All Those Years Ago

Aaah, do I have good friends or what?

More than a year ago, I received an sms from an unknown number asking whether I am the friend he knew from his schooldays in Lenggong. Apparently he found my number after contacting ANSARA KB.

So that's how I met again my best friend from my Standard 2 and 3 way back in the early 70s in the capital city of the Perak Man; that's Lenggong, to the uninitiated.

Lokman and I are now back in touch; and we have made a couple of courtesy visits to each other's home, though I am yet to meet up with my other classmates. I would love to meet up with them soon.

So I was pleasantly surprised when another friend from my Standard 4, 5 and 6 managed to get hold of my blog and left a comment recently. Apparently a couple of them had been reading my rantings and rambling for the past months without me knowing it.

Somehow Zaki told me that he could not leave a message earlier.

He pointed out to another of our classmate's blog who apparently had taken up blogging after reading mine. Ok, so I have another blogger friend in Zulkifli Zabidin. His blog is here.


I guess that's Zaki on the front row on the extreme right. Hmmm, when we were kids, though I was a bapak budak by then due to my size.

We were at the same school until 1975. With King Edward celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, it should be a good year for us the Class of 1975 to meet up again. Zaki was a bit apprehensive since he didn't complete his secondary education at KE. But I reminded him, that as the saying goes, Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.

(In my case, I guess I was privileged to start my secondary education at KE Menengah, since the registration date of MRSM KB at that point was on 24th January 1976.)

Zaki, on the other hand, left King Edward for Izzuddin Shah boarding school and went to Canada to study microbiology and now works at FRIM.

Never thought you were so interested on the microbes, Zaki.

We were the Aulong kids in the 70s which has a Malay settlement in the midst of a Chinese settlement originally meant to resettle those communist sympathisers. I guess - correct me if I am wrong, Zaki - there were the three of us close friends living in Aulong then, the other one was Zulkapri.

So many names were mentioned in the 15 min chat; we need to have our teh tarik session though according to him he does not drink teh tarik. Never mind, I said, you can have you Cappuchino while I have my teh tarik! ;-)

Since he was waiting for his 7th children - due any time, that session would have to wait.

Apparently, according to Zaki, I have changed. Hmmm, really? Mengembang, yes, can't deny that; the horizontal expansion is difficult to reverse. But since he said it is not physical, I guess he must have arrived at the conclusion from reading all my entries here. I am not sure in what sense though to be honest.

Ah, but you don't have to believe everything I wrote here, bro. Not everything is true! Sometimes I made things up to make it more interesting. After all, my life and views are pretty mundane!

But sincerely I thought it would be interesting to hear from Zaki on this topic. He is someone from my childhood and would know me as I was then. People do change, I must admit. I certainly would like to get a third party view on my ownself.

I need a couple more brains to reminisce about the primary schooldays. Hopefully the stories would start flowing after meeting you and the others again.

After all these years!