I had always wanted to revisit SDAR again after leaving her in 1968, but because of one reason or another, my wish never came true. However, at last after postponing it for more than 33 years, finally it happened!

It was 6:30am Saturday morning 17/4/99 and also the First Muharram 1420 when I arrived at the KL Railway Station to board the train to Tanjong Malim. That very morning, I woke up at 4:00 am! (Nak tidur pun duk teringat kat TM). I was so eager to go back to Tanjong Malim like the first time. While waiting for the other 'lunatics' who decided to revisit Tanjong Malim by train, I roamed the railway station just like I did when I first arrived by train from Palekbang to Tanjong Malim some time in January, 1965. That time, I was just slightly over 12 years old. That was also the first time I ever stepped my feet in KL. "Macam rusa masuk kampung". Everything was new and foreign to me. At that time, our Masjid Negara was just completed. I was at a loss; did not know where to go. So I just followed my seniors to eat at a restaurant at Jalan Melayu, near Wisma Yakin.

Time really flew - more than 33 years had gone by. I tried to locate the exact place where I first landed in KL. I tried hard searching my memory, but it was not there. According to my son, perhaps I might have a few bad sectors on my hard-disk? I believed it was still there, but  it was just that I could not retrieve it. Age had caught up with me. I was no longer a young budak SDAR. I am now an old budak SDAR and a father to one of them!

By 7:00 am, every 'lunatic' had arrived at the station. They were Sli, Bond, Nan and me. Another very nostalgic sdara also joined us, however he travelled by second class. The four of us were in 3rd class just like before but it was now air-conditioned. If not someone would surely try to enter by the window as we had done before.

The train to Tanjong Malim was at platform 4. By 7:25am we boarded the train and looked for our seats. To our lovely surprise, we met Dr Manaf, Haji Rahman and his son all the way from Kota Bharu. Their seats were next to ours. It was fated that way. It was never planned, only Allah swt wanted us to be together again - another joy ride again for me; just like the old days.

Reaching Tanjong Malim railway station, we walked all the way to the school. We made our way right through the 'city' of Tg Malim first before reaching our former school. The Rex theatre was now a godown. We stopped by at the famous Razak restaurant for teh tarik and roti canai. A few photos were taken. I told Nan and Bond about what SDARIANS’ life in the old days were made of - watching movies, minum ice-kacang and loitering around the town during weekends. Sadly, the ice-kacang stall was gone, no where to be found.

 After listening to everyone's stories, we  walked along the main street. It was literally walking down memory lanes. It really reminded me about the old days - Restaurant Kassim and Ghani are still intact, but Kedai Panjang, Kedai Pak Buyung and the Indian Bookstore where I used to buy Beano and Dandy comics were not there anymore. The old post office was also gone and replaced by a new building.

As we walked to school, we talked about the old days. By the time we arrived at the gate, it was closed. Now, UPSI has a grand new entrance near the padang. Someone suggested we should climb the gates! Luckily, no one tried, if not someone was going to get hurt due to our body size has almost doubled in diameter around the middle.

After waiting for a while, a jaga came and opened the gate for us. We did not go to the Dewan Rahman Talib to register ourselves first as we were supposed to do but went straight to tour the school compound - the classrooms, the sickbay and the Sg Bernam. By the time we arrived near the water tank, Dr Manaf climbed the cat-ladder and all of us gathered below him for a photo session! We were kids again! Luckily, our children were not there to witness what we were doing....

Everyone remembers the sickbay - where most of us were isolated for measles one time or another during our stay at SDAR Tanjong Malim. Alas, it was gone. The swimming pool was now full of rubbish and the kubu Jepun was hidden by overgrown bushes.

After registration at the Dewan Ab.Rahman Talib at SDAR Tg Malim that afternoon, a few of us walked to room 5 Rumah Temenggong, our 'hotel' for the reunion gathering. The room and its surroundings remained the same and according to Sli (Dr Rusli Ismail),time stood still in Tanjong Malim - certain things never changed; just like they were some 30 years ago.... On the other hand, it is us who had changed a lot, especially at the top (hair) and the middle (belly).

We were all gathered here to see for the last time our school and dormitories where we had spent between 4 to 6 years of our formative years of our lives. The school buildings would soon be demolished to give way for Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI) expansion. I hoped that the authority would retain at least one building to remind us that this was where once SDAR was proudly standing. Even though I knew it might be just a hope, I still prayed that it would be so.

The sound was deafening when you put ten old friends in a room! Everyone was eagerly talking. It must have been a big cultural shock for the room having to listen to all our stories. When Sli opened up his shirt, I saw a clear "zip" mark on his chest, another big change that had occurred in one of us. He had undergone a coronary by-pass surgery and it had cost him almost RM50,000!

After listening to exchange of jokes between Sli and Tok Wan (a continuation from our mailinglist), it was time for a bath. In fact, we were all drenched in sweat after visiting the school classrooms, the water tank, the sick bay, the empty swiming pool (full of rubbish) and of course the famous kubu Jepun by the now-muddy Sg Bernam. I wished Rahman Meran was here so that he could enjoy nasi lemak by the river. The water of Sg Bernam flowed sadly towards the sea; perhaps pining for SDARIANS merrily swimming in its once invitingly cool water. Gone too were hilarious laughter and playful SDARIANS swimming in it. In fact every one of us were waiting for the water supply in the school to be cut off so that the school authority had no choice but to allow us to swim in the river for our bath.

