My Long Lost Dearest Friends

My Dearest Friends,

This is the first time I am writing about it after 17 years.. Man, 17 years have gone by.. How time flies.

It happened in July - Oct 1997 - Jan 1998. I came back to Malaysia for good. After two and a half years studying in Melbourne, Australia, I finally headed back with a worth-fighting-for scroll. The scroll.

Promises were made that we will meet again in Kuala Lumpur. We will stick together as we always did in times of need when you are away from your family. We liked the idea of working together in the same city, so that we can hang out together liked we used to.

Three of us headed home first. Eager to start a career, I chose a well-known bank to test my hard earned university knowledge. Then, the news hit. George Soros started it. The market went down. Jobs were nowhere to be found they said.

So, there was no point of coming home. Come back jobless or delay your stay. Study more while the market improved itself. My Dearest Friends - take a pick for whichever option that you pick, there is a price tagged to it.

I was alone with a dream not coming true. Heart-broken may be, I decided to quit and headed home.

I cried and cried and cried.

It took me three months to recover. To re-plan. In the fifth month of 1998, I headed south to become a tutor. I wanted the opportunity to do a further degree that came with the job. I succeeded and  continue to succeed (in a few things that I planned).

So off went the thought of YOU - My Dearest Friends. I erased it from my memory in order to move on and ease my pain.

Of late, there are QUESTIONS in my head. As I am searching for ANSWERS, I remembered YOU - My Dearest Friends. The path that I took, by putting you in my thought as bad (hate), I managed to move forward. Then, I realized I did not hate you.

For the past 17 years, I "copied" exactly the plan. Our group's plan, dream and ambition.

My Dearest Friends - You know who you are.
To the MARA-sponsored students/ self-sponsored students to the La Trobe University (1995-1997), Australia, as we started from the Maktab Sains MARA Trolak (1993-1994), I dedicate this to YOU.
I did not hate you.

Yours sincerely,
Hayati