Many happy returns of the day

Encik Ramli of When Less Is More blog sent the following comment for Pak Cik’s posting.

“As I celebrate my 59 years young tomorrow, thank you for stating the fact that we were the young cyclists from Bkt Jelutung.”

I have not only known him but enjoyed reading detailed records of his cycling trips, and I never cease to wonder how he and his friends have the stamina and enthususiasm to do what I wish I were able to do. Since his last entry is on his cycling tour via Almanar I would seek his permission to have it copied here. I would want to have the pictures of his five gallant cycling friends recorded in my blog.

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UP CLOSE - THE BJCC TOURERS

RAZAK

True to his National Geographic bandana he wore, he knew the nooks and corners of the East Coast. Even had a stake in a fresh-fish breeding project. His motto is "Ride to Eat". Rides a 26" Dahon foldable bike similar to Zaba's.

SHAM

Our Mr Gadget. I was fascinated with his USB-driven external speaker hanged on the handle bar. Connected to his PDA, he had a medley of Hindi songs, old P Ramli songs and some hip-hops. Rides the Dahon 20" foldable bike.

ZABA

The Rambo of BJCC. Before taking up cycling, he was a gym guy. He used to pump irons. Now he pumps tyres. Rides a Dahon 26" foldable bike.

JALIL

The only non-Brooks guy in the team and now a full-fledged Brooks rider. Rides his Merida Hybrid, his first bike before upgrading to a racer. Slim and trim, the envy of other BJCC tourers.

FENDI

The most "hardworking" tourer. He had 1 puncture and 2 slow-leaks and 18 visits to the toilet. Rides a full-fledged Bianchi tourer.

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To En Ramli I would say this:

Happy birthday to you, Ramli.

When I was leaving my 59th I was kind of sad that so much time had been lost. I had then just started Almanar. When I was leaving my 69th I was equally sad that more years had gone by; but this time I was grateful that something worthwhile had been started and some success had begun to show from Almanar. Now I just look forwards.

I pray that many good things will be on your way.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

It’s not for you

Looking straight into my eyes Ramli, the group leader said, “It’s not for you ……” In his right hand was a thick roll of crisp one-hundred and fifty ringgit banknotes.

The group of six tough cyclists from Bukit Jelutung, headed by Ramli (of When Less Is More), arrived at Nuri’s gate at about a quarter past six. They had leisurely spent about ten hours on to get here from Dungun. Indeed they had had their meals and rests on the way, but for the life of me I could never have done the journey. How I envy the joy of their ride. See BCJJ GOES EAST COAST - DAY 1

I had known Ramli for some time but not the rest of his great gang, hefty ‘young’ men of various professions. In this rural backwater it is a rare treat and so refreshing to be sitting with people with different backgrounds. It was rather unfortunate that my ‘mak cik’ was away in Kuala Lumpur occupied with her (mine, too, of course!) children and grandchildren. I was the host of the house and all. I could not very well prepare a dinner for these visitors beyond rice, boiled eggs and omelets. So I took them to a kampong restaurant. Fortunately they seemed to enjoy whatever was left of the food. But that was not all. Before they left the following morning the great Pak Cik had two platefuls of keropok lekor fried for them. I did it all my way.

How I wished they would stay longer. But their schedule was such that they had to leave early en route to Kuala Besut and thence to Kota Bharu. We shook hands bidding farewell and selamat jalan. It was then Ramli, the leader, surprised me with his ‘handshake’.

“It’s not for you. This is our contribution to Almanar.” Taken off guard, how else could I response other than a feeble ‘Thank you’?

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

Pak Cik reminisces (Part 4) - An old Friend resurfaces

Slowly and surely another month of August has crept up and caught up with us, making it the 51st Merdeka Anniversary. This is Pak Cik’s 8th posting since last year’s Merdeka golden jubilee. Without doubt the posting frequency has improved over that of previous years. It is Pak Cik’s hope to do no less in future. After all, this website and my e-mail are the most effective means of communication between Almanar and students associated with it.

During the course of this year Pak Cik had a very pleasant surprise, a message from one of my long lost friends of pre-Merdeka era. Those who have read Pak Cik’s postings a year ago - Pak Cik Reminisces, (Part 1)and(Part 2) - would realise that 50 years ago I was a lonely Malayan student in England, away from Malaya then and living in an English home with others who hardly knew where on earth Malaya was, Pak Cik had little choice but to adapt myself to the new environment. Over time Pak cik had many close friends from England itself. To my regret, we have lost touch with one another. By a stroke of luck, somehow, one of these old friends was able to contact me through the alumni association. He is Ian Sanderson, simply known as Ian among us. Apparently he migrated to United States, where he and his family are today.


Photo : 1961 Mechanical Eng class (L to R) - Peter Goodman, Harold Levy, Ray Perkins, Pak Cik, Anthony Roylance(dec) and Ian Sanderson


Ian sent Pak Cik a number of e-mail messages some extracts of which are recorded below:

“Hassan,

Hey, how are you- do you remember me, Ian [!] We are all well, Blair, my wife and I have been enjoying retirement-almost a year….. . I keep quite fit playing table tennis [ping pong] 4 hours a week with some retired men who are very good. Also I still bike 30 miles every few weeks and play tennis…. I like to sail- I crewed in a friend’s sail boat for a [ Block Island ] race. We came 5th overall. I also sing in a church choir…”

“…….I have 3 sons; Peter 39, Mark 36, Matthew 23 and 5 grandchildren ……”

“ ….I have no contact with our old class at Loughboro' unfortunately- but I do with people in the old cycling club. I have a lot of relatives in England, nieces, nephews, cousins, sisters- that I like to keep in contact with…. .”

