FRIENDS - صديق

Growing up in the tiny town of Subang Jaya in the early 90s with less than 100,000 of population was a memorable one. I could not have asked for a better childhood. Not so tiny anymore, residents of Subang Jaya has now increased to 1,553,589 in 2010 beating the entire population of Kuala Lumpur. 

I had friends of all sorts ما شاء الله I remember being in class one day and my class teacher announced Tun Dr Mahathir's Wawasan 2020 (vision 2020), it was a big hoo-haa at the time and these tiny tots of 6 years of age in my classroom were all boggled by the complexity of this subject that was uttered by their sweet and petite classroom teacher. While having no clue what Wawasan 2020 was, we were all told to calculate our age by the time year 2020 comes. This little math practice brought us to a shocking number, we have only breathed air in this world for 6 years and we will be 3* in year 2020? OH MY! The thought of growing old was horrific for these tumble tots to be honest.We chatted amongst ourselves, some laughed and giggled while others were left bewildered. I never fail to twitch a smile on my face reminiscing funny moments.

Although I didn't live during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1941 and experience 5sen pocket money to school, I still managed to experience bringing RM1 to school in the early 90s. It was more than enough to survive during school hours and I even had some money left to buy ice cream after school (normally there's an ice cream man outside the school compound selling junk food and ice cream on his motorcycle) and save some in the piggy bank at home. This was possible to do at that time because nasi lemak, laksa, roti canai and mee sup was only 40sen and I've always brought my own water bottle so I don't buy drinks at the school canteen. I was never really a fan of coloured drinks anyway. Every morning before waiting for the school bus, I would enter my dad's room, come around his bed and pat him on his shoulders while he was sleeping to ask for my daily pocket money. Once he's given me my share, I'd kiss his hands and warm cheeks and bid him goodbye while telling him I love him. My dad the funny man used to tell the 7 year old me, "Did you know I used to only bring 10sen to school and walked 5 kilometers through muddy tracks for 2 hours before I could reach school?" The ever so gullible me gasped and replied "Oh poor you pa, did your legs hurt after that? What did you eat in school with so little money? Is that why you've always been so skinny?" - 10 years later, my grandmother told me all 7 of her children were chauffeured to school. Everyday. 

School was a fun place to be during my primary school years, I was a librarian so I had access to borrow books as long as I want. I loved being on duty as a librarian (except for the yellow and blue coloured tie uniform) because I get to stay in the library till 4pm, that's enough time for me to finish 1 book. Believe it or not, I used to take the public bus back home from school each time I was on duty. My friends would never believe this today, they'd choke before believing. Yes it's true. My stepmother taught me how to use the public transportation when I was only 9 years old, I remember having to take the number 4 bus to get home and it was just a short walk heading home from the bus stop. I do not recommend you teaching this to your 9 year old child, please understand that the crime rate in the 90s isn't as great as it is today. I actually enjoyed the bus ride, it made me feel like a young independent girl. 

My primary school years were spent most with family members. I was extremely close to my cousins (still am) and spent most of my weekends at sleep overs be it at my grandma's or aunt's house. Although I did keep the close bond with my buddies in school, the real friendship with friends only started in high school. It was the beginning of (minor) adulthood. As peculiar as it sounds, I had 2 sets of different group of friends back in high school.

Group 1 : The buddies who I go bowling, ice skating, shopping and have sleep overs with.
Group 2 : The goody two shoes I spend time with at school. The study group people.

When I am not at home, my mother knows I'm out with group 1. These girls were crazy funny and I truly love them for who they are. All our parents were introduced to each other due to the fact that their daughters spend way to much time with each other, sometimes our houses would even be pit stops from school. There were two friends who I was close with to be precise, both are married now Alhamdulillah. One friend has 2 kids (her eldest child is already 9 years old!) and the other friend just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl not too long ago. May Allah increase their barakah and grant them success in marriage, Ameen.

My mind has been a memory machine for the past week, being perpetually active on social networks has helped to keep me posted with old friends. A handful are single while others are breeding babies each year. We talked about this in school 17 years ago, being girls, we were often curious on what our futures might be. My girlfriends never expected to be mothers at such a young age but Alhamdulillah, it is qadr Allah that they are blessed with beautiful children now. Imagine flipping the dusty pages of your school yearbook, only to find the plain Jane in school growing up to be beautiful swans, a few of the bright kids in school turned out to be thugs and some of the hijab wearing girls are no longer hijabis. Tell me something, did you ever expect your friends to turn out the way there are now back then? I surely didn't and I'm sure they're saying the same about me.

The crazy bunch I had in school turned out to be respectable beautiful people, the quiet ones I once knew are no longer naive and gullible. I could fill your blank pages and empty thoughts with my stories all day but memories are for keeps and some are just better left unsaid.  :)