Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kuatagh81 Get Together

Not many know that I once went to a boarding school. Yes, I DID. But this disarrayed budding teenager, at that time just couldn’t keep herself in the compounds of the prestigious academic body for long. Well, it simply meant that I left, chickened out, fled, vamoose, cabut after the first academic year ended.

MRSM Kuantan, Alor Akar, Kuantan (pic courtesy Rosdi's FB)

Nothing was wrong with the academia there. The unsettledness came very much from within me. And obviously this took a toll on my studies and had caused a lot of unhappiness in my dad. I recall putting a fuss about the whole thing but dad was adamant with his decision. In the end, I consented and I must say that was one of the wisest thing I’ve ever conformed to. Guess fathers know best huh??

I missed my boarding school friends during the early days after my transfer but being in a day school did seem to offer new adventures to this newbie in town. Mana tak nyer, after school I had to rush alongside with the Georgian boys (the KGV boys lahhh….they were huge and good looking too..heh..heh) for a seat on the public bus. Siap panjat ikut tangga belakang lagi. And the usual trick was to throw the school bag into the bus and that would automatically “chop” me the seat. By hook or by crook I had to get onto that first bus home as I had to rush for tuition classes later in the afternoon. Nak makan lagi, nak tido jap (wajib wooo..) and nak cycle to the class lagi. No way I was going to be left behind to take the “bas belakang”.

That was just a teaser bit about the my life story during the five years of my secondary studies in a day school in Seremban. If I recall now how it was back then, well, I just have this to say, “The experience made me what I am today.”

There were ups and downs, of course, and they came in many forms. But the one that almost freaked me out was the expectations of a first born and being an anak cikgu (those days anak-anak cikgu were the talk of town…so and so dah poi England buek medic..etc..etc..) God is GREAT (and must have been the doas of my dad) and Alhamdullilah, I did pretty okay in my SPM exam. Thus, dapat lah naik kapal terbang (a real big deal at that time) and go to the States to further my studies. And the rest is history. You know, I know and no need to cerita so long winded anymore.

So that was a quick blast to the past.

Now enter the Broadband, Internet, social networking era. Facebook, Blogger, Flickr, Picasa and the whole cyber networks come into the picture.

The whole group...one very ceria bunch (pic courtesy Sam's FB)

It must have been during my early days in Facebook that I did a search on that boarding school that I went to some thirty one years ago. I almost fell off my chair when some familiar names began appearing. OMG…OMG!!! Talk about jejak kasih the cyberway.

Dr Norintan & Marini

I did the first move lah kan by requesting to be friends with those names that were familiar to me. One friend led to the other, and as the name says it – social networking, Facebook did most of the connecting. Nasib baik lah, after years of doing the disappearing act, my boarding school friends could still recognize me and were kind enough to accept me into the circle. Thank you guys, this meant a lot to me.

Thus, when the invite to a get together last Monday night came, I prompted a positive response. Never mind what the turn out was going to be like, but I was sure going to make an appearance. The venue selected was a popular Kopitiam in Bangi. Errr….tak familiar lah pulak with the Bangi area. Anyway after checking for directions with colleagues who reside in Bangi, I was pretty much confident I would be able to find the place.

And what happened when we met?? Lots and lots of “ooosss….”, “ahhhhssss….”, “oh my god…..” Biasalah girls with our overwhelming blasts of emotions. The guys pulak…cool je. But one thing for sure we were one very noisy lot. Lucky thing we were not thrown out by the kopitiam folks!!

Che Fuzlina & Batman

“Anak you berapa?”, “You kerja kat mana?”, “Stay kat mana?” were the so familiar exchanges of information going round the table. After 31 years, and upon doing quick homework at flicking through the ole school album earlier that day, I remember most (errr almost, truth be told) of the girls. But the challenge was in establishing the face to the name of the guys. Gosh, I was one embarrassed soul when trying to recall who’s who. But now, since dah kenal, I’m sure I could spot them from a distance…heh..heh.

