I met the president today...not Biden...my MCOBA president, that is. Now here is the thing.....compared to me, El President is a spring chicken, and I was trying to work out in my head how I should behave. Gracefully? Of course. With deference ? No! I am his senior and as long as they don't forget that, we seniors will not remind them of it. We are getting along fine and somewhere along the line, he called me Uncle (that is deference enough kan) and I was comfortable enough to call him Tengku. ....even though having someone three scores old calling me Uncle does make me feel a tad ancient...but hey, whatever El Presidente wants to call me, is fine with me.
Using a phrase made familiar to us Budak Kolet by one of our legendary masters at MCKK, Tengku and I mostly "agreed to agree" on a number of issues but "agreed to disagree" on a few. Very few. Very, very few! What did we agree to disagree on?
I thought we should start with a Short or a Long Black Coffee - or, at the very least, a cup of Nescafe. Tengku said cold water with some ice would be preferred. My place and he calls the shot? But what El Presidente wants, El Presidente gets! And we stay with water for the next two hours and then adjourned to...drum roll....McDonalds for lunch. Why McDonalds? The food is ok and the parking is free. Money for nothin' and your chicks for free....kan?
Ok guys...if you think I am getting a bit too disrespectful of El Presidente, I beg to disagree. Budak Kolet, whoever you are, wherever you come from and even if you have never never met before.....nothing really matters except that we know what Double Ration, Nasi Kawah, High Table, and Rugby mean to MCKK...and if, like Tengku, you play Rugby.....how not to respect? And of course, you need to mention, somewhere in your conversation, that one name: the late great NJ Ryan.....and, thankfully, there was no mention of Vajiravudh College
Tengku talked and I listened. I talk and Tengku listened...and I am a better man for having met him. Thank you, Tengku for making a 75-year-old MCOB feel that in this world of ours where the only constant is change, among us MCOBs something just never changes and has remained constant from time immemorial..... Idris House guys are the best, and have always remained the best dulu, kini dan selama lama nya. Amen to that. Fiat Sapientia Virtus.
P.S. I know TAB is Sulaiman but.....
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