A blast from the past: Ghulam-Sarwar

I opened my computer this morning and wasn't surprised to see an email with "Hi" as the subject line. I do receive such emails occasionally. But I was surprised when I saw that this message was from Prof Dato' Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof.

This man is not unfamiliar to me. In fact as long ago as in 2008 when I was writing about the early years of the Penang Chess Association, I was already mentioning his name in this blog. And we had exchanged some "strong" words in public some 39 years ago. Not exactly proud of what my friends and I did then, but that was at a time when we lived more carefree lives as students.

Basically, he had a big role to play in forming this new association in 1972. However, his tenure at the association was very brief. By 1974 when the association held its annual general meeting, he was already out of the  picture. And I wasn't in Penang to really know what had happened in those two to three years.

So this morning's email from Ghulam-Sarwar shed some light on his role. Below is an extract from his email. I know he won't mind me sharing it here. It basically explained his activities in Penang - not only in the local chess circle - circa 1972:

Interesting that you should mention your surprise at my involvement in the Penang Chess Club. Why? I don't know. Just one of those things, I was involved in so many things before I left for Hawaii to do my PhD in 1972. I had to resign from more than twenty committees. Once back,  the same thing happened and it still happens, even though on each occasion I know I am doing too much.  

Prof, so glad to hear from you.