Helium Class beauties and brains (of course..) L - R Standing Oat, Dr Norintan, Azidah.

Seated L - R Linda & Mimi

L - R Mimi, Dr Norintan, Azidah & Moi (pic courtesy - Dr Norintan)

It seemed like we could talk the whole night but like all good things, it had to come to an end. It was way past midnight when I excused myself. Jauh gak nak drive from Bangi to Shah Alam in the wee hours of the morning. Plus takut juga what if orang di dalam nanti tak mau buka pintu (ni bukan case aci-aci bukak pintu…but ane-ane…please don’t lock me out!!), or worst still “license minum-minum di kopitiam” kena tarik ker…Hahh, yang ni lagi haru!!!

Anyway, thank God none of the above happened. But I did take the wrong exit and that caused me to detour like some 4kms from my actual route. Obviously, it was difficult trying to doze off that night. Culprit?? One, the coffee and two, flashbacks by the masses of the good days in Kuantan.

MRSM Kuantan Batch4 (1977 - 1981) (pic courtesy Sam's FB)

So to all kuatagh81, I am so, so glad we met that night. Moga diberkati silaturrahim yang dijalin and berkekalan sentiasa...InshaAllah.

20 comments:

Kak Teh said...

seronoknya bila ada reunion - rasa macam masih di sekolah lagi. We had our 30th sometime ago..and we still refer to each other as girls and boys - rather than pak cik mak cik .

Anonymous said...

hi kak kay! i'm from the same school as well but batch 92... fyi, i dah lama be a silent reader of your blog & yr cyber friends as well... i baru je visit mrsm last month... dah byk perubahan...

kay_leeda said...

Dear Kak Teh,

Yea lah...bila dah senior (err refuse to say the big "T" word), we treasure moments together like these kan. And yess..boys & girls we still are. Tu yang gempaq habis tu :D

kay_leeda said...

Hi Anon@10.14pm.

Ohhh..really, you from there too? Geezzz 92 and 81, it's like one full circle of generation gap lorrr. We all ni kira mokcik pokcik u daaaa :)

Welcome to my humble space :) Hope to hear from you often.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Kay - I was living in Taman LKNP (our housing development berkongsi pagar with MRSM Kuantan) from 1977 to 1981. At that time we just got back from UK, the ex terus kena posted to Kuantan.

MRSM then was still quite new. There was a tall structure, on top of which sat a water tank, by the side of the school field, tepi access road to our house.

It was one Maghrib when the family and I saw 'something' sitting on the water tank with its feet dangling sampai ke tanah - the structure must be about 20-30 feet high. We were so kecut, my ex sampai menggelabah bawak kereta.

kay_leeda said...

Kak Puteri,

Ohh..I remember that taman. I bet you saw some of the guys panjat pagar cilok keluar eh :)

Oooooo..yessssssss you saw what you saw alrite!!! And there were so many of them. Kecut perut bila nampak. We never dared go out sorang-sorang masa prep. Kalu nak gi pee tu have to go look for someone to come along.

There was one time when seniors kena hysteria. That scared the daylights out of me. Takut sangat-sangat. And this was also one of the reasons why I cabut!!!

mamasita said...

After 31 years! Thats a long time..
Memang I ada dengar ada spooky story sikit kat situ tapi budak2 MRSM macam relaks je buat dunno..hehe

My mother-in-law lives around the masjid area.
You all very lucky ye sebab food-stalls dekat2 kalau takdaya dengan canteen food.hehe

Desert Rose said...

Hi Kak Kay,

Wa bestnye dapat jumpa after that loong. Yg gerls still gorjes and mantap yg guys mg dah bapak org sume yek, tu yg best tu. I pun gembira sekali tgk my guy classmate yg botak dan boncit tapi wife makin muda. Serves their ego right.

