Ervan’s Weltanschauung

It’s funny. I am back home. A home where I don’t know many people, but, yes, it is home for me for the next couple of months. In a country where I am yet to familiarise myself with the language.

But I am getting the hang of it. Uitgang, exit. Grote, definitely something great, or big. Words that I am learning, words that a couple of weeks ago were totally alien to me, except probably for kassa and kantor.

Home, away from home. That’s Den Haag.

Anyway, I had a really packed weekend. I went to London. My home of three years. The City that shaped me to be who I am today. My former school, BB helped to build my character. In fact, a Mrs Chan SH kept drilling us boys that she prefer us to gentlemen rather than a topscorer. BB also taught me a very important lesson, essentially, everyone is the same, each and every one of us is a member of the one human race…

London taught me about life. And it was good to revisit London. Yan and Adry were already in London. They were kind enough to let me stay over with them. Sides, it has been some time since I last saw them. And I am sure, they were surprised to hear that I am in The Hague. And it’s good to be able to spend Raya with family, even though we are miles away from home. I even managed to get Naz and Farzana to come over, and that’s when we realise, what a small world we are really live in. Or how our circle of friends is really that small….

Farzana and Adry were from the same agama school. Yan’s wife, Ida, have a friend in common with Naz. And Naz too have common friends with Farzana. What’s even funnier, Kak Rush’s (the PETRONAS student advisor) husband’s boss is Yan and Adry’s dad.  I of course know Fahmi, Ida’s brother from my days in UKEC. And have to say, I am proud to learn that ten years on, UKEC is still very much alive and kicking. I read their Projek Amanat Negara booklet that was lying around in Dzariman’s house, and found many inconsistencies with their version of UKEC’s history. But, UKEC is still making a different, and allowing students to fulfill their leadership potential.

And it was great to meet up an old friend in Dzariman. A fellow BBian and my former classmate. We used to hang out in London, and errm, sadly, always bump to each other either in Forbidden Planet, or the arcades near Trocadero. Yes, we share the same love for comics and err, video games. Anyway, Dzariman brought me for a nasi lemak breakfast at Malaysia Hall. Sadly, the old Malaysia Hall is no longer there, the scenes of many memorable events in my memory. I did walk past by Bryanston Square. Apart from the missing Malaysia Hall, it looked like nothing changed for the past 8 years. Now they have a new Malaysia Hall. It felt different, as being in the old Malaysia Hall, you do feel nostalgic, or like some would say, the ghosts of previous Malaysians, some who are prominent can be felt. I don’t get the same vibe with the new Malaysia Hall.

8 years. That was the last time I saw them.  Tim and Tricky too did not change much. Tricky, still the blur, and yet clever in figuring out gadgets. He helped Tim figuring out how to work the juke box. And Tim, still the lazy sod he is. Ed’s Diner might have moved, but the same great tasting milkshakes are still there, and boy, the chocolate and peanut butter milkshake, that was reallllly goooood! And walking with them from Leicester Square to Waterloo, kinda remind me of us walking down from Gower Street to Leicester Square for our chinese meals. Got to find those old photos.

Indeed, many things have changed in London. But in essence, London is still London, the city that taught me life….It was good to be back, even if it is only for 2 days….

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.