That place, where it once originated.

We see a lot of interesting topics being discussed in the SEMESTA86 mailing list, though most of them revolved around the Anniversary Dinner which is scheduled to be on the 26 August 2006. However, an e-mail from Dr. Rae (of late, famous for his 'controversial' and mind challenging topics) "invited" me to post my thought in this blog.

It read:

"Have u ever thought about this...why we seems to appreciate our secondary school teachers more than our other teachers....primary schools and higher learning institutions. Is it because we were in boarding schools, trapped for five years with nobody else to turn to. Ironically, the time that we spent with our teachers was similar to the time our friends in the daily schools spent with their teachers, except, of course for our beloved wardens who naturally not in the favourite list anyway. How many of us had really expressed out our appreciation to our lecturers the day we left our uni. How many of us still remember our lecturers. How many of us would want to go back to our previous uni alumni fuctions."

Then he continues:

"Perhaps it is not the teachers that matters, not even the schools, it is actually our friendship that make us crave for such bonding again. We'll do everything to nurture the place where the friendship had once originated..."

Well wrote.

Somehow I feel that he has answered that big question that has always been bugging me all this while: What is our common ground, having left the school for around 20 years now, that is keeping us all in unison? We followed our own ways since then and we have charted our own destinations. Yet, we can still feel that emotional bond between us, everytime we get together.

Su (Ateh) replied beautifully;

"...I agree it's the friendship that make us really want to go back (to the Anniversary Dinner) but without the school there will be no existence of the friendship..."

And to that, Along added;

"...(the school) is the place where we actually grow up. I don't know about you guys but I think everything that had happened in that 5 confined years, be it good or bad, actually contributed a lot to who we are today, for better or worse.."

Psychologists says that we discover our identity in our teen years. We had spent the formative years together, in rain or shine, and I believe, it had moulded us into who we are today.

Rae obviously did not end his e-mail without a thought-provoking question:

"Not that our teachers are longer there, not that the wall still painted with our names, not even the school's name persisted. So, why my friends... why should I thank the school again, what more giving money to make a wakaf. Can anyone give me some insight so that I can feel the money given are worthier than donating to masjid or rumah anak yatim"

To that, Along responded quite appropriately;

"I (also) think that it is above us to say one deed is worthier than the other. As usual it is our niat which is important. I guess, if it is used for a good cause, InsyaAllah we willl have a share in the reward. Selesalah sikit adik-adik kita tu berjumpa dengan keluarga dia orang. Who knows, entah-entah satu hari nanti kita pulak gi jupo anak kita kat wakaf tu."

Derma kita biarlah ikhlas, niat kita untuk kebaikan. Walaupun kita merancang untuk "memahat" nama2 kita di wakaf itu, namun, ini sekadar untuk memberi semangat kepada generasi sekarang dan masa hadapan, untuk tidak melupakan tempat dimana lahirnya persahabatan, dan sebagai insentif untuk mereka juga kembali berbakti bila mereka keluar nanti.

So, my friends, let us all contribute whatever we can, to nurture the place, where our friendship had once originated...

Ku petik bintang - bintang...

By the time you read the title, I am sure that song by Kenny, Remy & Martin will be playing in your ears, well, some part of it, if not all...

This song was famous back then in the mid 80's, as it is still now if you're a fan to a certain radio station that plays retro music.

This particular song, however, reminds me of those 'darker nights' during those days in SMSKn. I'm talking about blackouts here - power outage as some would call. They were those times when we got excited as the preps were cancelled during power outage. Normally, when these blackouts occurred, mesti ada kutu yang starts singing this song, albeit horribly out of tune...and somehow the stars seemed brighter during those moments - as if reminding us about this song. Well, either that, we could be so excited and we felt a spontaneous urged to sing this song as it seemed so appropriate for that moment.

I must confessed that even today, after more than 20 years had passed, I still have that urge to croon this song whenever there was power outage. However, I dare not sing it out loud, else my kids would think I have 'buang tebiat', or worse still, scares the hell out of them - ingat kena possessed kut, sebab tiba2 start nyanyi bila blackouts - and tak sedap pulak tu...

To Mr. Kenny, Mr. Remy and Mr. Martin, we thank you for the song – it had brightened our dark nights.

Kupetik bintang-bintang
Biarpun banyak halangan
Rela tempuhi segalanya
Onak yang kupijak bagai tak rasa

Kusedar sejak mula
Tiada jalan yang mudah
Tapi kuyakini di dalam hati
Akhir terkota jua sumpah dan janji

Walau sukarnya bagi mu sayang
Perjalanan menyakitkan
Tapi hadapilah dengan kesabaran
Kan tiba kebahagiaan

Tiada batasannya
Usia ataupun rupa
Kita bersama memulakannya
Sehingga ke akhir kita terus berdua

Brotherhood among friends

I had a chance to be present in a reunion gathering of an alumni group from a school which is quite similar to ours (except that we changed our school name). I will not reveal the details but suffice to say that they are of the same batch as us.

The event was the first of its kind for them, and around 60% of the members turned up - quite good considering our numbers rarely touched 50%. Maybe this was their first and everybody must have been excited (well, at least I would think so).

The ballroom was nicely decorated and the F&B services were, well, as expected from a respectable club in KL. Here they were, meeting friends that some of them they had not met in 20 years. They were having good times catching up and reminiscing their past glories.

However, there was not much of a coordination in the programs of the day, or maybe there was lack of it. The stage and a rostrum were neatly prepared and I expected to see some speeches and perhaps some achievement in the making (like officiating an alumni club, like what we did in our 10th year anniversary, or maybe some kind of launching). The only time they use the stage was when they took a group photo. And that was it - that's the only thing they did as a group. Since there was a time limit on the use of the room, they had to end the session and the crowd soon dispersed and some of them went home.

I am not here writing to compare our programs and theirs. I was there observing the the whole thing and occasionally engaged in a small talk. I am not pointing at any fault in that group of people, but you really can't help yourself comparing their 'big' event against what we have done ourselves.

In the past 20 years, we have actually came a long way, and charting more than what other people have done, and for that matter, more than what we would have imagined. Maybe its the culture that we were in, our way of life. Maybe its how we perceive other people and how we received them in our domain. We take our friends as who they are, not so much about what they are now. We openly accept their family members as they are what makes them who they are now. We joked, we called names like we used to, but I don't think anybody took offence.

I sensed something missing in that occassion that I would normally sense in our gatherings. I sensed that we have that camaraderie, that sense of comradeship among us, that brotherhood among friends.

And it really feels good to know that you're in a good company of friends.