Again Shauqina

Chapter 4: I hear your voice

The first Saturday of college and I was just so nervous.

It was the first meeting of the Malay Language Drama and Debating Society, MLDDS for short, and all freshies had to attend. I had second thoughts of going since I really wanted to keep a low profile. However, my mother advised that we shouldn’t live under the coconut shell, so to speak, and that the other Muslims are my brothers and sisters in Islam. I knew somehow that she wanted me to stay close to my roots and not be so taken in by other cultures.

I wished I did not come.

It’s my voice. I have never felt comfortable with my voice. It was high pitch when I got excited, loud when I didn’t want it to be and sounded coy without me meaning it as such. Girls thought I was acting super cute and guys thought I was coming onto them – Naauzubillah – God forbid. So when the seniors happily registered me as a participant for the annual Inter-College Dialogue Competition, I was literally speechless and thus, voiceless. When I found my voice back, I tried to protest though.

“Can somebody else go in my place please?”

“Why? Tell me why?”

I turned to my left to see the owner of that question. A friendly grin greeted me. The senior was nondescript looking – a typical Mat Melayu – Malay guy- dark-skin, with straight, short hair and bangs that fell playfully across his high forehead. If I had not been preoccupied with my voice, I would have loved to snip off a good part of those bangs. However, what were remarkable about him were his eyes – they were almond-shaped and small, but had a most mischievous glint. That glint was now sparkling at me. I looked down. Who was he?

“Hafiz!!! Don’t bully her!” That was Wahid, a tall boy who walked with a stoop and a gait that was unsteady. Maybe it was his droopy eyes or the brotherly tone of his voice because I found him to be somebody I could trust in this new world. Since that morning, he had taken the initiative to introduce himself to us freshies and had short of been tailing us, trying his best to explain things – a self-styled tourist guide.

“Assalamualaikaum! My name is Wahid bin Azman and I am a senior from Science. I am an Executive member of Temasek’s Malay Club and would therefore like to welcome all of you here! I will introduce you all later to the rest of the Executive members so you would know who to turn to should you need any help. We are of course, very happy to be of any assistance.”

True to his promise, he was now pointing an excusing finger at Hafiz.

“Why?” Hafiz continued. He was now beginning to get on my nerves. Scissors anyone?

Wahid was adamant.

“She is a freshie – Hafiz, this is Hafeza! Hafeza, this is Hafiz!” he then chuckled, obviously delighting in his own lame jokes.

Hafiz held out his hand to shake mine. I went red in the face and shook my head, smiling nervously. Hafiz, with right hand in mid-air, looked momentarily stunned, then quickly recovered and pretended to scratch his head. Wahid gave a tremendous slap on Hafiz’s back.