“ …..The only person I was in contact with was Tony Roylance- alas he died 3-4 years ago…..”

“……Blair & I went on a great vacation to Italy & Greece recently ……..”

“…….I actually retired June 2007 ……..
From Ian”

That is Ian Sanderson who belongs to Pak Cik’s age group and was together with me for four years about the time Malaya became independent. It is apparent from the brief notes above that he is far more active and mobile than Pak Cik, professionally and physically. To all intents and purposes Pak Cik looked at Ian as a typical English lad during the years we were together. On that account I thought he was conservative enough to make his home in good old England. Instead he opted to migrate to America and be an American citizen. Pak Cik, on the other hand, have returned to my birth place – “.. belut pulang ke lumpur”.

Ian is a truly hard engineer to the core. He was active professionally until he retired in June 2007, a good 15 years after Pak Cik had called it a day. It is interesting to view Ian’s work background and experience. Before he retired last year he had been involved in most aspects of mechanical engineering work ranging from operations and maintenance to design and development, with designs patented to his credit as well. As a true professional he has, on top of it, authored several scientific papers.

Ian has three children, all boys, and is proud of them. Pak Cik have three as well but with a girl among them. Ian may say he is one up on Pak Cik since a girl is just a nuisance! I may indeed agree with him. My classes at Almanar are full of girls, shrieking, chattering, yelling, you name it, driving Pak Cik crazy at times! However there is a plus point in having a daughter, an opportunity to have a son-in-law!

Now allow Pak Cik to reminisce back to the Merdeka time, when Ian and Pak Cik attended the same lecture theatre, enjoying cups of tea served by the same tea lady during tea breaks and queuing up for lunch (of fish and chips for me) in the same dining hall. Ian was an avid cyclist and I was not. Cycling was a pure necessity to shuttle me between my house of residence and the college. Pak Cik can never forget an occasion when I was hurrying to college one morning. The road had an invisible thin layer of ice. That being the arrival of my first winter and inexperienced, Pak Cik soon found myself flat on the road surface with coat, overcoat, hat, files and all, after trying to make a clever manoeuvre on my bike. I knew a group of English school girls were across the road. Quite naturally Pak Cik expected humbling smiles and giggles. Instead they did the unexpected, hurrying across the road to offer help to a silly foreign student. That was a lesson in humility and civic-mindedness. I wonder how many of Almanar girls would react in such a manner under a similar situation – furtive glances and suppressed giggles at best!

Ian often enthusiastically talked about his hiking and biking with friends all over the country during weekends. And Pak Cik had to be contented with my hitch-hiking trips which were planned for semester holidays only. Pak Cik could never see the fun of sweating it out hours and hours on a bicycle. “These crazy English guys!” I used to say to myself. How strange it is that at my age today I have begun to appreciate it. Alas, I have none of the energy to pump up and sweat it out on the road. Now I sit to admire the likes of Ian. I am full of envy whenever I think of my Malaysian friend, Ramli, who takes it in his stride to cycle all the way home from KL to KB in Kelantan, calling at Almanar for keropok lekur. (To appreciate the true prowess of this Malaysian cycling enthusiast friend, Pak Cik would certainly recommend his website: When Less Is More)



Once, Ian told me that, when he was as young as 16, he had already been cycling with his cousin of 14 to places in the south of England, doing a distance as much as 140 km a day. I too was 16 once but my bicycle was for going to school, a distance of about 5 km! Now let Pak Cik ask how many of you have seen a penny farthing ( a bike with a small and a huge wheel – see photo ) being ridden? Pak Cik have and it was Ian who demonstrated it. He rode one during a college carnival week. It was a great annual event known as Loughboro’ Rag Week when students of our college staged a week of festival, reputed for a very sizeable sum of money collected for charity. Ian surprised us all riding a penny farthing! During the parade the traffic stopped. Guess how one makes a stop on a penny farthing! Ian deftly stepped off on to the hood of a nearby car. The driver didn't seem to mind. Few realised how much pain he took to be sufficiently good at riding that machine. On one occasion he managed to get up on it and soon found himself propelled unstoppable toward a nearby canal. Fortunately he fell off away from the canal. What a hilarious sight it was!

That was 50 years ago, a year after Merdeka.

According to his e-mail Ian still cycles on top of many other activities. He is in possession of an old bike, a rickety one indeed. Look at the picture of a proud man with his old bike – or should I say a prized bike with its old owner? (No offence intended, Ian, if you happen to read this.)

In his e-mail above he made reference to a Tony Roylance, another close English friend of ours, who has passed away. Tony too was a successful engineer. It is sad to hear of his passing. We were close those days (see photo above).

Pak Cik will end this posting a message for Pak Cik’s ‘anak buah’. I am sad to see that very few of you take up a hobby, a healthy co-curricular activity. I wish you would adopt one and learn to love and enjoy it.