The Metamorphosis ...
We matriculated in 1970 but unlike our predecessors, we (1965-75/76 batches) had already metamorphosed into old students of MEHS even before matriculation. In our case, we became old students when we were about 9 or 10 years old (i.e. since about 1964/65). It was during the summer holidays of 1964 when my mother (Mrs.Tun Khin), came back from school one afternoon after her preparations for report cards, final exam results etc., I remember her standing at the top of the stairs while I was playing with my younger brother Min Tun who is 5 years junior to me, and said, "Son, your school has been nationalised". Typical of a 9 year old I must have responded something like "So?". She replied "It won't be MEHS anymore and it is going to be called SHS No. 1, Dagon". Looking back, she did her best to instil the significance but it was way way above me at the time and even more so to Min Tun.

Two years later she gave up her lifelong passion to teach and became a fulltime housewife. As old habits die hard, although she was retired, I still remember the frequent "laphet thoke and laphet ye gyan" meetings between Aunty Jessie (Librarian) and Aunty Sheila (Office) and my mother.

Our class members changed very little from the fifth standard onwards but we saw many changes from then on. Uniforms were standardized throughout the country in order to create camaraderie among all students rather than develop a sense of uniform dictated territorial attitude. So white tops, green longyis for both sexes and grey or "pinni tike-pons", for the boys became a ubiquitous scene from then throughout the country.

Interschool sports competitions still featured well during that period but differentiating whose who was not easy as we all wore the same uniform. We had school badges which were about a bit more than an inch in diameter so unless you are quite close you will not know. We still had the four "houses" but were renamed into "AlaungHpaya" (Wesley), "BaYintNaung" (Judson), "KyanSitThar" (Carey) and "BanDooLa" (Livingstone).

Min Tun's batch (matriculated in 1974/75) was the last batch to be taught English from Primary school. The batch following his, got the first taste of the English language only at the fifth standard. We started to sing Burmese "Shay-Hsaung-Lu-Nge" songs during assembly and had to recite the "A-Deik-Htan-Ngar-Chet" which, strangely enough, I could not remember anymore and needless to say all my classmates will be honouring their pledges to this day!!!.

The "Shay-Hsaung-Lu-Nge" scheme was introduced which literally was for bright sparks who were selected after the final exams and sent to a camp in Ngapali for two weeks where they have to bond with other bright sparks from other parts of the country and discuss how they became bright sparks and how to produce more bright sparks in the country! Duh! The culmination of this camp was held in the "Shay-Hsaung-Lu-Nge" camp which used to be the Scout camp at 6½ miles, Prome Road. Win Bo and Marilyn Myat San (younger sister of Kevin, daughter and son of Mrs. Myat San) featured quite well under that scheme.

While we were in Std. VII our class teacher, Mrs. Pe Khin selected me and Win Bo to attend a camp called "Kyant-khine-pyaw-shwin-thin-dan" or "Health & Happiness camp" which was held at Myoma High School during the Thadingyut holidays. Here we met a lot of other pupils from various schools around Dagon region. We followed a rather regimented routine with plenty of military style marching routines, self defence classes, rope tying/knotting classes and loads of lectures thrown in to configure or reconfigure us ideologically depending on how, a 13 year old, Burmese teenager's political inclinations were at that time. All I could remember was that they were brilliant and would have been great for insomniacs!

One thing that brought to my attention then was, some of my camp mates were from government high schools and they learn English only from Std. V, so it was very strange for me to realize that someone of my own age was struggling to read the few war comics that I took to the camp. It served as an early reminder of how lucky I was. So Win Bo and I came back from the camp feeling fit, happy and more mature and confident as we improved our slag power by learning a few more expletives!.

Uptil the time we graduated, U Thaung, who used to ring the famous brass bell (which was later replaced by an electric kind) and Ko Myint, one of the male domestic staff were still working at the school. I later heard that the latter was not just a friendly guy but a brilliant badminton player and even took part in international games. I bet most didn't know about that. And, remember U Majid who used to sell sugarcane juice in front of the school moved down to Sandwith Road and was still very popular with pupils as it was a hangout for guys before moving on to Bogyoke Market after school.

Something To Be Proud Of ...
The school emblem was changed but the new administration decided to keep the lantern. So the flame continued to flicker for those of us who had the opportunity to experience the "old school". Our batch still had the MEHS backbone teachers like Daw TinNuSwe (our class teacher in Std. X), Miss Thein, Miss Richardson, Mrs. Hein Tin, Mrs. Ho, U Than Tin, Miss Doris Ba Chit, Miss Davidson, Mrs. Myat San, Daw May, Daw Than May, to name a few.

Following Mrs. Logie',s departure, U Tun Tin became the principal briefly and the post was later taken over by U Aung Than until we matriculated. While we were in Std. IX, we managed to stage a play on MacBeth. The cast included Gyaw Htet Doe and Marlar Thein Hto who took the leading roles as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I played Banquo's ghost and the knights were played by Win Cho, Derek Aung Ghine, Pyo We Win, Tan Eu Yang, Tin Tun Aung, Aung Myat Htut, Khin Mg Ko and San Shwe. My apologies, as I just cannot remember as to who played the witches.

That was the only play conducted in English during 1964 and 1970 or perhaps it was the last one to be conducted like so to date and maybe for many more years to come (i.e. we are really talking of making history!!) Miss Richardson was the scriptwriter and co-directed with Miss Daisy White and Mrs. Ho (eat your heart out Andrew Lloyd Webber!). I think we got a response from the various classes, who were herded into the assembly, which was deafening... not the literal meaning but more of the auditorily disadvantaged kind. More importantly, I am beginning to wonder what the other pupils thought of our play as many wouldn't have been that familiar with Shakespeare then. Presumably, most left the show nonethewiser. But I'm sure they preferred that to remaining in the classrooms!!

