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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Thursday, April 23, 2009

Remembering the "A" Level college days. My lecture class, group J

Just a pix nicked from the Internet...


OK. Time to continue the remembering process. If the last article on the college days, Remembering the "A" Level college days. The disco circuit of those days... and the girls still talks about our extra-curricular activities off-campus, now its time to move back to the actual college. I will try to write as much as I could remember off-hand ya. As usual, I write straight into the blogspot, so there is no planning and afterthought.

In the article Remembering the "A" Level college days. Damansara Utama where the cool days started! made a year ago, I did mention about how we were divided into lecture classes according to our courses. This could mainly be grouped into the engineering classes, business studies classes and law classes. Among these were a few students who took the 'odd' courses like acturial science and if I remember correctly dentistry. I can't remember where the dentistry students were grouped at but I'm sure they were around during the "A" Level days as years later a few of my old college mates did become dentists after graduating from England. Ah, now I remember another 'odd' course, architecture. By 'odd' I mean courses which only a few took. They were so few that they can't have their own niche classes. Not during the "A" Levels at least. Thus at this level, they must be assimilated into the main groups of engineering, business studies and law classes.

I myself was one of the 'odd' ones. I was slated to take a degree in mathematics, pure mathematics that is and as far as I could remember there's probably another 2 or 3 students who took the same course out of the total of 200 plus students from our batch. Hmm... come to think of it, I was probably the only mathematics student in the whole batch. Whatever, I think I might as well include this. Actually after the SPM examinations result in secondary school was announced and I applied for university through the government's central agency called UPU (Unit Pengajian Universiti or something) if I remember correctly, I was opting to study computer science as my first choice. I can't remember the second but I believe mathematics was the third and last choice. And for all choices, I asked to study at a university in America.

Instead months later I was called to attend a BTU (British Top University) interview. While I failed to make the cut, being called to that interview meant that I had automatically made the cut for a British programme... except the "A" Levels had to be done locally as opposed to overseas in a British boarding school if I got into BTU. Soon enough I was called to the local college PPP/ITM for a place to prepare for studies in mathematics. As I was among the 'odd' ones, I had to share a class with the engineering students.

So there I was in a class called Group J with some 20 students or so. They were mainly civil and electrical engineering students. Then again we were there for the "A" Levels, not actual mathematics or engineering courses. So for the British-sanctioned exams, we would be taking the subjects of modern mathematics, pure maths and physics.

Now in the article Remembering the "A" Level college days. Damansara Utama where the cool days started! I had also stated that apart from the study or lecture classes the students were divided into rooms or dormitories. My 51C room-mates who were in the same Group J were (let me call them by the nicknames ya...) Tonga, Mangor... hmm... there should be another one, who is he? Oh, its Jim... we like to call him Jim Bates because of some sentences in our English text book. Perhaps someone can refresh me what were the actual sentences because I remember it was very funny everytime the sentences were recited in class. So that makes 4 from 51C including me.

Other members of the class included Lan Bagak, Utoi, Bob. Hmm... my memory is failing me. That is one of the main reasons I'm writing this "Remembering the "A" Level college days" series of articles... I'm writing so that I can remember. OK, don't force it. As for the girls I remember Nini, and one Chinese looking Ipoh Malay girl, I think her name is Lina or something.

Drats! That word just came out. Must be from watching all the cartoon shows when I was small. For God's sake, I could remember only 9 classmates including me. Hmm... was it a total of 20 or was it 15 pupils in Group J? Even that I couldn't properly remember.

I can remember these though. Lan Bagak, a Kuala Lumpur local and former Victoria Institution student was made the class head. Tonga was from Petaling Jaya, ex-Bukit Bintang Boys School I think. Mangor was from Batu Pahat, Johor... Utoi is also a Johorean but I can't remember from which part.

I remember Nini as this cute girl with a large mole on her face who likes to sway her feet (rather violently I thought) under the table. I remember that I was so fond of teasing the girls, not only from Group J but other classes as well especially from the more vocal law classes. Suddenly old girlfriends like Az and Ann (not her real name or nickname ya) came to mind. For the record, I have to adjust the nicknames of the girls who were involved with me. Otherwise I will continue the story-telling with the nicks or their known names in college ya. Hmm... the relationship with Ann deserves its own story. That I would do one day. Sweet dear Ann, one of the girls I've failed to realise their true worth. Sheesssh....

OK. Somehow I remembered this about Utoi and I like to relate it. I hope you don't mind if you happen to read this ya. Utoi's real name is Shukor. Or Shukur... I think it's spelled Shukor. While some of us started the first week in class with nicknames already installed either from our orientation days or from the schooldays, Shukor was only known by that name... Shukor. One day someone unintentionally intercepted his letter from home. As the usual college day practice, sometimes we read someone's letters, not out of malice or any bad intention but only to tease. That's when Utoi's roomates (I can't remember which room he came from) found out that Shukor is called Utoi by his family! So the classmates came to know about this and started to call him Utoi. At first he can't accept this. Soon enough however it became the name known to us until this very day.

Another thing I remember about Group J is our class lecturer Miss Shana. Now, she was something. Among all the lecturers in our college, she was probably the most attractive and well-dressed female... and she' teaching English in our class. Sad to say I can't remember the other lecturers that well. There's a Chinese woman wearing spectacles and long wavy hair who likes to swing her big bulging plastic pen tied to a rope when talking about centrifugal force. Hmm, there's a Mr Mazlan or something who taught physics a few months later or so, a conservative-looking Malay teacher which I liked to tease a lot because of his less than proficient English.

