Pakcik reminisces ( Pt 29 ) – A very special family

A belated posting

_____________________  

When I passed my Cambridge School Certificate in Terengganu in 1955 and had a chance to join the Higher School Certificate in 1956 I thought I was quite good. At the same time another boy in Perak did the same and had a similar chance. He and I were born in the month of September, the same month but not of the same year. He was born TWO YEARS  later – making him two years younger, a plus point. Adding to his credit he beat me by two years in getting married.

That was where the comparison ended. The rest is history as the divergence in the rate of achievement between us has simply been phenomenal. Today, nevertheless, members of my family enjoy the pleasure of the privilege of having known this very man and his family for forty years. 

He was then an MCS (Malaysian Civil Service, now the PTD) officer, and I an employee in the private sector; our wives were full time domestic managers. I do not remember how exactly we came to know each other. I suspect the normal ladies’ network brought us together. Living in the same vicinity of Damansara Heights/Bukit Damansara area and frequenting the same mosque could be a factor that brought us closer. At one point our homes were on the same road and were separated by a mere couple of houses. That was long before they moved to their new home perched on a cliff overlooking the residential area. Our home was also on a cliff, but half the height.

This gentleman has built a successful family - charity begins at home. That is probably one of the secrets that have enabled him to contribute towards nation building. Over the years we have seen how they raise their children. Their first daughter, for instance, has her own family and is herself a respected medical professor at a premier university. For knowing her since her childhood days we still address her simply ‘Yong’, leaving aside her Datinship, Dr,  professor etc.

Thirty years ago, when we were having a holiday in UK and our Yong had just sat for her SPM examination, we took her along driving around the country, including a trip into the depth of a slate mine in North Wales.

Yong on holiday with us in North Wales (1981)

 

Yong waiting with us for the memorable ' Journey to the Center of the Earth' -

A slate mine in North Wales ( i981 )

Our visit to see the 'Royal Family' in London ( 1981 )

    

Two years after their first, the couple had another two daughters, a pair of twins. Only then we had our first, a girl as well - but our one and the only one, Ainun. Naturally, being girls of the same age, they became friends. Making the bond be tween us closer was the years when one of the twins, called Nana, and our daughter attended the same A-Level school in UK. As chance would have it, I was posted to work in London, allowing the two of us to keep an eye on whatever mischief the two girls were up to during their A-Level years. Nana did law and is now a very successful lawyer with her own practice. And now she has a daughter who is studying law in UK, following her foot-steps.

Nana (reclining in front) with housemates of A-level Malaysian students

( 1982/3 )

Nana smiling broadly on her father's , and  housemates in Bletchley

On far left is our Ainun 

Nana’s twin sister, just ‘Jaja’ to us, is the principle, of a well-established private school in KL, and she herself has successful children, one of whom has just graduated in Australia.

                                                                 Jaja with Ainun and Makcik

Lake Toba (1981)

Their fourth daughter, ‘Opi’ to us, is a capable business lady.

Opi with Ainun and Makcik-

Hyde Park Speakers' Corner (1983)

Opi ushered the arrival of the only boy in the family, Ariff, a handsome and very eligible bachelor businessman, and also an accomplished golfer. The talent he showed during his young days earned him a trip overseas, sponsored by his father, for a short golfing course. I would not challenge the father and son even at my best golfing days. I lost many a drink and golf ball to the father. And the son Ariff is in the Professional Golfers' class, one up on his father.

Ariff (sitting) with Amran, our third

Family outing - Mimaland (Gombak) during its hey-day

1975

Ariff and mother (last) and Makcik and Amran

Mimaland ( 1975 )

. __________________________________  

Who among us has not heard of Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid?

That is the head of the family I have very briefly outlined above. His contributions and achievements are public knowledge and have been very well documented. I remember the challenge he faced when he was made to organise and head Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang by the then our Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak.  That was way back in 1973. To me that was where he began to stamp his footmarks. Thence it was leaps and bounds.

Who would not associate this very special personality with the growth of such important bodies as IKIM and PNB?

