King Edward VII-1 - Class of 1975

From Left: Zakri, Rahman Salleh, Zaki, the blogger, Dr Jalal, Joey/Zulkapri, Hasnul and Rani. All from Class 6A. Man Salleh is showing off his gut feel! ;-)

Playing the remembering game with a copy of the 1975 pictures

Dateline: 1 Syawal 1529/1 October 2008

Location: Taman Sri Kota, Taiping, Perak

Occasion: Reunion of Class 6A 1975

I would have never thought that it would be possible to gather my classmates from our primary schooldays ever again. Afterall, thirty three years have passed us by. Of course while time has separated us, the fact that we were just kids then when we parted our ways, make a reunion difficult, if not impossible.

Unlike reunion of our secondary schoolmates. We were practically adult by the time we left school.

Of course it would not be possible had it not been for Zaki to leave his comment on this very blog a few moons ago. Zaki, as I have mentioned in an earlier entry - if my memory serves me right, was one third of the two kids who made Aulong our playground with this blogger.

So I offer my mom's house as the venue for the small reunion under the pretext that Ustaz Adnan who taught us Ugama in Std 5 and Std 6 lives nearby. So does another friend - the only one I have had reunion meeting every year.

(Zaki and Hasnul were the first to arrive)

Much to my delight, eight of us made it to the Raya night reunion, excluding this blogger. First to arrive were Zaki and Hasnul, while they looked younger than their years and definitely this blogger would not have recognized them if he were to cross path with them. How time flies, especially for me I guess since I am the one who looks older!

By the time the eight of us were reunited at the corridor of my mom's house which allowed us some privacy, we had laughter and joy all over. Stories were traded, scores were settled there and then. With age and the benefit of hindsight and nostalgia, everything we talked about, all incidents and stories told, were wonderful and funny.

Of course our hairs, and tummy became the butt of our jokes, but all in the name of good and friendly bantering. After all, we don't really have old scores to settle and we were united under the banner of King Edward.

We went through the class photo of 1975. With eight heads, it is easier to identify us all.

Zakri, our headboy and I guess the only one with 5As in Penilaian Darjah Lima, went to MCKK but later during F4 went back to KE to complete his secondary education. Rahman Salleh, while he joined us during Std 5, I guess were amongst the two who completed his full secondary education at KE; the other one being Rani.

Correct me if I am wrong here guys.

Dr Jalal, who went to MRSM with me - so we shared two alma maters together, was one of the three whom I thought didnt change that much. Awet muda, I must say. With his line of work as a leading ergonomist in Malaysia, I am not surprised he is able to maintain his look!

Hasnul, a registrar at Masterskill, Zulkapri at Maxis, were there and Rani, who left us at Std 5 but joined at Std 6 a year later. I think he can't enough of KE life, eh Rani? ;-)

Capt Zainal Azman, who completed his education at Sandhurst, also joined us later. He has retired from the army but is still involved in the business of the army. He would have to compete with Dr Jalal for the awet muda award.

Steady, these two guys!

Azhar called me in the morning berating this blogger for not informing him of the reunion. I was surprised that he was able to contact me. His name was mentioned many times, with many of us remembering him and his mum's nasik lemak!

We would order it the day before and in the morning, there would be nasik lemak for us. A few would even eat them before recess underneath the table to avoid detection by Cikgu Kamariah, our class teacher. I guess many of us were hungry students.

And why not? Prior to the morning bell, we would have our games of popia (ouch!), or main guli or 'cop bai' or whatever underneath the raintrees. That would have made us very very hungry!

We end up visiting Ustaz Adnan at 10:45 pm, with him about to take his night rest. He was surprised to see us all; overwhelmed to be precise. At times he has difficulty remembering us, but I guess in no way a reflection of us. I met him yearly at least and I would always salam him at the end of each solat at the mosque, and he would acknowledge my presence by asking when did I return home. I had never seen him not even remembering me that till much later.

But slowly the memories did return and by the time we left, he was the Ustaz Adnan as I would remember him. He noted that if he were to tell his friends how the 9 of his primary school students visiting him on the Raya days, they would be very surprised indeed. I am sure he would relate this visitation to all and sundry, with pride. I guess we had made his Raya this time around.

Moga Allah panjangkan umur Ustaz and diberi kesihatan diri. Amin.

33 years may have passed, but I guess we were young again that night.

Very young indeed.

Twelve years old to be precise!

EPILOGUE

My apology for the delay. Been very tight with my time and the fact have had problem with my broadband at home and when I am ready to write, I have lost my train of thought. So this is just a first draft and if I had missed anything - which I am sure I did, let me know. I will try and update it as we go by.

There was one odd story about one of us during that night. I am not sure if it is nice to be told, but hoping that without naming name, it would be acceptable. At least one of us had become a Miss. And I remember him well too since he often got teased in class.

Aah well, I hope things will turn out ok for him. I mean her!

The Time Traveller is here

And I would like to be the second one.

Ronald Mallet already has a blueprint for a time machine and he is not in Hollywood. You can't get any further from Hollywood than Connecticut.

For one I need to read his book "The Time Traveller." He was just 10 when his father died. Devastated, he found solace in science fiction of HG Wells, believing that if he could build a time machine, he could go back into the past, warn his father and save his life.

Noble intention bordered on impossibility and Hollywood melodrama. Or so I thought.

Only that he is a professor of theoretical physics. You need to know your physics inside out to build a time machine that I can only dream of.

And off to Kinokuniya this weekend. Will let you know of what I think of the book.

My hope has been raised.

EPILOGUE

Updated 24 Oct 2008

I am a bit disappointed with Kino for not carrying the book (yet may be). I thought they would have everything that has been published. But they are willing to special order it for me as a consolation.

RPK in Kuala Kangsar?

It was a wonderful Raya, this time around.

While we were on Raya visit in Kuala Kangsar, another of my favourite town (after Taiping that is), we came across this school. Of course we used to live 5 mins away from this gals school in Bukit Kerajaan, but I thought with the ISA looming large during this Raya - and not only due to him, I thought this posting is apt.

Of course this school used to be the official residence of the Residence of Perak in the colonial time. Hugh Low may be? I don't remember anymore.

Wonderful building on top of a hill overlooking the Sungai Perak.

The Hariris in 1976

This photo was originally in black and white and was taken in a photo studio in Taiping in January 1976. I guess bapak just wanted to record the moment in time officially even though his Pentax SLR was as good as any camera one can get at the time.

I remember the occasion as being a couple of week away from heading to Kota Bharu to begin my boarding school life.

Of course by 1976, the family was still incomplete even with 9 children, three more were to follow together with another adopted daughter, making it 13 in all.

My kid bro on the front left (one of the two twins) has of course left us at the age of 30, while the rests are still around.

The original photo is still with Mak, though it is really in bad shape. I have no idea how the shop decided on the colour of our clothes. Hmmm..kinda funny to be honest.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

The preparation is still on going.

Five kilos of beef, 4 whole chickens, 6 lemangs, 50 pieces of ketupat, rendang in the wok and of course numerous cookies, many of them were cooked by Mak in KL, and I guess Raya '08 is on the way.

While we only have 3 families at this moment, making this raya one of the smallest in recent memory, I hope to make this a better one than last year. It seems to be heading that way. A few of my primary school classmates are coming for Raya, and I hope to do some visiting on the Raya day itself.

Well, I would like to wish all a Selamat Hari Raya and I guess with the thousands of words being typed over the past year or so, I do wish to apologize if I have hurt anybody's feeling.

I guess this apology is only valid for the non-politicians! Haha.. ;-)

Jom raya di Kamunting, eh I mean, Taiping

We are inching closer and closer to the Raya.

Honestly I am looking forward for the Raya break. Been quite awhile since I last went back and enjoy Taiping as it is supposed to be enjoyed. Sure I went back last week to pick up mum (since she wants to bake some cookies at my home) and also during the recent flood, but it was just a tad too short for me to enjoy Taiping and its ambience.

My former primary school classmates are supposed to have a reunion of sort on Raya day. Zaki is contacting the other classmates and we are also planning to visit our dear Ustaz Adnan who taught us in Std 5 and 6 in King Edward.

I am looking forward to seeing friends I have not seen since 1975.

And I managed to call one of my best buddy Zakri Khir. He is now a COO at Allianz. The good news he is also Raya-ing in Taiping and wants to meet up for bukak puasa first this Monday. Apparently his mum is still in Taiping (his dad died in July last year). The smartest boy in school then; no wonder he is doing well in his career, I am glad to say.

But at the same time, with the recent spate of arrest under ISA, it reminds me that for some reasons the power-that-be prefer to show their power and arrest many during the fasting month. The arrest of a former minister under Tengku is a case to point, and I guess RPK arrest and incarceration has to be done during Ramadhan.

How about the many others who have been in there for the past of 7 years? It is so cruel. How about one who returned only after his daughter was burried? Or one who had never bought his children any baju raya for the past 7 years. Read it here.

The Kem Tahanan ISA is in Kamunting, say half an hour from Taiping. When my in-laws were still living in Batu Kurau, we would pass it everytime on the way there. Of course we would not bat an eye lid then.

So let's all go back and Raya in Kamunting, what say you?

After all, gasoline has been reduced by RM0.10 cents. I would save at least RM7.00 if I were to fill up my tank to go back to Taiping.

Wow! Thank you Pak Lah.

I am really indebted to you.

Of bygone era

This is the very reason I love to time travel. These lovely sets of pictures of Kuala Lumpur in the old days are priceless. Someone sent me these last year and while I was archiving past emails in my old computers, I came across these and thought it is appropriate to post them here.

I don't know who own the copyright of these pictures, so I am taking liberty here. If you are the owner, I hope that you have given me permission to share them here.

Now, where is my time machine?

Aah, lovely.

Not much change here I guess.

Would you believe that this is Bukit Bintang?