love goes a long way

Year One – When eyes first met


“HELANG! HELANG! HELANG!” from the top of my lungs I shouted, as I exited The Ababil Park fully dressed in a formal matter. The Ababil Park was a small garden situated in the center of Helang’s residential block. Helang block was well known through out the whole of UPM (Putra University of Malaysia). It had a reputation of being one of the most violent residential blocks here. It wasn’t much of a surprise seeing that it was also referred as Hell. Oh, yeah…. I almost forgot.
Let me see…….. Its been two years since my SPM and I was currently beginning my degree in Computer and Communication Engineering. After a year taking a matriculation course, I was now an undergraduate. Finally I was starting to put my life in order. Since the lost of my kind, precious and loving best friend I’ve gone astray for a while but, that was in the past (I tried to convince myself that it was) and I was going to move on.
It’s been three weeks since I enrolled in my degree course. And orientation week had ended. Finally, this meant no more late night delivery services which we freshmen had to provide, no more humiliating tasks and no more pain nor agony. After the closing dinner that night, we freshmen were finally acknowledged as members of the Helang society. Every freshman, including myself was just recently thrown in to the pond that was situated at the middle of Ababil Park. Moments after the dinner had ended, a few freshmen were told to throw another freshman into the pond. One by one, one after the other we were thrown in. The night seemed so alive. Everyone began getting involved. People running, waters splashing and even water bombs were flying all over the place. Everything was just so chaotic.
Two weeks prior to orientation week, everything went from frantic to static. Nothing much would happen. My daily routine was to simply wake up, attend to class, return to my room, watch t.v and then back to sleep. Well, about the part where I attended to classes.….. It’s partially true. I did attend classes but, only if I was a wake. So, I guess that justifies my attendance for classes that begins before noon. And for classes that I did attend, it was no different. If I wasn’t late, I’d probably be too drowsy to actually pay any attention to the lecture. You could even say that I never left my room. Maybe not never, but hardly ever. Why would I have to? Everything I needed was already in my room. What do I mean?? Well, I shared the room with one of my matriculation dorm mate, Midun. Midun practically made our room as if he was at home. He brought a personal laptop, a hi-fi, a 21” colour t.v and other accessories. So I had all the comfort of home, right there in my room. The only time I would leave my room was to get a bite to eat. So you can say I didn’t mingle much. I even heard complaints saying I was snobbish and such. But who cared. As long as I was comfortable with my lifestyle, everything else didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t until our family day did I realize how important and worthwhile it was getting to know the other residents.
By the fourth week of the semester, our midterm exams had begun. During the same week, the residential college that I was staying in, which was known as ‘Second’ (Second’s residential College) was having their ‘family day’ or to be more accurate, ‘family week’. This family week was a whole week full with various types of competitions between four groups. Members of each group are combinations of residents from different floors of different residential blocks. Besides Helang, there are four other residential blocks, Raja Udang, Raja Wali, Merpati and Enggang. Helang and Raja Udang residential block are for male gender and Merpati, Raja Wali and Enggang were for the girls. So for an example, residents from first floor Helang, second floor RajaWali, ground floor Enggang, top floor Raja Udang and ground floor Merpati would combine to make one group. And the other groups were like so on. Each group was then given a distinctive name. Each group obtained their name by random selection accordingly to the theme given. In these groups, it was our responsibilities as a member to design our own mascot, flags and create cheers to support our group. It was all to prepare for the upcoming competitions that were to take place. Among the events and competitions held were choir, drama, treasure hunt indoor and outdoor games and also a cooking contest. Through out the entire week, from dusk to dawn we’d rehearse and train for each event. I remember this rather clearly. I spent every night