My Friend Syed Hishamuddin Syed Adam @ Abang

His name is Syed Hishamudin Syed Adam and we called him Abang. In fact,the kampung folks in Kg Kota Bahru, Gopeng called him Abang. Perhaps due to his being the eldest in the family. He has two younger brothers - Syed Noh and Syed Murad.

He was in the same class with me when we were in Standard 1 (1970) right up to Standard 4 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kota Bahru, Gopeng before I moved to Ipoh in 1974.

His father, Syed Adam owned a "kedai kopi" located across the road opposite to "Kedai Runcit Abi" and adjacent to the "Kedai Kopi" was a barber shop also owned by Syed Adam. Yes, Syed Adam was also a barber, the only "tukang gunting rambut" at my kampung...

I remember patronising Syed Adam's barber shop especially when the school holidays ended with Apak... Apak would brought me there with his loyal Honda 70 and we normally ended up "minum teh and makan roti bakar/cakoi" (we called it "Pak Kocok") with "kaya"....

The irony of it is this ... Though Syed Adam was a barber, his 3 kids spotted long hair especially Syed Murad who was about 3/4 years old at that time.

Back to Abang ... As a kid, he was full of imagination and was very hyperactive and quite a "delinquent". Well we were just kids then ...

There were a few antics of Abang which I remember till now such as ....

During PE, instead of "bersenam", he would chased the girls, caught & hugged them .... We actually grew up together and had known each other since pre school so no "hard feelings" actually!!!

There was once during the Art class, we were asked by our temporary teacher - who happened to be my eldest sister @ Fuziah - to draw " Saya & Keluarga Saya Berkelah" -a very typical topic then!!!

As kids, we drew and having grown up within the same kampung ambience, the drawings were more or less the same. It's a must that the drawings should have a mountain as a back ground with clouds here and there with a sun between the mountain range and birds flying in the sky. To top it up there was a plane right at the edge of the clouds!!! The family would be having a picnic by a river - most of us only knew a river and never have we seen a beach anyway - with a kampung house at the back ground and a "crossed" coconut trees at the back of the house or by its side or by the river itself!!! I wonder whether all kids during that era had the same imagination in their drawings!!!!

Abang somehow or rather gone beyond that, there were so many cats in his drawing. I think about 4/5 of them. When my sister asked him why there were so many cats (we knew the family "tak bela kucing pun!!!"), his answer was they are his family. The best part was all his cats' name have the title "Syed"!!!!!

I last met him when he was on duty as the Court Police at the Magistrates' Court, Jalan Duta back in 1990s. I hugged him as we have not met each other for years. I came to know from him he was at that time taking up Arabic Language at IIU (UIA) and taking up classes on Islamic Religion.

He was totally a different person but still the same handsome Abang that I knew - more composed and matured though... The last news that I heard he is currently an Imam at Masjid UKM!!!!

Alhamdulillah & I would surely try to meet him there one day, InsyaALLAH....

You may want to know what happened to Syed Adam ... He eventually closed his "Kedai Kopi" and "Kedai Gunting Rambut" and became the "Ketua Kampung" Kota Bahru before he passed away several years back ... Al Fatihah to him.

Till we meet again ....