Kuching

After ten years, I have finally set foot on Kuching soil.

I first came to Kuching in 1990 for studying purposes.It was my first time being away from the comfort of home. I attended the now defunct St. Patrick Secondary School on Stampin Road. It was a church-run institution offering classes to students who had been denied a place to study in government schools.During my two-year-stint as a Form Six student boarder,I learnt the importance of friendship . In the first few months of my stay, I had been wrought with unmitigated homesickness. It sapped my confidence, energy and optimism for life. My weight plunged down drastically and it took a toll on my health. At one time I was so delirious with fever that I was not aware of what was happening around me.My fellow boarders had to take turns looking after me. They brought me food, sponged my feverish forehead and washed my sweat-soiled clothes. I finally came to my senses when a Melanao boy named Simon Dupree warned me that I would let my parents down if I continued destroying myself. Like me, he came all the way from Miri to study. Realizing that my life was spiraling out of control, I decided to change my attitude with the help of this concerned friend. He taught me how to play guitar, took me to church, introduced new friends to me and forced me to play football with him. After six months I was no longer as cagey, girlish and homesick as I had been before. I learnt how to sit with my legs apart and walk around shirtless in the hostel like other boys. Occasionally, I surprised myself by bantering and goofing around with my friends. We were as close as siblings.Together, we went through the ups and downs of boarder life. I completed my studies in 1991 on a positive note, scoring 2As, 1B and 2Cs in STPM. The day I collected my result slip, I did not see any of my boarder friends at school. I missed all of them, particularly Simon Dupree --a true friend who had rendered me help when I was in doldrums.

The next five years, I never gave visiting Kuching a thought. I had been busy with my job in the Statistics Department(1992 to 1993) and my studies in Maktab Perguruan Sarawak(1994 to 1996).

I became a trained teacher in 1997. In the fourth month of my teaching, I flew to Kuching for a three-day course at Riverside Majestic Hotel. The course was a hectic one and I had no time to go around the city with other participants. The possibility of bumping into my boarder friends was naught.

One afternoon in my hometown, I met Simon Dupree by accident at a shopping complex. I was happy to see him but the dispirited look on his face made my heart drop. He told me in a fragmented voice that he had not been doing well after dropping out of his degree course in Kuching. Unable to land a decently-paying job, he resorted to returning to Miri. I gave him some money and he thanked me profusely with tear-brimmed eyes. I have never seen him again after that meeting. I am sad that I could not do much to help him.

I last came to Kuching in 2001. I attended a one-week orientation organized by Universiti Putra Malaysia. I had been accepted to do a long distance course with the university. I forget the name of the venue but it was a hotel situated not far from Merdeka Palace Hotel. I bumped into an ex-boarder friend while strolling in the vicinity of Hilton Hotel during an afternoon break. He had just taken over his parents' egg-selling business several years before. I had only a smidgen of time to chat with him because he had to go around delivering hundred cartons of eggs to grocery shops and restaurants.He was rolling in cash.

Kuching has changed a lot topographically. The newly-built buildings and roads have added more complexity to its warren of streets.I have just checked into the Tune Hotel at Waterfront. I don't find it possible to stumble upon my friends. Throughout my five-day vacation, I will retrace the routes I trod before and walk new trails in the city.