Tuesday, October 2, 2007

THEN,BEFORE THEN..........

THEN , BEFORE THEN…………….

Those were the days , a very long time ago , which I remember vividly and almost forgotten , if not for the sake of this NINGAP SRENGENGE blog it will not be written but will be buried with me when my day of death comes . Birthdays and deathdays are surrounded fences controlling everything that has lives. Every living specis has its own birthday ,so is its own death ( deathday ). Quite many people don’t understand death . Some are scared about death . Some are not well-informed about it . But when you study about death you will be better understood. I have the privilege to study it from my guru ( religious guru ) , and now I understand better . When we encounter death we will have the opportunity to meet God ( we muslims call Him ,Allah ) . In this world if we have the opportunity to meet the Sultans , the Prime-Ministers or any VVIP’s ,we would have a greatest joy . But what if we can meet our God ( Allah ) ?. I will talk about it later in other articles . I want to concerntrate with THEN , BEFORE THEN…..

What about THEN ? What was BEFORE THEN ? I was then a small boy ,being brought from the very rural area to a town life to study English . I didn’t know who the human figure who selected me among so many children in the Malay School . I got through the selection committee and passed the written exams in Malay , IQ , Arithmatics , Gardening , Reading , Writing and Spelling Tests. How I did it , I didn’t know till today . I never read books , there were no books . We used slate in school . We wrote on it and rubbed it off after reading .The knowledge were accumulated in the brain . That is what I know . We learned not to forget . We also did art on the slate, then the pictures we drew were also rubbed-off . It is indeed shocking if we compare with modern education ,when children of standard one carries books double their weight .

My headteacher of the Malay School took me to my new school , where the medium of instruction was English . I knew not a word of English . I knew nothing about living in school with Chinese and Indians students .There were Sikhs too , whom I felt scared because someone told me they eat testicles . What a joke .I could laugh and laugh , when I grew older . Gurkhas also existed in that school of mine . There was a gurkha camp just right behind my school . They were great warriors employed by the British then. Their bravery greatly impressed me . They were experts in the jungle . I desired to challenge them because I was quiet an experts with the jungles . As I wrote in me previous posts , I was more or less on par with “Kunta-Kinte” .

In school I was quiet a famous figure . I too didn’t know what made me so . Everybody called me Pak Hitam . Teachers and Headmaster too called me by the name Pak Hitam . Alas ! only then when I left school ,I knew that some of my friends didn’t know my real name. Indian friends also called me Pak Hitam. To them I always asked them , “ Who is blacker ? You or me ? “ . I was naughty and mischievious , then . But I was not caught for being naughty and mischievious . I knew that I should be clever . To all friends and teachers ,I was an innocent boy . All my secret s were kept between me alone. I didn’t want to destroy my personality . Very cunning ,wasn’t it . I was more cunning . The pelanduk which was known for its cunningness , is no challenge to me .Because I could then catched them alives . Near my house there was a big jungle , and it was in that jungle that I have bullied those cunning pelandoks . I caught guiet a many for food . With my bare-hands . Sometimes I used traps and sometimes I caught with bare-hands , just by making a special sound with my palms drumming the ground . The pelandok will come dancing not knowing that I was just hiding behind a thick bush .President Bush also cannot compete me …ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,.

I now will reveal one very interesting story . We being boarders were not allowed to go out unnecessarily . Only once a week , on Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Who the hell can remain in school that long . I was free to go anywhere at home . I even went into jungle alone . My father and mother never questioned me . I was free as a bird can fly . Then in school , it was like Abu Gharrib . I cannot stand being controlled in that small school compound . I had and idea to release my tension . But that idea should not be known to anybody . Not anybody, I was clever . I was not caught even though I broke the rules every week . My friends were caught every now and then. When I felt like going out to town , I would first of all stole the bike of the canteen-man ,Ah Tat. It was a big bike , with a big basket attached to the carrier behind the seat . The school then had no gate , so my mission was made possibled . I would cycled down the road to town not being recognized by anybody . I just wore trousers , my body bare without a shirt or singlet . I wrapped my head with a loin-cloth. I cycled down jolly down the lanes of the town . a free ride of course . I returned after I had had my fulfillments . On certain occassins I would be overjoyed being able to peep couples romancing in the dark at the town garden. A very clever boy .

Well only that story by now . There are many more .

It was then , before then……..

1 comment:

KotaStar said...

Sdr Pak Cha,
Nampaknya blog sdr semakin maju penuh dengan nastolgia dan cerita2 lama. Pertama eloklah anak-anak mengikutinya agar mereka kenal bapak mereka. Seorang guru, seorang pencinta agama dan orang kuat dan handal dengan ilmu kehutanan. Mengapa tidak gurkha pun boleh dikalahkan. Kalaulah masuk askar dulu ta'tahulah dimana sekarang. Boleh jadi general dg lima bintang dan ke sana sini dalam kereta cermin gelap.Bendera terkibar. Ta'pakai VWlah. Semua itu just a dream. Hakikatnya sdr berjaya dengan apa yang dimiliki sekarang. Miliki ilmu dunia dan akhirat, sahabat disana sini dan tekenal pula dl tempoh beberapa bulan sahaja sebagai 'friend of the Kirkby teachers'. Bila lagi boleh puji seorang kawan yg baru sahaja saya kenali dg sifat2 terpuji.
Salam mesra , maaf zahir dan batin kepada sdr dan keluarga. Dari saya dan keluarga
Pak Non