Down Memory Lane - Sekolah Majlis (2)

Sekolah Majlis is the first place where I had my first formal education at the age of 6 (or 5 years 9 months to be exact). At such a young age, I informally 'enrolled' in the school by tagging along with my elder brother, who is a year older than me. My parents used to tell me that they had to allow me to go to school due to my persistent complaints of being left at home by my eldest sister and two elder brothers.

Everyday after having our breakfast of lempeng prepared faithfully every morning by Ma, we started our journey to school very early in the morning, at around 6.00am from our house, which was inside Sekolah Naim Lilbanat, Kota Bharu.

We then passed a narrow road to get a bus at Jalan Langgar. Usually when we passed the area, the surau at the left hand side had just finished subuh prayer.

On the right hand side of the small road, we had to pass by a cemetery (known as Kubur Beka) before reaching the bus station.

Quite scary for 4 young schoolgoing kids, but we had to pass this place every early morning to catch the first bus. Even now, I find it difficult to imagine how we crossed the area every day at such early hours.

This is the place at Jalan Langgar where we would get the first bus which would then proceed from there to Kota Bharu bus station, which is close to our school. This area used to be a storage yard for all SKMK buses, and catching the first bus here meant a free ride from house to school every morning, thus saving some money on transportation for our parents. Currently it is used by all Transnasional express buses.

I still remember one morning when my brothers and me boarded on the bus first, which then immediately moved leaving behind my eldest sister. She was clearly panicked and very much worried for us for having to take care for ourselves on the bus. The worried face of a young girl, who was then 11 years old and entrusted by our parents to take care of three younger brothers aged 6, 7 and 9 is still stuck in my memory until now. And of course the first thing she did when she reached the school was to check whether we had arrived safely in our classes.

She was, and is, a very protective sister. And now she is a very caring and protective mother to her sons and daughters.

May Allah bless your life.