Road Trip 2022 - Part 4 ( Taiping - Padang Serai )

Early risers in Auntie May, Mr.Bernard and Mr. Indran woke me up that morning. It was already Sunday, 24th April, 2022. I must admit I am an early riser as the vibrations from the floor due to walking would have woken me up anyway that morning. After a quick washup, I was up to join the veterans at their morning walkabout at our homestay. What a lovely morning! The early morning breeze was good ; fresh and invigorating. The rest were still sleeping and it was time to wake them up as we had a breakfast date with Suresh and Jini that morning at their home. It wasn’t easy waking up these groggy men or roused them from their slumber. However, the mention of meeting up for breakfast did roused them up a bit. Afterall, food to the stomach will wake anyone up for the matter.

Soon, we proceeded to Suresh & Jini place for breakfast. Amidst the background of oldies songs blaring from a reproduction of gramophone set, the atmosphere was set for a lovely morning. We then ushered Mr & Mrs Indran, Mr. Bernard and Auntie May together with the rest of the guys to have their breakfast first. It was a good breakfast spread of nasi lemak, kuih lompang, kuih koci and a variety of local kuihs. Suresh was out to pack wan tan mee, chee cheong fun and bee hoon soup together with a whole load of goodness. Jini was busy at the kitchen preparing tea and coffee for all of us. I am very thankful to Suresh & Jini for taking the effort and trouble to get us a really good spread of breakfast goodness. Our fellowship and laughter continued while some of our friends were ready to go back home to their respective places. Suresh shared some of his motorcycle paraphernalia, jackets and boots. We had a good chit chat, photography session and bade our farewells to each other. We were off back to our homestay; doing our clean-up of the place before we bid farewell to our ex-lecturers and their wives. It had been a wonderful time together and catching up. I believed everyone was blessed and touched by the gathering. We couldn’t thank Suresh & Jini enough for booking the homestay for us and keeping us full with meals and the necessity.

After everyone had gone back to their respective places, Ragu, Santokh and I proceeded towards Padang Serai for our next part of our journey. This time, Santokh and I wanted to spend some time with Ragu’s family and fellowship with them. Throughout the journey there, Ragu spoke to us and kept us alive with his jokes and spontaneous re-collection of the yesteryears events. Ragu is such a lovely person. Sure, he had a hard time waking up in the morning and he is definitely not an early morning riser but he is such a fine individual. He is kind, loving and a happy go lucky guy indeed. Perhaps one sees him that way but underneath all that, he is such a responsible person, sensitive and a very lovely person. I find it a real joy to see the real him and the level of caring he does for his family and friends. I guess, we can easily single him out for all his antics and crazy ways but beneath that this is one firm fella with a lot of guts. Guts of steel, I would say. If there was anyone with balls of steel, it would be Ragu.  He is very likeable ; both socially and intellectually plus he has that friendship aura about him. Get to know him and you will get a true gentleman with a real heart of gold. That’s the best compliment I could give to a great guy like him. He reminds me of that round rubber ball that would bounce back every time you hit on him. My portrayal of him like a round rubber balls signifies his warm heart, bouncing back from difficulties he has to face and the tenacity of survival. He is such a survivalist and truly a person of joy to be with. He is honest, bold and a good cheer to the heart! That’s Ragu!

Anyway, we arrived in his home in Padang Serai and there to meet us was his lovely wife Villasini. A bubbly, smiley and really lovable wife of Ragu. I really love her infectious enthusiastic and bubbly personality. She is so cheerful and alive indeed. She had prepared some tea and biscuits for us and it was lovely. The masala tea was really good. I believe that everyone seemed to have a different way of preparing them but it tasted good when done with great love and care. After finishing our tea, we proceeded to the homestay and got ourselves some rest as Ragu was also tired and needed some rest. Ragu informed us that he would pick us up for dinner at about 7.30pm. We rested for a while and catch up with our families via Whatsapp calls and video calls. At about 7.30pm, Ragu came by together with his wife and daughter and took us to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was a fantastic dinner with BBQ chili stingray ( ikan pari ), fried rice, vegetables and wan tan hor kueh teow. It was a good dinner indeed. The ikan pari sambal and accompanying sauce was very good in taste. Love the taste, actually. Along the way, we got to know ragu’s daughter and such a lovely person with equivalent lovely smile and great personality. She is bold, vibrant, strong and a cheerful person just like her dad. Her smiles are like her mother and I guess, if one were to meet her and see her smiles when in deepest rut or swimming in a bad day, it would bring a lot of calmness and comfort in our hearts. Bless you , Ragu for having wonderful and sweet smiling daughters and a very good wife.