The greatest privilege for me and my family is that we know every member of his family and have had the opportunity, as friends, to offer our congratulations for his numerous awards, from his first Datukship to Tan Sri and Tun.  

8th December 1962 - 8th December 2012

    

In December, 2012, the wonderful and successful couple celebrated their GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY, yet again beating me to it with no gurantee for us. An exclusive surprise party awaited the celebrating couple on their arrival from an overseas trip. It was amazing to see what the enlarged members of this family could come up with to entertain the special couple and close friends; playing the role of the Master of Ceremony, giving speeches, handling of musical instruments and rendering of songs, with emphasis onTun’s personal P Ramlee’s favourites. I know it too well the time when Tun started collecting P Ramlee’s tapes from the era of VHS and Betamex taping machines in the eighties. It was not a surprise to med when he began to write his book on P Ramlee.

That evening, while we watched the couple being congratulated by relatives and close friends, we were proud to be among them.

Tun - Pakcik  &  Toh Puan - Makcik

So far and yet so close

To me there is no greater value in a man than his uncompromised integrity and dedication. Perhaps, here, in a very small way, I can hope to detect some room for me to share his values.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

_____________________  

Just for the fun of it - Subject YES

A friend sent this to Pakcik. A fun it is, a good excercise nevertheless.
_______________________________

Subject: Yes : If you can read this OUT LOUD you have a strong mind.And better than that: Alzheimer's is a long, long, ways down the road before it ever gets anywhere near you.To my "selected" strange-minded friends:If you can read the following paragraph, forward it on to your friends and the person that sent it to you with 'yes' in the subject line. Only very good minds can read this. This is weird, but interesting!

7H15 M3554G3
53RV35 7O PR0V3
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
4U70M471C4LLY
W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.
PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F
U C4N R34D 7H15.

If you can read this, you have a strange mind, too. Only 55 people out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseaethe huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forwrad it

FORWARD ONLY IF YOU CAN READ IT
Forward it & put 'YES' in the Subject Line

Even if you are not old, you will find this interesting...

 

This is a TEST----------------------------------------- Good Luck!!! I don't know about the wishes but we can all use some brain exercise!!
How old are your eyes?

The Eye Test 

Can you find the B
(there are 2 B's) DON'T skip, or your wish won't come True...


RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Once you've found the B

Find the 1
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1III
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Once you found the 1................

Find the 6


9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999699999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
Once you've found the 6...

Find the N (it's hard!!)
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Once you've found the N...

Find the Q..

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Make 2 wishes!

>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> ;> >>>>>>>>>> > >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>> >>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

OK, NOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE A WISH, IT WILL COME TRUE.....ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FORWARD
TO THREE PEOPLE BUT IF YOU FORWARD TO MORE IT WILL HAPPEN SOONER!! 


Do send this message on. It is great fun and good for the Brain!!!

_____________________________________________ 

p/s
       Thank you Pauline

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan 

All in the family ( Pt 8 ) – He earns his keep

Fifty years ago I began to earn my keep soon after graduation. Thirty years later it was my children’s turn. This month it is my first grandson’s turn. There is one big difference, though; this boy has not even passed his SPM. It is true that he sat for it but is still waiting for his fate. But his parents cannot afford to maintain an unemployed individual nesting at home. Realising this he, without as much as a word of permission from anyone, went job hunting!

It is fortunate for this young man that his place of work is at a pizza something, just a walking distance from home at Damansara Heights,. What I cannot understand is why, with his uncertain school qualification, he has been promised a monthly earning of almost the same as my monthly salary with a multinational fifty years ago and with my scroll and all. Have the financial pundits coined the term ‘cost of living’ to explain this?

So, ladies and gentleman, if you happen to be eating pizza around there and see this boy, give him a generous tip. He needs to save as much as possible in case he does well enough in his SPM to continue his studies.

Ready, willing and able to serve with pleasure

I assure you that he has been well trained to serve. His father was there as customer and his grandfather will be there, too, insya Allah, to check on his performance.     

