Pakcik reminisces ( Pt 28 ) – 57 years on

 
                                        

1955 Diary

The front pages of my 1955 diary contain a list of over 30 names and addresses of boys and girls in Malaya and overseas.  If today a school boy spends lot of time on face/book I enjoyed writing letters to those pen-friends. Waiting with anticipation for the arrival of snail mails is a thrill by itself.

List of names and addresses

Among the many pen-friends was a boy named Abdul Khalik Hasan, studying in Anderson School, Ipoh. Like me he was also in Standard 9 (today’s Form 5)

My English school in Kuala Terengganu offered the following subjects for the final examination known as Cambridge School Certificate (CSC), a version of today’s SPM:

English language

English literature

Malay

Mathematics

General science

Health science

Geography

History

Arts

Subjects like Additional Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology had not come to this part of the world. I envied my pen-friend at Anderson School where he was able to choose Additional Maths and the three science subjects, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. And here I had to be satisfied with General Science and Health Science and just one mathematics subject.

I did not like History and was never good at drawing. So Arts was out of question too. As my passion was for Mathematics I begged the school administration to be allowed to take Additional Mathematics after performing well in that subject in Std 7 ( Form 3 ) examination. My wish was granted on one condition that I had to do it all absolutely on my own. There was no Add Maths teacher and the school library had no books on that subject. In my mind, if at that point in time I had fairly easily covered the simpler mathematics well ahead of class, I should not find it too difficult to tackle Add Maths on my own; the rationale of a simple mind!

So I took the challenge to self-teach myself Add Maths all the way without expecting any help from school.

  

The first task was to get hold of books on the subject. The only bookshop in town had nothing to offer. Fortunately I was skilled enough in correspondence. I wrote to a bookseller in KL ( I think it was Merican & Sons, if my memory has not failed me) for advice on a set of books for Add Maths; and subsequently I had one set of Add Maths books  posted to me. Money was not a problem. I was receiving a monthly allowance of 30 ringgits from the Federal Minor Scholarship (FDS). That sum was a lot of money when one could have ‘nasi dagang’ for 10 cents! I wonder, now, how in the first place I was awarded an FDS.

So from the beginning of my Std 8 ( Form 4) I started doing my Add Maths, working my way literally page by page, doing every worked example and all questions that followed every chapter. There were questions that took me days to solve. But I persisted backwards and forwards leaving no stone unturned until correct answers were found. The joy of arriving at correct answers was tremendous. I was enjoying the challenge.

However another six months from the CSC examination I was getting desperate to get at least one set of past question papers in Add Maths. I had to know the format of the two papers. It was in that time of need I realised that my pen-friend in Ipoh, Abdul Khalik, could help. What a joy it was to hear from him that he had one set of past question papers given to him by one of his seniors who sat for the subject in the previous year. Not wanting to part with the papers and in the absence of Photostat facility in those days, Abdul Khalik took the trouble to copy them in long hand, word for word, diagrams and all on sheets of paper which he sent to me by the snail post. I would not know how else I could obtain those valuable sheets of hand-written question paper.

Indeed, how could I ever forget that pen-friend in need?

I kept the handwritten question papers until about a couple of months to the examination. By then I I had covered most of the Add Maths books. So one fine day, with an alarm clock on the table, I sat to time myself working on the papers. At the end of it I was pleased to sense my readiness to enter the examination hall. 

On 5^th and 6^th December 1955 this 'kampong boy' walked all alone into the silence of the examination hall, surrounded by tables and chairs, and watched over by an English lady who was the invigilator.

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My 1955 diary carries the following entries on the two days. 

 --------------------------------------------------

Mon       5th Dec.

             10.30 – 12.35

             Add Maths I

              Expect ‘A’

   ------------------------------

Tues       6th Dec

              10.30 – 13.05

              Add Maths II

              Expect ‘A

 

2 hrs   5 min  for the first paper on Monday, and

2   ,,   35  ,,    for the second paper on Tuesday.

                                           

                                                 ------------------------------------

Look, I had the cheek to predict ‘A’ grade for both papers!

How could I tell that 57 years down the line “I shall be 

telling this with a sigh,

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. “

                     Robert Frost 

------------------------ 

A year after the CSC examination I began to slow down 

writing to pen-friends, and finally I stopped altogether until almost towards the end of my working career. Then I began to reminisce my past. Somewhere the memory of that old pen-friend, Abdul Khalik kept surfacing. In vain I began a search for Abdul Khalik. I went so far as contacting the police station in Parit for their help to locate that elderly gentleman named Abdul Khalik Hasan.

As chance would have it, two months ago I read in a blog 

something about Anderson School’s Group of 1955.That rang a loud bell.  From there I was led to the blogger Abbdulhalimshah (of Dalu Dalu) who is one of regular visitors to Almanar. He kindly did a search and put me on the right track and finally, through one

Amran Hamid, I was in possession of a phone 

number which was supposed to belong to that old pen-friend. And soon I was on the phone hearing for the first time the voice of my old and very dear pen-friend, Tuan Hj Abdul Khalik Hassan, an ex Malayan Railway man, an imam who is now settled in Tronoh, Perak.

My Pen-Friend

And on 19th December, barely a week ago, Hj Abd

Khalik drove to Kuatan to see his son.
From there he and wife took the trouble to drive all the way to Kuala Terengganu just to meet us at Nuri. For the very first time we were able to hold hands and hug each other fondly.

The two old pen-friends

I am lost for words to describe how I felt on meeting 

the man who had a hand in shaping the course of my life.

I am glad to know that Hj Abdul Khalik has a very 

successful family, an architect residing in Australia, an engineer, an accountant etc, etc , not to mention one of his grandchildren who has been offered a scholarship even before her SPM result is known. Indeed he is a man to be congratulated.

I am certain I will have more to write about this old 

friend and about his wife, the latter is obviously a very talented lady.

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Words of appreciation

My special thanks go to you En Abdul Halim Shah and 

En Amran Hamid for helping to make our historic meeting a reality.

.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.