Caught napping? (Singapore)

An old friend who’s now an academic says, “I am attending a Zoom meeting with 156 participants.  It’s a great system.  I’ve always found these meetings terminally boring and want to go to sleep.  Now I can do that!”

Reminds me of what I used to do at school.  I always chose a seat right at the back, so that I'd be out of the teacher’s line of vision.

One day, during a Mandarin lesson, the pace was a bit slow.  I was right at the back, in the corner by the windows.  I intertwined my fingers (as if about to pray, the Christian way), but held them up to forehead level as a shade for my eyes, with my elbows resting on the table.  This way, I could close my eyes without anyone seeing it, as it looked like I was resting my forehead on my partly clasped hands while reading the textbook on the table.

At one point, I felt a nudge from the girl sitting next to me (we were seated two to a row).  I opened my eyes and looked at her, a sort of “What??”  She used her eyes and lips to point at the front of the class.  I turned round to face the class and saw everyone looking at me.

Then I saw that the teacher was also looking at me.

What had happened was the teacher had asked the class what the meaning of a particular word/phrase was.  She went round the whole class but no one could provide the right answer.

I was the last one left.  The teacher called my name.  No response from me.  She called my name again.  Still no response from me.  That was when my neighbour nudged me awake.

Luckily, I gave the right answer...

(Someone told me later on that it was obvious — to the teacher as well, all the way from the front of the class — that I’d been sleeping as my eyes were bloodshot and sleep-laden.)

(to catch someone napping: (British informal) find someone off guard and unprepared to respond)

(Singapore, 1960s)