Last week was a loooong weekend, at least for me and almost 400 old girls of Sekolah Tun Fatimah. Wait a minute, let me take that back — old girls doesn’t sound quite that flattering, lets just call us lot the ‘Srikandis’. (author’s note: Before I move on, let me just formally thank my hubby for letting me do this and have the weekend for myself. I love you, Azrul.. Muah Muah!!)
My journey started at 10pm on Thursday, driving down to Johor Bahru with SK Leymah, my junior of 3 years. We met up with some more Srikandis (SK (Kak) Lerq, SK (Kak) Hana, SK (Kak) Na and her friend) at the Ayer Keroh R&R - because the Pagoh R&R was too spooky for my liking. Had a cuppa and some of us even had some pau and mi sup. This was where we were introduced to one of the three books scheduled to be launched at our ‘Permasyhuran ‘ Ceremony. It was called ‘Dari Srikandi Untuk Semua’ — a recipe book for women-on-the-go. AND I contributed 2 recipes in it!(author’s note: The recipes are actually my boss’, who happens to be a Srikandi too. So, she really doesn’t mind, right Datin?) The journey went on pretty smoothly and we arrived safely at about 3am in STF. We headed straight to the allocated dormitory, B1-1 for our long overdue beauty nap…
On Friday, we were woken up by the hustle and bustle of STFian busy preparing themselves for Majlis Anugerah Tun Fatimah (author’s note: In my days, we used to call it Majlis Ucapan dan Penyampaian Hadiah - notice the emphasis on UCAPAN! ;)No wonder we had to sit through looooong speeches during those times)They had the bunga manggar girls lining up the road, silat performers welcoming the VIPs , complete with a file in of cadets - both navy and police. (author’s note:Only had navy cadets during my time - but we were definitely looked HOTter with our tucked in shirts and cute little bums!)
So, the VIPs made their speeches and the girls got their prizes, I do believe there was also the mandatory performance of the school choir, gamelan and dances but I didn’t get to see any of that so I dare not comment. I, on the other hand, was busy trying to fit into the small ‘cubicle’ where the shower is - with my toiletries lining on the divider between the two compartments and my towel strategically placed at the meeting point between the divider and the door(without a locking device, mind you) to maintain the viewing rating as ‘U’.
The rest of the day was filled with final preparations for the entire weekend. I was deeply involved with POT (Parade Organizing Team - Leymah, Inaleem, Raihan, Hani(s), Tom, Riza, etc.. : we RULE!!! ) so, there’s that to settle. We scheduled a rehearsal for the parade and I got ticked off by the nonchalant way the girls were getting to the briefing spot. Armed with my hailer, I just gave them a piece of my mind and hopefully instilled in them the importance of being punctual.(author’s note: I was the 1992 Head Girl after all, give me a hailer and I can really go on and on and on and on..) I also told them to have fun — and with that we kicked off the rehearsal. The best part was that Perodua X-Fresh Street Surfers came in time for the rehearsal and after that they gave freebies to the kids, and that was allllll good!
After dinner at Seri Malaysia, the Srikandis had an informal gathering to brief on the going-ons during the weekend. It ended with karaokeing till wee hour in the morning. Some of us headed back to the school and started / finished decorating the cars that were supposed to be in the parade the next morning. (TQ so much SK (Kak) Elyn and gang, most respected SKs from the ‘74 Batch, R2V team, SK (Kak) Sadhana and SK (Kak) Eija and gang for the willingness to participate in the late entries.
This was a reunion gathering for most of the Srikandis. Some batches turned up in the 30s and 20s. That’s considered quite a lot considering: 1. we are girls - lots more commitments (hubby, kids..) 2. the venue is down south in Johor 3. it was an over the weekend thingy.. Anywho, there were 4 of us from the 92 batch - Eddie, Rinawati, Boone and yours truly.. heh heh heh I met loads of my seniors and juniors too. Worthy mention is the 1989 batch — loads of them ; SKs Ernie, Emma, Ina LeBon, etc.. SK (Kak) Nonie Samad was MIA, though..
