The Night of the Anteater

Boarding school food was definitely nowhere near mother's homecooked food.

Rice was the imported type, not quite similar to the hill rice we native boys were accustomed to. So we found the rice a little on the sourish side. The later,bulger wheat was given as aid to help the children of developing countries by the UNESCO and it was mixed with rice. Some students liked it and some did not. However,I rather enjoyed the fibrous carbo for a short while until I found it too effective as a kind of laxative (watch out for the story later). Many of the boys who ate too much of the bulger wheat could not make it to the loo and so often we boys who were in charge of the work parties had to work harder to clean the toilets.

I somehow never stop cleaning and washing toilets until today. It has become quite a compulsive, obessive habit of mine - to have clean toilets.

It is true that when food was cooked in big bulk, the taste, the colour, and even the form were very distorted. And on top of everything, the food was served in huge basins which could only be called wash basins by many Chinese families. We were served a basin of rice, a basin of fried fish, a basin of soup and a basin of vegetables, longbeans for example, usually for every meal.

In the first few years of boarding life, because there were fewer of us, plates, spoons were well laid out for us and we did not have to personally look after our own spoons and plates. In later years we had to carry out own plate from the dormitory. So before meal time, it was quite an amusing sight to see little boys and girls bringing their plate and spoon from the dorm to the dining hall.

These aluminium or enamal basins in which the food was servedcould be doubled as basins for baby baths, or for washing clothes ,in fact were very versatile. When old, worn out, cracking , and dented, they were used by many households as pots for growing of onions. Recycling was in fact a popular habit in those early years. Recycling is defnitely not jus t a western invention. (Today these basins have evolved into plastic basins. Schools in Sarawak are still using them.)

I still remember that our sourish rice went well with kangkong soup which were in long strands floating on top of oniony and garlicky water. Sometimes we had chicken soup which was watery with some salt and pepper with some brownish looking pieces of salted vegetables. We would have been over the moon if we had chicken or fish. For protein, we were given extremely overfried ikan kembong, or mackerel, or tinned sardines or tinned chicken curry besides chicken. Longbeans were really plentiful. And I believe that cabbage was quite a favourite amongst the students.

Now looking back, we did not complain that very much because we were just too happy to be receiving an English education. Each evening when we scrambled on to the long tables we were indeed imagining ourselves dining in the manors of the feudal lords of England! when we passed our vegetables we would remind ourselves that we were passing the rack of lamb and mint sauce would be coming up soon for our servings. We did have a lot of imagination at that time.

And as boarding school students, we would also be very most grateful to friends who were kind and fair during our meal times. William Phua and Samuel Agong were two gentlemen who had good table manners and eating with them was like eating with angels. There was no grabbing, no slurping, and we had our fair share. This was so important to me because I was such a tiny boy and I was very slow and steady in my eating. Many of us were indeed Oliver Twists in real life, without parents at all. It was quite a stroke of luck that we were well fed by the government in this way.

Besides, our lives were really controlled by the BELL. The call of the bell instilled in us the true essence of punctuality.

Then one Saturday evening, as we were watching the moon rising and breathing in the cold air, Gendin Wood heard a noise in the bush, and we , being very sensitive to sounds of wild animals and birds, were at once at attention. Being the most experienced in jungle life, I went out to have a check and lo and behold it was an anteater which must have got lost and wandered into the danger zone of hungry school children.

We caught the anteater. Being Saturday night, and having had our dinner, we decided to postpone our meal to the next day, a Sunday. Gendin, Ronnie Assim, Ting Hie Siong(the ever faithful Chinese boy in our group), Alec Kaboy and Philip tried to look for a box or anything to keep the ant eater in. We knew that it was too dangerous to let our hand caught by the anteater which may crush it by rolling its body around it. Somehow we managed to roll a concrete piping, left behind by the contractor to our hostel. It was fun looking at 6 Lower Sixth boys rolling a concrete drain pipe to the hostel. Having put the ant eater into the concrete, we still had to look for a cover, which Philip did eventually. That night we watched the ant eater trying to escape from the makeshift trap. It was really strong and it did attempt to push the slab over.

On Sunday, Ronnie being a staunch catholic led the Catholic students in prayers in the chapel next to the school.

I remember that it was after the service that we had a wonderful picnic outside my hostel room. The cleaning of the anteater was not easy, as we had to make do with a parang and a small knife. Philip as usual became absolutely literary about the killing.

Any way the anteater which was about 4 kilogram, was eventually chopped up, and ready for the pot. The meal was fit for a king and we remember this cook-out even until today. This is the kind of memory I have and no money can buy it for any one. This is the kind of memory that makes me feel like a king. and it is a kind of memory no one can steal from me.

The Night of the Anteater - it was the night of brotherly love, camarderie,esprit de corp....just outside the wooden hostel, a few Iban boys slaughtered an anteater,prepared it and ate it with relish....the smoke, the smell must have caused some of those rich kids to water in the mouth.

Anteater meat cooked our style is better than the satay of Kajang! For years Philip Assan thought about the anteater. When he was in England, often down and out, as all overseas students tend to be, this was one of the school stories that warmed his heart and encouraged him to go on. It still puts a smile on my face.

The mind is an amazing organ. At the most unusual moments, a memory like this would just change your mood for the better. A warm flush, and then happiness spreads through your soul and heart. The world is full of roses again.

Guys if you are reading this, this is for all of you who shared my moments in TLS. Cheers. Love you.