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!
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