Thursday, June 05, 2008
Ok, in this post I'm going to talk about how I got to know Dr Y better after the first sem of my second year.
It all started with a bus-ride on the 96 early on in Sem 2 of my second year. I actually remember I had a Singapore Lit test that afternoon (now why do I remember these things...?) and after the test was over, I got into the crowded bus at the bus-stop opposite Central Library (and to think I sometimes can't even remember what I just ate for breakfast...). Some of the passengers in the bus alighted, creating a bit more space at the front of the bus, so a few more people from the bus-stop managed to squeeze in. I was a little dazed after the test, so I was simply standing there holding on to the railings without thinking of anything in particular, till some mysterious impulse prompted me to look up to my right at the passengers who had squeezed in after me. And just at that moment, Dr Y turned to the left and saw me. He waved a little shyly, and as I was pretty stunned, it took some time for me to register that it was him and to wave back. The people standing in between us moved away, and we moved towards the middle of the bus, where we stood side by side for the rest of the journey.
It was the first time I actually spoke to him for more than a few minutes and outside of tutorials. Although the bus ride was only about 10 minutes long, it strangely felt much longer and yet not long enough. We talked about stuff ranging from the modules I was studying that sem, whether I was a Christian, Brokeback Mountain (and how I couldn't watch it because I was underage at that time... =___=;) and how he just sold his car and had taken up cycling to the MRT station. I moaned about being unable to understand anything that was going on in the Psychoanalysis seminars, and what he said then really encouraged me not to despair. He told me that I needn't worry too much about my "first brush with theory" as I would improve and I "wo[uldn't] be the same student in year 4 as [I] [was] in year 2". Looking back on what he said, I think he's right and he definitely should take a large share of the credit for moulding me into the student I am now =)
After that incident, Dr Y and I began to talk outside of class a bit more often, and I felt that he was someone I could open up and speak freely to (which is pretty rare). He was also very, very nice whenever I presumed to ask him for help in my CCA's events, and he never failed to give a listening ear and sensible advice whenever I griped about my dad or gushed about my anime/manga/visual kei obsessions during my visits or whenever I happened to bump into him at bus-stops or around Arts (which was more often than probability allowed for, I think).
After taking almost all of his modules and working on my HT under his supervision this sem, I've come to respect Dr Y as a wonderful teacher who is always mindful of the intellectual and emotional needs of his students, and to admire him for his boldly original (if somewhat perverse) interpretations of literary texts. No one but Dr Y could talk about ducks, rapists and the Trinity in one breath.
I don't believe in determinism, but it does seem that Fate has had a hand in things, and I'm glad that I've gotten the chance to know someone as wonderful as Dr Y, even though all good things must come to an end...
kaoru said at 6:09 AM
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