July 06, 2005

My Sailor Story

Dok pi dok mai blog Kak Teh, baca her Malay sailors' story, reminded me of my own sailor story. But then again, my story is not as good as Kak Teh's. Just a matter of putting it down as a remembrance of the good old days.

When I was in form 3 (I think, it seems such a long time ago *sigh*), one of my senior kakak, said to me that he would like to ask his younger brother to be my pen friend. Aku agak Kak Ram ni berkenan kat aku yang masa tu cun melecun kut. Mana lah tau entah-entah dia nak jadikan aku ni adik ipar dia, hehehe. Actually she wanted him to improve his English thru writing, that was what she told me anyway, why she chose me over the other girls, I have no idea lah. I said OK to her, I didn't really mind to make new friends. I thought it would be fun as long as the content of the letters were clean and friendly. Back then in the hostel, we were not allowed to seal our letters when we want to send out, the teachers assigned would first screen the content before sealing the letter to be sent out. In-coming letters would also be opened first before we received it. Anedra, was it the same during your time?

She gave me his name and address. Weeks passed by, there was nothing from mamat adik Kak Ram, she asked me, whether I had written to him. Aku jawab sajalah, "Kak Ram, takkan saya yang perempuan ni nak tulis dulu. Dia lah kena tulis dulu". Jual mahal pulak aku ni, masa tu , tarik harga konon...

One day, I was taking a nap and someone woke me up and said Kak Ram wanted to see me. I was like "what, me with the muka bantal to go to see her?" "No way!" Since she kept on calling, I went over to the window to look down. My dorm was on the 3rd floor. She just came back from her hometown, she was unloading her things from the car boot. There was a guy standing beside her at that time. I called down to her, she and the mamat looked up. She said, "N, ni my brother MT" I waved at him and said hi. He smiled and said hi back. Not bad, tall, dark and not hodoh (tak lah handsome macam Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeve, but pleasant looking). Friendship started from there, we wrote regularly and when he came to visit his sister, we had a chance to talk. I was like a very shy, shy cat kind of gal, he was really friendly and pleasant.

After his SPM, he went to work with the MISC (Malaysian International Shipping Corporation, is it?), working on board ships, cargo ships, freights etc. We kept corressponding, he even taught me how to look from the paper when he would be on shore. He would write to say which Bunga ship (MISC's ships are named after the Malay flowers like Bunga Raya, Bunga Melor etc), he was working and how I could trace his landing ports for the journey. I used to get excited when I knew when he would dock in Port Klang or Singapore, because I knew that he would come by to see me. It was nice to hear his adventure stories then, because I was like a katak bawah tempurung and here was a guy who had been travelling all over the world, seing foreign places. Had to smile and interject comments once in a while to stop the drool from flowing and not to look stupid.

Our friendship continued until I was in ITM. I remember, when he came to visit we were talking on the top of the stairs overlooking the hostel. He was at that point was telling me of a girl he knew and I got the message that he was very much interested in her, although he said he was treating her like a sister. I had always treated him like a friend, never more than that so I told him to go ahead and get serious. Sort of give him the blessing.

Don't really remember how we finally lost touch. Maybe he stopped writing or I stopped replying to his letters. I wish right now I have kept his contact, maybe now we could e-mail rather than write a letter. By now he would be in his 50's. Retired from his wandering days perhaps, settled down somewhere with kids and who knows grandchildren. He sure would have lots of stories to tell them all. He could talk for hours, when we met, and me the normally talkative one would just be gaping (almost opened mouth) listening to him.

MT, I don't know where you are, I hope you are well and happy right now.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoooaaaaaaa.

This is nice.

AuntyN said...

Thanks Tj.Baru ingat kat mamat tu actually tu, hehehehe

NANI SHAHABUDIN said...

such a nice memory....

Kak Teh said...

N- ada jugak a sailor in yr life! when i was in Form Six, an old friend wanted to join the navy and he left for Liverpool. One of his visits home, dia tunjukkan minatlah..tapi I wasnt that interested in life on board a ship. But my friend who dated his friend, kawin and sampai lah ni...anak dah besark! niw they are living in Holland. I wanst interested in sailors my own age -hehe, yang tua tua saja!