Yes Sir - err Dad- what would you have?

( Tapi Abah bayar lah !)

                                     

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan



With a sigh ( Pt 14 ) – Teacher, oh, teacher

Awang  Goneng  (Wan A Hulaimi) came around to leave a possible explanation to the ‘Active Eye’ of my last posting. Obviously he had done some research and suggested further reading – http://www.cvcny.org/index.php?s=1&b=4&p=4  

On a number of occasions his appearance was timely. This time I was planning to write about my uncalled-for poor impression of certain teachers around me. I must make it very clear that I am not in any way generalising my view of teachers, the one group I like to befriend. I sigh when, in my occasional depressed moods, I see weaknesses where they ought not to be.

 

The New Sunday Times - 20th Jan.2013

I was in that mood when I read W A Hulaimi’s weekly column in New Sunday Times of 20^th January, ‘To teach, you have to know’, as usual a well-researched piece of writing. On this subject he quoted Art Markman, a professor of psychology. I will now copy-and-paste a few lines from that column.

- If you want to learn, teach.

- You cannot teach what you do not know, and to know, you must look up the subject, and the more you look it up, the more you’ll see.

 - We often ask of each other, “Are you familiar with the subject?” as opposed to “Do you know?”.

- Before I started teaching, I did not believe that I would be the one learning.

-  If you look at a house from a distance, you are looking at it abstractly, but when you move in close you’ll see it specifically, in greater detail – how it is structured, what kind of windows and pillars and which architectural genre.

               _________________________________  

When I started Almanar and thought of helping needy children in English, mathematics and science subjects, I did not realise how hard it would be for me to do it after having left school more than fifty years. It was not so difficult with English but with additional mathematics, physics and chemistry it was self study all over again. I was not facing a few questions in an examination but odd questions, some from thick-headed children. I had to dig out whatever old books I still had stowed away in boxes, and had to buy more.   

It was then I realised the superiority of old imported books over those being flooded in local bookshops. For a start hardly a local school reference book has index at the back, making it virtually impossible to check at a glance the presence of certain topics.

         

Then at one point a teacher came around and had a glance at the few reference books at Almanar, and declared that those books, being about five years old, were ‘out of date’! No wonder book publishers keep revising school books not less than once a year to keep the contents up-to-date (or create new market?). The catch phrase is ‘format baru’.  

To teach I have to learn.

Stubborn as I am, I have been doing it my way. Newton’s laws of motion  have not changed. The concept of chemical bonds between elements has never changed. Do we need to change the way we teach because of changes in examination format?  So today I still make reference to my old books.

I teach, and I learn.

Now I must relate what I did some ten years ago. I had just taught coordinate geometry to a group of Form 2 children. When the children had grasped it I ventured to explain its application in geography; in the formation of longitudes and the latitudes on earth. It was such a revelation to them to know why the range of longitudes is from 0 degree (at Greenwich) to 180 degree east and 180 degree west, but of latitudes, on the other hand, are from 0 degree at the equator to 90 degree north and 90 degree south.

It was then I learnt that a globe, like the one I used to illustrate my explanation, had never been used by their geography teacher. So I was naïve enough to ask a couple of the children to ask their geography teacher to explain why latitudes and longitudes were not simplified by having 180 degrees east, 180 degrees west for longitudes,  and  180 degrees north, 180 degrees south for latitudes.   

A few days later we had a good laugh in class when the two children came back to report. The first geography teacher they approached asked them to ask a second geography teacher who happened to be around. The second teacher asked them to refer yet to another teacher. To her surpridse a terse reply, a kind of rebuke, came from the third teacher.

“ Apa nak Tanya lagi? Memang dah macam itu. Ingat saja sudah lah! ( Why do you need to ask? It has been like that. Just take and remember it!)” The teacher was obviously annoyed with such a frivolous question.

If you do not want to learn, don’t teach.

