walking down memory lane…

 



I was walking along Jln TAR over this weekend looking for bedsheets and other stuffs. I was there by 10AM and parked at Masjid India. My dad-in-law wanted to get some woolen sweaters and so we headed for Lal's. As we were passing by GS Gill, I told the entourage to proceed to Lal but I wanted to check my bearings at GS Gill before packing them off to Lal's. To our dismay the Gill clerk said that the shop had relocated to Subang about two years ago. I googled for other shops and sent them on their way to Sharafali’s at TAR. I then went to check out some dumbells at Gills. After sending the bars to the car, I had some time to kill and decided to cruise Jln TAR...how this place has changed a little by little over the years.

 
In those days, I was staying at TTDI in my auntie's place in Lrg Abang Hj Openg 6 and studying at Stamford College, Masjid India. It was the Sri Jaya bus era and I took the 244 bus ($0.60) from TTDI and exited when it reached the stop before Bank Negara. The stroll to Masjid India was something I looked forward to in the morning. As I was new to KL, I was in awe of all the towering buildings around me. Every other thing that I experienced was new to me…even though I tried to pretend that I'm a city boy just to blend in. KL folks don't take too kindly to country bums…and I wasn’t pretty far from that. Carrot cut slacks & drain pipe jeans were vogue then, so were colourful t-shirts, cool jackets & Pakalolo boots. College life was happening to say the least. There was Dhinakaran from Bangsar, Ravi & Ramesh from Seremban. They were my trusted class mates. We had a bunch of other local guys too and together we formed the Stamford Mafia. Stamford was located where Haniffa is currently at. Dhina especially, tought me all the cool things & how to move in style and rhythm. As far as I was concerned he was the coolest…he knew all the latest songs (I was just getting acquainted with Casey Kasem's top 40), all the happening spots & anything else that was beneficial to a teenager’s journey into manhood. During our class breaks, we used to chill at Wendy's (opposite current Masjid India Maybank which itself was CoOp Bank at that time). We would just sit there cracking jokes and monitoring all the secretarial students that were coming in or going out. Boy ohh boy!!...there were lots of chicks in Stamford, in their smart secretarial outfits. I would order a gas drink and spend hours in Wendy's bird watching...my favourite sport at that time. It wasn't easy to approach a girl and engage in small talk and go for the kill. You need to look & dress like Duran Duran or something to make that happen. Girls came there with other girls and you don't see couples unless they're college seniors. So we continued bird watching through these hormonal changing times.

jln bunus 6, parallel to Jln Dang Wangi aka Dam Wangi 

My first big night out was during Stamfords annual dinner at PJ Hilton. I was dressed to kill...black carrot cut slacks & a stylish hare rama cotton jubbah. Me and the boys had some beer at a Chinese restaurant nerarby before making the grand entrance. It was my introduction to another world that would be re-visited time and again for the next ten years. The glamorous lifestyle of the hotel industry was alluring to me. As compared to other heavyweights at that time such as KL Hilton and Shangri La, PJ Hilton was a minnow as far as hoteliers were concerned but the PJ-Damansara stretch offered the best entertainment in regards to pubs, clubs and night life. During my stay in TTDI, a local band by the name of ‘Search’ was belting out their rock ballads at Hard Rock Café TTDI (not the US chain). Another Damansara Utama product was the sister group ‘Cenderawasih’. These were times of rock ballads, hard rock, slow rock, heavy metal, pop, new wave, punk, blues and the reggae beat. Bob Marley (RIP)had passed on in 1981 and his influential music & lyrics was popular amongst our group cause Marley was talking about ‘One Love’ and ‘I shot the Sheriff’ which was totally splendid to us.

Back to the big night at PJ Hilton…after the dinner was served, I stepped out to have my ciggies (it was ok to smoke anywhere those days)…that’s the spot where I met my first girlfriend, Lalita…she was the most gorgeous looking black beauty, a true lady in every sense of the word. I summoned up my courage and started a conversation with her, she was so polite & careful with her words…I was babbling as usual but she interacted well with me. We spoke for another 30 minutes or so and walked back into the ballroom when the DJ was spinning ‘Wonderful Tonight’…we danced and we danced the night away. I didn’t know till then that ‘amore’ could be so wonderful… I wasn’t matured enough at that time to realize also that love can be so darn cruel at times…when your world becomes topsy-turvy, you start growing beard & listening to ‘Careless Whisper’ again and again. I was doing pretty fine till she walked into my life and rotated it 360 degrees, it was helter skelter. To make a long story short, we split up several months later because her parents asked her to continue her studies abroad.

      rumah Tumpangan Pang Woo opposite Sogo


Walking past Jalan Bunus 6 that day brought back all those 80’s memories rushing back in a frenzy…it was like listening to Eric Clapton serenade his woman in ‘wonderful Tonight’.