During those days, I like to tease a lot of people. Whenever there's chance, I would try to distort every sentences coming out of lectures or discussions especially during the English classes into something that I thought was really funny just to get laughs. I would find opportunities to do stupid practical jokes and such because I felt bored. You see, since Form Four or so, I hardly studied for anything yet managed to get by in exams and scored big in my favourite subjects especially mathematics. This has made many regard me as a genius. But now when I look back to those days, I realised I was just seeking attention. I was having problems especially with my dad and that led to a certain feeling of hate against authority. This in turn was translated into defiance in college which I turned into matters for laugh. I forgot what I did then was very selfish and disruptive to others. I was lucky enough to be born naturally smart and thus able to get by without studying... in fact I missed a lot of classes but still managed to score well in tests and exams. But I forgot that others genuinely wanted to learn while I was just filling the days because of an education system which I used to really look down on.

With that thought, let me end this installment of "Remembering the "A" Level college days" ya. Cheers! :]


12 comments:

Amirul HM said...

Ha! Ha! Bro, you forgot one thing....makan kuaci tak buang kulit...Kah! Kah Kah!How are you nowadays?

Radzi Sapiee said...

Hehe! Yep, I forgot about that. Sebenarnya masa tu aku tak geti bukak kulit kuaci. Jadi aku makan terus aje le.

Anyway I'm fine, thank you. Got another book out but published by someone else, a company called Karnadya with some funding through Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Just got launched on Monday for the Pesta Buku.

By the way, Atuk is the photographer, me the writer. It's a coffee table book called "Rumah Azan". Check it out la during the Pesta Buku. Still on until Sunday in PWTC. Cheers! :]

p/s: Guess what, Topeq is a lawyer for the publishing company. What a funny way to get together huh!

Amin said...

Group J lee... group L lain... hang ingat tak group junior geng2 Afdlin. Hang duduk atas bunbung and ketuk dari atas. Kita takutkan dengan cerita pontianak... Siap baca Yasin lepas tu...
Ingat tak program radio yang kita buat dengan Tonga... ramai jugak dapat peminat...
Lagi satu drama John Derella yg kita buat , cerita joke boleh sampai ke top 4 drama out of 20 classes... not bad..

Mangor

hisham@jim said...

Ingat jugak ko kat aku ye... Lecturer tu bukan Mazlan... tapi Mr. Ramlan. Dia dah buat PhD, jadi kena panggil Dr. Ramlan.
Fly... aku ingat lagi, ko suka buat senaman angkat besi pakai kaki. Kan kat 51C tu ko duduk kat katil bawah dan aku duduk katil atas... Salam and keep in touch.

Radzi Sapiee said...

Hehe, terimakasih kengkawan sebab mengingatkan aku banyak benda yang aku dah lupa. Tu le sebab aku buat siri artikel "Remembering the "A" Level College Days" ni. Sebab masa kita punya 51C little reunion kat Kokopelli restaurant kat PJ, bebudak macam Zahid Apek ngan Nash cerita pasal mende-mende yang aku tak ingat.

Kalau aku tak ingat sebab aku tak terlibat lain le cerita. Ni aku sendiri tak ingat mende yang aku dah buat. Tu yang buat aku terkedu tu.

Bab menyakat bebudak junior tu aku ada cerita sikit dalam buku pertama aku "Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti". Tapi nanti aku cuba cerita balik secara detail, ikut apa yang aku ingat le kat sini. Tapi aku rasa aku akan cerita bab drama Johnderella tu dulu kat sini sebab ia berlaku tahun 1989 sedangkan menyakat bebudak tu tahun 1990 gitu.

OK guys, feel free to drop by and tambah-tambah le apa yang patut sebab aku memang banyak lupa. Nak buat camana... dan Mahathir cakap cam tu! Melayu mudah lupeee....

Radzi Sapiee said...

Lupa plak. Tadi elok aku dah check ngan Mangor pasal group tu L ke J. Jadi aku tukar le kat artikel ni. Malam ni aku bukak balik, baru perasan aku lupa nak tukar kat title Group L jadi J. Apa daaa...

p/s: Group L group sapa pulak aaa? Bebudak Law ke? Apsal aku tersasul?

Naim said...

Bro Fly. Group L tu mostly Engineering student in front of J class... tu pasal kau tersasul...

Radzi Sapiee said...

Ya ke? Patut le. Anyway bila teringat group L, what comes to mine is this girl, sedikit gempal, very fair with long hair, sapa nama tak ingat but yet her face came to mind. Not that I ever had anything with her tapi rasanya probably budak group L yang aku paling suka nyakat kot?

Anyway thank you Naim for the reminder. Ni Naim n Nini ke? Hehe! :]

Jebat berTUAH said...

....ni budak yang bak kata Azzali Zain..."..sekali dia langkah, 3 kali dia goyang" ke?

Radzi Sapiee said...

I don't know. I sort of remember her face but can't remember her name. But since you mention Azzali, then we must be talking about the same person... :]

p/s: Yep, she got the assets to move 3 x goyang per langkah hehe!

AMirul HM said...

Yo Fly....seperkara yang masih di ingat...kau suka lukis gambar dragon atas kertas jawapan ujian...KAH! KAH! KAH! Why don't U buat komik masyarakat pulak...If i remember correctly, u got nice dragon drawings!

Still reading GROO?

Radzi Sapiee said...

Dragon ke? Lama jugak aku fikir apa lagi aku sudah lupa da from those days. Tup tup baru ingat... gambo dinasour le, bukan dragon. Memang aku suka dinasour sejak kecil lagi... sampai masuk umur 25 ke gitu baru aku hilang minat.

Komik Groo dah lama aku tak baca. In 1998 or so aku pick-up baca komik Hong Kong pulak, Pedang Setiawan n Raja Rimba pulak. Used to have a collection which could be stacked up to over 5 foot high. Now I just read the comics at bookshops or Mamak stalls once in a while...