The standard of teaching never faltered and remained rock solid as ever as when the matriculation results came out we obviously whipped our rivals near and far. I remember totting up over 40 distinctions in a class of 50+. Pyone, Gyaw and Win Bo (younger brother of Win Ko) got 5D's out of the possible 6 subjects we took. Obviously, it was not surprising that a large number of MEHS/SHS No. 1 Dagon students ended up in the elite institutions in Rangoon for their respective higher education.

From then on we, more or less, went our separate ways with whatever dreams and hopes we had and had the first taste of what our destiny would be like in the years to come. Pyone and I got through to the Institute of Medicine II in Mingaladon. My own thoughts at the time was "Gosh! ... another 7 more years of studying?!" And it was hard, very hard going for me. Looking back, it was just a blip in my life and all seems to be more tolerable now. A great healer, this thing called "time" is.

The Odyssey Begins
So the tadpoles were ready for the wider world and felt on top of the world but unfortunately this was one time when the bondage of childhood friends started to fragment and this obviously was followed by another when we all graduated from our respective higher education. A handful of our classmates, including ourselves have managed to try their luck abroad. We have met some and heard of others. For many years, it was either an odd Christmas card or an occasional letter but not anymore in this day and age. News travel @ webspeed nowadays and although you might still not see each other you tend to get updated rather swiftly.

When we first arrived in UK in 1982, Pyo (brother of Le Le, Thida, Thawda, Sanda and Kyai Hmon) was already in Aberdeen working for Schlumberger and is now based in Copenhagen. On our visit to Manila, Philippines, during 1986 and 1987 we met Valerie SanLin (ADB) and Dixie BaThein (husband-ADB) and also met Ashok Nath on an earlier visit where he was one of the directors of Makati Medical Center. Heard that Marlar Thein Hto (sister - May Thein Hto) was in Manila then but did not meet her.

Among others my elder brother Stafford who is a marine engineer with Swire bases in Manila and Suzie Hein Tin (sister of Delphine, Melvin, Rosebud and Candy, family of Mrs. Hein Tin) who works at the ISManila are also still there. Pyone's younger sister Khin Saw Myint has been working in a Virology Unit in Bangkok. We met brothers Benny and David Tan who are 5 and 3 years senior to us in Hong Kong. Benny successfully set up the Burmese Doctors Association back in 1987, in Hong Kong and now he is an anaesthesiologist in Burnley, UK.

Aung Myat Htut (brother of Clement, Lloyd, Winston and Nwe) and Khin Mg Ko (brother of Khin Phyu Win, Ko Ko Thet and Sabai) are settled in Alice Springs, Australia and in the same department of the same hospital, where Win Hlaing and Cherry Aye Mg work too!! That is some fate for childhood friends to end up like that ... I suppose it does happen now and again.

Tan Eu Yang (Raymond Tan- younger brother of Eu Sein and Eu Bain) is now in Hawaii and is a very successful entrepreneur. His younger brother Eu Aik is a successful doctor in Fremont, SFO where my younger brother Min Tun (Michael) has his dental clinic. Heard that Eng Thwan Wong (younger brother of Gordon) and Janette Chu are in SFO, Zita Gottleib (nee Hengshoon), working for Johnson & Johnson and Alan Kong (younger brother of Irene) are in L.A. and the most impressive news to date is about our classmate Win Bo who is, not only extremely successful with his computer business but also is a "Hpaya-lugyi" and is heavily involved in building a Buddhist zedi in Texas. His older brother Win Ko is a doctor in Britain.

Aung Ba Kyu who used to be my neighbour for awhile is now a big shot in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and posted to Geneva together with my cousin Alvin Aye Mg (brother - Winnie, Ben and Winstone). Khin Ni Ni Ko (younger sister of Khin May May Ko) daughters of our reknowned actor director, the late Bomhu BaKo and radio play artiste Daw Khin Kyi managed a successful car import export business in Osaka and Rangoon. Zainab Soorma, a vet now, is said to be settled in Karachi, Pakistan. Both Gyaw Htet Doe a psychiatrist and Win Cho, a dentist are practising in Rangoon. Ivan Taw (younger brother of Robert) is in Rangoon and burning the candle at both ends by running a hotel and a printing business simultaneously.

So Long Friends... Do Sleep Well.
It is heartwarming to hear and reminisce about the old days and old friends but I would also like to spare a moment for those who have sadly departed. Our classmate Thida Khin (younger sister of Khin Mg Cho and Dolly Khin Mg Mg) died following a road traffic accident while on their Part 1 field trip. Obviously, that hit us tremendously as she was our first loss and Pyone and I were on a parallel trip with IM 2 touring around Hlegu, when we got the news. Marcus Tun Ohn (brother of Bunny Tun Ohn - sons of Mrs. Tun Ohn) died due to renal failure while we were still studying in IM 2. Three years ago on our second trip back to Rangoon we heard that Zeyar Chan Htoon (brother of Fred, Mya Marlar) and Zaw Aung Lwin (younger brother of Tin May Lwin) had passed away too. The latters classmate and very good friend Soe Ba Kyu (brother of Aung Ba Kyu) and our classmate Jeffery Tha Tun died a few years earlier.

May they all rest in peace.
And for the rest "life" goes on ...

No doubt MEHS still commands an imposing presence but to me in my own personal thoughts there seems to be something missing. And I'm sure the latter generation, although having had less contact with Mrs. Logie, nevertheless, remember her with immense respect because she would be the original "Iron Lady" that we have come to know. Obviously, I have left many gaps and that is mainly because of my failing memory and I hope someone from somewhere would find the time to fill in.

Timothy Tun Khin
Kyaw Khin Saw
Glasgow
May 29, 1999