After sending his wife and daughter home, we were off to Bukit Mertajam to visit our friend, Haja Mohideen. We had made plans earlier to meet him after terawih prayers and we would not want to miss the opportunity to meet Haja and his wife. Our appointment to meet up was at 10.00pm that night . However, we had arrived earlier at his house and we waited for him to arrive. When Haja and his wife came by at about 10.00pm, it was such a great feeling to see him. For me, Santokh and I have not met with Haja for 33 years too while Ragu had met up with him some time back. It was good to see and talk to Haja as his wife prepared some simple supper for us. It turned out that supper was actually a handsome amount of chappati with chicken curry and an Indian sweet cake, kesari which was heavenly in taste. We talked and keep abreast about our lives and how we had been all this while. It was really good to see our friend, Haja. We also had some chappati, curry chicken and kesari while Haja’s wife packed a container of kesari which was rich with ghee and so lovingly smooth for Ragu and his family. As we had a ferry to catch the next morning to get to Langkawi via Kuala Kedah, we bid farewell to Haja and his wife. We are touched by the kind gesture and hospitality shown to us by Haja and his wife. Truly appreciate their kindness to us. My heart is overwhelmed with joy and comfort that despite our different religion and culture, we are friends (sahabat) in every way. Thank you , Haja for that love, hospitality and great kindness shown to this old heart of mine. 

On the way back to Padang Serai from Bukit Mertajam, I must admit that it was indeed an adrenaline filled journey which I will not forget in my entire life. The journey back was a journey of great terror whereby my spleen and my heart together with my stomach made amazing swap and somersaults during the drive. I could have sworn that the swimming chapatti and curry chicken together with the kesari made flips and turns in my stomach much to the delight of stomach juices. Ragu’s magnificent handling of the car was superb and I could have easily mistaken him for a Grand Prix driver! I wouldn’t know if he was tired or super pumped up but I must suspect that Haja’s food fare of the sweet and ghee filled kesari could have something to do with his amazing driving skills that night! Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa………I could have sworn that I would have kissed the ground of the homestay for arriving safely that night but I prided myself not to do so in front of the neighbours and some dogs on the street! Santokh and I laughed our way into the homestay that night. What a wonderful friend we have in our buddy, Ragu!

Sleep come easy that night as we were tired after a long day of driving and getting some things sorted out. Our homestay, courtesy of Ragu, was exceptionally good and clean. I slept good that night. I am dreaming of better times and fun already. Langkawi, you are next!  

Road Trip 2022 - Part 3 ( Taiping )

 

The sounds of the croaking cockrel woke me up early that morning. The nice hard bed makes the waking up easier amidst the cool and early morning of the day. Santokh and I had a good sleep that night as we shared private jokes before dozing off. Afterall, it had been a long day too but meeting Rajeswaran, Suma, Raj, daughter and Suma’s family made it all worthwhile. After a good bath and cleaning up, we went downstairs and there to meet us was the ever-smiling Suma who had some yam cake ready after her morning exercise with her sisters. We tried to encourage her to join us for the evening meeting with Mr. Indran and Mr. Bernard but her dedication to her school work were indeed applaudable. I guess, there are still good teachers like her around as I have mentioned earlier.

