One fine day in 1984

(This picture was first published on News Strait Times online)

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my small cousins all the best in their new life in school. I still remember my first day of sekolah betul. Some people call kindergarden as sekolah olok-olok or sekolah makan, at least during my time, long, long time ago. I woke up very early, a few minutes after the mu'azin called for a prayer. Thank God, my beloved mother has boiled two kettles of water for my hot bath. Yeah, we didn't have water heater that time and that what most people did. If not, I'm sure I will have the same label that some of my classmates got for not taking morning bath.

I was sent to school by my father but he just waited outside the class for a few minutes. A week before I already attended an orientation session for budak darjah satu, one of the few words of Mrs. Simpson, my class teacher, which I still remember until today. Another one is "seperti mulut murai". I wonder where she is now. Oh yeah, I attended the orientation session with abang Janjan, because Abah got a prior arrangement and Mak was too occuppied with my two little sisters. If I'm not mistaken, Mira was almost four and Lia was slightly over one year old. Thanks, abang Janjan!

My first few weeks in school was very interesting and fun because I made a lot of friends and we hardly learned anything serious. And of course, I was enjoying myself looking at a handful crying six plus year old boys. Hehehe, one boy even terkencet in his pant. Wow, I'm glad that I still remember this "ancient" word!

However, a month or two after that, I was bored to the death because my teachers taught almost the same thing that I've learned about a year plus ago at Tabika KEMAS Pasir Puteh. I complained to my mum and made known of my intention of not going to school. When Abah found out this, he asked me to go into his room and get him his belt. Hesitantly, I followed his instruction and get myself a gift for me to bring to my bed. The next morning, my mother suggested a briliant idea.

"Kalau Along dah tahu semua tu, along boleh tunjur ajar pada kawan-kawan yang belum pandai lagi."

I guess that was my first lesson about charity or amal jariah. And I'm so thankful to my beloved mother for this greatest lesson. And thank God, my fourth month onwards, I started to learn new things and I began to enjoy learning. And my favourite subject was Mathematics, which remain so until I lost Mr. Chong in my 4th grade. Although I still scored good marks, I guess since then, it was just for the sake of learning. My next pick was Bahasa Melayu and Alam dan Manusia. And it was these two teachers (Puan Fatimah was my BM teacher and Mrs. Muthiah for Alam dan Manusia) that had nurtured my love for reading. Since I came to school very early in the morning (because my schoolbus driver, Nyonya, picked me up at 6.15 am and my school was the third school in her list of almost 20 schools!), my routine was to wait Mrs Muthiah at the school gate for me to help carrying her bag to the Bilik Guru before she walked me to the school library.

Anyhow, I did enjoy most of my time in schools. So, once again... good luck, cousins. Break a leg! I'm not sure whether or not I learned that in my darjah satu. Hehehe...