Asliza-my old friend

It was 1975. I was in Standard 5 Red (1st class) in Sekolah Tunku Mahmud (1). As usual Ravindran, my best friend and i always sit together in the class. Our class teacher was Mr. Robert Gan. We had the same teacher as our class teacher when we were in Standard 4. I think he must have noticed our friendship when we were in Standard 4. So, when we progressed to Standard 5, he seperated us. He made us sit at the opposite corners of the class. Ravindran was made to sit at the left corner and I was made to sit at the right corner of the class.

My neighbour was a long-haired sweet looking girl. She was a quiet, shy and a reserved person just like me. Unlike now, those days, I don't talk to girls at all. There are a lot of female classmates that i have never spoken to during my schooldays.

So, how am I to spend the rest of the year sitting beside this girl? It took sometime for us to break the ice. I slowly begin to talk to her by asking for a pencil or eraser. Most of the time I go to school without stationeries. I usually borrow from Zam-Zam who was sitting behind me. So, now I got an additional person to aid me. Our friendship slowly blossomed. I remember there were a few occassions when she teased me. According to her, I helped her by putting a tick for inaccurate answers just for her to gain additional marks. But I can't remember that.

The days passed by and we became good friends although not very close. The reason was I didn't want to be teased by my friends. I can't remember much about us, as both of us were very shy. But, I was kind of respect her. So, who is this girl? Yes, she is Asliza Ahmad.

She left our school a year later after her father was transfered to Kuala Lumpur. Since then I did not hear about her until March this year through Facebook. At first I was a bit reluctant to contact her as I was unsure. She started the conversation by asking whether do I still remember her.

Our friendship is now reestablished after 35 years. She has been an air stewardess and held many other positions in the airline industry as well as in the corporate sector. She is very knowledgable and dynamic.

She is now staying in Shah Alam and has a lovely son. We communicate almost daily. Both of us have so much to talk but so little time.