Anyway, Raj took us for breakfast at a nearby Chinese shop where I had curry chicken wan tan mee, half boiled egg toast and 3 types of sandwiches. Santokh had the same meal as me minus the half-boiled eggs toast while Raj had the sandwiches and the half boiled egg toast. It was a good breakfast and it wasn’t expensive at all. It was rightly priced. I really loved it especially when I downed it with a good dose of kopi-o gelas that morning. It started raining when Santokh and I departed Batu Gajah with our sights heading towards Taiping, the rendezvous point for our gathering that night at about 10.00am. Raj had informed that he would be travelling later to Taiping. I drove steadily towards Taiping as we continued our conversation on what had happened thus far. The ride was smooth and the scenic scenes at the small road access and towns were fabulous. I guess, Malaysia still has much more to be discovered as one travel north bound. We finally arrived at our homestay at about 11.30am and there to greet us was our friend, Surasvaran ( I would call him Suresh, anyway ). Here was this tall chap on his bike and he looked the same except for the streaks of grey like all of our friends are. We warmly greeted and hugged each other enthusiastically as it had been far too long we’ve not seen each other. As we got the keys to our homestay, others began to arrive at the homestay. Raj, Gopi and Ragu came within minutes and our usual comradery mode was on immediately. 

By this time, we were informed that Mr. Indran, Mr. Bernard and their wives are in Taiping for lunch with Eddie and Ramesh. We were also told that we would have tea at Ramesh & Indra at their home. So, we headed off to Larut/Matang food court or commonly known as Cashier’s Market for our food. I decided not to eat anything as I was full from breakfast in Batu Gajah. Instead , Santokh encouraged me to get a local specialty namely Gula Putih drink, a concoction of maize, peanuts, evaporated milk and sugar/gula melaka which was refreshing indeed. Super yummy,actually!

From here, we proceeded to the new club to meet up with Mr. & Mrs .Indran, Mr. Bernard and Auntie May ( really sweet ladies ) before proceeding to the homestay. Our ex-lecturers and their wives occupied two rooms while the third room was open to anyone who wants to snooze there. After settling down a bit, Thuruvan came by and I really respect this old friend of ours. Santokh had invited him that morning while we were in Batu Gajah and by afternoon, he was already joining us at the homestay. Truly a gentleman and one that I respected a lot as he is a quiet man but a very respected one with good attitude and very pleasant personality. After our greeting with one another, it was soon off to Ramesh & Indra home for tea time. Indra Ramesh had prepared some fried noodles, kuih muih and fruits for tea. Again, the atmosphere was one like a busy morning market. There was so much buzz, laughter and fun. That’s what a get together is all about. I just want to thank Indra & Ramesh for opening their house for a tea session and for accommodating us. Soon, we headed out back to our homestay for some much needed rest and relaxing time as everyone had travelled far and wide to get here in Taiping. Soon, Puspagaran and Nagaiah arrived at the homestay in the evening. Suresh, Raj and Gopi went to town to get us some dinner as we pooled our resources to pay for the food and our accommodation for the day.

Some of us stayed behind to talk, laugh and even made fun of each other while waiting for dinner to be served. When dinner finally arrived, it was rather late due to extensive and massive jams in town. We ate what was served and the families had a good time too. We talked as we munched and ate our hearts content. We then adjourned to the living room area and started our re-living of memories. It was again full of laughter and much loved felt at heart. I guess, re-living the memories and conversations like this certainly put much joy to our hearts. Even Mr. Indran and Mr. Bernard spared no punches in their jokes and sharing of stories. That night everyone had something to say no matter how quiet you have been in your life. It was so good to see smiling faces and happy faces as we walked down memory lane that night. For me, I reveled in the fact, my friends are alive and they could still remember what they had done in their lives and laughed at themselves. That’s a rare privilege in a world where all these doesn’t matter except success, success, success. These were times we failed and yet we stood up and fight another day. The tenacity to stay strong and to survive was the foremost in our minds. It was revealed that I was the only one transferred to Sabah to start my career as a teacher while Sandran, Iswaran and Puspagaran started their teaching career in Sarawak. The rest were scattered in West Malaysia at various places.

