SAHOCA 9 - ISMAIL WHISKY

In early December 2008, my family and I attended a wedding feast of my fellow Collegian and also Jitra town mate, Che Gu Azmi at Taman Dato' Shuib, Jalan Sultanah, Alor Setar. To my surprise, I bumped into my former Collegian, Haji Ismail Othman. The last time I met him was 45 years ago in 1969 when we were together as University Malaya undergraduates.

Haji Ismail hailed from Kampung Lubuk Batu, Mukim Pelubang which is about 10 kilometers from Bandar Darul Aman, Jitra. I stayed with my auntie at Lorong Aliff, Jitra. I used to walk the ten minutes journey to the bus station beside the Jitra Post Office. Our transport to school i.e. SAHC at Alor Setar was by bus. Some of the Collegians who boarded the bus at Jitra were my classmates Wan Min Wan Din and Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman. Dato' Azmi Murad, Senior General Manager of MAHB also boarded the school bus at Jitra.

As there were enough College students to accommodate one busload, the Kubang Pasu Transport Company provided one bus specially for College students. The bus would start from Jitra at 6.30 am and would transport us straight to the doorsteps of the College. The bus would stop along the way to Alor Setar picking up College students at pick up stops. At Kubang Lembu, the bus would pick up Dato' Dr. Affifuddin Omar and his future brother in law Colonel (R) Ahmad Zubir Ibrahim. At Tanjung Pauh, the bus would pick up Syed Ahmad Radzi, Industrial Court Judge in Penang.

Then at Tanah Merah, we would pick up Ismail Othman who used to cycle on his grand father's bicycle from his village, Kampung Lubuk Batu, Pelubang which is 8 kilometers from Tanah Merah. Ismail is naturally a very fair chap and his face would be reddish in colour while perspiring profusely after his cycling efforts. As such, his classmates would call him Ismail Whisky as the redness of his face would depict him as a drunkard who has just consumed a full bottle of whisky.

His nick name Ismail Whisky remained stead fast with him until to day. Ismail even told us about his dilemma when he proposed marriage to his wife. Before agreeing to his proposal, he future father in law did a through investigation on him whether Ismail was indeed a drunkard in tandem with his nick name Ismail Whisky. Today Ismail Whisky is a happily retired educational lecturer and residing harmoniuosly at where he began his journey to secondary education i.e. Kampung Lubuk Batu, Mukim Pelubang, District of Kubang Pasu.