Cikgu! Oh! Cikgu!

I had an early start last Thursday. A lecture starting at 8 am. It was fine for me but the turn up at the beginning was, should I say, had potential to get bigger! I was used to start on the dot, and really did not mind students trickling in after. I was a student once, and we occasionally had other priorities - I got married in my Final Year, so you can guess what my views on things were. Always an eye at the big price, should I say.

But that was not the theme of this piece, even though I was playing the Cikgu role then. During lunch, while rushing in between my Day Care and a meeting, I heard a voice calling my name. And it was not the way I used to her it. MOHD HARIS FADZILLAH! That was my full name, and the name I was called back at MRSM. It turned out to be my old History teacher from my Terendak days. I did not recognise the lady until she introduced herself as Cikgu Azizah. Even then I had problem lacing her. Only when I got home to talk to Anita that I realised who she was - Anita went to the same school as well.

Apparently, her husband now run the new staff cafe at UMMC. She was still teaching in Negeri Sembilan I think, and was on leave that day when she saw me. I was sure we will bump into each other again from time to time. Anita said, it was not a surprise that people still recognised me as I hardly changed over the years. Once, I had a school-mate from primary who recognised me. Maybe it had something to do with my memory rather than anything else …….

090504 Makan

090504 Makan, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

This is essentially a trial post from my flickr account. See if it's neat!

Update on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 4:03PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Success! By updating via flickr, it saves me from having to upload the pictures twice. I need to find out if it is possible to have a single blog entry with two pictures from flickr instead since the resolution and the scaling from flickr is much neater than manual uploads. The pictures appear sharper than I expected.

While I'm there, this is a picture I took on my LX-3 after our badminton games. They mainly features my juniors from MRSM Terendak. Most of them actually enter the college after my SPM, which made me feel kinda old!

This picture also neatly demonstrated the power of the Leica lenses and sensor on the LX3 despite being small-ish. It was almost SLR quality and with such fast lens (f2.0) and built-in image stabiliser, it was possible to handheld picture in such low light.

The Trip Down to MRSM Terendak #1

Toad with the Visitors Pass arriving at Terendak Camp

I set off very early this morning in order to make it by 10 in Terendak. Got into the car at 7am. Tucked Toad in. Off we went. I stopped over for breakfast in Seremban R&R. There, I bumped into Dr Azahadi and Farizal Haryadi, my seniors who were the main organiser for the event. Azahadi is a Specialist in KKM while Farizal is an Army Officer. They were both clad in ANSARA (Anak Sains MARA - MRSM Alumni) shirt, with their name and MRSM emblem embroidered on them. Had some nasi lemak and teh tarik there before making my way further.

'Mutton' crossing the road near Masjid Tanah. Had to slow down.I took the Pedas/Linggi exit. Drove through Rembau district area, Khairy Jamaludin's constituency. Cutting through the countryside, I drove through Lubok China, Masjid Tanah then finally Sungai Udang. Got there in plenty of time, stopping at gas station on the way. Left my MyKad at the post, got into the MRSM campus at 9.30.

A few of the other participants already there. Most of them were my juniors that joined the college well after I left. A couple of lawyers, engineers, IT consultants. There was also a guy who is a university lecturer currently doing his Masters. Payut, my badminton partner arrived 10 minutes later. Cikgu Wan Aizah arrived just before 10 with her husband. Also met the school driver that has been there for 25 years, Abang Malek. Being a Saturday, not many of the teachers were around.

Payut at the monument marking the 25th Anniversary of MRSM Terendak erected last yearOrganised Careers Day such as this is rare in my old school. Dr Azahadi was the main driver behind it. Around 20 speakers turned up. From the medical fraternity, we had Dr Azahadi, Dr Azah, UKM lecturer who just returned from Nottingham after completing her PhD, and a couple of MOs. We were given a formal introduction at the beginning in the main hall, before small groups were assigned. We then moved into the classroom for a more focused talk.

We had a couple of sessions, before and after lunch. Dr Azahadi, Dr Azah and I talked about our experience and our route before becoming a specialist. We were very honest in listing out the high requirement and competitiveness before being accepted to study Medicine. The number of years needed to spend to get to our level. They were surprised as I think they were expecting us to just talk about the beauty of the profession. We didn't even touch the ugly aspect of high commitment and low monetary rewards of working as a doctor yet. Seeming eager at the beginning, the truth hit them hard, but they did not change their mind. I can only take that as a good thing. We then broke for lunch. Dr Azah had to leave as her husband, Dr Zaini, a Paediatrician had to leave early.

At the surau for Zohor PrayersWe had a whale of a time during lunch talking about the 'good old days', how the rebels at school now becoming lawyers and doctors, friends caught smoking in toilets, teachers, girlfriends. One of the student in the earlier session asked Dr Azah about family life while being a Doctor. She said, it will take a lot of sacrifice. She herself has a daughter and she is lucky to be married to a doctor who understands her line of work. She told them of the challenge of being a mother, juggling career and family commitments. They gasped when the other 2 MOs (both ladies) present said that they were not married yet. They were also surprised that I am not married to a doctor. I said, my wife married me before I become a doctor. She was also from MRSM Terendak and we started going in form 3 and now married for 12 years. You should see their faces!

