NOTTINGHAM - UNIVERSITY OF TWO MALAYSIAN KINGS AND THE CURRENT PRIME MINISTER – IN JULY, 2009, PART II.
By Mansor Puteh
(NOTE: This is the second and final part of the essay I had posted earlier. The original essay was broken into two parts because it became very lengthy because there are a lot of things I want to write in it.)
Shahreza and I spent three days in Nottingham and during this short period of time we managed to see much of the city and by the time we left it, we were able to get around on our own pretty well, even without using the GPS.
We did not go to other interesting places in the city and its environs because we wanted to do it in our next trip there.
In the three days that I was on campus I could forget to notice the silence in it. There is silence everywhere you look at which is broken only by the sounds of the chirping birds and small waves that were created by the boats that some people were rowing in the lake.
There’s no one around like what one expects on a campus anywhere. But then it is the summer break when most of the students had left the campus for their long summer vacation leaving just a few to stay back to attend their graduation ceremony or commencement that was held in the field.
I noticed some Malaysians who had just graduated from the university with their degrees in various fields. How could I tell that? Because the women were wearing the Melayu traditional clothes called ‘baju Melayu’ over their togas or graduation gowns.
They seemed to be very happy and relieved to be able to carry the scrolls that they had just received from their vice-chancellor that they can take back to Malaysia, where they could start a new life.
Who wouldn’t be especially if one has to slog for three of four years to get to where they are now, a university graduate. Or in this case a graduate of Nottingham University – and be alumni of the university of two Malaysian Kings and the current prime minister.
It’s not that they are talking about it in this fashion. No one expects them to do it, but it can be an interesting writing for an outsider who can see how significant this detail or fact is. And it is not just for the casual conversationalists, but for the historians, too.
So I thought I was in a rural area in England like it is an extension of the wide plains I had just driven through earlier with my nephew, Shahreaza driving in our rented Ford Focus.
The driving from Cambridge where we had gone to do some visiting at the university there and the city to shoot video footage around the St. Catharine’s College had left an indelible mark in my awareness of England, especially the areas outside of London which I had not frequented often in the few trips I had made to the country.
In fact, last July I returned to the country after an absence of 18 years. And I had been there six times before, staying for two weeks at the most and one and a half days at the least.
And most of the time I was holed in London which is such a huge hole to have to wander around in.
Only once did I manage to venture outside of London which was to go to Oxford University and Stradford-upon-Avon in 1998.
And this time, 18 years later, I returned to England and rented a car for ten days and traveled all over the countryside which was peaceful.
It was in summer, but it was not a hot summer yet, as the weather was quite chilly which required the wearing of a light jacket for comfort. And it rained a lot too, sometimes very heavily when we were in the city or while driving.
After spending three days in Cambridge and doing what we were supposed to do there at the university, we drove along some rural roads and got to Nottingham.
This time we did it without the aid of the SatNav or Satellite Navigation system or GPS for Global Positioning System which we were using, because the gadget failed on us and we had to rely on maps that we downloaded from the internet that were given to us by a friend in Hitchin.
But the maps turned out to be confusing so we ended up having to make many detours and stopping strangers along the way and on the pavements to seek directions. Some of them took us away from Nottingham, but we somehow managed to get back on the right track and finally got there.
I was actually relieved to arrive at Nottingham University especially after hearing a lot about it and also reading about two of the Kings of Malaysia, the late Almarhum Yang diPertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and the present Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, had studied there in the 1940s, with the current prime minister, Najib Tun Razak following in their footsteps much later in the 1960s.
I ventured in the city and found how small and tidy it is with traffic flowing in an orderly fashion. On top of a hill in the city-center is an old castle which was where the legendary Robin Hood had frequented.
I tried to get there but the approach road did not take us there and we had to drive around the hill again and again. Maybe next time, I’ll try and see Robin there.
But I managed to spend a bit of a time visiting the many halal restaurants operated by the Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and the others.
This is where we stopped for our meals of kebab and fried rice and being able to see Nottingham from another perspective altogether.
And as we drove along the more quiet road, I felt a tinge of sadness especially at seeing the many rows of apartment and commercial buildings which are left vacant.
They must reflect the vibrant times that the city-folks might have experienced in the economic book which forced the developers to construct them to accommodate the growing population, many of whom had to be brought in from India and Bangladesh.
We got to meet some of them, and because most of them are Muslims we were able to strike interesting conversations with them. Some of them had met Malaysians who were studying at the university or living in the city, and also visitors who had come for a short stay there like the two of us.
