5 perkara yang dia rindu /5 things I miss terribly:

#1:

KL. The people, the places, the happenings (however strange), the diversity.

#2:

Learning in Arabic. Now I’m learning everything in the English Language. It feels a bit unnatural sometimes, especially for the IRK subjects.

Before this, I’d never have thought that I actually could/would miss having my lessons in Arabic. Never.

Now I realize that poring over words in the Mawrid Dictionary is something that I actually enjoy doing. Also, being deprived of Arabic after having learned various subjects in Arabic for the past 15-16 years is a bit of a shock.

#3:

Learning French at Alliance Française.

M. Lopez laughing at my first attempts of pronouncing “l’oeil”.

M. Raufino: ‘“Beaucoup des?” Since when did I teach you to use “beaucoup des*?”’

The teachers unconsciously addressing me as Miriam instead of Maryam.

Staring closely at artwork that they’d hung all around the place during art festivals/the annual French Film Festival, etc.

Having to solat on the stage or at the upstairs gallery in front the paintings (and in full view of everyone who happens to be walking or sitting around in the main hall), or at the back of the café.

Talking with the Indian caretaker while waiting to go home.

Being one step closer to understanding the French people and culture.

The whole experience, basically.

*The correct form is “beaucoup de”.

#4:

Painting. Pastels and acrylic and solid coloured poster paints and large blank white sheets of paper. Taking days or weeks to finish one painting – those hours and hours of solitude and calming-down-and-sorting-out-my-thoughts time. Now I simply don’t have the time or space for this.

#5:

The NST-NIE Literature in English class of 2005 [the lessons themselves, the teachers, Puan Iris and Mrs. Merina Hew [now Datin, I think] especially; and the friends. Michelle, Nuri, Fern, Chiew Yi, Andrew, Jee Ian, Warren, Anastassia, and all the rest of you.

In acting out Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest [Act I]:

Sandesh (as Gwendolen Fairfax): What wonderfully blue eyes you’ve got, Ernest! [tilts Shameez’s (as Ernest) head none too gently to have a better look at his “blue” eyes]

Hahahaa.

And the teacher’s comment at the end: “Oscar Wilde would be turning in his grave!”]

You should all read that play, seriously. And George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, too – they’re both hilarious and very clever. The other drama we studied was Romeo and Juliet, but personally I don’t think Shakespeare is at all suitable for casual reading. Plus, both Romeo and his wife died in the end. HAHAHA don’t like tragic endings, do we?

And the conversation this morning in Psych class:

About five to six BENL students who were sitting next to me were talking:

Student 1: Antonio yang jahat kan?

Student 2: Siapa? Antonio?

Student 3: Ha ah, Antonio, the brother. Dia memang jahat sejak azali.

And they went on describing the sequence of events from The Tempest. [“Ish susah betul ah nak faham.” “Jap jap, biar aku ulang balik cerita dia…”]

[Mind flyyyyyying over to the Lit classes, pangs of remembrance stabbing at my heart. HAHAHAA]. I chuckled and asked them, “Shakespeare?”

The girl next to me swiveled around: Ha aaaaahhh… BENL ke?

Me: Tak, dulu pernah belajar Literature. Which is that: A Midsummer Night’s Dream? [Wild guess, because I wasn’t sure which one had Antonio, Ariel and Prospero in it.]

Her: The Tempest…[groans]

Me: Ahh The Tempest*. Miranda.

Her: Tu lah. Susah nak fahaaamm! Chaucer is actually better, sebab bila tak faham, terus tak faham semua. But with Shakespeare it’s like you understand at some places, and then kat tempat lain, langsung tak faham!”

Moments like that. [Abusing Shakespeare, comparing works, trying to get to the meaning behind words…]. Pangs of remembrance.

*[Actually, I’d “studied” The Tempest in IIC. Junior 3 or 4, I think. This was after finishing with The Merchant of Venice. But back then we didn’t study the original texts of course.

It was only during Form 5 that I got acquainted with Shakespeare’s wherefores and “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” and the incomprehensible-at-times language.]

All five things/places have made my life richer, lent me new ways of looking at people and the world, and forced me into appreciating my faith and religion more.

Ya Fattāh, I pray You lend those five things back to me someday.

You’ll never miss the water until the well dries up.