While enjoying my shower, suddenly there was a gust of memories rushing into my mind. Somehow the showers behaved just like they used to when I was here in 1965-more than three decades ago. During my first week in SDAR, in early January 1965, I cried for the first time while having a shower at Rumah Bendahara. I was in Room 6 at that time. It was not because someone had ragged me or anything like that; it was because suddenly I felt so sad leaving my parents and a brother and a sister in my kampung. Here in SDAR, I was having all the luxuries of life - a nice room with electricity, a shower and a clean bathroom, a Dunlopillo mattress to sleep on, etc. At home at Kampung Beris, Bachok, Kelantan, I never have all those amenities. Now, my kids are taking my "luxuries" for granted. How lucky they all are!

The first thing I did was to walk along the corridors from Rumah Temenggong, passing through the Dining Hall and straight to Rumah Bendahara. For those who did not come for this gathering, our dining hall had been converted to a lecture hall complete with air conditioner. Reaching Rumah Bendahara brought back more memories to me. Memories of that juicy story of our house warden, the reading room, the restrooms and my very own room.

Slowly I entered Room 6, Rumah Bendahara. I went straight to where my bed was and sat there for almost 10 minutes, all alone. It was pretty much the same as when I left it many years ago. Then my memories started recalling the occupants of beds...one of them had recently passed away.

Sadly, I could only remember about half of them. One of them was Mustapha Zakaria, or otherwise called Stopa. He is now a graduate teacher. He was always bullied by a senior and I really pitied Stopa for being the victim of the senior. But what could I do, a remove class boy at the time. Others in my room that I could recall were Ariffin, Hashim Selamat (electronic gang with Mohd Redza), Rani (Now Brig General Dato’Abd Rani Ismail), Rashid Mohd (now TNB engineer), Aziz Mustapha (a stock broker who used to make money for me), and last but not least Allahyarham Ramli Abdullah who passed away two years ago due to heart problem.

One incident that I still remember until to-day was when Rashid received a few durians from his parent. This King of Fruits was not easy to hide. The whole room knew about their presence, but nobody exactly knew who had them as they were kept in the locker. That night after the lights were switched off, Rashid graciously distributed one ulas of his durians to everyone. Next day, no one complained about the smell of durian anymore. In SDAR, most of us shared our goodies, but I knew there were a few who preferred to eat alone.

Every time I met Y.Bhg Dato' Mamat Ghazali Ab. Rahman in Terengganu, I never failed to laugh. When he was just M Ghazali A.R in room 5 Rumah Bendahara in 1965, I used to be his coolie. My job was to carry his soap by his side as he casually walked along the corridor to the bathroom. His towel was always on his shoulders. Another colourful character was Bongek, a glamourous name given to him after his kampong Bongek, N.Sembilan. Sadly I did not know his real name until to-day.

As I made my way into the Dewan Rahman Talib I remember the days of the weekly school assembly held on every Monday, the weekly Saturday night movies and of course our annual Talent Time. This reminded me also of Punawan Sarbini - the drummer of SDAR's very own band called The Flanders. Other members of the band were our Headboy, Mohd Mokhtar Mohamad (rhythm guitarist), Zainal Abidin Enon (base guitarist) and Abu Bakar Idris (lead guitarist). My favourite singer at that time was Abdullah Sani, once the registrar of UPM. Looking up, I saw plaques and pictures were missing from the hall. All of them are now in Seremban.  Now it was just an empty building with unforgettable memories.

I chose to sit near Ezrul as each and every one of us introduced ourselves. He is now a retired teacher. One interesting thing about this group was that even though they were of the same batch (1957),  they were of different ages, which depended primarily on when their parents registered their birth and not on their actual birthdays!

One of those who never failed to attend any SDARA function was Musa Ahmad, who was then 63 years old. However, he looked more like a 55-year old. We all must go and see him and dig some tips or 'ilmu' on how to stay young. According to him, his youngest child was a 9-year old boy! According to a friend of mine, a man’s age is measured by how old is his youngest child. By that measure, I am older than Musa. Now, I have to look for Anuar (aka Yak) in Indonesia and Charlie at Mardi, our experts in traditional medicines or alternative medicine or whatever you wish to call it as long it will keep me younger than my age.

At the end of the introduction, we had a group photo. One special photographer was Pak Aris, who was quite a character. He cried when a friend of mine gave him a RM50 note as a payment to 20 photo prints that he had stolen when he was in SDAR. He had wanted the photos badly like every one of us, but he was too poor to afford them. Now was paying time. He told me he was very happy to see Pak Aris still alive.

That night we had a tahlil for our fellow sdaras, teachers and supporting staff of SDAR who had passed away. May Allah swt blessed their souls.

To most of us, everything there had a history - even a brass wc at Rumah Bendahara; not to mention the water-tank at the top of it where a few of us used as a smoking hideout. Some more adventurous friends even took the trouble to climb up the ceiling and crawled to watch whatever they could see below them.

How could we all forget...Tempat jatuh lagi dikenang, inikan pula tempat bermain (atau belajar).

SELAMAT TINGGAL SDAR TANJUNG MALIM. YOU ARE ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS.....

~Mohd Adib Noh;forever budak sdar.