for the entire week trying to get our choir and nasyid into order. It was during this hour was that I met a girl, her name was Intan. I remember this because of her hair. It was kind of weird looking. It looked like that she had recently been caught up in some kind of a storm. It was a case of the worst bad hair day that I had ever seen. I also remember spending an entire night taking turns to put together a one thousand piece jigsaw puzzles. When we weren’t assembling the puzzle, we were at the gym peeling onions. By the end of the week, the closing ceremony was held. Winners of each event were awarded prizes such as medals and hampers. Just before the ceremony came to an end, the total score for each group was rallied and the winner was announced. That marked the end of our family week. By the time it was over everyone was drop dead tired. But nevertheless, it was worth the fun. Besides having fun, we were able to get acquainted with other residents especially girls. Some of the residents even lived up to the true intentions of the ‘family week’, starting a family of their own. Those were the lucky ones…….. What??? Wrong intentions??? Come on… We’re only human… And as human, we too need somebody to simply accompany us.
So anyway, life goes on. So did our exams. If you ask me, I don’t think that I even studied for my midterms. All that I’m sure of was that they’ve came and left. Life then went back to normal. Well, as normal as it could possibly get. For the rest of the term, our college held no other big events. Only activities organized by each Secretariat were held. To escape a life of boredom, I enrolled myself into one of the many secretariats there. That secretariat was the Secretariat of charitable trust, or known to us here simply as ‘Kebajikan’. Kebajikan was one of the most active secretariat/organization in Second. Each year, Kebajikan would organize various activities. Among them were fundraisers, outings, community services, annual dinners, an award ceremony and much more. As I joined Kebajikan, it was organizing a community service act. Like every other activity held, for this event the secretariat’s board of directors had elected a director, assistant directors, secretaries and a treasurer or in other words a committee to run this event. The member of this committee then would elect its workforce.
This year, they decide on giving their service to a children’s ward in Hospital Besar Kuala Lumpur (HBKL). I wasn’t able to participate in this activity due to some circumstances. Having heard the experience from those who had participated left me in a state of envy. I then decided to make sure that I would take part in what ever upcoming program Kebajkan was going to organize. A couple of months later, Kebajikan organized another function. Its first annual dinner was going to be held, MAK (Malam Anugerah Kebajikan). Before I get into MAK, I would like to add another activity that went on. It was Helang’s annual festival or simply known as Helang fest. It was similar to Second’s family week but it was between floors only in Helang. It was rather exciting. Seeing that there were no girls made the whole events more fun. It left us with no boundaries. If you ask me, I enjoyed Helang fest much more then Second’s family. We had a karaoke competition. Everyone of us took a chance to enlighten the crowd with our vocal talents. I’m not sure why I didn’t win. Hmm…… I have wonderful singing voice. If you don’t believe me, why don’t ask, ………. Wait, how about ………hmmmph. How about asking myself. Well, if you are asking me, I’d have to agree with my statement earlier. I do believe I have a soothing voice. No! No! Stop throwing those rocks at me. I was just joking. Ok, let’s get back to MAK. The dinner was to honour and award those who had given full commitment to Kebajikan. Preparations were made and every member had their own responsibility to be done. Three days before the function, all those who were involved got together to paint the banner for the function. That night at Kenyalang Hall, we devised the banner. It was also the very night I met her.
She had brown eyes, a moderate tanned yet fair complexion, soft gentle hands and a smile so innocent. Dressed simply in a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of track bottoms with her bathroom slippers on, still she seemed kind of cute. Right beside me she sat, as we started to paint the banner. From time to time I would sneak a glimpse of her. This is a bit of an embarrassment to me but this is what happened. You could call me yellow you wish to but It wasn’t me who made the first move. It was her.

