KELANTAN: An Outsider's View

PART 2: REGISTRATION DAY

I woke up the next morning excited of my day ahead. I had my bath, and guess what- the water was clear, hehe. I was relieved, cos I wasn’t quite ready to bathe in the ever famous yellow Kelantan water. I was a bit confused at first as to why the water was not yellow, not knowing then that I would get my answer in a few days time.

I had breakfast and headed straight to USM. I enjoyed my journey towards USM as there were a lot of things that I noted. One was the fact that the Coke signboard boldly spelled Coca- Cola in Jawi. I was extremely amused at that site. And the next thing was that there were rarely any buildings taller then 2 storeys high. No apartment- like buildings like KL or Ipoh. And there were becas on the road. Yeah, im talking bout those Melaka- like becas where the driver rides a bicycle and the passenger sits in the compartment beside him. And it wasn’t for tourists; it was actually a mode of transport here!! (that was according to Pak Sarif) Wah, steady man these people, I would be embarrassed to my bone to take a ride on one. Ya la, a bit the retro- like ma. But Pak Sarif could not have said it better- ‘At least it’s a halal source of income well earned with their own sweat’. God Bless them Beca riders!!

We finally reached USM. By then the place was crowded with people- future graduates, fathers, mothers, uncle, aunties, grandparents and even babies. It was chaotic if u asked me. I didn’t understand why everybody had to be there when it’s only registration day. Its suppose to be a formal thing. But oh well.

So I got myself registered, checked out my room which was a room for two with a double decker bed, I had to settle with the top deck as I was sharing with a senior who was then a 3rd year Medical student. She wasn’t there when I arrived cos seniors are instructed to leave the hostel during the new intake orientation week.

So anyway, I spent the rest of the day cleaning my room while my over concerned dad went out and bought everything- you- could- think- of for me… honestly daddy… but that’s my dad, he’ll never let his eldest daughter grow up… by the end of the day, I had to say goodbye to my dad as orientation week was to start the next day and we were required to stay in our hostel and to not have contact with any outsiders for the following week- typical orientation rules.

So I was to have my bath at the hostel that night, and to my horror, the water was yellow…! Mum was right. It wasn’t purely yellow la, that would just be exaggerating, but it was very2 slightly yellow. You would only notice if you were looking. Can bathe la, but a bit scary. Whatever it is, I was determined to find out why the water at a HEALTH campus was yellow while Pak Sarif had clear water supply.

To be continued….

- LadYdaRK-