An unexpected re-acquaintance

Cloud skimmer

It all started out with a phone call, one that no one would’ve expected nor would’ve given any thought about. What would you do if you hear for a minute, silence on the other end of the phone line? Some would slam the phone down in disgust after the fourth or fifth time yelling “Hello!” to the mysterious recipient thinking it is a prank. The more persistent ones would most probably go one uttering the same phrase until their curiosity is sated or the other person hangs up without a word to our disgust, whichever comes first. The utterly curious would again dial the number of the stranger after they hung up and demand he reveal himself to sate curiosity (I never understood why some people do that).

Next what would you do if the other caller called in a voice that you haven’t heard of stating “Hello, do you know who I am?”. Now we all know that this is not good phone etiquette and many would have as again slam down the phone in disgust at having been kept waiting for a minute and now having to go through a mental shuffling of your brain to think out who the caller is. Don’t they know it is bad manners to ask the person one is calling to take a pot shot at guessing? Don’t they know that one should always first and foremost say hello and proceeded to announcing your name and thus proceeding to stating your business. No, this caller wanted me to guess.

Yes, so there I was rushing up to my phone in the room, hectic enough as it is with the birth of my dog’s pups and now with a mysterious caller with a caller ID that I don’t recognize. First thing that came to my mind was the vet I just called up a moment ago as the voice was a bit gruff and had an Indian accent to it but this was instantly discounted as I used the house phone to call him and it would be nigh impossible for him to call back on my hand phone which he does not have. Next would be to do a little mental exercise and reduction of likely suspects, narrowing down the number to that of a KL prefix, I began to count down the people I know or met. Still after a while nothing has come to mind. It’s beguiling and a bit frustrating at this point as none of the usual suspects came to mind and I’m beginning to think that one of my friends is pulling my leg with a prank call, that or a sadistic person is on the other end having the laugh of his life and gets his jollies by tormenting strangers by asking “Do you know who I am?” So I told Mr/Ms X that I cannot for the life of me guess who it is and waited in trepidation.

Surprise surprise, the name of the person was one that I haven’t heard of for the best of 5 years ever since form 6. It turned out that the person was none other than my long lost friend, Thiagu. Yes one of the original Toilet Club members (don’t ask long story meant for another posting). Well after form 6, he left after he successfully passed the qualifying tests to join MAS in Melaka for pilot training. Our circle of friends was in touch for some time but as times goes by, we heard less and less of him till we all figured he must’ve settled into his new life and forgotten all about us. We always knew he was sociable, he transferred into our school in Kuantan from Mentakab and from the start he’s one of those that you’d put in a room with countless strangers and by the end of the day he would be acquainted with all of them and they’ll be on a first name basis. Thus we assumed he has already got a new set of friends and would leave his old ones behind.

Turns out that this was not the case. True we all lost touch but it should’ve been expected with us all heading our different direction in life. As he went away to train for flight, his schedule was getting heavier and soon his old mobile number was defunct and none of us got his new one. Only by true sheer luck he still has one of our numbers and called him and with promptness managed to get the rest of our numbers. So that’s that, he called every one of us and we all got reacquainted, a rather unexpected by welcomed call I must add. It was nice knowing that he did not forsake his old friends as he went off in life but still recalled us. We spent a few minutes going back to our school days and thus leading into how life is with us. He’s happily flying his 737 around Malaysia and also out of. Imagining him in a dark pilot outfit with all the flight attendants (he was always dashing as he himself put it). Yes he said life has been good, he got a job he liked, he was traveling to different destinations and yet he still remembered us.

Getting in touch with old friends is always good to me, and it’s even more rewarding to know that they have not forgotten about you. Even after so many years, you find that we all haven’t changed the least bit, a bit more mature and weathered but when we began talking it was just like yesterday once more. Yes yesterday was truly a happening day for me.