That night we slept at about 2.44am after much fellowship and fun. As always, what happens in Taiping stays in Taiping. This is usually what we do in gatherings like this. It is respectful and the right thing to do. Overall, we really had a good time but most important of all, we get to spend time with our beloved lecturers, Mr. Indran and Mr.Bernard who had been inspirational to any of us during our teaching college days. Their passing down and imparting of outdoor skills and knowledge played a vital role in enriching us in our own life walk. Their advices and sound wisdom are an asset to us indeed. So, to Mr. Indran and Mr. Bernard, thank you so much and God bless you both abundantly. No matter how we turned out in our lives, you both made some dents in our lives with that expertise of yours. For me, it helped me to establish and run the Royal Rangers Ministry in my church ( an outdoor Christian ministry with the aim “To Reach, Teach and Keep Children for Christ”.) and the numerous outdoor outings with children and youth spreading the love for outdoor activities, camping, abseiling, flying fox, waterfall climb, river crossing, waterfall hike and caving activities. I could only thank the both of you for the enormous volume of teachings on safety standards, organizing a great outing and enjoying the beautiful nature in our country. I believe those skills and organizational skill helped me to where I am in helping to bring the lessons of nature to the young ones. Thank you so much, sirs. BTW, the little safety line incident with Mr. Indran during the flying fox incident helped me to be really cautious and put emphasis on safety procedure during the outings and activities done with the children. I treasured that memory very much despite my failure that day. It helped me bounced back stronger when I did the same activity with the children/youth during any outing.

 

That early morning, as I slumped on the hard flooring, it was the best place to sleep as it was cold, breezy from the air conditioning and with mates from all over the country ; spread-eagled at some corner, huddled near the TV cabinet and even cocooned near the sofa set. What a lovely sight! Nothing beats that, actually. That’s what gathering meant to me. Fun, obnoxiously loud, larynx given some great exercise while the lungs and liver were overworked with concoction of drinks and stories from the yesteryears. Nothing could beat that feeling and fun. You should try it from time to time with your own group of friends and see the great results of things. For far too long, we are too conceited and too obsessed with the acquirement of wealth and success in our career path kononnya for our future. Have a good mixture of good friends , gather without expectations and believe to have a great time and it will be great. For far too long, we are so self-centred in our own world, wallowing in our own sorrows of situation and forget to live life to the fullest. We say things like these but never ever fulfilling them as we hide behind that pretense of busyness. Go, smell the flowers, take the family to a hideaway, love them and cherished the times out. Stop being bossy or a pain in the ass with the authority invested in you as a father, a husband or even a friend. Take off the covers of your egoistic ways, peel off your dumbness of actions and live life to the fullest because we do not know where or how we are the next day. Someone asked me the other day, “ All your friends are Indians and one Punjabi fella, how do you come to that?” Well, these fellas were my college classmates, accepted me, befriended me - the one and only Chinese guy in the class together with another Chinese girl called Tin Hooi Lee, taught me a lot about friendship and what it meant to survive and had a merry time living life. It didn’t matter if they were Indians, Punjabi, Malays, Sarawakians or even mixed race – Kelab Kembara of MPLP , under the leadership of Mr. Indran and Mr. Bernard ensured that we taught each other about life when others doesn’t even bother about us nor raise a finger to help us in our lives. We chart our own lives to be where we are. Sure, we are different but that spirit of love, respect , honor and attitude meant a lot to us. That’s what it meant to me. I don’t know about you but these mates of mine are truly different yet diverse in attitude, altitude and character. Like I always say, to me, the essence of the heart matters a lot me. I am a sentimental idiot when it comes to memories but these fellas do shape my life in some small simple way despite our voluminous differences in thoughts, works and even deeds - agree to disagree in a good way. No one is perfect in this bloody world but we can make it a little better and bearable if we try our best to be a better & bigger person in life. Not in terms of physical size "big" but in the size of our hearts. Not the dick head,okay? For that, 40mg of zinc will do just fine! For the dick head, I mean! 

Road Trip 2022 - Part 2 (Bandar Puteri - Batu Gajah -Sitiawan)

My biological clock in my head sounded at 6.30am that morning. It was time for me to get up and get ready for another day of road journey from Bandar Puteri to Batu Gajah, Perak. Greeted Jane and Santokh that morning and noted that Jane was getting ready to go to school. I have known Jane since our teaching college days and she is still a fine looking woman and truly a lovely person. Smiling, warm and vibrant – that’s Jane.  I am very grateful for her hospitality and great kindness extended to me. So grateful and thankful to be able to eat and spend a night at their home.  

