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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Reunion - Part 2

Never in my life I ever thought the urge of reuniting with old school mates. Somehow as you aged you think more of your past and want to hold on whatever memories you have be it pleasant or nasty.

Yong has always been the best student in SRKIS. In fact she was the first student who scored 5A's in the school's Peperiksaan Penilaian Darjah 5. Now it is called UPSR. Having both parents as teachers, she was gifted. She had it in her and seems doesn't need to study but yet scored high marks in class. Always came out first in class and she got an offer to continue with her studies at STF in Johor Bahru soon after standard six. Nothing known about her but on and off I used to see her returned to Parit during her semester's break. She would ride her bicycle past in front of my grandfather's house without acknowledging my presence. The next thing I heard her parent moved to Ipoh and we never see each other again.

Me, Yong and Nizar.

I read her blog, MrsNordin, in cases anyone is interested,....she could recall a few of our finest moment back then. How we collected paper and magazine cuttings of Hollywood stars such as Farrah Fawcett, Lee Majors and of course the Charlie's Angels and stick it in our scrap book. She also mentioned that the three of us, her, nani and myself use to ride our bicycles around the kampung and declared ourselves as the Charlie's Angels. Frankly speaking I cannot even remember that part of my history. But being chased by guys on bikes...yes I can second that. By the way Yong...who were the guys chasing after us????

We also went mengaji dekat rumah wan Nipah which is next to my gramp's house. She was also good at mengaji. Wan selalu biar je dia baca Al-Quran sampai 3-4 helai sehari whereas yours truly cuma baca 1-2 helai. Her brothers Azman and Shariman, my sister sheri also attended Wan Nipah's classes.

Now Yong who is married and has 3 stepchildren and one of her own is working with Celcom.

Anyway, Masa sekolah dulu kita orang girls and boys tak de lah rapat sangat. We maintain good relationship je...maklumlah sekolah kampung kan. To reflect on the school days...the girls wore pinafore to school and we wore shorts during PE. Baju kurung selalunya pakai hari Jumaat je. The boys wore shorts to school and yes, even when they were at standard six.

But now my daughter who is in Standard 2 get paranoid kalau I suruh dia pakai pinafore untuk ke sekolah. Dia kata budak ejek dia anak india la...and macam-macam. SO this year she stopped wearing pinafore. Kesian dia. How sometimes other kids can be cruel towards another.

Nizar pulak...I was not very closed with him. Kami cuma kawan biasa je...dalam kelas je and kat luar pun kalau jumpa buat tak tahu. Dulu kat kampung, we were mostly known as anak si...so and so...or cucu si...so and so...SO I am mostly known as cucu Cikgu Basho...gurubesar yang garang...who used to spit into another student's mouth. And yet respected. Hmmm takut I dengar...now people would say..kurang ajar...but that was long long ago. Sure dapat high blood pressure kalau dapat Cikgu Basho jadi class teacher.

So Nizar ni pun memang pandai. In our class he and Yong would always compete 1-2 placing in our term exams. Now Nizar is pursuing his MA fulltime at UKM. He is into Geology. These days Nizar is the easiest of the guys to mingle. Very friendly and funny. Without him our first reunion last raya would have not happened.


Ishamuddin

Ishamuddin will always be remembered as the drummer boy. Hihihi....Kat sekolah SRKIS our school band tu bolehlah dikatakan yg terbaik...hihihi one drum, 2-3 small triangles, and the rest of us on recorders. Later we added the xylophone. Isham was very suitable with the drum and he played well. We were good tau.

There were stories going around that both Yong and Isham were an item masa standard six. Cikgu Joharah, our class teacher and who happens to be Yong's mother caught some love notes between them. Isham was called and given warning. Kesian Isham.

Now Isham is working with Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussin.

T be continued....

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Reunion = Inferiority Complex Part 1

There are two types of people in my observation. The group which likes to meet people and the group which doesn't.

Well, I'm the latter group.

Now that another reunion from my primary school days are coming up this 24 January 2010, the butterflies starts hibernating again in my stomach. I dread reunions.

After almost 30 years, I gathered enough courage to meet up with several school friend last raya which I have lost contact since I left Parit in the early 80's. Thanked to Facebook who brought us all together.

Anyway, this post have been abandoned for about 2 weeks into 24 March reunion. And after a week of the reunion I am still stuck! I don't know how should I begin. There are so many things to write about.

Finally 24 Jan arrived. Was I nervous....damn right I was. Out of the lot I'll be meeting, 3 of whom I've reunited last raya will be there,too. I guess I just have to be myself, huh? As soon I'd arrived I didn't see any of them. Great, was I early? I placed a call to Nani (she contacted me a few days earlier) but a girl answered that her mom left her mobile at home. Hmmm? Called Jamilah and no answer. Than I sms Yong and glad to see her replies that they were already at Melting Pot. I walked in and saw a few unrecognizable faces. I headed directly to Jamilah and gave her a big hug. Nani was there. And there was Yong. We embraced and I saw Yong wiping off her tears soon after that. This reunion must have touched her deep. After hellos from the others I was introduced to Syed Muzawir, Zaida and Mior Hisham. Yes I still remember those faces.

Our class of 1980- Standard 6A.

1979 and 1980.....Those were the 2 primary years I spent in Parit. As you may recalled I was sent to continue with my schooling in Parit after the death of my mom. It was hard adjusting to a totally new environment. City girl became kampung girl - what can I say. Indeed I do get tease always being as 'the girl from KL' with my BM language slang whilst confident English speaker. That I was told by Nani. Hmmm I could barely remember that. I guess I do set a certain standard everywhere I go. Really. They remembered me as the quiet type but talkative and a happy go lucky girl.


As I sat there I very much try to observed each and everyone of them. In presence also was Ishamuddin, Jamilah and Nizar. How I missed those good old school days. So young and carefree.

Taken on 24 Jan 2010.


Let me begin with Jamilah....

In this picture - Jamilah (left) and Rosnani.

Milah ni suke merajuk and sikit2 nak report kat abng dia. Her brother and my uncle were friends when they studied in Liverpool, England. Macamla dia sorang je ada abang, Nani said...hahaha. Milah juga suka mencubit and I was also one of her victims. But soon after Secondary one, her family moved to Ipoh and we just lost contact. Until I found her in Facebook. I have been searching for all of my school friends and tripped upon Milah. How glad I was! Milah is now a secondary school teacher in Batu Gajah and currently pursuing her Masters in Literature at UM, part time. She drives down to KL in the weekends to attend her classes. I admire her determination. You go girl! I don't know how her hair looks now behind her tudung but it used to curled at shoulder length.

Rosnani pulak budak minang. She used to lived with her grandmother in a big yellow double storey wooden house. Sweet looking Nani, what we called her, has a mole on top of her upper lips. Long haired and very lanky for a 12 year old then. Now physically she has changed a lot but she is still the same Nani back in school. Nani is also a teacher and teaching in Bangi.


Zaida came with her daughter. This chinese looking girl was very reserved and quiet back then. She still looks the same and how had she maintained the looks for 30 years. I understood she just went through a divorce and working with HSBC credit card center. Zaida, tolong approve credit card untuk I, boleh? Platinum ya!

I told ya,this going to be long....to be continued.