Old Tech Reunion.

My batch mate of 1963 – 1965, Saruji Che Din a permanent residence of Germany escaped the cold winter of Germany to his hometown in Nibong Tebal. The last time I met Saruji was in 1978 when he dropped by at my residence with his newlywed German lady.

Accidentally, I came to know that Saruji was home from his elder brother and over several phone calls; I insisted that we should meet. He obliged by travelling all the way down to KL by the night train for the reunion. He was guided by another batch mate, Osman Awang to take the Putra LRT upon arrival at KL Sentral and Osman would be waiting for him at Kelana Jaya Station. Osman could easily recognize the same old Saruji but Saruji however did not recognize the present chubby and oversize Osman. I wish I was there to witness the fun.

I drove all the way to Osman’s residence, had to be picked up by Osman at an allocated point as I am not too familiar with the Kelana Jaya elite residential zone. I was glad to rendezvous with Saruji after all these years but I could not recognize a stranger who was presence. Blimey!! It was Ir. Mansor Salleh, my one year senior who took time off to meet Saruji. I used to play hockey with Mansor but now he had grown bald. The four (4) Hajis had a good laugh and sat down reminiscing the good old days at Technical Institute Penang. Osman claimed that he had grown in size after he left TI because the Hostel was under feeding him.

From Left to right: Me, Mansor Saleh, Saruji Che Din, Osman Awang.

We adjourned for lunch at a Mamak Restaurant nearby for nasi kandar and continue relating each other well being during the missing time zone. We also recollected about some missing batch and school mates. I tried to convince Saruji to set home permanently in Malaysia. Perhaps he has his own plan that I wouldn’t know. After all his family is all settle in Haidenberg Germany.

Saruji was in KL only for a night and Osman played host. I picked up Saruji the following morning and accompanied him to KL Sentral Station for the afternoon train back to Parit Buntar. He also took the opportunity to sort a reimbursement from MAS office at KL Sentral due to voluntary dropout from his flight at Frankfurt. Due to the lengthy formalities he had to abandon the procedure as the train was about to depart.

It was nice to catch up with old friends. We are all aging and we never know whether we can ever meet again. Saruji would be back in Germany sometimes late April 2011. For aging people like us, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) gave Saruji the complimentary discounted train fare for “warga emas” (senior citizens) for those who had crossed the 60 year mark. So am I.

Saruji……if you read this, take good care and look after your health. So far you are doing fine. We both have something in common as we both tasted and share with the others the rattan from the Sadist. However we came out and doing all right in life. Looking back, we can laugh about it. That was part of growing up, though an unfortunate incident but it was fun.