A MOMENT IN TIME

Today, 22 Nov 2008 I will join many others of my batchmates from the Royal Military College for a re-union in Port Dickson. I was a fresh raw student from Kelantan back in 1967 when I set foot in Sungei Besi, the military camp where RMC was located.

For this reunion, I volunteered to prepare a slides presentation, a down memory lane that would be a common feature of any old classmates gathering. Browsing and choosing the old and not so old pictures brought back nostalgic memories.

My daughter Mimi had been reminiscing about her childhood in her blogs' current posting. Guess it is time for her Abah to do likewise!

I flipped through a 1970 edition of PENDITA, the journal of the Arts Union of the College.


And there I was, posing a slim figure with all the other slim Puteras. It read ARTS UNION CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 1969 - 1970. I could not even recalled being the Chairman, Finance Committee then. That's me, third from right.

The bigger surprise was that I penned a Sajak in this issue. This was our last year in RMC (1970) and my sajak was titled HANYA KENANGAN SEMATA. Wah, penuh dengan emosi agaknya.

It started with

Masakan yang datang,

Datang selama-lamanya

Please don't translate "masakan" as food OK. Masakan has to do with time lor!

And I continued with

Akan kami tinggalkan kamu

Buat membentuk Putera yang masih ada

Akan kami pergi dari kamu

Bersama kenangan suka duka

(wooo....very emosi one).

Bagi kami --- sudah hampir pada akhir jalan

Pengakhiran buat permulaan

Dalam lakun hidup yang baru

Well, we were leaving RMC for the next phase of our education

Untung sabut, timbul-lah kami

Sa-andai untung batu

Ke-dasar kah kami?

Namun, dimana juga berada

Kan kami kenangkan

Maktab Tentera Di-Raja bersergam hijau

and I continued with the final phrase

Sayonara Cawangan Putera

Datang kami menangis

Pergi kami menangis jua

Yes, I recalled. A young boy from a small fishing village in Tumpat, arriving in the darkness of the night to RMC, flown in on a Hercules transport plane from Pengkalan Chepa. Vomitted on this military transport plane sebab kawe oghe daghat, first time naik kapa tghebe!

Arrived confused to the assigned hostel in the College and kena ragging immediately. Every morning got to wake up to clean the dormitory. Every morning I will hear the distant train as it passes through Sungai Besi. It reminded me of the Tumpat Railway Station where as a child, I spent many hours there. So every morning I would start crying, thinking of my family back home.

So, datang kami menangis.

And after 4 years in College, it was so sad to leave. The fleeting years we were to leave behind, the friends that would go on their seperate ways and all the fond memories.....

So, pergi kami menangis jua.

But today, after 41 years I look forward to meet friends I have not met for that long a period.