That morning, Santokh took me for breakfast at the nearby Indian shop and I got my awesome fix of roti canai and teh tarik. I got myself the roti canai banjir la…..what a way to start the day! We headed home and after clearing up my stuff and getting our stuff in the car, Santokh bade farewell to his girls and we hit the road to Batu Gajah. Along the way, I filled up the car with fuel and started out our journey. It was raining that morning and Santokh reminded me with extreme caution that I was to be absolutely concentrating on the road and observing the traffic rules on the road. Like I said, the KL drivers are hell drivers and at one of the road junction near Santokh’s housing estate, he was already in his element of flowery language as our car was trying to make a right turn at the junction of a busy street. This was a good start, indeed! I love it! A courageous way to exercise our vocal chords in the early morning! I joined in too from time to time as these leaky brains motorists made their way around the roads and highway. Afterall, I also need to practice my vocal chords pitches and excellent amalgamation of flowery nouns and verbs to my wording vocabulary as prescribed by the doctors. It doesn’t matter if it was in Hainanese, Hokkien or Cantonese for that matter. The most important part was to propel and articulate the words clearly, precisely and in great intonation! For starters, I would use phrases like  “tuna fish mother”which is appropriate for certain motorists of “complete bebalness”.

Anyway, despite these initial expressions of intonation and words, we arrived in Batu Gajah, Perak at about 11.30am , Friday, 22nd April, 2022. Using Waze application and calls, we landed ourselves at the home of Sagayaraj @ Raj & Suma Devi’s home. It is a quaint double storey simple house in a quiet housing estate. As both Raj & Suma were in school, we waited for Raj’s arrival. A few minutes later, Raj arrived and we exchanged hugs and some nice slaps on the backs. Here is Raj, handsome Indian fella who had survived a heart attack, recovered and playing the best golf in his life. Except for some white streaks of his hair, he looked awesome and fit as a fiddle. After exchanging some pleasantries, Suma came back and she was the same too. Athletic, cheerful, smiley and a wonderful personality. We unloaded our stuff from the car and put our things on the 2nd floor. We even met with their grown up daughter and exchanged pleasantries. Raj & Suma took us for some nice tasting Indian food at a food court in Batu Gajah. In between meals, we catch up on things that had happened in our lives and when we learned that Suma’s family had uprooted and migrated from Johor Baru to Batu Gajah, we had to meet the family. Afterall, Santokh and I had been eager to meet with Mr. Sathasivam, Suma’s dad. You see, we have heard of him and we had imagined that this was a burly , muscular and sporty man. Instead, we found a small size but muscular , rather fair Indian man with a lot of working experience under his belt. He is pleasant, honorable, spoke well and truly looked as one seasoned man indeed. It was an honour to meet him, Suma’s mom and Suma’s sisters in that beautifully built house of theirs. The wooden roofing interiors were a great architectural design and truly unique in many ways. Incidentally, they were just back from a sight seeing trip in Penang. I could not help noticing the beautiful vegetable plots and plants, fruit trees such as papayas, lemons and some herb plants. I guess, their lands are fertile and ready as there was plenty of cow dung fertilizers around which could be used as fertilizers for the plants and trees.   

We took photographs with Suma’s dad and visited Raj’s sister before departing for Raj’s home to send Suma and daughter home as we had another destination to go to that is Sitiawan. We were also shown the ample land available around Batu Gajah area and at affordable prices too. Certainly their plots are truly big and spacious too. So, we were off to Batu Gajah to visit our college friend, Rajeswaran, a quiet and lovely fella in our class in those days. Incidentally, Rajeswaran is the good friend of our late Iswaran. I guess, it must have been devastating got him to lose a friend in Iswaran. 

It had got to our attention that Rajeswaran is single and stayed in a 2 ½ storey house in Manjung, Sitiawan. He was looking forward to meet us that day. When we actually met up that day, he was the most passionate greeter I’ve ever seen in my life. We shook hands and hugged each other. He was that happy to meet us and we were also very happy to see him. As usual, we asked about him and how he is coping with his school work and so on. The floodgates of emotions and passion flowed out and I really felt for him. 13 years in a Chinese school and a single person handling the SPBT section does take a great toll on a really great person like him. I could not help feeling very sorry for him for what the school had done to him.  It was pure abuse and unkindness at the highest level. This is a truly soft spoken man and a good person genuinely. To see him in a state of unwanted stress and fatigue was heartbreaking. I could not help releasing some flowery words at these people who had caused much distress to this friend of mine. This is one lovely individual who just loves to teach but ended up doing works and responsibilities that aren’t associated with teaching in the first place. I guess, his grouses are indeed valid. 

