A Simple Plan

“A few weeks from now, I shall be cycling down the east coast beach on my 11-yr old bike with the warmth of the tropical sunrise on my face.”

Sounds like a simple plan. It shouldn’t be that difficult, is it ? Only problem was, that statement was said months ago. The delays are sickeningly depressing. There is much one could complain about. The maintenance mayhem. The thorny weather. The planning disarray. The instructor’s schedule. And a million other things.

Now, if complaining brings me results then I’d definitely do it. But it doesn’t. At least, in this case anyways. And I don't like finding or giving excuses too. My parents brought me up in such a way where excuses are never a valid reason for failure.

Once, in primary one – I failed my spelling test. My mum didn’t know. Dad on the other hand, wasn’t furious, but he asked anyways. I told him that it was difficult, not many in class passed, I didn’t have much time to learn – you know, the works. He asked in Malay :

“Did anyone pass ?” I nodded.

“If others can do it, so can you. You have to believe that and stop finding excuses for yourself.”

He’s not like my mum. He spoke just enough, without the extra nagginess to it. I don’t even need to answer that. We then tuned in to the Malaysian Cup highlights for the week.

I still failed after that. But I didn’t give excuses anymore. I just studied harder during commercial breaks of my tv-time. As impressionable as a little boy could be, I just gritted my teeth, clenched my fists and aspired to grow stronger. Maybe watching ‘Rambo’, ‘Ultraman’ and ‘Sarjan Hassan’ helped, somewhat.



In primary 3, I found myself in the company of a whole set of new classmates. I felt a little lost. I’m nowhere near their level and had a really hard time matching up to their academic results. There were times when, some of them actually cried upon receiving 80% for their tests. Truly, I thought I had strayed into a bad dream.

Years later – I realised that I missed them a lot. We played so much, I don’t think I studied at all. Life’s more about discovering then. Knowing that we do not know anything, compels us to learn. Our curiosity keeps us thirsty. I realised that I liked learning. But still, I loathed homework. To date, there is no teacher or friend in the world that could get me to do my homework in time all the time. It got me into a hell of a lot of trouble. Even in secondary, and later stages of my education.

Anyways, those friends inspired me. And they still do. Although we’re all scattered now, we still do keep in touch once in a while. Most of them graduated and are having a wonderful life.

Amongst some primary school mates that I still keep in touch are doing rather splendidly; Mohamed is pursuing his nautical studies degree in Tasmania, Australia. Khalidal, whom I lost touch when she went to RGS, resurfaced a couple of years ago and will be getting hitched soon. Lis Hartini, a teacher after graduating from NUS is blisfully married with 2 kids now. Anwar, on the other hand, will have to play catch-up to Lis and others as he had just graduated with first-class honours in Civil Engineering from NTU last year. Farah too, is happily married, though she’s still in family-planning mode and is focusing on her career for the moment.

Thinking about them opens the colourful history books. Its film seemed to play in my head as if they were just yesterday. I loved my childhood days. Adolescent as well, but that will require a chapter of its own. Like I said before, it is our time. Our generation. The ball is in our court, now.

“How do we want to paint the future ?” The choice is ours.

In the meantime, I’d just have to relax here in Perth and wait my turn. A dear friend once told me, that since I’ve waited a year already, what is a few more weeks. It is heartening to hear such words. Sometimes, I wondered, why do others put their confidence in me when I rarely save any for myself.

Paulo Coelho, the author of Alchemist wrote this seemingly simply;

Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.

I ask myself: are defeats necessary.

Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times".

So yes, let us get up again. Keep our chin up. And walk tall. Sounds like a plan - a simple plan. Unless of course, it’s time to sleep ;)