I was supposed to go to Parliament at 12 today, to meet the Speaker of the Senate, but decided to visit the books expo at PWTC instead, and who did I bump into ? It was my old SUO, Ismail Noor. Or as his calling card says "Datuk Dr. Ismail Noor, Speaker. Author. Trainer."
He didn't immediately recognized me, but soon did, and we shook hands warmly. It was a pleasant surprise.
The last time we met was when my cousin, Mahmud, passed away, and we held a tahlil at his then terrace house at Puncak Setiawangsa. It was not far across the road from Ismail's heavily barricaded bungalow. Ismail couldn't recall that meeting. I think he came because he was with the local surau's committee or something. Mahmud's widow, Timah, has since sold the house and moved to Beranang.
Ismail used to have another "trainer" with him, who used the reverse spelling of his name as his set-up - "Ron Nissay". His name was Yassin Nor ! Cute ! Ismail remembered straight away.
Ismail was attired the way that I remember him when he used to come to MISC Jalan Conlay for one of his training sessions - lounge suit with buttoned-up collarless Iran-style shirt. Quite smart, actually.
We didn't stay long - he was going for his zohor prayers; I wanted to go to the expo. But I managed to condemn Dollah and said enough about Mahathir for Ismail to say "oh, Mahathir's man." I said "I think only two writers wrote about Dollah. You are one of them."
I got his card, and he took my number, and we embraced, saying we don't know if we'll see each other again. Ismail is two-and-a-half years my senior, and we're both in our seventh series. He looked very good for his age. Even his hair is still black, unlike my silver top. Good to see you, old friend.
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