When I joined UTAR in May, 2006, I thought it was going to be a short, uninvolved stint. But, I stayed on for three years, made good friends and now leave without regrets!
After the previous job, I became wary of staff. And, there is one very important physical space in my life where, unfortunately, I never made good friends. These two factors combined made me lose faith in people's ability to accept me as I am. Consequently, I became detached from the people around me because I lost confidence that they would reciprocate.
But, UTAR, unexpectedly, changed that! Well, not UTAR, but the students I got to know and grew to love, and the lecturers in the PD block staffroom where I had my office! That's me at my cubicle!
The students who got close to me I will never forget. Their idealism and openness to get to know me really softened my heart. They seemed able to see through me and because they reached forward, I eventually dropped my guard and discovered wonderful young people who I know will be a pleasure to be with where ever they go!
The lecturers ... they were such great company! I remember Dr Lim. I got to know his head of straight black hair before I got to know him! Being an owl, I keep late hours and often, rushing to get materials prepared, I would look over my cubicle walls and see no one around except for this bobbing tuft of black hair over his cubicle walls! And, I would feel relieved that I wasn't alone! It was only later that I knew that that was Dr Lim who also stayed back late to get work done, and we became friends.
When he left, I was wondering how I was going to stay up late working alone in the staffroom. That was when another lecturer, Sugu, also began to keep late hours working while waiting for his wife. Relief! I had company while working late! And, Sugu, being an IT lecturer, could be depended on everytime I faced a computer glitch!
But, nobody helped me with the computer like See, another IT lecturer! When I first joined UTAR, I used to stay up as late as 11pm. At that time, See occupied the cubicle next to me, and seeing me scrambling to get work done before classes, gallantly uploaded a compatible Microsoft software on my PC at home so that I could work at home! He used to discourage me from working late in the staffroom by saying: "There are ghosts in the staffroom! Some people heard voices!"
See was never too busy to help me with my computer problems! When he was busy, he would tell me to wait and come over when he was free to unravel the conundrum in my computer! I learnt a lot about how to make the computer work for me! Still clumsy with it but more literate now than before! Thanks to all the IT lecturers I hung around with! They were mostly located at the PD block staffroom.
Then, there were Dr Roy -- Swagy -- and Mariam, my sharing buddies and drinking khakis (partners)! I am always talking a mile a minute with them about all my ups and downs! And we found a number of pleasant tea places where we could have a nice cup of tea or teh tarik (Indian tea) and some sweets and/or savouries and chat until it was time to go home. I am going to miss that!
And, all the others, like Priya who found it a bit hard to handle my bluntness but persevered nevertheless! And, Kim Peng with whom I had many interesting chats along the isles between cubicles and who is now my new movie watching khaki! And Michelle who taught me how to use Excel! And, the newest friend, Yen Li (officially, Dr Lee!) who showed me how to enjoy Korean food!
All of you - students and lecturers - touched my life in some deep way. You broke my reserve and restored my faith in the goodness of humanity and in my abilities to make friends again. I will never forget. May God's blessings be on you!
Keep in touch, my friends. Those of us who must go in separate ways, farewell -- till we meet again, someday, somewhere, sometime!