That's d amazing thing about FB ya, I just completed my mission in tracking down all my partners in crime during hi school as well, now waiting for reunioun day yeaaa.

p/s : Nanti nak korek Kak Kay plak kat FB ha ha ha

sherry said...

Kak kay.

Around that time i study kat Sekolah Tengku Afzan dekat sangat ngan MRSM tu..Cerita hantu kat MRSM tu memang terkenal se antero Kuantan termasuklah kat ASPURI we all..sangat takut kan..histeria tu berjangkit kat ASPURI we all jugak.

Busybody said...

Hi Kay!

Boarding schools memang byk 'benda2' tu kan..Kat tkc now pokok2 byk dah gonjeng, sebab 'benda2' tulah. Memanglah we will always be girls and boys and kita forever panggil old girls Kak, though org mcm I ni dah qualify jadi Auntie!

Muni Samad said...

Setelah lama ku kenal mu, baru sekarang tahu yang you actually went to a boarding school..!! All along ingatkan memang Soromban through and through.. rupo eh ado gak tompieh skola asrama... heh heh..

kay_leeda said...

Dear Mamasita,

Ysss it was 31 years ago, last I bertepuk bertampar with my classmates tu. Most of us look the same, except for the expansions at the "right places".

During my time in MRSM, there were no food stalls yet. Makan je lah what was served in the dinning hall...sedey...sedey.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Desert Rose,

Iyahhh...yang cewek-cewek masih manis-manis lohh. Hanya yang cowok-cowok yang...adussss...gi mana mau bilang sih?? Iyah...lagi tambah ganteng mereka...heh..heh. Tengok je lah from those pics.

Haaa..jejak kasih ler you in FB kat akakh ko nih :)

kay_leeda said...

Dear Sherry,

Welcome to my blog :)

"Cerita Hantu MRSM" macam leh buat drama seram bersiri kat tv je. So you were in Tengku Afzan eh? Dah dekat lah tu with MRSM.

They say "those things" hail from Bukit Pelindung yang close by tu. Eeee...seram when thinking about it again!!

kay_leeda said...

Dear Busybody,

I think these "bende2" is very common in boarding schools. "Dia" suka bila ader ramai gang :)

Laaa...kesian pulak those trees jadik mangsa!! But certain things just couldn't be helped lah kan.

Yezzzaa...the attitude is muda sentiasa...maintain panggil KAK :)

kay_leeda said...

Dear Muni,

It was just for one year. So no need to cerita too much abt it. But merasa lah makan ikan jeket, queue nak collect water during the infamous Kuantan dry spell, chop-ping bathroom with towel..etc etc.

The part I liked most was, we didn't have to wear uniforms at that time. Woooo....cool....ala-ala US punyer high school gitu :D

tireless mom said...

Put it this way lah, if you did not leave MRSM Kuantan you will not have that prestigous Head Prefect at ACS entry in your resume. All happen for a reason.

kay_leeda said...

TM,

How could I ever forget that final year of continuously being called to the front to give some sort of speeches to the rest of the school community. Macam lerr gue baik sangat!!

Emmmppp..must go back lah to see my name carved on the walls of ACS school hall.

Kak Alid said...

Dear Kay

Guess what? I'm your senior(3rd Batch) and I remember you! I am also one of your silent (not any more) and avid reader of your blog. Enjoy reading them so much and I must say you write very well.
I must also say that I salute how you manage to organise your life revolving around work, family and yet still have time for yourself for RT! Envy you la...

kay_leeda said...

Salams Kak Alid,

Waaahhh...can't express how happy I am to have one of the seniors leaving a trail and a reader too :)

It sure has been a long time, kan Kak? You must know Kak Norizan Kusasir and Kak Thuraiya I imagine. They were my roommates.I wonder where they are now.

Juggling things? Fuhhh it's tough. But that's how things are with me, so I try make the best out of it.

Thanks for dropping by. Sudi-sudikan bersembang selalu yer :)