1380/08

Today marks the sixth year since I set foot in ASiS. I remember that day way too vividly that it never leaves my cranial cavity for even a single day.

That day Abah, Mak and I took a neighbour's airport cab to catch the flight. It was Firefly on an F50 so I can brag of having flown on the now obsolete Fokker. Abah was the one who insisted to go to KL by air although buying air tickets only a month before the flight would cost some money. Knowing Abah he would trade the tiredness and fatigue of long drives with anything he can afford ha ha.

The full version of the story shall be told later, (much much much later, I guess ha ha) so cut short, I remember when I walked to the lobby in front of Dewan Besar, with the huge logo just opposite the lobby. It was an eclectic mix of happiness, fear, sadness, pride, and humility that stroke me. I couldn't talk much. Abah did a lot of the talking. I just followed. At that lobby we were handed a yellow parchment on which stated three things if I recall correctly, and not orderly:

No. Dobi : 1380/08

Kelas : 4 B

Rumah : Bendahara

Dorm : 2A2

I remember also that the prefect who ushered me then to complete the registration in the Dewan Besar. His name was Amzar, nice guy. The kind of guy who was nice in front of the juniors' parents because that really who he was. I later learnt that he was the son of the PIBG's Chairman. His father once invited us over for a Raya do at their home in USJ if I am not mistaken. Us here were only the boys from Terengganu, Kedah, Kelantan etc who didn't go home on the weekend after Raya break.

I always like an overnight weekend because most of us would go home save the Pantai Timur boys like yours truly and some from the northern states. Less pupils meant better food and most of the times, more in quantity. Also, we could take a break from the 'tuck-in' and 'jemaah prayers' rules which meant kain pelikat and waking up late were the 'in' things for the weekend.

Ha ha 6 years later and I still haven't really left ASiS.