Tokonang Den ( 4 )

This photograph was taken in 1970. We were in Form One then, having graqduated and liberated ourselves from that one year 'confinement' period!- i.e one year in the Remove Class!. It was taken during the school annual ' Speech Day'. Being juniors then, we had our seats reserved - in the garage next to the school hall!. (actually the school hall was too small to accomodate us all!) Most of us (Batch '73) were there in the picture including yours truly! We were much, ehem.., handsome then!... aah yezzir., those good old days!

The school hall reminded me of the place where we spent our time almost every week, watching the wayang! At that time, movies were shown using projectors (ya loh, no DVD or CD players ma!) For that reason, I guessed the school had a cinema club. A few of us from Batch '73 were members of this club. Those that I can recalled being cinema club members then were Mail Gebang, Omar Suhaimi AH, Saiful Bahari, Wan Husin, Omar Dollah, Mohamad Saleh, Aziz Ha and Kamarshah Harun ( I might have missed a few names here., my apologies!). I envied these guys actually. They were the priviledged few. Apart from having the chance to operate the projectors, on screening days (Friday nites), they could have had their dinner early! To be a member of this 'prestigous' club, you need to apply for one. And part of the requirement would be for potential candidates to write an essay -in English - on why one would like to be a member of the club! These guys - Mail Gebang, Mohamad Saleh and the rest - must have passed with flying colours i.e. written bloody good essays then!! Or was it becaused of their 'connection' or 'networking' with the then President of the cinema club, the late Che Ani Deraman?

So, every Friday nites then (wayang time), and just about time we finished our dinner, you could see a few guys moving towards the door and ready for their weekly run! Yes, running and dashing, through the field between Red and Black House, across the football field and out into the school hall. The catch was actually the chairs at the hall- limited in number - i.e. save them from having to go up the classrooms and bring down the chairs for the wayang. (Some smart alecs preferred to hide those chairs in secrets hideouts behind the school hall rather than having to dash for the chairs after dinner). Anyway, one guy whom I recalled was very constant and committed in doing this, week in week out without failed and opting for the weekly run, was our very own Nari Ansari. I did try to follow him several times but Nariwas so good, so fast and very nippy. Nari must have studied the tract then for he could whizzed through the football field at eased.

I wonder whether they still have such show at Tiger Lane anymore. One thing for sure though, that memory of Nari dashingg through the field still lingers in my mind and I can still recalled those 'encouraging' words ... cepat Nari cepat!!. And I wonder, where about is Nari now? Nari Ansari dimana kau?!

End of Part 4 . (To be continued)....