Dreams don't always come true

I am not technically inclined and never will. My first love has always been reading and maybe a little bit of writing. When I was in school, my favourite subject was English. I just enjoy learning the language. Be it reading, grammar, vocabulary or composition, I just love them. I remember wanting to be a writer or a journalist when I grow up.
But God had other plans for me. After form 5, the only way I could further my studies was to secure a scholarship as my parents surely could not afford the fees. Having moved into the science stream for my upper secondary education, the only scholarships I could hope to get was those that had to do with the sciences. Sure enough, I managed to secure a scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering in England and with that, it effectively ended my dream of becoming a writer.
Almost 30 years on, I still dream of becoming a writer although my English now is only half of what it used to be.

A honeymoon that was not

Form 4 is commonly known as the honeymoon year. Its the year to relax after the pressure of the form 3 examinations and before having to study real hard for the form 5 examinations in two years time. I don't know about others but for me, I was really on honeymoon.
Everyday after the morning school session ends, I would cycle home, have lunch, take my bath, say the afternoon prayer, have a short rest and then... cycle back to school. There, I would join in all kind of activities. Football, sepak takraw, badminton, rugby, basketball, ping pong, gymnastics etc. etc. That's how I would spend my afternoons. I will only go home just before the evening prayers.
On weekends I would be at the cinema, watching movies. The morning show was dubbed cheap matinee and it would show rerun of old movies. A ticket cost only 0.40cts. That's where I would be on most weekends.
Studies were far away from my mind. So much so that I did badly during the first and second term examinations. Finally, my father has had enough and he put his big foot down..............

A Winter to Forget

In a way, coming to England in the month of September to begin student life there is not quite the best of beginnings. This is the time when summer has long disappeared and the cold wind of autumn has taken over. In the months ahead, the cold will get even colder as chilly winter makes its presence. The days get shorter as the nights get longer. Night time is 4 pm and it stays that way till about 8 am the next morning. The sky is dark and gloomy and the atmosphere is downright dull........ and the bloody cold, it has a way of making you feel down!
For a person coming from a tropical climate where the sun rises at 7 am and sets at 7 pm everyday, where the sun never stop shining except when it rains occasionally, where the temperature is hot all of the time, facing winter for the first time is an experienced to forget. The cold, the short daylight hours, the new surroundings, the food, the dark and gloomy days, they all add up to a miserable winter.
Luckily I had the studies to keep me occupied. Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived my first winter.

England here I come

In late September 1974, I arrived for the first time in England to begin my university education there. There were about thirty of us scholarship holders in that group. On arriving at Heathrow airport, a group of senior Malaysian students were waiting for us and from there, we were taken in a bus to Brighton where the college was situated.
Earlier, we had taken the Boeing 737 MAS flight from Kuala Lumpur to London. It was my first time on a plane. At that time there were no direct flight to London. The plane had stopovers in Dubai and later Beirut before its final destination to London.
I was just 17 going on 18 then. Inside me, I was feeling all excited and eager. After all, this was like a dream come true. England, the London bridge, Parliament house, the river Thames , Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Manchester United, Liverpool, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, all these and much more. If before, they were just pictures, stories or movies, now they were going to be real. I could hardly believe it!
And so began the next phase of my life ........ which lasted five years.

Of days gone by.....

For my secondary education, my father decided to transfer me to King Edward VII school (famously known as sekolah KE) in Taiping. For a young boy like me, moving from a small rural school in a small town called Selama to a big school like KE in a big town like Taiping, the changed was a cultural shocked.

I was in awe of everything, the school, the building, the students, the teachers, the classrooms etc. etc.! Fortunately, being young and eager and wanting to prove myself, I quickly absorbed all the changes and made myself at home in the new surroundings.
Form then on till form 5, this was to be my school. Five years of many pleasant memories. They say school days are the happiest days of your life. I agree fully.