Meanie Mama

Pity them. Mama knows they meant well and this is the way they showed their appreciation to Mama but well, Mama had to be mean (as usual). Mama loves taking pictures of people, places and anything that take Mama’s fancy. Everybody at school knows that Mama carries her ‘point and shoot’ camera in her handbag all the time. And when there are special occasions at school or if we celebrate something, Mama will make sure Mama is always available to take pictures and Mama knows the students (and even some teachers) wait eagerly for the pictures to be uploaded to Mama’s Facebook.
Well, Mama digress. Today Mama’s school had the Jiwa Murni / Gotong Royong Programme. What is Gotong Royong some of you might ask. According to Wikipedia:
Gotong-royong is a conception of sociality familiar to large parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. The phrase has been translated into English in many ways, most of which harken to the conception of reciprocity. "gotong royong [is] cooperation among many people to attain a shared goal."[1]

Today at Mama’s school, the students, teachers and the workers all work hand in hand to spruce up the school either in the classrooms or outside where the ‘taman-taman’ ( gardens) are. Saturday is the weekend but since we had one whole week of holidays for the Chinese New Year celebration, we had to come to school on two Saturdays. And today is the first Saturday.
So being an ardent photographer , Mama went from class to class and from ‘taman’ to ‘taman’ to take pictures of the activity. Mama will write about this in Mama’s other entry, if time permits. When Mama reached her form 5 class (this year luckily Mama get to teach only one exam class), Mama was greeted warmly by the few students who were hard at work cleaning and beautifying the class. One girl eagerly held Mama’s hand and led Mama to another girl who was working on the materials to be put up at the back of the class. She was so excited to show Mama what they had created for the English subject section. Mama was surprised when Mama saw that they had printed Mama’s picture and put it along with other English Language stuff. Mama said “ oh, this one ‘tak lulus tayangan’ and took the manila card with Mama and sort of ‘ran away’ with the stuff.
When Mama ran into the class teacher later today she asked Mama about the material. Mama just smiled sweetly and said the same thing, ‘ Sorry Tie, ‘tak lulus tayangan’. When Mama opened Mama’s Facebook this evening, quite a few of them wrote in asking Mama to return the stuff. And Mama just clicked ‘Like’ and wrote ‘ Sorry. Tak lulus tayangan’.
Well, Mama was mean but Mama meant well, didn’t Mama?