Photograph by Ray Ng KT
Life is strange because we cannot
predict what will happen in the following couple of minutes. Maybe life itself
needs a strange person to cooperate, to construct an alluring scenery.
The questions are: What makes a
person look eccentric? What is the definition of “unconventional behaviour”?
Things that most of the people do are considered as convention. To be honest,
it is not a fair phenomenon but it is really a mode that is embedded in
everybody’s mind.
I do not know whether I should
categorise him as the most eccentric person, but in the eyes of his classmates
and friends, he is.
He is my best friend since I was a
child. We lived in the same flat in our hometown. What a coincidence it is that
we were born in the same year and on the same day. Furthermore, we were
classmates throughout our study life. I always think that he is special because
he has a dual personality. Most of the time, he is introverted, enjoys silence
and prefers to be alone, whereas to a certain extent, he enjoys speaking and
giving renditions.
I still remember when we were in
primary school, in an art lesson, the teacher asked us to break some eggshells
and paste them on a drawing paper in order to form a picture, and then coloured
it. He used three weeks to complete that homework. Everyone was shocked when
the teacher put his work on the board because he had smashed the eggshells into
the tiny pieces. Of course, he got the highest mark for that piece of art.
When he was in secondary school, he
used to wrap his things such as pencil case and calculator in plastic before
put into his bag. According to him, he wanted his things to be preserved all
the time. After his stuff getting older and older, he realised that nothing is
immortal.
He and I went to Kuala Lumpur after
Form Six to further our study in a college. Gradually, he spoke more in the
class and became more silent while he was in his room. He stayed in a dormitory
for four years until his graduation. During this period of time, he immersed
himself into a sea of books. Every day he woke up at 5:30 a.m. to wash his
clothes and clean himself up, I think he was the earliest resident in his level
of dormitory. Different from others, his door was always closed and his shoes
were kept inside the room because he believed that the room was his castle and
things that out of his sight were not safe.
Although almost all of the students
like to chat at mamak stalls at
night, he was not on the fad. He only went out once a week for amusement like
watching movies and shopping to release his pressure. Furthermore, he seldom
went out with friends.
It is worth to be mentioning that his
college individual projects were done by using typewriter, since he did not
bring his computer to Kuala Lumpur. His lecturers and classmates were
astonished. He was the only one who used an “antique” to produce the
contemporary works.
Now and forever, I think he will be
my best companion. He has been living deep inside of me. Every day I meet him
in the mirror. When I comb my hair, he will comb his hair; when I grin at him,
he will grin at me.