Being a former teacher, every teacher that I had meet in schools had lamented on the non-teaching responsibilities that are taking a big toll on their lives and hence, the high volume of optional retirement. The strain on their mental side is unbearable and confusing. But alas, the numb skulls and dimwits in Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia are as guilty as hell as every program implemented was to benefit certain people and made certain promotions! Shame on you, KPM for your lousy treatment on teachers and you still ask the bloody questions on why the high volume of optional retirement?  Shame on you too, NUTP for not taking care of teachers better and just playing along for some bloody pingat pinned on your bloody coat and ass sucking ways at the expense and blood of teachers around this country. Stop procrastinating and help these teachers. Stop playing politics and do some actual work! The teachers  are drowning and in great distress. The teachers are frustrated and very tired of this yearly charade of wayang kulit plays! The teachers are tired and sick of idiots who are not working at all are promoted while the genuine ones are being tortured and abused at every level in school because of your racialistic, unfair and unrealistic treatment. Look around you, good teachers with honorable degrees are being pushed down, moved about with reckless duties and responsibilities, heckled and frustrated to their core due to non-recognition and couldn’t care less attitude!  The education system in this country is flawed and a big disgrace! If no one dares to say it, let me say it out loud and clear – This education system has FAILED the people in this country and also the TEACHERS...genuine ones! 

If you , the Minister of Education and your cohorts, the KPM is serious about a revamp of this education system or even have any balls at all between your legs , then, TALK/Go to the teachers at the ground themselves, ask them to speak freely without action being taken, speak without prejudice or fear and see for yourself how the education system had failed this nation and for the next few generations to come. Speak without prejudice or fear, stand for revamp , lessen the load of genuine teachers and get rid of “operasi isi penuh” mentality and create jobs simply for the unqualified and unwanted. Don’t ask opinions and views from those at the top who are only interested in the KPIs and their ass at the seat they sit. Go to the genuine teachers at the ground and talk to them. I bet, you’ll get some pretty nice tongue lashing and ideas from them too. 

Every government servant is at the mercy of their top authority or people above them as each of them paints a rosy picture only to cover their ass and their rice bowl. If you only want to listen to what you want to listen, then, I regretfully tell you, Mr. Minister that you are going to have a brain drain in education system and this nation is heading towards damnation and destruction just like the economy of our country. BTW,  If you and your fellow ministers plus the high ranking officials in the ministry are sending your children to overseas for their education, doesn’t it simply signifies that this system is way warped and failed? I remembered a long time ago, I, together with good batches and thousands of aspiring young teachers a long time ago had promised to be good educators but the administrative system and the unwanted /unnecessary paper work of the education system failed me and failed miserably because of racism, unfairness and religious fanaticsm. The rot started long time ago from the school system and it had not stop till today. A great teacher once said to me that racism starts from the school education system and school today are the breeding ground of racialistic minds! Take a good hard look at the mirror and say that you are not the product of it! Hmmmnnnnnnnn……..interestingly that teachers are dying out there doing their jobs while administrators and people of the higher level of the system are still dining and siphoning off these teachers. Have some balls if you have any in the first place and do the right thing la........people are drowning and dying out there....

Anyway, what do I know, I am just an ex-teacher visiting a friend in Manjung, right?

Road Trip 2022 - Part 1 (Melaka-Bandar Puteri)

I remembered distinctively early this year, my good buddy from college days, Santokh Singh called me and mooted the idea to visit our college friends as we ain’t getting any younger and it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen each other. ( We’ve not seen some of our college mates for about 33 years! ) There was a long silence on my part as sometimes the creaking body parts and the leaky brains don’t go hand in hand at certain times due to advance man-made problems that required more attention, nearing festivities or even simply putting perspective of life in order before considering such a proposal. It is not that one could wrapped up our sarong, tuck our bananas in between our legs and make a dash to our country’s state borders, yunno. However, news of the tragic death of our teaching college class monitor, Mr.Iswaran ( his heart pacemaker ran out ) hastened the idea that it would be a good time to visit our friends before anyone else decided to change their address permanently. I must say with much love and all humbleness that I have to be thankful to Santokh for this. It was Santokh who would encouraged me a lot to take that step of faith to hit the road and visit our friends before anyone else lay down in that 6’X4’ plot or get scattered somewhere in the sea or flowing river. So, thank you, Santokh@Toki for the trust and encouragement you gave me for this trip. I am deeply thankful for the honour to travel with you for this road trip.

