Written: Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:55 am
I was among the "unfortunates" who failed to join other brilliant classmates and Hafsah to UK. Lebih menyiksakan then, dipaksa ambil Dip. Ikan di UPM. Who else among 5E2s went to UPM Main Campus after MCE? Zul Monalisa, Ibrahim, Noi, and Normah. Ada yang tertinggal? Tok Udin and Jalil Marzuki went to UPM Sarawak. Dari other classes di Serdang: Rozhan
During the first year, we had most of the classes together with the Home Tech girls and Dip Ternak students. There were Eva of Manjui, Zeta-Jones of JB and Kavita Kaur of Parit Bakar. Eva and Z in Dip Home Tech while Kavita ambil Dip Ternak. The extremely fair Eva has a natural light brown straight hair and was someone who I enjoyed "main mata" across the lecture halls. A habit I picked up dalam 5E2 (you know with who). She somewhat got addicted to that. Her best friend tried to work something for us but failed as both of us became frozen every time she left us alone. Senyum memanjang aja dan tergagap-gagap. Tak jadi apa. Arghhh… Or probably I takut Noi pi khabag kat Hafsah. So unfortunate that Jalil Marzuki or Tok Udin was not around to "pschy up" or "coach" me. But her "jelingan manja" inspired my first published poem "Sekali sekali". Dapatlah setakat RM15.
Zeta was the girl who always chased me in the lecture halls, tutorials and labs. Not bad looking but I felt "lemas" whenever she was around. Probably because I never or seldom fancy curlies and sowo matangs other than slightly curly but fair Hafsah. Tried many ways to avoid her including masuk lecture lambat, and always refused her request to borrow my homeworks, lab reports etc (but dengan Eva selalu pula I volunteered beri pinjam) and to concerts (yang ni senang mengelak dengan alasan "I tak suka tengok perkara lara dan maksiat"). But tup-tup, there she was already beside me.
Kavita was a sweet 165cm slim fair girl. Sweet macam Kavita, slim macam Aleeza (Kassim). Her friends called her Bai (At that time, Man Bai was unheard). Whenever I didn't fancy riding my twin cylindered Honda 125 home, we sometime sama-sama planned "balik kampung" on Hasry Express. Z stopped chasing me when she found out I "balik kampung" with Kavita. Alhamdullillah. Kavita was my savior. I began to somehow like Kavita although my male coursemates discouraged it by saying "Tulang! Tulang! Buat sup pun, tak dapat apa!!". And we remained "hanya kawan!". I did not pursue beyond that kerana khuatir Noi akan khabag kat Hafsah.
In Year Two, we no longer had similar classes with those girls. Kavita remained as a friend. Nevertheless, I noticed that whenever I passed by her and her Bollywood mates, her mates always became excited and suka "singong-singong" her. Being not as handsome as Jalil Mohd or Jalil Marzuki or Razak Marzuki or Jamal K or Ibrahim or Nasir waimah Tok Udin or Y Munajat, I somehow liked those attentions. But things became "luarbiasa" when I accompanied my cousin's son to her house during the next raya. I suspected he fancied her selepas gagal dengan Asma Aini. Her sisters treated me in a "luarbiasa" way. They said they like the way I talked, the way I smiled, the way I make jokes etc etc…. Tenggelam my cousin's son (sepupu Ahmad Reza. Another sentimental Y who till now remains single. Probably due to this or the curse of Asma Aini, Eva's classmate. Pernahlah teman kan Y on his double date with Asma. Asma was a beautiful girl, putih melepak with mata galak. Ramai yang minat. But I did not found her attractive because her curly hair. She kept changing her pak we every semester as each of them had to repeat semester termasuk Y. During my 3 years in UPM, I tried my best to avoid being seen with her. Takut orang speculate that I would be her next victim!) as if he was not there. This "strange" treatment happened again while we, Kavita, Noi and other Muarians were waiting for our Hasry Express to "balik kampus" after that raya. The Bollywood sisters even teased me for refusing to sit with Kavita "Hi buat-buat malu dan macam tak biasa pula!?".
I went up to Noi and asked her "Kenapa kakak2 Kavita treated me in a "luarbiasa" way?"
Noi said "Don't you know?"
"Tahu apa pula?"
"She has a crush on you. Hari2 di dorm tak ada kerja lain, asyik cerita pasal you!"
"Ye ke Noi?"
"Ye. But we don't think she is right for you. We all tak setuju!" I guess "we" means Noi and Normah!
"Oh…….." And suddenly I lost my little interest in her. Gone another possibility! Noi's jinx? Or mungkinkah kerana I began to like the Paya Mas girl (bukan Paya Redan) whom I met in the same bus and had a dinner semeja during the bus break (leaving Kavita terkebil-kebil unbelieved and devastated at another table. Was I so cruel just kerana nasihat Noi!)?
P/s Hafsah balik Malaysia that raya and I received her Raya card prior to her return. That was the last time she wrote to me. She told me she gonna move to another city and promised to inform me her new address. (All that raya I wished I could call her di JB but a phone was a luxury to my family then. I also wished she would visit Noi and Normah di UPM seperti mana yang pernah dilakukan Jalil Mohd, Sujan and Noraziah).
Bersambung ….. Something about Mary (the Paya Mas girl).
