ATTENDING THE WEDDING RECEPTION OF MISS NURAZREN AND ISKANDAR

11th October 2015 ~ I attended a wedding reception of an ex-student of SMKTUN from SPM batch 2007, Miss Nurazren Dol, which was held in Dewan Jubli Intan in the city centre. One particular thing that I could associate her when she was in school is that she was actively involved in Taekwando activities. That is actually how people remember you, teachers and friends alike, when you were in school last time - how committed you are to any units like prefects or librarians, or to any co-curricular activities such as sports or uniform units.

The wedding was held on Sunday so I had to go after school. There were still many people in the hall even though I was there quite late. At the same time, I was not feeling that well (actually the doctor gave a medical leave for the day) but I had promised Miss Nurazren I would come,

Wishing both the newlywed a happy and blessed life ahead. :)

WATCHING A LIVE "BANGSAWAN" SHOW

When I was small, when entertainment would only come from television, radio or books, one thing that I would do after every Friday prayer was to turn on the radio to listen to "Bangsawan Radio" [radio theatre] on Singapore Radio. "Bangsawan" would be similar to English fairy tales where there are Kings and Queens, handsome princes and beautiful princesses, strong warriors, wicked stepmothers, monsters, genies, gods and goddesses, fairies, witches etc. 


I found an invitation card (one for the principal and the other one for the teachers and students) while checking the mail in school. There was this stage performance in Jubli Intan Hall on the 8th June and I decided to go watch it even though there was nobody to tag along. This is something that I really miss doing. When I was studying in Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, we had the opportunity to watch several live theatres, either forced to go or done on voluntary basis, but that does not happen anymore now.

I arrived at the hall early at 8:00 and there was some sort of exhibition at the foyer at the hall. As there were not many people yet, I managed to get a good seat right behind the VVIPs. The performance only started at 9:00 p.m. after the guests of honour had taken their seats.

The title of the theatre is "Bangsawan Nilakesuma". And story goes something like this:

The second wife/queen gave birth to Nilakesuma and the first wife/queen was jealous. So she conspired with the royal fortune teller by declaring that the baby would bring bad luck. The sad King had no choice but to abandon the child by sending him away.

The second wife and a few palace staff went with her deep into the forest and then there was this holy man telling them the baby would one day become an important figure. He instructed them to stay in the cottage they could find in the forest.

The Prince, Nilakesuma, had an encounter with the holy man when he had grown up into a handsome young man. The holy man told him he was the person who could kill the monster who had captured the prince and princesses of a neighbouring state (after telling him the secret of how to)and hence, free them from the curse of the wicked creature.

Nilakesuma fought with the monster and successfully freed the victims in captivity. The hero must always wins.

The other prince took Nilakesuma, his mother and all his followers to see his father, the other King. The King was so happy that his children were all home safely and he decided to marry off his first princess, which should be the most beautiful one, to Nilakesuma to show his gratitude. In this scene, then only Nilakesuma's mother told the story who they really were. Upon hearing this, Nilakesuma wanted to go and see the place where he belonged to.

Things had changed from bad to worse. The royal fortune teller who had worked together with the queen  was trying to take over the throne. 

Nilakesuma went back just at the right time to kill the evil fortune teller and everything was saved. THE END.

curtain call

By the way, in between scenes, when people back stage were working hard to change the setting and props, the audience were entertained with several singing and dancing acts. However, in my opinion, they should just stick to the traditional type of presentation as a few of them were not that suitable to the whole concept of "bangsawan". 

Nevertheless, I must say I had enjoyed myself tremendously and it was a great performance. I just wish that there are more cultural show like this for the present generation to learn and appreciate.

And I met with an ex-student, Mr. Faiz Samad, from SPM batch 1998 (if I am not mistaken) in the hall which his family, which was something unexpected.

I think I must go and watch the theatre performance in Singapore after this - at least it will be nearer than Kuala Lumpur. Anyone interested?

ATTENDING SHAZWANI'S WEDDING

25th May ~ I attended an ex-student's wedding, Shazwani Jalil, which was held at Dewan Jubli Intan, Johor Bahru. She is from SPM batch 2004, if I am not mistaken. There are just too many ex-students out there that I am now really confused which batch they originally graduated from.

I guess I have been in the same school for too long now I know not only the bride but also her father The younger brother and sister of hers aree also my ex-students (Ariff, where are you?) and one more brother is still in Form Two.

with Shafinaz, the sister

with Rezza, the brother

with Zikry, another student who should be related
to the bride's family

So thanks a lot Shazwani for inviting me to your reception, I really appreciate it. I wish you and your husband all the happiness in the world for the days to come.