Sunday, September 25, 2011

Badut YKKOM

Berita terbaru aku dengar, budaya YKKOM telah menular sampai ke London. Nak dipendekkan cerita (ha2 tak de kena mengena dengan saiz Badut), berita dari London mengatakan Badut telah YKKOMkan LSE!

Dia pergi London, cakap kat LSE "eyh eyh tak jadi lah saya nak masuk LSE" ha2.

Sebagai AJK Sambutan batch, tak pasal2 aku kena buat welcoming party bila dia pulang tanahair lak.

Tapi sebelum tu, kita kena buat survey.

KENAPA BADUT YKKOM?

1) Sebab baby lotion dah habis

2) Dia bosan tunggu kat bilik

3) Sebab Malaysia tak pernah dijajah jadi buat apa pi belajar negeri Mat Saleh

4) Abu Usama offer projek dari KD baik punya

5) Dia nak buat rekod baru YKKOM

Sila undi. Welcoming party kita decide kemudian.

Ps: Hari tu diorg kutuk aku sebab tak pergi farewell party Badut. Ha2 I KNEW BETTER ;-)



Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Most Wonderful Things Happen To The Most Wonderful People








I have been in a rather contemplative mode lately. Maybe because it is a stage where you want to reflect what has happened or where you are going next. Maybe it is the constant evaluation and struggle of having to do something you wish you would not pursue if not in the name of duty.

In the midst of the hecticness, I desperately needed to catch up with somebody and Chamat came along. I was late by almost 40 minutes (but luckily I could blame it on the weather - it was pouring cats and dogs).

A few hours passed by so quickly when you are in the company of the people who mean so much to me. Friendships you built from the MCKK years are like drugs to you - you have to prescribe it periodically to maintain your sanity.

Chamat and I went a long way back and any retelling of how we first struck a conversation off Prep School field would have been a punishment for others. In the case of Chamat, our paths kept crossing no matter how far we move in different directions.

Over the years, we have our ups and downs in our trial and tribulations. I'd liked to think that I did not wear my emotions on my sleeve and appeared to many others as a rock of stability, but the truth was I was a lot more fragile than I would like to think. I was too naive in most things so more often than not the initial shock of discovery or disappointment shook me more than I wish it had.

But Chamat had always managed to project an image of calm that did not betray any sea of struggles he was going through. So while others including me went through periods of disappointments in the company of our closest friends, it never crossed our mind that Chamat too would have to go through similar ordeals. He had always been good at concealing it.

Looking back, those are qualities that put him more suited to be successful in whatever he choose to do, compared to many of us. Throughout the years he was the better among us who took challenges in his stride without a tinge of self-pity.

Catching up with Chamat was perhaps the highlight of the last few weeks. We never waste any meeting without discussing what we eventually will end up venturing together. I think this time around we finally have decided on what we will do next.

On 10 January 1995 he gave a card to me at Subang Airport before we left for Scotland. He wrote:

The most wonderful things happen to the most wonderful people.

Looking at him all these years, I can only smile in concurrence :-)


Badut Hidung Merah

Badut dah pun berangkat ke Kota London untuk ke LSE. Buat Master. Kesian dia akan meninggalkan Red (buat beberapa bulan sahaja) tapi 3 bulan cukup lama untuk menyeksa Badut.

After all, Badut di depan kitorang bapak2 itik pernah cakap kat Red lepas habis meeting Mighty Ducks di Restoran Pelita: "sayang tunggu abang kat bilik ye...."

Dia nak suruh Red tunggu kat kereta, tapi sayangnya dia dekat Red, bilik saja yang dia ingat. Joke tu jadi legend antara kitorang dengan Badut, kalau dah kantoi gaduh dengan dia, cara nak menang balik argument suruh dia tunggu kat bilik ha2.

Aku sebenarnya tak pernah baik dengan Badut kat koleq. Dia dah la masuk lambat (he he), tak cukup inci lepas tu selalunya nak gaduh dengan aku. Dia satu kelas dari Form 1 sampai Form 3, memang selalu jugak la aku bertekak dengan dia.

