Thursday, January 27, 2011

IT SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS : THERE IS A STORY TO TELL

1. These group of student leaders representing MSA ( Malaysian Students Association of Malaysia in Australia) together with  Dato  Mohd Fuad Stephen the Malaysian High Commissioner of Malaysian and senior staff of the Embassy at Australian National University after an annual Conference of the Association. dated 1972 

IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT. The camera shoots, records the scene and acknowledges it for posterity. Imagine the multitude of moments captured of yourself or your family plus activities that have become second nature to you. A camera buff yourself, you would have treasured those moments, not sharing but kept immobilized either in negatives or disks away from other eyes; halting those moments of significance from getting a broader circle of admirers. 

Print them. Download them. They will add patches or missing links to certain slots in time and history. Geared by this concept and understanding, I am tracking back and revealing  some of the photos recorded in the past, unaware that they too have significances of their own, helping to reveal characters, events in the circle of time when you yourself have been an actor albeit of some distinctions too. Truly so when you have achieved so much, traveled widely and seen more in all these calculated years.

Let's dig into our treasure trove, discover the old photos or negatives that somehow have been kept hidden from curious eyes. You will undoubtedly help bring back memories, discover faces, facades, families, beauties or familiarities that  unintentionally have escaped curious yet worthy eyes.Surprisingly there are some worthy of a heritage nature.

2. Always wonder if ever I get back to this part of Spain especially near Zaragozza would I be able to meet these six young boys again. Surely they would have grown and reach senior status too being 53 years ago when we stopped at this corner of the town while on a Vespa ride through Europe in 1957. Zaraggoza being a football centered city could even enlisted any one of them as a player. A return visit would be a great surprise to see the development here and around. Notice the boy with some grapes in hand. Not compulsory for a crash helmet too then . Date August 1957


3. Photographers and news persons around Tun Mahathir and wife as all wished him 'Happy Birthday" 2010 A closer look would show others in the gathering.


     4. Fifteen youth hardly topping their 21th birthday yet, warga negara Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (Malaya)  clad in their Baju Melayu  with songkok on their heads and braving the English weather somewhere on the outskirt of Liverpool in their first year at a college set up for training of Malayan teachers oversea. Simply unheard of and possibly never attempted by any other governments of the world to set up a college for their youths in a foreign land. To date only ten from  the fifteen till remain. P.S looking for detail you may rightly recognize students from Johor i.e from their local Malay dress. The black pipes in the background then provided the heating system for the college. Certainly things have changed now for the system. (The College existed 1952- 1962) Dated August 1956


Discover what these photos have within them and how like others they have stories untold. No doubt they may not reach the pages of 'National Geographic' or  'Life' yet they are gems or merits of their own. They helped to open the pages of the past and the footprints you have left behind.  

Other pix will follow .......

4 comments:

Al-Manar said...

Nostalgia - a mixture of beauty of the yesteryears, but of sadness to know that it is gone forever. The pipes insulated in bituminous wrappers, supported on posts and running from one building to another are what I still remember of my visits there in 1957/58 - and what my other half still remembers of her stay there earlier as a child with her family.
Salaam to you.
Pakcik Hassan

KotaStar said...

Sdr AlManar,

Terima kasih kerana singgah dipondok Kotastar dan meninggalkan catatan yg membawa kenangan lama. Apakhabar? Nampaknya kita masih terganggu dengan banjir yg kini melanda Johor dan negeri-negeri di selatan.Been keeping touch with yr writing and glad that everything going FINE and we wish the class id progressing as usual.Salam from us.

cann said...

I can surely feel the nostalgia in the post. It's so sentimental, those recollection of pictures.

Azizi Ahmad Termizi: said...

Pak Non

Photos are incredible things. They capture the mood and experience of the moment to be enjoyed and relived in our minds in posterity. I recognize my father from your photo of trainees in Kirkby.

thank you.