Victoria Institution

The mighty V.I. cricket team bundled out for ten runs?
Using sulphuric acid to clean brass hinges?
200-pounder George Abraham doing the cross-country run?
The fart that robbed the V.I. boys of a holiday?
Drama Society costume discovered stolen on opening night?
Squeezing 1,000 D.C. lines on an A4 sheet of paper?
Lim Eng Thye’s morning snack hijacked by his pupils?
A suspected Communist plot to take over the school?
The Prefects’ secret plan to resign en masse?
The Special Branch vetting a Speech Day concert item?
Prefect nabbing a teacher for not wearing his badge?

Yes, they happened! These and hundreds more accounts by alumni, teachers and headmasters of the Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are in this riveting collection of “tales” by V.I. Old Boy and archivist Chung Chee Min. Mined from many sources and classified under forty-two categories, these personal writings capture the spirit and pace of life in the premier school in Malaya/Malaysia during the period from its founding in 1893 to the mid-1970s. The forty-third category is a collection of truly, truly, tall tales - first published in the 1950s and 1960s - of the adventures of a fictional fat V.I. boy.

Extracts of the Victorian (pen-in-cheek) Vignettes can be found in the Literary Section of T. Wignesan (Part III), http://viweb.school/vilit_Wignesan3.htm.

A printed book version of my Victoria Institution blog at http://lunwt.blogspot.com based on my years in VI from 1966-1972.

To purchase the hardcover book, e-mail to esshankar@gmail.com