My Own Merdeka Hero!!

.
Suddenly, the Merdeka celebration this year carry a different air of festivities in our family, due to Imran's involvement in his school Merdeka projects.

One of the projects, the raising of a giant flag was telecast live on 'Malaysia Hari Ini' programme on TV3 at 8.00am this morning. Imran's mediocre participation as one of the students chosen to wave the state's flag is something I was so excited about.

I rushed home from sending his big brother Ikram to school, just to be infront of the telly. Not before telling Dilla to be on standby with the recorder incase I could not make it. Never mind that Dilla too was going to be late for work. Of course, the night before I have already alerted my mother in Kuala Pilah not to be elsewhere but infront of the TV at the specific time....

Such an enthusiasm, unfortunately, TV3 didn't give Imran a special airtime, perhaps because he was only bearing and waving a Sarawak flag! ha,ha,ha....
(we will next be able to see him perform in the Kawat Tatu Hari Merdeka at the Stadium on the 9thSeptember,2006)

Before he left the house this morning, I managed to capture his image on the camera in his full Kadet Remaja's regalia. He has just been promoted to a LansCorporal, and a typical mom, I am so proud of my son no matter how small the steps he made on his move forward.

I'm grateful that my children are raised in a Merdeka environment, where they are free to seize every opportunity to be the best person that they could possibly be.

Merdeka!!!

Happy Birthday, Hisham!

.
Happy Birthday to who?
To Hisham!
Which Hisham?
Hisham, my penfriend since 1971!

That means we have been penfriends for 35 years...

Penfriends, to us the oldies and mouldies of yesteryears, are just like the current version of friendster through the internet if you like.
However it required more effort than clicking on the keyboard of your computer.
We write letters, in our best handwriting, usually on our school's writing pads , put a stem on the envelope and hand them over to the prefects to be posted.
The reply from a penfriend took another extra step of being scanned first by the teacher on duty for the day, before it could reach you .
All these did not deter us girls from writing to our penfriends.
Most of us had at least one penfriend from another boys' boarding school.

I used to exchange lots and lots of information with Hisham on all of my activities in school.
It was like blogging, really...
I wondered how he put up with them, then.
Hisham was the first to know that I became the champion in Poem reciting competition in Johor.
He knew that my choir group came out the National champ for 2 consecutive years.
I described to him at length of my participation in the school play as Princess TupTim in the 'King and I'.....

I valued Hisham's friendship, as he too wrote back on a weekly basis.
He continued writing even after I sent him a foto of myself with the school compound as the background. I thought I was ugly and Hisham would stop writing once he set his eyes on my pic.
He sent me pictures too which I still keep in the drawer until today. He was very goodlooking.

His letters were the only thing I look forward to those days besides the monthly registered letter containing my monthly allowance from my dad.

We stopped writing for a while, after Hisham left for UK to further his studies.
It was not economical anymore, I suppose, and besides Hisham must have been busy mixing around with new international friends.

We went our separate ways, leading our separate lives, but Hisham has always been in my mind.

Some years back, I hit his name at an email address and sent a brief hello.
Lo and behold, he wrote back with a hello in return!

We had a lot of stories to catch up on.
I updated him on my family, and he on his.
Hisham knows where I am and I know where he is holding up.
We have not met, even after 35 years.
We are still penfriends.....

Happy Birthday Hisham!
I know that all of your dreams have come true......
.