AuntyN said...

Anne : very nice memory anne.

Kak Teh : LOL, nasib baik tak interested dgn sailor tu, tidak melepas abe AG tu kan, hehehe
If you didn't write about the old sailor I may have forgotten about my friend ni.

Anonymous said...

AuntyN,

the wardens still read any incoming or outcoming letters, but i think it was more on a random checking. Especially on those "targetted students." By the way, i was in the same year as anedra back then.

aske'

MA said...

Kak N : teringat citer Popeye and Olive Oyl bila Kak N citer pasal your sailorman nih :-)

Hheheh....jgn marah ye..

Anonymous said...

sorry auntyN,

I meant outgoing letters...errr...
hari ni tekak asyik rasa tawa jer. Had a big mug of hot lemon tea, pastu rasa nak vomit jer...errrrr...


aske'

AuntyN said...

Aske' : Masa kita dulu semua incoming letter dah dibuka, baca ke tidak tak tahu pulak lah, Outgoing semua takleh seal. Nampak nya dah relax sikit masa your time tu kan.

Apasal nak vomit tu?...

MA : MT=Popeye tut tut, AN=Olive Oyl. LOL!!

Anonymous said...

Auntyn,

Not sure why rasa nak tekak tawa and nak vomit.Rasanyer tadi vomit tapi angin jer, my collegues kata mungkin I'm pregnant. Since I have no experience and after so many false alarms, I'll just wait for my next cycle. Kalau dapat..ALHAMDULILLAH !!!....

:-)

aske'

Ely said...

wah best lah cita auntyN...mesti best as usual :)

AuntyN said...

aske' : Insyaallah termakbul doa tu OK?

ely : thanks, dapat ilham dari cerita kak teh tu

AuntyN said...

Massy : Iye lah kalau ada jodoh boleh jumpa balik.

pembaca : Thanks Nijam, entah kalau aunty jumpa pun entah dah tak kenal dah rupa pun.
Iye rammbut panjang tu, masa dia datang agaknya dia dah potong rambut dia tu sbb selalu pendek je,, agaknya takut pak gaurd tak bagi masuk tu :-)

anedra said...

While reading this terdengar-dengar lagu "Memories..". It's nice to have memories like this, and sometimes..likes you said, it would be nice to be in touch with people whom we were close with before, just to see where life has taken them etc..etc..That would be interesting.

If you ever do find out, you must post PartII to this one!

Anonymous said...

ewahh.. nostalgic la AuntyN! sronot lak dengar citer pasal sailorman..

popeye dah ada, olive oyl dah ada, sapa brutus nye?

Anonymous said...

ewahh.. nostalgic la AuntyN! sronot lak dengar citer pasal sailorman..

popeye dah ada, olive oyl dah ada, sapa brutus nye?

AuntyN said...

anedra : Kalau aunty jumpa balik for sure there will be a part 2. I promise you that. But I don't think so...highly unlikely lah.

cyberdad : nak volunteer ke jadi brutus tu LOL!!!

missy dullness said...

bestnyer.....macam citer2 cerekarama plak.. =)

keep it coming...

AuntyN said...

Sue : cerekarama? :-)

Anonymous said...

auntyn,

kita ni satu sekolah kot?yg kat johor tu ke?kalau ye, yes...my time masih lagi surat tak leh seal masa nak antar and mesti kena bukak bila dpt..tak de chan nak lebey lebey..
btw, i must be your junior tapi i am anedra's senior..i visit both your blogs...suka baca, best!!

btw, x nak join alumni ke??


`i must be ur junior!!`

Mutiara said...

AN
panjang cerita sebab menyebab surat di buka. 40 years ago, surat tak dibuka, bila ada perkara tak diingini berlaku, maka surat pun dibuka. Dulu the only communication was by mail, so segala janji bertemu pun melalui mail.
about sailor connection, I pun ada jugak, but those I met were young sailors then based in Cardiff, working on MISC ships. I event went on Bunga raya to visit with them hehehe..Nostalgia

AuntyN said...

anon : thanks for visiting, possibly you may be my junior. Alumni, nak, tapi camna tu?

Kak M, ye ke? Blog lah pasal sailor tu, OK.