After prayers, we continued for another session with a different set of students. By 4, they were taken for a motivational session, conducted by Farizal Haryadi. By that time, Payut and I decided to call it quits. They were planning a friendly game of volleyball with the students after that. I will write about my journey back on the second post ...

Oh! My Arm's Aching!

That guy in red is proper lethal! Watch out!I went down for the first time to join a few of my ex-Terendakians for a game of badminton as mentioned last night. Instead of catching the zzz very quickly after the game, I had insomnia! I just cannot sleep! I only finally managed to doze off around 3.30. I tried everything, glass of milk, even reading articles, but I was just wide awake! Must be extra adrenaline.

Woke up this morning slightly late as a consequence. Luckily it is Tuesday, when ward activity is lightest. Edmund led the ward round, so I just joined up halfway. My whole body is aching! I need some urut I think! How am I going to survive another session next week?

Deep down, I really enjoyed hooking up with the lads. They are all grown up. When at MRSM, I have a badminton partner from the opposite end of the spectrum. At school, I was the bookworm, very enthusiastic in school programs, holding posts and stuff, while my partner is a typical rebel in the year. Nobody believed that we clicked together on the badminton court, and we remained unbeaten during the school sports competition. He is now a teacher and happens to live near my Mum's house in Bukit Antarabangsa, married with four kids. He is the last person I would have thought to turn out to be a teacher. But a teacher he is. The pic on top right is me playing with Hasni (or Payut as we liked to call him, and I was called Asap, not because I smoke but due to part of my facial anatomy). He now works for Bank Negara. He will be giving me the lift this weekend to Malacca.

So I am off for my massage then ..... wishful thinking!

Are My Boys and Girls Marketable?

Toad updating his blogI came across this article in the Star today. It states that 98.5% of graduate from University Tunku Abdul Rahman is employed within 6 months.  It got me thinking, what is the figure for UM? It was however not backed up by the quality of the employment obtained. Are they being employed by McDonald's or Price-Waterhouse-Cooper? Obviously it was a concern back in 2005 about the marketability of our UM graduate. The observation then, and I think a valid one still is not about their academic prowess - if you call it that - but their lack of marketability. The extra 'X' factor was deemed lacking and we as a university need to instill and develop it in our products, our graduates. 

There were many observations put forward during the discussions. Is it a problem of selection of students into the university? Is it the problem of the UM curriculum? Is it the the lack of exposure to the mainstream culture and nuances? Is it a problem from employing the previous crop of graduates that detracted major corporation from taking a chance with the current ones?

I am not the pondering type, and even if so, I am not going to pretend to be able to articulate them succinctly as not to bore the life out of any readers. One of my old schoolmate from MRSM Terendak had the bright spark to ask me to join a 'career's fair' at the school. These are for the students waiting to take their O-level equivalent (the SPM) later this year and in six month after that will need to make a decision about higher education. Being a doctor obviously the expected theme is how great a career in Medicine is, even though I suffer from a daily basis being overburdened with work. It is more interesting to talk about marketability. What soft skills that are important for these young boys and girls to be a success in life whatever their interest are.

I have a choice to make. Will I start telling them the ugly truth, or just give the plain old 'being a Doctor is great' type talk? I am keen for the former, but it might not go down well with the organisers because after all, the reason for such meeting is to inspire these young minds. I thought I might just do a little bit of both. I will first tell them my first hand account of  the path I took after SPM, my university life, getting married in my final year with a lady that also came from the same school (Anita, my childhood sweetheart), working in the UK, then now in UM. I will then talk about my observation of my students, the pressure they are under from their family to become Doctors, sometimes to a disastrous end. The soft skills that differentiate a good and a great Doctor. The perks of being a Doctor in my position. We shall see after what it will lead to, and it is happening this Saturday. There is a risk I will not be invited again the second time.

Update on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 12:33AM by Haris Abdul Rahman

About to go to bed after playing badminton with some ex-Terendakians. Don't worry, I have already had my shower. About 20 of them turned up and we booked a couple of courts. First time I played after a couple of years. Brought my 2 rackets that are in desperate need for restringing, and believe it or not, the strings were still covered with cobwebs. Nasty! Mid-game, we need to get the cleaners not to mop the floor, but to vacuum the webs off! Great fun and will likely be playing again every Monday night. The courts are just 10 minutes drive from my house.

Managed to talk about the coming Saturday trip to Malacca. They were planning to sit the students down into small groups, depending on their interests. As I said, I was not really keen to talk about the rosy side of Medicine. The problem that most of us Doctors have is just seeing the end product, and not realising the hard slog to get there. If nobody else wants to say it, then it will have to be me!