What it Means to be a 'Romantic' Aikolian (Aikol Press 18 September 2015)

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Dear juniors, 

You will not notice this now. You are too young, too caught up in the wheel of life to realize. Yet as true as the sun, these days will soon pass. These days, when you have the simple luxury of sitting by the library stairs, sipping cheap coffee and simply passing time by enjoying a profoundly good book, when your friends are within reach, when wisdom and virtue are not privileges, but rather a matter of choice. These days will soon be gone and it will not be long before you have to sit before your laptops, scrolling over Facebook photos and enjoy the sweetness of reminiscence, recalling what it means to be an AIKOLian. Even after all these years, being an AIKOLian spells out many different feelings of warmth. Here is a list of what being an AIKOLian means to me.

It means the melting of my heart every time somebody mentions the kindness of the lecturers; do you remember when Dr. Hisham Kamal stopped mid-sentence when he noticed you were crying in his class?; did Dr. Musheera ever invite you to join her tafsir class? I remember with a great fond memory of the time when Dr. Azmi saw the dejected expression on my face and said “If you need somebody to speak to, you can come to me.” I never did take them up on their offers but to this day, I always make a small prayer for them whenever I am reminded of them. They are not just your teachers. They are your part-time parents. For 5 days a week, they are the closest thing you have to adult supervision.

Being an AIKOLian also means you get excited again when somebody speaks of the deliciousness of nuggets from AIKOL Cafe. In 2015, you young folks are deprived of the simple pleasure that is AIKOL nuggets, but back in the glory days of 2004, the nuggets were a source of comfort and simple joy even if it came with the heavy cost of stinking odor clinging on to your clothes for the whole day. Call me a romantic, but I dare say getting a plateful of AIKOL cafe’s nuggets in between classes was like getting a packed gift from home.

It is the joy of finding other fellow AIKOLians and swapping stories; did Ustaz Hamid J ever call you to his room for counseling?; did you take Criminal Law with Dr Baha or Dr Iqbal?; do you remember Dr Naqib’s finger gestures when he lectured?; do you remember how motherly Madam Zarina was?; were you there when Dr. Muzaffar danced in class?; did you ever get chased out of class by Madam Suzanna for forgetting the Rules?; do you remember when we skipped a tutorial to attend the lecture from Sir Ayatollah?; do you remember Dr Iqbal’s performance in the rain?; have you ever tasted Madam Nik’s pilau rice? Yes, I remember them all. It is recalling how every sister from AIKOL must (read: WAJIB) have her own favourite black abaya; one that she will wear time and again without ironing, the one abaya that she can wear with her torn pajamas underneath and still manage to look presentable for class. The boys had a lot to learn from us, especially considering they always looked like they had not showered for days. For this reason, deep down inside, most AIKOLian sisters wished they were in Engineering, where the “real men” were at.

It is reliving the comfort of meeting kind-hearted people. Yes, I admit. You will meet terrible people; people who enjoy torturing human souls for breakfast. They will not smile, they will be unhelpful and they will remain unkind to you. Yet, when you leave AIKOL in a few years, you will not remember these people. You will be too busy remembering that makcik cleaner who would smile to you everyday, or that Pak Guard who allowed you in even after curfew because he took pity on you, or that time in Ramadhan when your favourite lecturer cooked for your class, or simply that everybody in IIUM greets each other with a kind Salam and a handshake.

My dear juniors,

Being a product of AIKOL means knowing you will never feel quite at home anywhere else than you ever will in AIKOL. Welcome to AIKOL. May these next 4 years teach you what it takes to be kinder and wiser. I hope to see you on the other side.

*Graduate Class of 2009

** Published in Aikol Press on September 18, 2015 with Editor's modifications. 

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