Read The Best I Could for Free Online Page A

with anticipation as I got off the bus near our school.
    He asked, “So how? Did Bukit Timah District win?”
    I assured him. “As long as the ACS boys are in the team, Bukit Timah District will definitely win. They’re really good players. There’s nothing much to do and I don’t think I should go for the next game.”
    “No such thing. You’re going to complete the season,” he insisted.
    Mr Schoenbeck was a Eurasian of Dutch origin who spoke with an unusual accent. Everyone knew him as a kind man. Although he was not rich, there were occasions when he would give money to students out of his own pocket. I was reluctant to continue playing as I didn’t enjoy watching my teammates driving up or being driven up in fancy cars. But I persevered as I didn’t want to disappoint Mr Schoenbeck. It also spurred me on to fulfil a dream of one day owning a Benz or a Jaguar myself. I have fulfilled this dream. It is a passion of mine to drive big capacity cars like the Mercedes Benz, Jaguar or BMW.
    Naval Base School taught me what it is to be loyal, and about loyalty to your school and loyalty to your friends. Rich or poor, a different race or creed, as long as we were wearing the uniform and the badge of Naval Base School, we stuck together. It didn’t matter what kind of trouble we were getting into. This is why I always say that the uniform you wear—a school uniform, a sports kit or whatever—you must always be loyal to it. It doesn’t matter whether your teammate is in the wrong or not. You should stand by him against the world. But in the dressing room, you can tell him off if you have to.
    I tell this now to the young lawyers at KhattarWong. If you have a problem and you are upset about a situation, try to sort it out within the firm. Talk to me, talk to the partners, but don’t ever take the problem outside the firm, like in the Bar Room, and share it with members of other firms. You do that and you are out. I talk to them this way as though I have the power to sack them but that’s how I feel. To give credit to the partners of KhattarWong, they have assured me that, as a respected consultant, I can take such liberties in addressing younger lawyers.

THREE
RAFFLES INSTITUTION
     
     
    My elder sister was studying medicine in New Delhi by the time I completed my ‘O’ level exams and my mother wanted me to be a doctor too. The problem was that I didn’t qualify for the pre-medicine classes in Singapore because of an F9 in chemistry. The grade was inevitable considering I did many of my extra-curricular activities by cutting chemistry classes. I didn’t get into trouble for doing that because my chemistry teacher, a very attractive Malayalee lady, was very indulgent with me. The rare days when I did attend her class, she would ask me to run errands such as changing $10 or $50 notes for her. I would always tell her that the canteen owner would only give me change if I bought something from him. The usual response from her was to ask me to buy a drink for myself. This became a joke as everyone in the class knew that I was hustling her for a drink. Later, we realised that she knew exactly what was going on.
    I was accepted at Loyola College in Madras (now Chennai) as a pre-university medical student. It didn’t matter to the college that I had failed chemistry. What mattered was that I had a First Grade for my ‘O’ level results. After the first few lessons, I realised that I was not meant to be a doctor. I was also very homesick. I missed my mother very much and missed her cooking even more. I wrote to my father to say that I was very unhappy and as expected, he asked me to take a flight back home. Once back in Singapore, my father said that I had to continue my studies. So, I enrolled at Raffles Institution as it was the nearest pre-university school with the most convenient bus route from my home.
    While we often hear the likes of Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong extolling the virtues of RI as old boys of the