ONCE UPON A TIME IN SIMUNJAN(2)

My life in Simunjan, though quiet and lonely, didn't mean that I need to stay as such. I hated loneliness. So, to escape loneliness during weekend, I cycled down to the town of Simunjan from my home at Simunjan Secondary School. The school was about 3 km away from the town.

In Simunjan, I would spent my nights with my friends , government servants too. Amongst them, come names like Julaihi Suhaili, Cosmas Allen and Abdillah Aerowaini. Nights with them would be spent either by attending films at the theatre or playing cards in the game of Jokers..etc

Cosmas , if I could recall , has retired from service sometimes two years back, after reaching the age of 56. Julaihi is still serving in one of the departments in Kuching and definitely will be retiring in a year or so. Abdillah , a classmate of mine in St. Thomas's School is now a Police officer , serving in one of the district, as a District Police chief.

During the 70s , concerts were held quite often. Performers were local talents and also stars from Kuching. In one of the concerts held in Simunjan sometimes in 1974/1975, we were invited to sing our fovourite nos. ie Melody Fair and a number by late Broery, Jatuh Cinta( Fall in Love). Cosmas played his magical guitar and harmonica. Girls loved our performance , especially Cosmas, with his creative presentations. Fresh in my mind, there's one cute girl that we called Melody Fair who fell in love with our songs and we too , fell in love ith her.

Given the chance , I would like to perform again with the same team, well for the old time sake. Who knows, we may be able to meet Melody Fair. I wonder what she's doing now. Is she married? With whom? May be she's a grand Ma now. Life is so sweet in the 70s..I love Simunjan and the times spent there.

Well, I have a better way to remember Simunjan and its people. I adopted a boy in 1975 from one poor family. And this adopted brother of mine is now serving as a policeman in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah...