04 July 2011

Not forgotten

In two cars they arrived, unannounced. They knew they would always be welcome to the house they got to know the inside and outside ten years ago; because they have not forgotten.

The seven young ladies


Way back in early 2001 these seven girls belonged to a group that joined Form 1 tuition class at Almanar. Today they still remember and talk with fondness the events of those days at Almanar and Nuri. The pain and frustration – and joy too - of those days are now being played back gleefully and with how-silly-we-were-then laughs. Each brought along a little ‘buah tangan’. One of them had two huge crabs (weighing 600 gm), still alive and kicking, her father’s catch.


I cannot imagine how six of these seven girls, a nurse and five with BSc degrees in various fields, have all just completed their studies. Only one, who did radiography, graduated earlier and is working at a university.

The visit, the ‘buah tangan’, crabs and all were not timed to celebrate a teacher’s day or a father’s day. To pay homage, to express respect, love and affection, one does not need a special occasion.

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To the seven young ladies : Makcik and Pakcik thank you. You are not forgotten. Perhaps the day will soon come when the seven of you drop in to hand your special invitation cards, for a very special occasion - all happening in one year, too, insyaAllah.

Biarpun bulan dan tahun berlalu
Biarpun disilangi penat dan pedih
Biarpun berat beban dibahu
Tak munkin hilang jalinan kasih




Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

28 comments:

ninotaziz said...

Dear Pakcik,

Over the weekend, CfS's Mum and I also met with 10 of our teachers and about 400 sisters at our alumni gathering - a celebration of bonding over decades of sisterhood.

These teachers kept watch and guided over our blossoming into young adults, responsible people and nurturing mothers.

How can we forget such devotion (both ways) - impossible.

Note: Maknye CfS and I talked about our imminent visit to Terengganu to visit a certain Pakcik, Makcik and a library by the sea with much anticipation. Insyaallah.

Pak Idrus said...

An old Chinese saying ' When you drink from a cup do not forget that the water came from a stream somewhere' It look like those find folks who came back knew and never forgotten. That is why they all are successful in their lives.

Take care.

Wan Sharif said...

Begitulah..
Visitors from the past.
interwoven with respect & sincere love.
Ah .. can see that Ninot and mama of certain cat planning a visit to a certain library by the sea.
Argh... envy.. envy..
Maybe you can get certain facts cleared up for me.. a mama of intelligent blogging cats.. over a cup of Kallang Maras Coffee .. ;)).

Anonymous said...

I have met some of those young ladies. They look fresh and are still young. You got too many 'foster' children Pak Cik. What a great deed you have to strengthen this ukhuwah. May Allah bless you always. Ameen.

AZMIERA

Al-Manar said...

Ninotaziz,

Agathering of 400 sisters! I just cannot imagine how the party was when three is a crowd. Of course we wll be pleased to meet two of them. Do not listen to Ayah Wang's story about the library by the sea, the private store-room of all sorts plus the collection pf pho... and all.

Al-Manar said...

Pak Idrus,

You are the master of Chinese sayings,too! I have not heard this good one. If our friend Sintaicharles happens to be visiting he would probably throw in a couple more.

But the sad thing is, Pak Idrus, the water from our upstream today is no longer as clean as that upstream water dreamt of by the Chinese sage. So we have to watch what comes with the water in our cup.

Happy blogging.

Al-Manar said...

Ayah Wang,

Tak usah iri hatilah. Di KL nak jumpa sepuluh kali sahari pun boleh - di kelab siang, kelab malam, hotel,restaurant dll. Kita dikampong tengok matahari naik, matahari jatuh.

Al-Manar said...

Azmiera,

I have lots and lots of 'children'. If they were converted to money I would be a millionaire father!

sintaicharles said...

Pakik, I know quite a lot of Chinese sayings. However,I don't know how to translate them into English. When I was young, I had always thought I would become a Chinese language teacher.I ended up becoming an English teacher.

Two days ago a few ex-students visited my school. They were thrilled when I called out their names. They had left my school more than a decade before.

kaykuala said...

Dear Pak Cik,
It is so moving and so inspiring. Given the right encouragement and support they have made good. It must be so much satisfaction to you and also to al-Manar.

Incidentally Pak Cik, A little bird did appear literally at 'birdhouse' and I'm relieved. Please take a look!

Anonymous said...

AK you are very fortunate to have the blessing of ALLAH TO INPART your knowledge to kids from the kampongs from poor families and finally they made good and are greatful to their SIFU.The sudden visit without notice signifies how sincere they were and to indirectly informed their SIFU THEIR ACHIEVEMENT was due through YOUR effort it may not be 100% but yo did it. May ALLAH BLESS you always AK. ZUL from Kemaman.

Al-Manar said...

Sintaicharles,

I think you should select a few of the Chinese sayings as topics of your postins. I for one would love to learn some of these.

Incidentally I just cannot leave comments in your blog. I keep on being asked to fill n Google address over and over again. I have similar problems with a couple of Ninot's blogs. I love to leave some comments and get truly frustrated not being bable to do so. Pak Idrus advised me one way of doing it but I just cannot get my Google accepted.

Al-Manar said...

Dear Hank,

I have managed to keep myself occupied in this corner of the world, and happy too.

I have read about your starnge bird.

Al-Manar said...

Zul,

You will get a lunch from me for the good words.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Dear Pakcik,
You remind me of Hemingway's novel - and did anyone mention crabs? Humongous crabs? I love crabs! Ooops...sorry I digressed. Recently my Mama had the opportunity of teaching some kids sandwich making...and the philosophy behind it. Yup...there is such a thing as a sandwich philosophy a la CfS. har har har *evil laughs*

Temuk said...

Salam bahagia

Mari ke mari cantaskan daun
Keladi Kedaik di batang kelapa
Berlalu hari, bulan dan tahun
Budi yang baik orang tak lupa!

Al-Manar said...

C-f-S,

.. reminds you of Hemingway, That Ernest Memingway, the one who committed suicide, whose brother, sister and father also committed suicide? He did not do it swallowing the whole two large crabs with shells and all, did he?

So I am that poor Old Man and the Sea. That serves me right, looking at the sea day in and day out; when others go sniffing around trailing the smell of dead fish!

Al-Manar said...

Temuk,

Inilah hasilnya mencabar pakar! Cantik betul jawapan tuan. Kata Orang Puteh I salute you, sir.

Sudah beberapa kali saya cuba tinggal komen posting tuan - tak berjaya. Sayang nya blog tuan adalah salah satu antara blog yang komen saya tak diterima - sepertimana yang saya sebut kepada
Sintaicharles diatas. Rasanya ini masalah computer saya.

Pada posting Tuan saya cuba nak tanya tuan apa biza 'barisan' dan 'saf'. Betulkah kefahaman saya, yang pertama dari hadapan kebelakang dan saf pula dari kiri ke kanan atau sebaliknya.

Sekarang ini fahamlah yang saya cuma 'silent reader' hingga dapat selesaikan masalah computer saya.

Anonymous said...

salam pak cik..
That is a nice piture of us. We were really happy seeing you healthy and looking young.
Next event? Coming soon..insyaAllah

~hazimah~

Anonymous said...

Dear pak cik,
Thank you for the picture....
InsyaAllah we'll pay pak cik & mak cik another 'unannounced visit'

Semoga pak cik & mak berada di bawah rahmat-Nya...

~ra~

Anonymous said...

Nice Post. This record helped me in my college assignment. Thnaks Alot

Al-Manar said...

Hazimah,

Do you know what I have been telling the new groups of F1 and F2pupils from Darul Akhyar? They asked for my age nd I said 102with a straight face. You should see the look on their faces, trying to figure out how 102 compared with their parents. Now you are flattering me - kononnya nampak muda. Thank you, Hazimah. Thank you for coming round. Pakcik and Makcik look forwards to the next events.

Al-Manar said...

Ra,

Give us your 'unannounced visits' any time. It was unfortunate Makcik happened to be away when you came. But had you announced your plan Pakcik would have cooked something special for you myself ! Remember me to your parents. Salaam to them. I forgot to tell Hazimah to do the same. Do come again, even individualy.

Al-Manar said...

Anonymous,

I am glad to be of help to you. Come again and tell Pakcik a bit more about yourself.

Temuk said...

I regret that you have not been able to leave your comments on my entries. Banyak-banyak maaf. The problem could be on my side. I'll try to rectify it.

Malangnya saya tak tahu hal semantiks Melayu utk bezakan barisan dengan saf. Kata ustaz yang baru saya tanya tadi, saf (istilah Arab) sebenarnya bermaksud barisan. Kamus Utusan tidak membezakan kedua-dua istilah itu. Saya fikir, dalam budaya kita, saf itu telah kita gunakan secara lebih spesifik (dan telah menjadi kelaziman)untuk merujuk kepada barisan makmum semasa bersembahyang, dan secara spesifik juga merujuk kepada barisan orang dari kanan ke kiri & sebaliknya. Pun demikian, biasa juga kita dengar rakan-rakan menyebut tentang adanya 'barisan-barisan'(bukan dikatakan saf-saf) yang tak lurus semasa sembahyang!

Saya rasa dan perhatikan, kita acapkali menggunakan istilah barisan secara lebih umum. Ia boleh jadi bermaksud saf atau deretan. Malahan ia juga boleh bermaksud 'gabungan', 'pergerakan', 'pasukan' atau 'pergerakan'(spt dalam 'barisan pejuang Islam'). Dan dalam konteks ini, kedudukan fizikal ahlinya 'kanan-kiri, kiri-kanan, atau depan-belakang' sebenarnya telah menjadi kurang relevan. Wallahualam.

Al-Manar said...

Temuk,

Terima kasih penerangan yang rasa memberi gambran yang munasabah. Ini datangnya bila saya baca tentang 'barisan' hulubalang tuan!

Masalah saya hadapi adalah bersangkutan computer saya sendiri. Kebelakangan ini saya langsung tak dapat masuk jenis kotak comments seperti tuan punya, dan yang orang lain juga. Mana mana yang seperti jenis comments saya ini saya tidak ada masalah langsung - bukan jenis flip down to choose an identity.

Rahmah said...

Alhamdulillah they still remember you pakcik. A sign of their gratitude. May you continue to opens the hearts and minds of those in need :)

Al-Manar said...

Cikgu Rahmah,

As teaching is your profession, to be remembered by your old pupils is nothing new, but for me it is.Now I realise why some teachers retire with a sense of achievement.