Dateline: last weekend)
OO rang around 10.30pm last night reminding me that we will be pushing off from home around 8.30-ish the next morning. Plan was to go with her to her uni, she has her morning class for her Masters programme. Later on to pick up YY at the station and start our journey to K.
*Sigh* I haven’t packed. The small black roller bag is standing in a corner of my room. Glaring at me, accusingly “When are you gonna start packing me?” Haha..I know, the thing about me is…I love, love, love traveling but I hate, hate, hate packing (and unpacking for that matter). Wish I had a butler.
Woke up late this morning, morning cleansing ritual, subuh prayers. My warm bed and pillow looks so inviting…..sleepy-nya. Nak tido lagi. But the thought of OO honking at the front of the house at 8.30am steeled me away from my bed. Ok…first make a list of things that I’d need to bring, quickly drag clothes from inside my closet. Last look at my list, everything tick-tick-tick, eh where’s my handphone, oh lupa kat depan rupanya I charged it this morning.Right, asked Jat to help bring my luggage downstairs. Amal watching telly, “ok kakak nak pi dah” “Bila balik” “Sunday petang” “Bye”Baru teringat, hari nihbirthday FZ, tak sempat nak tanya what he had planned for her. Came down in time to see OO’s car pull infront of the house. It was drizzling and quickly tuned into a heavy rainfall.
The girls were waiting outside. “Nak pi mana ni?” “Nak pi kelas memanah” “Hujan2 nih” they smiled “Tak kot, kalau hujan ada teori sahaja dalam class” Elisa offered an answer. Then dad’s car pulled into the driveway, OO was walking in with him. As dad was talking to OO, I managed to scour the house for the rest of my stuff, shoes, some reading documents, a book and quickly zipped them up in my bag. Great all set ready to go. Went inside, said my goodbyes to mom. She was feeling a bit under the weather this morning – a bit of a fever, and she doesn’t usually gets sick. Made me promise to drive safely and have a safe journey to K. And I promised to ring her, once I arrived at the hotel. Dad finished his conversation with OO. Salam dad, he also reminded us to drive carefully. We waved our goodbyes “Bye Kak Besaq” “Bye” SuHan said “nanti jangan lupa bawa balik buah tangan”.
OO and I got into her car, conversation flowed easily between us, I’ve known OO since our days in Matrix. She’s one of my close friends, we’ve been through a lot from uni days until now. We spoke about family, work, latest developments in her life. “Aku sebenarnya tak rajin sangat mula mula nak pi reunion ni” OO said “tapi bila kau call and ajak hari tuh, aku terfikir, kalau kau nak pergi, kenapa aku yang gemar bersosial ni taknak pergi?” “Yea ke? La aku ingat kau dari awal lagi nak pergi” “Tah la aku pun tak tahu kenape aku beriya sangat nak pergi” JYes, come to think of it, why did I made up my mind to go. The good-side, is I’ll get to meet up with old uni mates who I haven’t seen in donkeys’ years. Quite looking forward to the Reunion actually. I hope this was the right decision that I made and I wont regret it too. J
The moment I saw the familiar architecture and building, it comes flooding back – the good memories and the not-so-good ones. But thats how we learn, from our life’s experiences, we take it in, and try to do things differently in the future. Right?
In the waiting area now, adjacent to OO’s class, I can hear the lecturer’s voice booming from the room – siyasah syariah is the subject. A thought crosses my mind, do I want to return here? Be in this surrounding and atmosphere again? To feel safe or be out there among the masses…is this where my real place of jihad is?I had the opportunity once, that life was relatively easy, not much conflict. But after a while you get lulled in your cocoon of safety. You forget what it is like facing the worldly challenges out there. Lets let the thought rest here for a while, prolly I’ll revisit it again sometime in the future.
