Friday, July 9, 2010

Meeting very old friends.


1967 Class, originally uploaded by maarofkassim.
Top from left: Sareh Sari, Raja Shahrom Raja Kamaruddin, Adnan Saat, Tamsi Sarjan, Ab. Latib Mas'od, Zohary Md. Dalib, Ismail Ab. Latif. Zainal Azirun, Rasdi Mohamad, Sari Jemadi, Muhammad Hussein, Ismail Mustapha, Nawawi Omar.
Middle from left: Zainal Darsikon, Kamarudin Ahmad, Jamaluddin Md. Jahi, Chia Yong Tai, Salim Sabino, Abd. Rahman Jabir, Ghani Mohamad, Nordin Aziz, Mohammad Othman, Ibrahim Moideen.
Front from left: Mat Isa Yusof, Dr. Mohd. Daud Yaakub, Abd. Rahman Yaacob, Jamalludin Aziz, Abdullah (Abd. Rahman Yunus), Md. Shah Bachik, Wan Kader Wan Ahmad, Maarof Kassim.

The above photograph was taken on 3rd July 2010 at Putrajaya Lake Club. The function was a reunion of my classmates who studied in the same school from 1962 to 1967. The school was Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak, Tanjung Malim, Perak. The school was shifted to Jalan Sikamat, Seremban in 1972 and and finally to Sungai Gadut, Seremban from 2002. Other photographs can be seen HERE.

From the original of more than seventy of us, thirty-five promised to come. Three did not make it at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Ten of us had passed away, some had indicated unable to come and the whereabouts of the rest are not known.

The reunion was mainly due to the efforts of my friend Ibrahim Moideen. He was the one who travelled the whole Malaysian Peninsula to look for old friends. Who can forget Ibrahim? Being a 'mamak' is really an advantage. I had been asked a few times by my school colleagues about my batch. I always answered I was in the same batch which Ibrahim Moideen. Because the whole school knew Ibrahim.

Before the reunion I called Ibrahim a few times offering my help if he needed any. He answered he would let me know. True, Mat Isa from Sungai Lui and Sari from Port Dickson contacted me at the behest of Ibrahim. They did not know the way to Putrajaya and Ibrahim knew I could help.

I can say that I am fortunate to settle down in the same town as Ibrahim. I am from Jelebu and Ibrahim from Rembau, both of Negeri Sembilan. But we have made the state capital of Seremban as our place of stay. Ibrahim stays in Taman Bukit Chedang and me at Coral Heights, Sikamat. Formerly I had to pass through Seremban town to go to Ibrahim's place. But now with the Seremban Inner Ring Road I can easily meet Ibrahim within minutes.

Another unforgetable  name is Chia Yong Tai. Just like Ibrahim he was among the odd ones in in school. Chia hails from Kota Tinggi, Johor but now settles down in Pulau Pinang. Again, being odd every body in school knew Chia.

I am happy that some of my friends who normally did worse than me in school came out better. There is one Abd. Latib who worked as a clerk after leaving school but is now a lawyer.  

Ghani had one leg amputated due to diabetes. Still he came to meet old friends. Tamsi who was a police officer is now a succesful petrol station operator. These are to name a few.

Most of us are not working any more. Some, like me are thriving on government pension. Some are on provident fund. Most of us are grandfathers. But what we treasure most at this age is our health. I hope to stay healthy so that I can meet old friends like these now and then.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bagusnya reunion batch 62-67 tidak saperti reunion kami batch 63-68 yang berlangsung di SDAR pada 11 Julai lalu. Reunion kami yang hadir cuma 20 orang sahaja dari yang dijangka 35 orang. Sedangkan batch ada 110 orang. Kebanyakan alasan untuk tidak hadir ialah tak ada masa, jauh, tak sihat tu tak mengapalah ( lebih kurang 5 atau 6 orang je), jaga cucu, cucu tak ada sape nakjaga, orang rumah tak sihat,anak masih kecil, malaslah, malulah dan ada tu tak jawab langsung.
Ada tu janji nak datang dengan kata `pasti' dua tiga kali hubungi kami lepas tu tunggu2 habuk tarak... Macam2lah cara janji nak datang...tapi tak datang. Reunion kami siap dengan ulangtahun ke 60 tahun potong kek bagai. Bantu budak2 dengan cara motivate untuk hadapi peperiksaan terutama peperiksaan besar.
Reunion kami akan datang tak lagi `formal' kalau buat buat pun cara `pertemuan teh tarik' saperti sesi teh tarik bulanan SDARA di Bangi, Seremban dan Melaka Chapter itu pun kalau nak buat.
Di Reunion kami saudara Jamaluddin Abd Aziz juga hadir dengan anaknya, bagus kawan kita ni.

Berbalik pada mereka dalam gambar, yang selalu atau saya pernah jumpa ialah Raja Shahrom,Md Isa Yusof,Abd Rahman Jabir,Md Shah,Rasdi,Salim Sabino,Ibrahim dan Jamaludin Jahi kerapkali selain Tn Hj, Kamaruddin Ahmad,Tamsi, Zainal Azirun,Ismail Abd Latif dan Jamaluddin Abd Aziz termasuk di Kuantan.
Ada seorang lagi satu batch dengan tn hj nama dia Jaafar Abdullah ke atau Jaafar Awang aka Mangu tak silap saya dia dulu PTD rasanya pernah saya jumpa semasa mewakili jabatan masing2 ke persidangan parlimen tahun 70an.

MA B

Admin said...

Salam Ramadhan Bro Maarof.Nama memang ingat,tapi muka dah x kenal.Perubahan lebih 40 thn lalu......seonok dpt berita dpd sahabat2.Salam utk semua yg memang saya kenal.jmpa lagi.Layari web saya www.dun-maharani.blogspot.com.....
mohd taslim 63-68