Masa Form 5 lagilah, dia geng dengan Bobo yang memang berdendam dengan aku kerana mengidamkan buah jambu yang ada di laman aku (ha2 Bobo ;-)

Aku pun tak pernah boleh recall clearly bila agaknya aku betul2 rapat dengan Badut. Nak kata masa Mighty Ducks pun mungkin tak betul jugak sebab kalau aku dah yakin dia akan join(t) maksudnya dia dah rapat la tu.

Tapi our friendship was renewed through Mighty Ducks (dan juga usaha2 untuk menukar HM MCKK sebab Badut ni kira consultant tak bertauliah). Banyak kali giler dia temankan aku (or aku temankan dia) balik kuala or pergi tournament. Since kitorang ni macam bujang sebab takde anak, maka kitorang la yang paling senang jadi mangsa.

Aku pulak jadi mangsa dengar Badut bercekerama dengan Red masa dalam kereta. Aku jadi supir, dia bermanja2. Walaupun bulu roma aku naik meremang (ye lah dengar member kau bermanja2), aku tabik spring jugak la sebab pasangan Badut dan Red ni sangat berkasih-kasihan, tak macam sesetengah MIs yang selalu tinggalkan bini dalam kereta sementara dia borak sakan dengan budak2 batch ha2.

Kami yang bermentula besar ingin mengucapkan selamat maju jaya dan moga menjadi orang yang makin berguna kepada negara satu masa nanti. Kalau terlalu teringatkan kat Red, pandang-pandanglah pintu bilik.

Dan bila dah bosan kat sana, selalu-selalulah check BBM ke, whatsup ke, email ke.










Monday, September 12, 2011

Bucksie

By the time I decided to move on from the coaching work with MCKK teams, I would have met hundreds of young people. I started in 2004 full of idealism and energy to prove a point to myself and others that you can change things by touching people's life no matter how you do it.

The first group we came across was a batch of debaters in 2004. They all had different characters but one little boy stood out. He was skinny, had a big head that didn't fit on top of his rather disproportionately long body for someone who was quite small and had a terribly short hair that made his pimples stood out. But from the very first day, it was quite obvious that he was smart. He prevailed in all the quizzes and before long, Bucks was quite a household name amongst the coaches.

By mid year he decided to quit the team that stunned all of us. I had to drive one weekend and he promises to meet me before inspection. I didn't put much hope that he would appear as kids his age don't really keep their words, but he did appear.

I could empathise with his reasons to quit but I made him to promise to come back when he reached Form 4. I didn't expect him to honour hos words but that was the only thing I could do to justify the long trip from KL, knowing that the team was as good as have lost him.

But Bucks did honour his words and did come back to the team. He was one of the smartest and wittiest kids I had coached, one of my favourites of all time.

In one debate, an opponent started a reply speech by using a football game as an analogy. He said that they scored the first goal with this argument, second goal the second points etc. By the time he was done with his reply speech, he said "4-NIL and we win" to the applause of the audience.

I did not panic but I did sweat a bit.

Bucks got up, looked nervous and innocent as always and started saying that he prefers rugby because it is a game of gentlemen, so let's keep the score by rugby rules instead.

So he started "First try, bla bla bla, 5-Nil, a conversion, bla bla bla, 8-0" and ended the reply speech with "20 something to Nil". The room exploded with applause and I think he did become the best speaker.

In another debate, he cracked a joke that the public is not interested whether a minister wears a pockadot boxer or a brief, when debating on the need for privacy for public figures. Innuendos become his trademark, after a while.

I have many ups and downs coaching the young people for a good part of my life but characters like Bucks remain as the best part of those years.

Every year, Bucks would never forget to send a card for my birthday even when I myself forget about it.

And each time I go through his cards over the years, I realise if there is one thing I miss from my previous life, I miss the joy of seeing great talents like Bucks grow up over the years.

The best thing is while everything else may change (the pimples, the lousy hair), he is still the same exact fragile kid I first met almost 8 years ago.

Good lucks Bucks and may you continue to be the kind kid you were, are and have always been.