Nostalgia

So our dear Anod finally got hitched to a guy who looked like that boy from X-Factor. Anod is one of the few from that hellhole of a school in Kluang that I am in constant contact with, so it is impertinent that I go to her wedding. 

And on that rainy Saturday mid-morning; Moons, An, Azi and I, left for Kluang.

Preamble: I hated Kluang. I hated the institution that was the school - the stupid regulations - the school rules and the restrictive hostel culture. I hated that I was jeered at just because I can speak Inggeris slightly better than some (and without having a put-on American accent adopted from many hours in front of the TV even!) and that I am fat. I hated the boys who always poked fun of me - who will call me loudly from across the library, along the corridors, everywhere and embarass me (I was young, naive and pemalu once). I hated the teachers who were mostly condescending and scary ("Dah tau bodoh duduk lagi belakang? Mana tak lagi bodoh!" "Ni tingkat 3 ni, ni tingkat 3...saya campak sekor2 ke bawah kang!") I hated the food which are mostly dreary - ikan jacket comes to mind. 

Oh but Monday lunch, Tuesday dinner, Thursday dinner and Saturday breakfasts were lovely.

I hated the fact that I am a girl and so I MUST walk along the corridors that was deigned for females only. I can only play tennis at the court during Friday prayers only where the sun is scorching hot and I'd probably die of dehydration. I MUST were camisole and kain dalam because it is what good girls do despite the fact that I probably perspire and stink when my folds of fat are shrouded by layers and layers of clothing.

Suffice to say, my last day in Kluang was my last day at school. I did not even bother to come back for my SPM results. 

So 20 years later, I revisit Kluang for Anod. It would be apt if the journey or at least the accompanying weather thereof was dramatic and nothing short of phenomenal. But no. I was in super good company with Moons, An and Azi. Good conversations, snacks, goss and laugh a minute. There was rain but what's a little pitter-patter and heavy traffic when you're in good company eh?

Then I reached Kluang.

The first wave of nostalgia hit me when I drove pass Institute Haiwan Kluang. As a Renjers Puteri, we camped out there for our badges. I remembered us girls, freshly awoken and still bleary eyed making our way to the toilets across the road. We spied a group of cows coming down the hill, at first a safe distance away then increasingly closer and closer and faster and faster. We screamed and scrambled to safety; some of us more able-limbed ones (and not fat like me) scampered and jumped over the fence. Never thought cows could move that fast but there you go.

We drove past the bus stop that we all waited for our bus to town. We squealed when we saw Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor signboard. We went to the wedding, posed and teased the bridge and groom and then made our way to railway station for the famed coffee and roti bakar.

We reminisced some more. I've always preferred the train than the bus so it was a rush of pleasant memories at the train station. How we jostled for seats and how some of us stood the entire way from Kluang to JB because there were no seats left during festivity holidays. I remembered nearly missing my Kluang stop because the train was on Singapore - KL route and stops for only 3 minutes in Kluang. I remembered a friend telling me, mirthfully, how a mother screamed and cried because she did not disembark in time - she was busy telling her son to be good etc. Teehee.

We drove past Coronation - Coro, to us kids then. Coro was a cinema then, some place wicked to escape to some kids who were brave and willing to break the rules (I wasn't brave enough, sadly). There was an even wickeder place at the back of Coro - this pakcik who sold awesome nasi goreng ayam for only RM1.50 - big enough portion to feed two hungry schoolkids (and perhaps only one fat schoolkid, ahem). 

We remembered the jokes and the silly things we get up to in school. How one of us always managed to wrangle free food from the boys she was flirting with. How we (I) loved the makcik kantin's food. How we camwhored around Kluang during our last day of school. And the perpetual state of mess of my room locker (a warden called it "Niagara Falls" - go figure).

Suddenly, Kluang doesn't seem too bad anymore. The teachers aren't monsters - just strict mom/dad figures that we need in absence of our real parents. The food, well, the food on Monday lunch, Tuesday dinner, Thursday dinner and Saturday breakfasts were lovely. What's a little kari ikan jacket? And Makcik Gemuk always gave me extra portion (comrade in flab and all that). 

And the friends, well the boys grew up and now that they're all daddies (and some queens teehee), they're a lot more nicer to talk to. Thanks to FB groups, I am now in touch with the other girls as well and it was lovely to have met Roselin who came down from Sarawak after 20 years.

Am glad I took that trip back to Kluang. Bye Kluang, I hope to be back soon.