Short Stories of My Life

Popular Bookstore- 11 years old

The tall dark men next to me took out large sums of money to give to the cashier. He was willing to pay all of my R.L Stine’s Goosebumps and Michael Lee’s Midnight’s Story series although he did not understand much what the books are all about. But my father did understand my passion for reading, and he knew it was good for his son. Being in standard five, I have not much to care about the world around me, only my Goosebumps and evenings filled with Disney Channel time.

SMK Sultan Ismail II- 15 years old

“Wow that is such a great camera! How did your father allow you to buy it? ” I asked my friend when he brought his own DSLR camera. I was stunned by the images captured by the small-but-heavy black thing! I could not care less but to surf the internet and looked for the best camera.
“NO, the final answer is no!” my father said.
“It’s okay, I’ll buy the camera using my own money” I replied. My father just smiled and walked away.

I knew I could not get enough Ringgit Malaysia to buy the camera which was my passion and so was my father. I looked for ways to develop my passion in capturing moments. I studied independently on how to capture my own best photo using my friend’s camera and from the internet. Digital Camera magazines were my in my list of things for camping.

In one evening in January, I came back to school and found a yellow-framed magazine. It was on the table. National Geographic? Yes, it was. I was so glad that my mother subscribed the magazine as my birthday present. Until now, it is still my favourite magazine. Nothing could compare my pleasure of drinking a cup of coffee while engaging myself with the photos in Visions of Earth section in the magazine. Canadian Oil Boom, Yellowstone National Park and recently published Indonesia Facing the Fanatics are the journals portraying the real world natural phenomenon and human-made crisis. The stories were told beautifully made myself deeply sink into the world.

Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar- 18 years old

“How much is too much?” the voice of Oprah was vibrating in my ears as I was reading my favourite author’s new book, Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly of Everything. My mother was doing her daily routine; watching Oprah while I always accompany her while reading a book. I found it was intellectually engaging to watch Oprah although my mother just anxious waiting whether the audiences were going to get surprises from the show. While watching the show, I develop my passion for the physique of our Earth. The book I was reading truly brought interest in me for our Earth.

I went to boarding school and away from my father’s care and my mother’s guidance. My Sunday mornings have been replaced with time for reading The Star, the leading nation’s newspaper. Zainah Anwar’s column, Sharing the Nation was my favourite together with Dzoff Azmi’s Contradictheory. Being an activist, Zainah Anwar has always inspired me with her thoughtful and critical views.
Growing up, I found memoirs to be inspirational. ‘Tis a Memoir and Angela’s Wishes by Frank McCourt truly stirred my heart with his moving stories while my favourite author’s memoir, The Life and Times of the Thundeborlt Kid made myself to discover that my life is full of beautiful things to do!

I came across a book one day that grabbed my attention. ‘Outliers: The True Story of Success’ by Malcolm Gladwell. I just picked up the book and read it. I skipped dinner and finished the book in one and a half day! I was so captivated by the stories, analysis and arguments presented in the book. Those who are successful are outliers, and they are successful because of accumulation of success. Well, truly interesting when I reflected my own chronological stories. Without my father’s will to spend so much money for my books, without my mother’s daily routine, without my 15th birthday present and without my passion for photos; how would I be today?

Questions Part 1

I still remember questions that I always ask my teachers. About the questions, they cannot really answer specifically or as I should say ‘accurately’. I still remember some of the questions chronologically since I was in Form Three because until now, no one has ever satisfied me to explain about them.

Form Four

Have you ever remembered a diagram in your textbook; a cutaway diagram showing the Earth’s interior as it would look if you cut into the planet with a very large knife and carefully withdrew a quarter of its bulk? My attention did turn in a more scholarly manner though to the scientific import of the drawing and the realization that the Earth consisted of discrete layers, ending in the centre with a glowing of nickel and iron. But, how do they know that?

Form Five

Do you still remember your Physics teacher telling you about the gravity? Do they have significant change to a particular place when earthquake happens?

Form Six

While diving under the sea, a question popped up in my head. How do the geoscientist know where, when and how to extract the fossil fuels under the layers of seabed?
Will the multinational oil company that sponsored my studies ever worked closely with environmental agencies in reducing carbon footprint?

Question, argue and seek answers; I have always been doing that in debate tournament. It is super effective in learning and broaden my horizon of thinking. I once used these techniques when I got so bored in Physics class. Do you always feel that the scientists are all liars when they just explained the theory in textbooks without telling us how do they arrive to that principles or laws? Well, I did. It turned to be very interesting to see you and your teachers seek for the answers together. Being challenged by your teachers to explain the subject he is not used to was totally amazing; you have to be good in explaining natural phenomenon though. Raw materials from the net and images from encyclopaedia was my saver at that time. Nothing could compare my pleasure of explaining the whole thing in class after hours of researching. I remembered this event vividly when I browsed the internet looking at General Paper classes were always mind-stimulating. There he stood in front of the classroom; Mr Liebenberg explained the way we argued things differently. I loved being in his class; discussing issues and raising endless questions regarding universal principles. Argument was the best part, made your mind goes around finding evidences to support your judgements. Seeking solutions was and adventure as we never knew the possibilities. But I know we can predict.

Earth Science, Anyone?

My own starting point, for what it is worth, was a school science book that I had when I was in Standard Five. The book was a standard issue school textbook – unloved, dull, plain- but near the front it had an illustration that just captivated me: a cutaway diagram showing the Earth’s interior as it would if you cut into the planet with a knife and withdrew a wedge representing a quarter of its bulk. Gradually my attention did turn into a more scholarly manner to the scientific import of the drawing and the realization that the Earth consisted of discrete layers, ending in the centre with a glowing iron and nickel, which was as hot as the surface of the Sun. Thinking with real wonder, I asked myself: How do they know that? I could not work out what spaces thousands of miles below us, that no eyes had ever seen and no X-ray could penetrate, could look like and be made of. That was how I engaged myself with Earth science.

What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?

I can imagine myself standing in the middle of a crowded street watching Malays and Chinese killing one another in a battle which would amount to nothing but innocent deaths. Horrified, I would run away from the awful scenes of monstrous killings. One word could accurately describe what was in my mind; clueless. Citizens out of nowhere from all over Malaysia came and killed those who do not belong to their race, blinded by hatred and a thirst for justice that they believe could never be achieved without bloodshed. Everything was so medieval and crude, screaming men running after each other with machetes, neither one with a justified reason for their actions.

I would really like to know the true reason and facts behind all of this; the racial riot on May 13th 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a tragedy which will forever mar the image of my country. Is there any hidden motive amongst the multi-racial leaders or just a political gimmick from both sides of terribly misunderstood parties? A series of question have long plagued my mind - why massive killings, what was the significance, and why is there no hard evidence even now? Perhaps if I am able to live in that era of horrible racial prejudice, I can fully understand what went wrong after 12 years of independence.