As I was painting she acknowledged me,
“So how did you do in your C programming exam?”
“C program? How did you know I was taking C?” I asked feeling rather baffled.
“You’re GB, right? Well, I’ve seen you around, in class.” She replied.

In class??? What??? She was my classmate??
“You’re taking C also? So what engineering course are you taking?” asking her in anticipate.
“Same as you, Computer and Communications”

Oh, no wonder. Not only was she was my classmate but also my course mate. So as we painted we also began to chat. At the stroke of midnight, we stated o part and went separate ways back to our own rooms. Noryusuhana… a rather sweet name I thought.
On my way back to my room, a senior of mine stopped me. This senior of mine was known as Comport. Comport was the same age and batch as me but he was a senior by circumstance. Comport and I wasn’t what you would refer as friends. We were more on the lines of feuding acquaintances. You could say I pretty much hated his guts at the time. Since orientation week he’s been on my back relentlessly, constantly bugging and pestering me. Every time I pass in front of his room or even just by him, he would have some disturbing remarks for me. It was quite a surprise when he stopped me. At first I thought it was to say some kind of witty remark but I was mistaken. He asked me for the name of the girl that I was talking to. So I told him that her name was Ana and she was my course mate. Comport then smiled at rushed back to his room. I was confused. What just happened?
The following day, a meeting was held. This was a great opportunity for me to get to know Ana a little more. This time the agenda was to find volunteers to perform on stage during the dinner. They planned on putting on a traditional dance. Dancing is something that I’m into, but a traditional dance wasn’t what you would call one of my strong points. It was more a feminine type of dance. Seeming that there weren’t any volunteers, forced labour was to be held. So I quickly hid away. I snuck out of the room to get away from being selected. I stopped at the convenience store to buy myself a drink. By the time I got back in the room, the involuntary volunteers were selected. Among them were Ana and Comport. After testing out their talents, Ana and Comport were assigned as dancing partners. At the moment I didn’t think much of them dancing together. I had the night planned out. I planned to make my move at the very opportunity as it presents itself. I was going to confront her after they finished rehearsing. As I waited, I watched. From what I could see, Ana seemed to be a great dancer. The way she danced was astonishing. She danced gracefully to the sound of the music. She had rhythm. As she danced, she smiled. She smiled not because entertained by the music but her smiled was meant for her partner, her dancing partner. Comport and her were joking around, laughing and seemed to be having a good time. But nevertheless I made up my mind and I was going to face her. So I waited and waited and waited. As the time arrived, just as they finished rehearsing I began to approach her. As I was about to approach her, Comport appeared right in front of me. He then brought Ana aside so he could have a private conversation with her. What just happened?? For the second time in the past few days I asked myself. I was puzzled. The night ended without any opportunity for me to confront her. The next couple of days were kind of hectic. A lot of unfinished preparations had to be taken care of, leaving me with no chance to confront her.
Days had passed and it was now the eve of the annual dinner. I was in charge of security, so I was at the location earlier than the rest. I had some duty to attend to. Time does fly quickly. By the time I was done with my duties, it was already a quarter past nine, and the dinner had begun. I got seated at my table and began to consume (not the table but my meal). A major disappointment fell upon me that night. As everyone else was watching the performances and awards, my eyes were fixed on Ana with Comport by her side. They were enjoying each other’s company. I was in gloom. They seemed very intimate. It was as if they were an item. That night came to an end with me losing all hope. Yet, although left devastated still I wished the best for them. Who am I to stand in the way of what seemed to be the act of cupid taking place.
Not long after, the semester had come to an end. And it was time for the holidays. During that holiday, I found myself a part time job to earn some cash. Beside of my job, nothing interesting really happened. Five weeks later, it was the beginning of a new semester. As the results for last semester came out, I was numbed. I got an A and B for a couple of subjects but besides that, everything else was in red. Oh my god. My parents were going literally kill me if they knew what I got, so I didn’t tell them. At first I felt a bit down but thanks to my seniors a bit of hope was left. They gave me guidance on what to do. They showed me which elective subject (‘breathers’) to take to raise my CGPA. As I was hunting for ‘breathers’, I found out that I wasn’t the only one with academic troubles but also most of the engineer juniors in Helang were too. Besides my own 0.687 CGPA, the rest of their CGPA varied from 0.687 to 1.9. Although I was far from proud with my result, still I felt kind of relieved knowing I had company. So the bunch of us went hunting together. After registration week was over, our studies continued.
A few weeks into the semester, another major activity was going to be held. Second was organizing its annual open day, or best put as open week. This open week was a bit like carnival. For the whole week, each secretariat opened their own stall to pull in some income for their secretariat. Not only that but beginning at nightfall, inter-block competitions were held. Among them were essay writing, debate, a video clip competition, and the inter-block sanitation competition. As usual, Helang opened a burger stall. Our stall did quite successfully. It wasn’t because our burgers were outstandingly delicious but because of our good looking chefs there. Not to blow my own horn but I was one them (Give me a break. Who else is gonna admire me if not myself). Something that I saw during that week puzzled me. I saw Comport starting to spend time with this girl from Rajawali. Her name was Siti. What had happened between him and Ana?
That week I asked around to find out about Ana and Comport’s current status. Besides everyone referring Ana as AnaComport there were no news about them. It was like their once blooming relationship suddenly disappeared. Their trail seemed to vanish into thin air. What really had happened between them nobody really knew. Where was Ana? I haven’t her for quite some time. Seeing that all the subjects I took were from various faculties, I hadn’t a single class with Ana. You could say that I lost total contact with her. The last time I saw her was when she was performing in the inter-Block Video Clip Competition during the open week.
I remember the Video Clip competition distinctively. Raja Udang preformed a Video Clip following the song off the Soundtrack Titanic, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. RajaWali did a Video Clip off of a Smashing Pumpkin Album. Helang did a Video Clip of this local group, Senario. The song was entitled, Adik Pandang-Pandang. It was a comic song. This was the Scenery for our Video Clip. Two girls (Boys dressed up like girls) waiting at a bus stop. As they waited, two groups of guys saw them. They then decided to pick them up. One group was street hoodlums and the other group was a group of businessmen. During the entire song these two groups battled to see who gets the girl. During the Video Clip, we had some technical problems. The bus stop we built fell down during the competition. It fell onto the head of the two girls. But like they say, the show must go on. So it did. Both girls had one hand up to support the bus stop from falling during the rest of the Video Clip. The ending to our Video Clip was rather unique. At the end of the song, the girls’ boyfriends came on to the stage on their motorbikes. The girls then ran to hug their boyfriends. As the video clip ends they then get on the bikes and leave. The only thing was, the girls were the ones in the driver seat while their boyfriend sitting behind as passengers. It ended with everyone on and off the stage looking rather confused.