123-day golf break broken.

Tues 26.7.22

The fall was 3 days before Eid. The whole of the Fasting Month was "No Golf" as maintained throughout my life. Today is  July 26th. That makes it exactly 123 days since I last played. It took a call from Tok Sleman at 6 am. "Come lah. I already paid for the buggy, but Amil called sick. Just be "manager" and putt only" was the plea I had to reluctantly heed.

I'd call Tok Sleman last week, asking inclusion into the original foursome w.e.f. 1.8.22, pain or no knee-pain. That's officially still 5 days away. The early morning call this morning changed that plan.

Of course I couldn't come on tee-time because of the short notice. But I grabbed my half-set bag and took the old Volvo, and got the buggy-boy to catch them at the 7th hole. So in the end I played 11 1/2 holes. I had 2 pars, 1 air shot, bogeys and a triple-bogey on the 18th par 5 hole in spite of the longest drive over the pond. "Ok lah, next Tuesday. But we start with $5 per hole !" (Our normal rate is $2).

We were the original foursome today, Tok Sleman, Tan Sri Hassan, Tok Molod and I. It was usually once a week with Tan Sri Hassan, but 2 or sometimes 3 times with the other 2, with the inclusion of  Tok Zaha, who tends to wander from group to group. In my enforced absence, they hauled in Amil. I found out about it later and called Amil to "reprimand" him. Now it looks like his sojourn is over. I'll let him find out himself.

It was an unsually busy day on the course today. Some schoolboys were involved in preparation for a tournment. Usually this club is one of the less-crowded ones in the state. Which is good for us, members, but bad for the club finances. Today I found that the clubhouse caterer is no more. Again. They are having problems retaining a good, more permanent one these last few years. I thought the imposition (illegal, I think) of the RM20-minimum restaurant bill would help the caterer over the poor patronage of that facility. Apparently the toll doesn't all go to catering. If true, that's wrong.

Fortunately the half-way house (the food-stop, not the toilet, although the toilet is also there) still operates. The girl is all the way from Sulawesi, and even after 123 days she still remembers me, helped by the fact that I always grab her hands when ordering my food. But all tables were taken except one. Tok Sleman picked the tab, which is not always the expected thing. But I did show my tattered glove to him. "Ask for a new pair from Helmy" I pleaded. "I'll ask him to get two - 1 for me" was the surprising response. "He got a 200,000-ringgit bonus" he added, referring to Helmy, the son. Helmy is with McDonald's, Malaysia, as the legal head as well as some additional position. His boss, also a Negeri boy, got 7 million. Good lord ! I wish I was with McDonald's.

Well, I survived the 11 1/2 holes and all the bad jokes. There were no new pains. But was I bushed. I must have gone through lunch and bath half-asleep, and was soon stretched in front of the tv watching a rerun of the recent World Athletics Championship. Very quickly the tv was watching me, instead.  Asleep.

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I was G Coy's guest.

It was a nice Saturday gathering organized by some former G coy Budak Boys. I was a guest. I'm referring to the "makan" at the small dewan serbaguna near the football pitch on Jalan Permata 4, Ulu Kelang, on Saturday 23.7.2022. 

Hank had invited me before the eventual organizer, Wahap Achin, called. Wahap is my kampong name for Jalaluddin , FMC intake 1961, G coy. Wahap wasn't alone, of course, but he took care of everything - the venue, the food - which are normally "everything". The hall was a bit aged but sufficed. The food was excellent, even if there was a bit too much of it. The final  turnout wasn't 100% of the list. But I counted 35  people inside the small hall, with about 6 or 7 still lingering outside when Salleh opened up the welcoming speech. It was already past the 11 a.m. scheduled starting time.

I had some trouble finding the venue, driving alone from Seremban. Hank was supposed to come with me, but decided to visit IJN on Friday, and came instead from Tropicana, Damansara by himself. I was confident of finding my way because I've been coming to this Taman Permata-Taman Melawati area before. But I didn't reckon with KL's continuous physical developments. The straightforward drive through Kg. Datuk Keramat isn't straightforward anymore. The Texas Instrument factory isn't so obvious anymore as a landmark I relied on before. The numerous workshops all along the way have only grown, with vehicles lying around all over the already crowded way. And there are traffic lights where there wasn't any before. I forgot that the last time I took this route was a long time ago.

I called Hank and Wahap for help many times but they didn't answer. I even called Jimmy Ong, driving all the way from Melaka, to pass me the directions, which he did. But I'd stopped and asked at the roadside for Jalan Permata 4, and finally, thanks to his very white head of hair, I saw Hank. So Jimmy's map wasn't used. I helped myself with the help of Hank's hair, ha ha.

As always, it was just great to sit down with old friends, enjoying the good food, remembering the old days. The venue, the time, the food and drinks were all contributory, but not as important as the chance to sit down and talk again with people you studied together more than 60 years ago. Studying together, that's the key component. When we finished school, we went our separate ways, and even the closest of pals lost contact for considerable time. Most if not all made it all the way up their chosen career path.  We all went far and wide in search of knowledge and professional training. We grew families. But the school days are cherished like nothing else because of the uniqueness.  And when there's a chance to meet up, like this one, I for one won't want to miss it, if I can.

Salleh hit the right note when he spoke. He asked us to not forget those of us who are no longer with us. In fact the reciter of the supplication he later called upon became emotional himself because of the realization of the passing of time. But that was before Salleh said his wife couldn't come, and the audience asked "what about your second wife?", and he answered that she's in Mekkah, and I raised my hand to interrupt midspeech, and Salleh stopped, and I said "so when she comes home you'll naik hajjah lah?" and Salleh took it in his stride.

Megat asked about Khalid Husin who passed away recently. He was with me in B coy. Apparently he had been on dialysis for some time. And there are others. Even Salim who was with us now wasn't in the best of health, and he showed it. As someone said, let's meet again next year, not in two years - that's too long and risky.

Aziz Rahman insisted that his Ph D is genuine, not "in brackets" and I replied I'll tell Yazid Baba, his "good friend" in Mubarak. Mansor complained he worries about Ahmad, his son who accompanied him. I just related my theory about the fallout of Mahathir and Muhyiddin to him. It's the master plan to deny Anwar the PMship. Mansor "Bull" is known to be a friend of Anwar. And I told Jimmy Ong, he could have driven himself to Seremban and joined me, instead of paying somebody 200 to drive him here. Saujana came all the way from Cameron Highlands. He's permanently there now, not like the weekend camps the college had those days. And Rahman "Doghome" Daud is concerned with mental health. "You can't see that" I said. But his physical appearance is still good, and I told him that.

When I saw Salleh starting to "tapau", I followed suit. But I ended up with some cakes and the ubi kayu only. Salleh went to every table, including the satay on the charcoal embers. Maybe my remarks earlier reminded him of extra portions required in his case.

I took leave after a few of us had left, and there were still many inside, everybody talking at the same time. The music player playing, what else, 60's songs, had stopped. It had been almost 3 hours and I had to be home before dark. Again, like the drive coming here, I was sure the outer ring road to the Seremban exit would be a piece of cake. It wasn't. They have decided to redo that part of the roadworks, putting another tier while leaving all the debris cluttering the road. So I managed to find myself on one detour lane that took me back where I had been some miles back, and I decided to stick to the right and eventually found myself on PLUS to Johor Baru, the right way home.

It was a G coy do, but coming from B coy, I still give it an A.