pre-stroke my growing-up years - leaving home

up till the age of 15 i blissfully stayed at home, being a good boy in my parent's eyes, concentrate on my studies and the only diversion would be my penchant for football. life was pretty quiet and simple, my parents were always there to ensure i behaved and my father's income was enough for us to lead a very satisfactory life, never going hungry but not one of luxury, family holidays were always simple excursions to mersing to see my grandmother and frolic by the beach, of which mersing is famous for. eating out was never part of the equation, meals at home were adequate, unlike my children now, i never knew about mamak shops, fast food outlets and chinese seafood, the only big occasions for hearty eating were the two hari rayas and the maulud nabi,(pbuh)at the local mosque.i was the quintessential good boy, study, prayers and games of football or badminton in the afternoon, lepak at the supermarket was never in my dictionary, the only occasion when i go out is to the local newsagent to buy beano, dandy or when money permits the shoot magazine, sometimes there was the occasional outing to the local cinema," battle of the bulge" and" to sir with love" were obvious memories.so, when one day i got the letter offering a place in sekolah menengah teknik cheras after my lce(lower certificate of education), my initial reaction was ok, if that makes my parents happy as i was no wiser to the ways of the world at that time. so off i went to cheras for one of the most unmemorable episode in my life, one that lasted barely a couple of months.my father was very proud though as he was very determined that we all had a good education and to him, my first cousin azman was someone i should emulate. by going to the ti(technical institute) ,to him it's just another step to technical college where azman was pursuing his diploma.instead of riding onto the sunset, my father drove us to kl where we then had the difficult task of getting our way to cheras.