I laughed but I drew a long sigh. I am an old fashioned and inquisitive fool, wasting time teaching what is not needed to get ‘Aces’ in an examinnation. I will never know how to use such ‘Malay’ words as, produk, ilusi, emosi, kompelikasi etc. Dewan Bahasa’s dictionary is probably the only dictionary in the whole world that needs to be purchased every year to enable one to acquire the fast expanding Bahasa 1 Malaysia ‘moden’.

I will go on learning and I will go on teaching; but I will go on doing it my way.  

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaaan

   

Active Eye?

No longer needed

Last week Pakcik had a new group of Form 1 at Almanar. They are from the centre of less privileged children I have made reference to before. In general, children from this home are difficult to handle. This has been a real challenge for me.

As I was moving around, allowing time for the children to copy what was on the white board, one girl whispered if I could write more clearly as she found difficulty to read my writing and had to resort to copying from one friend besides her. This not being the first time, I knew we were facing another of the normal eyesight problems quite easily resolved several times in the past. So, at the end of the class I was happily driving THREE of them to the normal optometrist, expecting, with a bit of luck, to see them with glasses a couple of days later. This time we had a problem with one of the girls. The optometrist could not determine the power of a lens suitable for her. She suffers from ‘active eye’ problem possibly something to do with her optical nerves, resulting in unsettled focusing power. An eye specialist’s help is needed in this case.

Perhaps, someone would care to enlighten Pakcik what this ‘active eye’ problem is.

________________________________________________

P/s:

Pakcik used to wear glasses for many,many years. At one stage I needed one for reading as well.  Strange enough my problem has gradually improved during the last few years such that  I need no glasses for reading or driving on long distance journey from KT to KL and back. Probably, HE has returned me my eyesight after years of writing on the white board and glaring at misbehaving children and scolding them! About half a dozen glasses of different power and models lie around in my drawers – on stand-by or for sale! Or do I have the 'active eye' of different kind ?

 

 Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

End of the tunnel (Pt 21) – Little girls no more

  (Section I)

I wish he were still around that I 
could ask him,
 “Can you still 

remember thirteen years ago when I asked for your permission take Ana to stay in our house?” But he has long gone.  

It was a hard life for that ex-soldier 
and family. Pakcik could 

not imagine how Ana, one of his children, could make it in her PMR examination unless she could be spared from having to struggle to share the burden of the family. To earn money the family prepared breakfast foods for sale at a number of the village coffee stalls. Being the only helping hand in the house, Ana had to spend her evenings helping her mother and could only start doing her school work after nine. When other children were still in bed she had to be up by four to finish the final preparation, steaming and frying and wrapping cooked the food in small packages of banana leaves and old newspapers. By six her father had to ride his old motorcycle to deliver the finished products to the coffee stalls ready for villagers to buy on their way home after their ‘subuh’ prayers at the mosques/suraus.

Over the years Ana never failed to 
regularly attend afternoon

classes at Almanar and had shown to be promising. But it was a job for the little girl to fight her drowsiness and keep her eyes open. It was then Pakcik discovered her problem, and that prompted Pakcik to seek her father’s consent to allow her to stay in our house for the whole of the three months preceding her PMR examination.

What followed is history. Seven years later 
she turned up at our

house to tell us that she had made it. She had graduated from a university. She was no longer the little girl (see my Part 1 of my ‘End of the tunnel’ series posted on 21/6/2008 – click here)

Indeed a lot of water has passed under 
the bridge. For one thing 

her dear father has gone. Life is easier for the family. Four years ago she began her career in Tawau as a teacher at a technical college. She did not mind being there as the extra allowance was a big help.

Two months ago, Ana turned up with 
an invitation card for her 

wedding. Of course we would never miss that. Yet, while Pakcik was heading for her house with Makcik and two grandchildren, what appeared to be a desparate call came through my hand phone. “ Pakcik, jangan lupa hari kahwin saya hari ni ! “ ( Pakcik, please don’t forgotten my wedding day today !” Did she do that to everyone?

She held my hands tight and 
released them only to pose for this 

photo.

Today she is a young lady, no longer 
our adopted little girl.

If only I could hold his father’s hand to 
say, “ Tahniah ! 

