3 Anggerik of MGS '03

While I was taking in the laundry today, I saw that one of my homewear t-shirts had torn. It was my old Form 3 class tee.The blue hem at the bottom was coming off. As I held it up to inspect it, I looked at the prints on my t-shirt and realised that I had never properly looked at it for a long, long time.

My old class tee was black...with blue hems...and right across the chest, fashioned in the shape of a pulse on an EEG...was the name 3 Ang, MGS '03. Ah...so I've had this tee for 8 years now...so I thought. Then a sudden wave of nostalgia seeped in, as I saw, truly, for once, the kind of condition the tee was in.

8 years.....8 years from the time I owned this tee, and from then on, I've used it first as a class tee...then as an extra tee for PE...then something to wear out and finally...when I came to KL to study 5 years ago, I brought it with me... I meant for it to be homewear. The older, slightly more cynical part of me was thinking, "Ah, look, back then, they made t-shirts so well, they last you so long!" But as I turned to the back of my tee...I saw the design made by one of my classmates, and looked at the many names printed upon the back of the tee.

I realised the design has faded over the many years of wear...well, no surprise there...think about all the water and detergent and spin cycles it's been through. But what struck me most was that some of the names have faded...some more than others. I sat there for a few minutes just trying to read every single one of the names...Some names were printed more clearly (ironically, my names was as clear as ever, possibly due to its position near to the top middle, where I don't rest my back upon the wall) & some names had faded so much that I could barely make out the names.

Looking at the tee, I tried to match name to face...and the images came to my mind one by one, some clear and vivid...others murky and uncertain. My F3 year has been pretty memorable...and not one moment was spent without these classmates. I may not always think of them...and I may not always think of all of them equally, but these are the moments where I'm transported back to a time where the biggest problem we had to face was PMR. Things were plainer then, but they were simpler too. I wonder what they're all doing now? Are they working hard to achieve their goals? What are they working as now? Perhaps some of them might have even started a family...

Like that t-shirt, I may not remember all the details about them...like the t-shirt, the relationship between some of us may be more distant and faded than before. But like that t-shirt, we'll always have shared something in common, and the bonds we carry on our backs watch over us, as our hearts continue to beat as one pulse, united in our memories.