Hwa Chong gentlemen. Our teachers always honour us by referring to us with this term. According to my appreciation of the word “gentlemen”, it refers to polite and groomed male individuals. However, from the behaviour of some of my classmates on the formal occasion of the Annual Dinner, I cannot help myself but to think that our dear teachers have used this word inappropriately. These individuals who could not curb their “desire” to act like cavemen and uphold the reputation of my school-Hwa Chong Institution, was sitting in a pack on my immediate left. Cheng Kiat was sitting opposite me and he was quite irritated and angry with the uncivilised behaviour of some of my dear classmates.
After that barrage of accusations, one may ask, “What did they do to warrant such objection from me?”. Here’s what they did. Before the main course, one of my dear classmate took a look at the elaborately made menu and apparently decided that it was too hard on his eyes and that it actually offended him or something. Whatever his childish and uncivilised intentions were, the menu was torn up and thrown on an empty chair. And when the appetizer was served, they apparently did not like it a lot. Not many of them actually touched the food, which was a quite tasty and appetizing (thats what its for anyway)generous serving of greens and a pastry with prawns and mashed peas. These supposed Hwa Chong gentlemen dunked their food onto one plate. Yes, that was what they did, something like five servings onto a single plate. I think I saw something foreign been added to the pile of food (well, that was food). Maybe butter for the rolls. They seem to be enjoying themselves and were rather proud of their handiwork. They called my attention to them (I saw it but prefered to look another way while their lousy deed was underway) and presented to me their latest “artwork” with truimphant smiles on their faces. I stared them as if they were idiots and went back to my food, some of my appetite evaporated.
The initial “perfomances” put up by these inconsiderate and undisciplined people were definitely enough for me. However, the undesirable “symphony” of vandalism went on. The not-so-shiny cutlery was then used as weapons for the “gladiators of 1B”. A fork was raised and his opponent responded with a positioning of his knife in the position favoured by video game characters for combat. Then all hell broke loose, the fork was stabbed towards the region of the opponent’s heart. A knife parried the blow and counterattacked with a sweeping slash. Grunting sounds were emitted. I was growing very annoyed and told the people murdering each other’s cells to stop it all. Sadly, my normally loud voice paled in comparison with the din of combat and my advice went unheeded. I then used some particularly strong words to express my disgust towards their behaviour. To my surprise, a voice from my left came and told me to “mind my manners”. I was stunned, the words resounding in my mind.
The entree was our dinner and these people most probably knew better than to destroy their food for the evening. It went down their stomachs as it was meant to. Well, most of it anyway. I had thought that the nightmare was over and forced myself to think that my dear friends just forgot their actions in a rush of ecstasy derived from vandalising the food. Maybe they have a fetish for this. I can’t say. As I was waiting for the serving of the dessert and enjoying the perfomances for a little since the start of the function, the couo de grace began, coming together with the dessert.
The dessert was a slice of chocolate cake dressed with caramel syrup and a few cubes of sweet looking canned fruits. The pack of people on my left, founded the dessert to be too awful for their liking and set out doing their tastebuds justice. The cake was mashed into a black pulp and the fruit cubes were mixed in along the caramel syrup. The mixture was stirred. After laughing at the resulting substance, the gentlemen started to think of more innovative ways to heighten their enjoyment. The candle on our tables meant to make the dining experience more enjoyable and “romantic” has since been put out. The water the cantle was floating on was poured into the dark-coloured mash. Butter was mixed in and the new mixture was stirred again. A few flower petals were provided for decoration of the table. These were used to top off the sludge manufactured by the certain group of my classmates. To think that I gave up my serving to these people first as there was not enought. I thought that the waiters will notice me and give me a serving, they didn’t. I didn’t mind. But I was thinking about why I did that? The food ended up becoming trash.
I then took out my handphone, wanting to take a few shots of the scene of carnage, as reminder for myself not to do these things. The few co-designers of the product smiled and tried to squeeze into the picture, outwardly proud of their brainchild. I seriously think that these people are “courageous” in their own way. It really takes a lot of courage for a mentally normal person to do this.
Mr Jeffrey Lim graced the occasion with his presence, yet they did this. God knows what will happen if it was an external function. I know quite a number of you guys read my blog. I will come clean. I don’t care what you think, I am always like this. I hope that you will read this and be inspired to change your behaviour for the best.