BTW, did I mention that the doorgift was pretty cool too? We got a traditionally weaved bag filled with good stuff - Arisa, the 50 yrs GJC key chain, Avon brooch, scarf.. (TQ SK (Kak) Wa)
As far as I was concerned, Saturday was THE DAY! The morning started really early for all of us even though we barely had any sleep the night before. The ceremony began with the arrival of the Sultanah of Johor’s entourage which consists of 25 cars driven by Srikandis.Soon after, the parade started with the horses leading the way.
SK (Kak) Sue Nafry, SK (Kak) Sue Daud and SK (Kak) Leelany were riding on the big horseys and there were also 2 ponies. Next came the drumline and then the decorated cars and school houses one after another. We finished off the parade with the X-Fresh Perodua Street Surfers.
That was cool AND fun! 
What happened next was outside of my viewing span, the Permasyuran took place at Dataran Morni and then the Sultanah visited the exhibition SK Ryzah and SK Davie painstakingly put up in the Bilik Wawasan. Then, the Sultanah had her brunch at the school hall whilst being serenaded by the Cedar Girls’ and STF’s school orchestar (band).
This was where I met Cik Hajjah Azizah and CIkgu Ramlah - My Penolong Pengetua (Akademik) and one of the fiercest wardens. (heh heh heh) Strangely, they don’t look as scary as they used to, just more motherly.. They remembered me well and it reminded me how time really flies. I have been out of school for 14 years and look what had happened to me? I got my degree, got a job, got married, had 2 kids and finished my Masters - that’s quite a lot to say in one breath!
Anyways, the afternoon I spent panicking since I volunteered to enter the Maggi Lambung competition. The 2 girls from X-Fresh, Leena and Sab also joined in. In this particular round, me and Leena had to dance around the counter and ‘lambung’ the Maggi as high as we could. Leena got 5th place overall, (there were approx. 30 participants, I think) but I had the better tasting Maggi Goreng and butt-shaking in the end! 
heh heh heh
There was also the Nescafe Tarik competition in which Deena and Bell from X-Fresh took part in. They had to dance around according the music and ‘pull’ some Nescafe! See Deena in action<——–
At night, we had the Warisanmu Dinner — more eating, more shows from STFians. I have to say that I really really enjoyed them. - especially the Dikir Barat. I still can’t get over the fact that the choir now moves to the music - complete with body actions, gimmicks and hand gestures.. We never had that in my days!!! I had to cut the night short since my Datin boss - who happens to be a fellow Srikandi - has a private karaoke session with the Royal Patron (She’s her classmate , you see..) So, I got the chance to watch the World Cup match at the lounge with her daughter. We retreated to the Grand Hyatt at about 2am and had a little snack(he he he.. my favourite - snacking, I mean) and dozed off…
Sunday was reserved for the more outdoorsy type of events.(read: Telematch, Tug-of-War) Had to wake up bright and early for this and Datin drove all the way back to school (Thanks, Datin) Nope, it didn’t require much stamina. Yep, it was loads of fun. Nope, I didn’t participate in the Tug-of-War. (merely the cheerleader — notice the high jumps, excellent voice strength ;)) Yep, I got SK Esty Farah to join in the Tug-of-War (didn’t dare refuse the Headgirl, did she?)
In the afternoon, I decided to get the face painting kit out. So, I docked in the Hall and face painted on some. SK (Kak) Spena was the first person before others flocked around. I even managed to paint all the Street Surfers too. (DJ Julia didn’t wanna.. :() Here’s a little look on some of them painted ladies —
Time was short though, I had to pack up, freshen up coz I had to head back to KL with SK Leymah. The journey was uneventful for me coz I slept most of the way.. Leymah - sorry babes, you had to get through the traffic jam while I was busy snoring…
So, that was that.. I had loads of fun.. Thank you to all that made it that much more memorable. Especially the X-Fresh team — they were awesome.. (TQ Ewa, you made it all happen!;) Love you, sissy!)
Can’t wait for the next Back-to-School programme.
Maju, maju, maju, segera maju..
-dillz blogging out-
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