of a school bus system.
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