Of Family & Friends

When I was a little boy, our family was staying with Tok Yan in an elite neighbourhood area at Bukit Damansara. The surrounding houses were huge and it was divided by a massive wall in between. It was an ageing neighbourhood, whereby most of my nearest neighbours are adults and me and my siblings don’t really have a childhood friend cum neighbour to always play with at our disposal.

Growing up in that kind of environment also meant that it is quite unsafe for me to wander around to other places by myself because of the location of my house which was just beside the junction of the main road. Therefore, I spent most of my days indoors – being isolated from the outside world with my family, which was among the reason why I became quite attached to Tok Yan.

I had really few friends back then in kindergarten. In fact, none at all. I was a very very shy boy and a silent one, too. I love to observe the people around me, but was not sure how to socialize with other kids my age. Perhaps, those kids were a little hyper active and that intimidated the little me at that time. But that was my story, my childhood story.

Those are the times when I always have my family beside me all the time.

As time flies, each of us grow older. From an innocent child, to a naughty teenager, and perhaps evolve into a matured young adult. In that process of growing up, we meet new people. People whom are outside from our family cycle. The people that we call friends.

Slowly, our collection of friends starts to get bigger and bigger and along the way, perhaps we might stumble into a few that we can call as good friends. The people that understand what we feel and experience. And before we knew it, our friends become the person that we trust the most, sometimes more than our family. They know us better because we allow them to have a heart to heart conversation with us.

Does that automatically makes us taking our family for granted? Definitely not. Everybody needs friends. Isn’t human beings are social creatures by nature?

…but having said that – do we really care for our family and does not prioritize our friends over them? Perhaps that is something for us to ponder upon this few days. After all, our family are the ones that will always be there for us no matter what happens. Friends can come and go. But family relationship – it stays forever!

Roger and out!

Pesta Pantun BBK Negeri Sembilan 2013

Dari deklamasi ke berbalas pantun,

DEKMAL bertandang mewarna budaya,

Bermadah puisi penuh bersantun,

Hajat nak menang menjadi juara!

Sudah lama sangat saya tak melibatkan diri sebagai pemantun di dalam Pertandingan Berbalas Pantun. Terakhir, saya ikut serta dalam Pesta Pantun Sezaman pada tahun 2011. Sebelum itu, saya banyak terlibat dari segi pengurusan pertandingan dan pasukan.

Jadinya, peluang untuk menyertai Pesta Pantun sempena Bulan Bahasa Kebangsaan peringkat Negeri Sembilan saya terima dengan tangan terbuka, walaupun mengetahui tentangnya pada saat akhir. Harus saya ucapkan terima kasih kepada Tuan Norhisyam Razali kerana beriya-iya benar mahu saya bertanding.

Memilih untuk mewakili DEKMAL, saya bergandingan sepasukan dengan Safwan Yusof, rakan pemantun dari UiTM yang juga ahlis DEKMAL. Pasukan kedua DEKMAL pula disertai oleh Tuan Norhisyam dan Haikal.

Asalnya, saya sangka pertandingan diadakan di Seremban, tetapi pada pagi pertandingan itu – ketika saya sudah sampai di Nilai, barulah saya tahu rupanya tempat acaranya sebenarnya adalah di Seri Menanti, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan!

Secara tak semena-menanya, sampailah saya ke Seri Menanti. Kali terakhir saya berada di sini adalah ketika Perkampungan Budaya UIAM 2009. Memang membangkitkan kenangan manis apabila saya terpandang sekitar Perkampungan Budaya Terachi yang betul-betul berada di pintu gerbang menuju ke Seri Menanti.

Tema berbalas pantun bagi pertandingan kali ini adalah Nilai-Nilai Murni, Bahasa Kebangsaan, dan Patriotik. Tema yang sama telah diulang pada setiap pusingan. Ada 8 buah pasukan yang bertanding – antaranya daripada MAS, Kolej Komuniti Jelebu, UiTM Kuala Pilah, Institut Pendidikan Guru, dan DEKMAL sendiri.

Pada peringkat saringan, kami telah bertemu dengan Kolej Komuniti Jelebu, dan seterusnya melangkah ke separuh akhir bersama pasukan MAS yang sememangnya saya akui sangat sengit kerana mereka sendiri sudah lama berada di arena pantun tempatan. Markah kami akhirnya seri, namun markah bahagian isi telah menyelamatkan saya dan Wan.

Alhamdulillah, saya dan Wan mendapat rezeki untuk bertanding di peringkat akhir. Sememangnya ini kali pertama saya melangkah ke pusingan akhir pertandingan berbalas pantun dan pengalaman ini akan saya jadikan bekalan bagi masa-masa akan datang. Kami bertemu Institut Perguruan Kuala Pilah. Tuan Haji Chuari Selamat telah menjadi jurupantunnya!

Pasukan DEKMAL telah mendapat Naib Johan, dan saya sendiri telah mendapat rezeki menjadi Pemantun Terbaik pada pertandingan tersebut. Alhamdulillah! Moga-moga menjadi penguat semangat untuk saya terus berjuang di landas seni budaya, insyaAllah!