Classmates in 1947

Have you ever had the surreal experience of looking at someone's old class picture in a facebook or whatsapp post and you suddenly discover that you recognise a very familiar face there? Well, I did, recently. And it was all by chance.

This was what happened. On someone's facebook timeline, he had posted an old class photograph - Penang Free School, Class VIID of 1947 - which he had obtained from a third party, and he said that standing in the last row, third from left, was Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh, who would be more commonly known today as the late P Ramlee.

Now, my late father had always maintained that he had been classmates with P Ramlee during his schooldays at Penang Free School. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could verify his claim because there was no photograph at home to back up his claim. Unverifiable, that is, until right now.

Because when I first looked at this picture, the first thing that popped up in my mind was to check my father's claim. So it became very automatic that I began to pour over this picture very carefully, hoping to pick up his youthful countenance. And my heart skipped a beat - or several beats - when I finally located him. My eyes misted over. Here was his unmistakable face peering out at me from 71 years ago.

So finally, it has been verified. Yes, it is confirmed that my father and P Ramlee were once classmates. And this would be a picture to be treasured. The only picture of my father in school uniform, the only picture of my father at Penang Free School. He would have been 19 years old when this picture was taken, and 90 years old if he were still alive today.