Madrasati

I was driving to work yesterday listening to Era.fm ('cos I love their morning crew!). They were asking people to call up and sing their school songs. Which got me to thinking about my school... and realising that after 12 years I still remember every word of the freakin' school song!! Of course la.. I only had to sing it every Monday for five years. And oh my God.. I totally hated my school when I was there. But isn't weird now I'm okay with it and strangely enough.. kinda miss it?

This is my alma mater, far away in the wild wild jungles of Raub, Pahang. It's a sekolah berasrama penuh, one of the more ulu ones in my day. Haha! Back then, to get there you had to take a bus from Pekeliling or Pudu which took about 3 hours. There was no convenient MRR2 then. You had to go through Setapak to Gombak to the Karak Highway and endure endless turning roads along deep ravines until you finally got to the little town o' Raub. The best thing about the town was the yummy nasi ayam behind the bus-stop and the local 2-storey Jaya supermarket where we did our shopping. Other than that, there really wasn't much else! From there, you took another bus trip (which cost only 55 sen!) to the school. Or you could get a taxi for RM5.

Everyone who's been to boarding school knows about prep. You know, the time you're supposed to be studying and doing homework but instead you read Taiwan comics, listen to Pilihan Bersama on your walk-mans hidden in your baju, gossip, nap and sometimes play Chess? And lining up to get your grub at the dewan makan. Apart from the infamous nasi kawah, ours served such exotic dishes such as ikan surat khabar, ayam masak kuning, ikan jaket and sotong tin. We also enjoyed kicap Besta, bread from the local factory across the road, extremely sweet tea and tasteless coffee.

Our dorms were a 10 minute walk along the gajah menyusur from school. The water pressure in our toilets was unpredictable so we usually ended up mass bathing around the kolah. Behind the kolah and clothes lines was a chain-link fence which separated us from the secondary jungle from where we were treated to a regular weekly show from the crazy flasher from the nearby village! Hmmm.. I could go on and on about that school. How I loved and hated it from the moment I set foot there on 15 Dec 1990! But it's getting late and you probably have better things to do anyway than read about me rambling on about some obscure place.

Oh, and for the record, here's my school song:

Inilah sekolah yang tercinta
SEMESTA itulah namanya
Mendidik dan membina anak-anak negara
Mencapai segala cita-cita

Kepada para guru semua
Jasamu tiada tandingnya
Bekerja dan berusaha
Tidak mengenal masa
Demi masa depan kita

Berilmu, beramal, berbudi setiap masa
Pada Rukun Negara
Kami akan setia

Oh Tuhan yang Maha Kuasa
Jayakanlah kami semua
Selamat dan sentosa
Sihat setiap masa
Berjaya, SEMESTA, berjaya!