I stop to smell roses

Sekuntum mawar merah sebuah puisi
Semester berbunga sewangi kasturi
dibalik jendela hatiku dicuri
kasih diikat cincin dijari
Cintaku cinta abadi
Hingga akhir nanti

Juli : "Apa you tulis merepek-repek ni darling". She asked me, after reading the latest entry in my blog.

Rumi : "Apa yang merepek tu?". Me, cool as usual.

Juli : "Tu ha...cerita pasal teropong kita tu". Lady, you've never changed. That's what makes you so special dear!


I wasn't 'merepek'. Not now. Probably back then, yes. Campus life was great. The late P. Ramlee said "dunia ana yang punya", that was the best to describe my feeling. It was a honeymoon year for me. The kampung boy had finally breathed his first 'freedom'. Away from family didn't really dampen my spirit. A little bit, probably. I had the whole Kamsis C to myself, and the tenants became my new family. In fact the whole campus became so friendly. Even Mak Cik and Pak Cik cafeteria were quite accommodating. Free meals was inevitable. I was at the top of the world. Man, I was living in a fast lane. I needed a handbrake.

That was the year of "battle of the bands". That year, the university imposed a ban on riding motorcycles around the campus. 'Ekzos potong' was so rampant, sonic boom was nothing in comparison. The bikers (actually most were kapcais - your scholarship was merely enough to buy you 'soup ekor' and 'nasi daging merah' once a week) had a demonstration and as usual, with AUKU was still in forced and instilled fear to the 'jakunis', the standoff was a mere illegal gathering with loudspeakers dancing to the tune of the cheering crowd. I was part of the crowd. Euphoria!

But soon I became restless. Something had caught my eyes and my puberty hormone started to kicked in. Luckily 'teropong iman' was at hand and came to the rescue. It zoomed in and the auto focus did all the fine tuning. Snap! I cut short my high flying activities and spent many hours confining myself in Tun Sri Lanang. I was not alone. The secret for a successful live in campus was to have a 'smart partnership'. The principle is still apply until today. I have several good partners but one was really special to me. We were in a real serious business. In business world they duped it a win-win situation, but in campus life we called it a symbiosis. We became a symbion.

You play hard and study smart. That's the rule.

I do not know about you guys, but I was never that good at taking notes during lectures. Somehow, girls are blessed with good ears and beautiful handwriting skills. Their scribble is nice too. Even their notepads smell nice :) That became my excuse to have a personal 'secretary' who will lend me her notes for me to digest. I am a happy and contented man. I smell roses everywhere.

The smart partnership became a very close strategic alliance, until now!

At the pinnacle of Mount Ophir (Gunung Ledang), 1988. I didn't find my puteri here. But with all the youth and mountain of energy, i could have conquered the world then.

p/s: Can also check out what I was up to during those crazy years here