someone special :)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Hehe..mcm dah nak sebulan sekali boleh sempat nak update blog nih..hmm..sorry ye en kambing...ada aje benda yg nak dibuatnya...tak sempat langsung teman..hari keroje toksah cakap la..masalahnya hjg minggu pun lebih kurang aje akhir2 ni..

Hmm, hari ni teman nak cerita pasal seseorang istimewa dlm hidup teman...ehem, siapa le agaknya..boyfren teman??kekasih sehidup semati??oh tidakk...yg ni lagi istimewa, sbb beliau adalah salah seorg yg telah mencorakkan identiti teman sewaktu kecil..dan prinsip2 hidupnya masih teman pegang hingga ke hari ni...

Lama betul teman tak jumpa insan istimewa ni...ada juga sekali sekala teringat..tapi tak tahu mcmmana nak contact..hingga lah baru2 ni, kami ditemukan oleh Allah dlm keadaan yg tidak disangka2 :)

Waktu tu teman berada di surau stesen bas di butterworth..teman baru sampai dari kl, tgh tunggu sumi san dtg ambik...so teman pegi surau dulu utk solat..semasa teman nak pakai telekung tu, teman ternampak seorang makcik ni...beliau sedang duduk dkt tepi dinding...teman tak nampak mukanya, tapi dari segi perwatakan, betul2 la mcm makcik2 mana2 yg kita selalu jumpa...simple dark blue polka dots blouse and pants with black tudung...when i was about to turn away, i saw her reaching for her bag...and she took out..........a book...

hmm, teman pasti masa tu, ia bukan surah yaasin ke ma'thurat ke..sbb bukunya agak tebal...rupanya agak usang, mcm dah dibaca byk kali..even kulit bukunya mcm dah nak terlerai...mungkin sbb jarang melihat seorang makcik membaca buku di stesen bas, teman mcm nak tau sgt buku apa yg makcik ni baca...so i went nearer (hehe...penyibuk betul laa)...and i saw..........glimpse of english words!

and not just english words...they were classical english words....words like, 'thee'...'thou'...'alas'

wow, i mean, how often do you see the older generation reading at a bus station? newspapers yes, but books...??and how often do you see a makcik carrying a book around..to read during her free time...not often i dare say...and how about a makcik reading classical english...hmm, very rare indeed!

i was so intrigued with this makcik, i wanted to know her background..her profession..i wanted to know who she was and was so tempted to go up and talk to her...but then, sumi san was coming in a while and i had to perform my solah...so i cancelled my niat..

bila teman dah abis sembahyang, makcik tu dah keluar pun dari surau..i felt quite dissapointed...takde rezeki nampaknya...hmm, takepelah....pelan2 teman lipat telekung...

i then thought to myself...

"i've never even completed reading ONE classical english book, half of the time i would just abandon the book (since i could not make sense out of the sentences and kept on confusing between thou and thee hehe) and pick up a 'shopaholic' book instead!haha...none of my friends enjoy classical english, even my mom does not have a single classical english book at home...the only person i could imagine carrying a classical english book around is my former primary school teacher- cikgu zabidah!"

i stopped there.

well, i did not see her face...

but.....it could have been her right?

it could have been anybody..yes..but then again...it could have been my sweet sweet teacher..

i hastily folded my telekung, shoved it into my handbag and rushed out of the surau..

my aim was only one- to look for a lady in dark blue polka dots blouse...i scanned around...worried that she might have taken the bus..then i suddenly saw a glimpse of that blouse i was talking about..

Pelan2 teman berjalan ke arahnya..beliau masih tengah membaca..kepalanya tunduk..khusyu' betul...teman bagi salam..." Assalamualaikum..."

She lifted her head up...and there it was...that familiar face that i saw every single day during my primary six..that face that had taught me so lovingly about the cold hard facts about life...and had repeatedly pointed out my mistakes when i was wrong...

"Cikgu zabidah??" i asked her

"Ya saya.."

"Saya anak murid cikgu masa dekat sekolah Convent dulu...cikgu kenal saya tak lagi..?"

She looked at me intently.."Lama betul dah tu...mungkin muka pun dah berubah kot...nama sapa ye?"

"Sarah...sarah nur alya...."

"Ooo, sarah yang doktor tu kaa"

I smiled and nodded...oh, we had a very interesting conversation after that...it was so SO nice to finally meet and be able to thank your teacher properly u know, especially the ones who have taught u the basic stuffs that u need to know in your life...

Apparently, she knew that i was based in kulim for a while..and i was so shocked when she was still able to name both my brothers, raqib and hakim (because she taught them as well for tuition) and that was like years ago okay...

You see, Cikgu Zabidah was a very very dedicated teacher. She taught with her soul...she was very sincere...and she always reminded her students to 'buat kerja sepenuh hati'..I'm sure u had some teachers like this as well, the ones u will never forget till the end of ur life and will be forever indebted to them...

Take this as an example of how dedicated she was: I've always had problems with essay writing...both malay and english...i tend to terpesong out of the tajuk...hehehe...even masa sekolah menengah, sir said had problems with me: he said that i like to beat the around the bush.."tak pegi ke arah tujuan sebenaq," kata sir said to me once..

So, since i had this problem, cikgu zabidah was very concerned..she then gave me an essay title every friday, of which i had to complete the essay during the weekend and pass it to her on monday. This remedial action was for me alone as my friends did not have problems with essay writing...for weeks, she marked my paper and encouraged me to write better..pointing out my mistakes..seeing me during recess...fuh...it was hard work for both of us :) but Alhamdulillah...we did it..i scored an A for my malay essay..and i tell u...it was worth it :)

Tengah kami dok bersembang tu, tetiba cikgu zabidah introduced me to a lady who was sitting beside her...

"Ini sepupu cikgu...sarah ni, anak murid saya..ingat tak dulu pernah sekali, saya cerita kat awak..ada sorang murid ni tanya saya..cikgu, cikgu kenapa kalau org tu puasa waktu bulan ramadhan..lepas tu kalau dia (lengkapkan sendiri hehe) dgn suami...dia kena ganti puasa 2 bulan??hehehhe...saya cakap kat dia...sarah tunggu dulu, bila sarah dah kahwin nanti sarah tau le...haaa, ini lah anak murid saya tu...!!"

Sepupu cikgu tu gelak berdekah2...muka teman dah merah padam..hahaha...of all the things that i asked her, this was the one that she remembered most!!apparently, teman masa tu baru abis kelas agama, pastu teman masuk kelas cikgu zabidah dgn muka konpius..and teman terus tanya dia soalan tu...hahahahah....kelakau betul...

When it was time to depart, she gave me a great hug, kissed my cheek and asked me to keep in touch...I asked her then, "Buku apa yang cikgu baca tadi??"

"Yang ni??oh, tafsir quran...memang merata cikgu bawak tafsir ni..."

I nodded...that's exactly the cikgu zabidah that i know..well i pray only the best for her...for all the ilmu and great deeds that she's done in this life- may Allah grant her with Jannah in the hereafter...

Something to ponder for the day- Hebat kan, bila org boleh kenal kita..semata2 dgn character kita..walaupun tak tengok muka kita... :)

For penutup, I shall leave you with a photo of cikgu zabidah n her cousin yg teman sempat snap masa kat stesen bas tu..

Till we meet again then,

Wasallam.

Cikgu Zabidah yang di sebelah kanan, bertudung hitam..di samping sepupunya..Moga Allah memberkati segala usaha cikgu...dan semoga cikgu diletakkan di antara para muqarrabin di sisiNya selalu...insyaAllah :)