Assalamualaikum,

Insyaallah, hari sabtu ni aku balik kampung untuk kenduri 100 hari pemergian abah. Malam tadi tiba-tiba aku sangat rindu abah. Abah aku strict kemain, dan sangat kelakar juga. Contradiction? No. At different times of course.

He is strict abt time. Whenever we're late from school , or anywhere for that matter, he will ask...."Anything interesting today?" ie more interesting than being at home. Trust me, at age of 7 - 12 y.o , being anywhere else is more interesting than being at home. Mana ada komputer nak chatting ke, baca blog ke. Majalah lagilah. The only reading material available then were Utusan Melayu (Jawi), majalah dewan pelajar for me and my younger sis, dewan bahasa, dian (jawi), then mastika, for my elders and of course school books. FYI.... mastika then wasn't like today. It was like reading readers digest in malay. I usually went to my neighbour's hse to read majalah hiburan, forgot the name if i'm not mistaken Majalah Filem. From there i got to know Sharifah Aini, Hail Amir, etc. Nobody owns a tv set until abt I was 10 or 11. But almost every household has a radio, either transistor or radiogram. This house I used to sneak to has a transistor radio complete with amplifier and record player. The most luxurious in the village.

As we grow older and abah can afford a watch, he will ask "jam mati?"whenever we were late. I was however almost never been asked this question, as I stayed in hostel during secondary school, thus being home is the best.

Another thing he is very strict about is our school book. Must be wrapped nicely. Dulu pakai kertas brown tu... entah apa namanya.must NEVER be wrapped using newspaper. Ada insiden sblm tu buku sampul suratkhabar (agaknya masa tu kewangan kurang) hilang sbb tercampur dgn surat khabar abah. Abah sangat rajin tolong kami sampul buku. Thats why i'm so pissed off when my hubby used to say "benda remeh tu pun saya nak buat?" whenever i asked him to help our children.
Exercise book boleh tak sampul. But i usually do. With wrapping paper. Reason? Whenever any teacher asked" R, have you passed up your book?" I can confidently say," Yes, the one wrapped with the beautiful wrapper". Bila class monitor nak bagi buku semula pun senang, tak payah cari nama (tulisan aku buruk, dulu, kini dan selamanya.) Masa aku form 3, this brillient class monitor has a brillient idea.( Bukan aku wei. Tak pernah jadi monitor, until pindah sekolah. Btw, kat sekolah baru panggil 'class councillor') Why not everybody using the same wrapping paper for the same subject. her reason senang nak cari... contoh.. Take out your polka dotted book. Then everybody will dive into their bags, sapa yang takde maknanya tertinggal lah tu...hilang perhaps.Majority agreed. As in democratic country, majority wins. Habislah ...aku tak unik lagi. But that makes life easir.. nak kemas bag ikut timetable. Everything color coded.

My upper secondary was in boarding school, where books are kept in our desk. so sampul menyampul dgn colourful wrapper tu dah tak perlu, sbb tak payah jadual. Guna plastik alas meja yang clear tu. Masa tu commercial wrapping plastic tak banyak lagi. Sapa guna, kena cap malas.

Wei , aku ingat abah ke ingat mase sekolah? Abah dan persekolahanku tak dapat dipisahkan.

Lain kali aku sambung.