(Congratulations !)”. I can only have prayers in my heart.

  ___________ 

p/s:

I must not forget to note here what I 
learned from her on one 

of her visits to our house a year or so ago. Among the people around her in Tawau she was known to be a good cook. Regularly she prepared ‘nasi dagang Terengganu’ on order.  It was an extra income, she said with a smile. And Makcik still remembers today how well Ana could prepare certain ‘kueh’ even when she was a young girl in our house.   

======================= 

( Section II )

Joining the same class Almanar at Form 1 
fifteen years ago with 

Ana was another girl we lovingly call Neni. Yesterday, while Pakcik was finishing up this entry she came over. She is two years ahead of Ana. She does not call at our house alone any longer. Yesterday a one-year old boy was tagging along and her husband as well. She is a nurse working in Perlis, and I am pleased to hear that she intends to further her studies. Even on a short three days’ leave home to see her parents she did not fail to call on us.

____________________   

Can our life be more fulfilling and 
satisfying than seeing success 

in these young people? We have our little investment in them.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

Welcoming 2013

HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO 
DEAR VISITORS 

 ______________________________________________________________

My first thought for today's entry was a reminiscence of what I wrote at the stroke of midnight 51 years ago tonight. But I decided otherwise as my last week's entry was also related to a reminiscence. I should not bore my visitors with too much of 'Pakcik reminisces'.

Not unlike many growing up young adults I used to sit back in  front of a new diary enthusiastically thinking what my new year'slist of resolutions ought to consist of. Almost on all occasions the list would be a repeat of the same, year after year, to be forgotten no sooner than it had been put into writing.

Those were the days. Now, not unlike elderly folks, the thought grows more philosophical. I am sorry my today's thought goes in Malay. Perhaps, I should seek someone like Ninotaziz to translate the thought into English. What I am saying below may not sound coherent to my dear readers as it does to me. I apologise for my inadeuacy in modern literary Malay. So, here it goes:

Menghadapi pertemuan

From the long way back

Throughy tunnels

Sudah jauh perjalanan ku

Melalui pelbagai persimpangan

Jalan yang berliku liku

Ada kala melanggar larangan

Bila matahari hampir terbenam

Akan berakhir satu penghijrahan

Tiada lagi yang aku idam

Untuk menghadapi satu pertemuan

Sudak berakhir masanya

Memperbaharui cita cita dan azam 

Dengan kudrat yang masik ada

Biarlah budi sahaja yang ku tanam

Untuk menghadapi pertemuan

The end is there for sure

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

==========================

NINOT has kindly given the followinginterpreration:

To face the Absolute One  



I have travelled the long road

The bends and the corners

Faced with difficult passes

At times, my not so 'kosher' choices 
  

At the end of the road

My journey and salvation

No more shall I ask for

   To face the Absolute One 



I have passed by all the roads

Too late to change course or my mind

What's left in these hands of mine

Deeds shall be all I leave behind



     To face the Absolute One  

=========== 

Thank you, NINOTAZIZ

After the Reunion

______________
Soon after the historic reunion of the two old pen-friends described below, the North-East Monsoon arrived with vengeance. It has been raining for four days and nights non-stop. We wake up in the middle of each night listening to the wind howling through the casuarina trees, the rain beating the roof and window panes, and the terrifying sound of angry waves furiously smashing the shore. Yesterday morning we found a neighbouring coconut tree lying across one side of our chain-link fence, a tall papaya down with large green fruit strewn about,  and a banana tree with a huge bunch of fruit lying across  another side of our fence.

And this morning a group of contract workers were clearing a huge tree lying across the road a few metres away from our premises. A lorry sppeeding in the dark of the morning tried to avoid the falling tree and swerved sharply to crash into one corner of our fence.  

Living where we are , these are not beyond expectation. But the thrill of the recent reunion is still fresh in our mind. We are just sorry for many in the state who have to be evacuated because of floods. 

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

Merry X'mas to my Christian visitors

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.

------------------------------------ 

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.

===================  

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.