Santokh planned the simple itinerary earlier, made calls to our friends for the gathering in Taiping and even planned a last minute get together with our former lecturers, Mr. Indran and Mr. Bernard to be held in Taiping. I must say that I couldn’t do much except to confirm that I am going to drive him around for the entire trip using my trusty “lorry”, Proton FLX  and I would surely make it for this trip. I am so thankful that our friends were also willing to meet and able to gather together in Taiping for all the plans to get through. It wasn’t easy for Santokh as he had to do all the coordination with our friends and the success was largely due to his great diligence and ensuring that everything was on track with human touch skilled precision. 

I started out my memorable journey from Melaka on Thursday , 21st April, 2022 at about 8.00am on that lovely morning. After saying goodbye to my wife, Soon Ling, daughter , Shwu Yuen and sister-in-law, Ting, I was in my trusty old car and started my very journey of the day. I had ensured that the trusty car was serviced, cleaned and fervently telling my mechanic that I do not want any parts of the car falling off at the roads , by-ways and highways! My mechanic was telling me in return that if I wanted to make sure that the parts won’t fall off, I would have to wash the car first as he was convinced that somehow that the dirt on the car were holding the parts together in place effectively! Jokes aside, I had made sure that the car was safe and road worthy before carrying out this journey. No human lives were sacrificed nor compromised during this entire journey la…….I wouldn’t say the same for the bugs or flies that committed hara-kiri on my windscreen and radiator tank! That is totally out of my hands.

Coming back, by the time I arrived in Bandar Puteri in Klang, it was already about 10.20am. Arriving at the front gate of Santokh’s house was a memorable one as I have always hated to drive in KL or anywhere else in the city as the traffic is way crazy. It was such a nice feeling getting to meet my college buddy, Santokh and Jane as I have not seen them for a while. His two daughters were also at home and welcomed me into their home. I was shown to my room and the lovely/delightful Punjabi bed was beckoning me to sleep on it. I could feel my old body acclimatizing itself lovingly on the bed. I must say that it is one of the best bed sleep I’ve had for some time now. His two daughters were lovely and had great mannerism; signaling and confirming great upbringing and respect. Lunch was at a nearby shop serving lovely Indian food in which I would come to sample for many days ahead. After some rest and catching up on the latest developments of our lives, we were off to visit our former lecturers, Mr Indran and Mr. Bernard in PJ. Again, we had to wade through the maddening streets of Klang and PJ to get to Mr. Indran’s house. It was such a nostalgic and wonderful feeling to be able to meet these two great fellas. My heart welled up with much gratitude, joy and humbleness in seeing these two lecturers who had inspired my walk in the outdoor outlook, outdoor survival and organizational skills. I am so thankful that God has sustained these two lovely people and their families thus far. It was such an honour, pure joy and pure admiration for these two individuals whom I shall call legends in their own right. We catch up on our college days and the nature/outdoor expeditions that we had carried out over the years and during our college days. The unravelling of the outdoor stories were spontaneous , fun and great laughs. Though our meeting was a short one, many stories of our adventure were told and re-visited with much joy, enthusiasm and laughter. Promising to meet up again in Taiping for a gathering which had been planned, Santokh and I left for dinner of chapatti (my total favourite food) and chicken curry at Santokh’s home, courtesy from Jane’s lovely culinary skills. That night, over dinner with Santokh’s two daughters and Jane, there were indeed great conversations and so much laughter plus great food. I really enjoyed myself that night, making myself at home and reveling the fact that I actually survived the KL traffic and the madness along the way. Resting at the living room, we spoke on many matters and as I got ready for bed that night, I am glad that I have had great time with this lovely family. 

As I staggered into the room as I was overwhelmed with tiredness for the day, I looked forward to our journey to Batu Gajah and Sitiawan the next day. Said my prayers and sleep came easily as I lay my head on the pillow on the Punjabi bed. Batu Gajah, here we come!