And we also enjoyed eating the types of foods they sold and it saved us from having to go to India, Pakistan or Bangladesh to sample them. They are equally tasteful at the restaurants here as well as those in these countries including in Malaysia.
Yes, Nottingham is a city for me. It was unfortunate that I did not consider coming here to study, but I did not regret it because coming here allows me to see it in a totally different light altogether. Returning here in the near future, would be a blessing, especially if I am able to work on my film here and get it shown to many later.
Nottingham is not too far away from London, but it looks like it is so, especially if one is alert and is able to compare living in these two cities. Nottingham is not so world famous. It also cannot be compared with Liverpool and Manchester or Bristol. But that’s because it wants to be what it is.
And if not for Nottingham University, I doubt it if there will be many Malaysians who would have flocked to come here to study.
Of course the city has their own tourism office, but they hardly ever promote itself in Malaysia. They just exist for the local tourism.
(NOTE: This is the second and final part of the essay I had posted earlier. The original essay was broken into two parts because it became very lengthy because there are a lot of things I want to write in it.)
Shahreza and I spent three days in Nottingham and during this short period of time we managed to see much of the city and by the time we left it, we were able to get around on our own pretty well, even without using the GPS.
We did not go to other interesting places in the city and its environs because we wanted to do it in our next trip there.
In the three days that I was on campus I could forget to notice the silence in it. There is silence everywhere you look at which is broken only by the sounds of the chirping birds and small waves that were created by the boats that some people were rowing in the lake.
There’s no one around like what one expects on a campus anywhere. But then it is the summer break when most of the students had left the campus for their long summer vacation leaving just a few to stay back to attend their graduation ceremony or commencement that was held in the field.
I noticed some Malaysians who had just graduated from the university with their degrees in various fields. How could I tell that? Because the women were wearing the Melayu traditional clothes called ‘baju Melayu’ over their togas or graduation gowns.
They seemed to be very happy and relieved to be able to carry the scrolls that they had just received from their vice-chancellor that they can take back to Malaysia, where they could start a new life.
Who wouldn’t be especially if one has to slog for three of four years to get to where they are now, a university graduate. Or in this case a graduate of Nottingham University – and be alumni of the university of two Malaysian Kings and the current prime minister.
It’s not that they are talking about it in this fashion. No one expects them to do it, but it can be an interesting writing for an outsider who can see how significant this detail or fact is. And it is not just for the casual conversationalists, but for the historians, too.
So I thought I was in a rural area in England like it is an extension of the wide plains I had just driven through earlier with my nephew, Shahreaza driving in our rented Ford Focus.
The driving from Cambridge where we had gone to do some visiting at the university there and the city to shoot video footage around the St. Catharine’s College had left an indelible mark in my awareness of England, especially the areas outside of London which I had not frequented often in the few trips I had made to the country.
In fact, last July I returned to the country after an absence of 18 years. And I had been there six times before, staying for two weeks at the most and one and a half days at the least.
And most of the time I was holed in London which is such a huge hole to have to wander around in.
Only once did I manage to venture outside of London which was to go to Oxford University and Stradford-upon-Avon in 1998.
And this time, 18 years later, I returned to England and rented a car for ten days and traveled all over the countryside which was peaceful.
It was in summer, but it was not a hot summer yet, as the weather was quite chilly which required the wearing of a light jacket for comfort. And it rained a lot too, sometimes very heavily when we were in the city or while driving.
After spending three days in Cambridge and doing what we were supposed to do there at the university, we drove along some rural roads and got to Nottingham.
This time we did it without the aid of the SatNav or Satellite Navigation system or GPS for Global Positioning System which we were using, because the gadget failed on us and we had to rely on maps that we downloaded from the internet that were given to us by a friend in Hitchin.
But the maps turned out to be confusing so we ended up having to make many detours and stopping strangers along the way and on the pavements to seek directions. Some of them took us away from Nottingham, but we somehow managed to get back on the right track and finally got there.
I was actually relieved to arrive at Nottingham University especially after hearing a lot about it and also reading about two of the Kings of Malaysia, the late Almarhum Yang diPertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and the present Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, had studied there in the 1940s, with the current prime minister, Najib Tun Razak following in their footsteps much later in the 1960s.
I ventured in the city and found how small and tidy it is with traffic flowing in an orderly fashion. On top of a hill in the city-center is an old castle which was where the legendary Robin Hood had frequented.
I tried to get there but the approach road did not take us there and we had to drive around the hill again and again. Maybe next time, I’ll try and see Robin there.
But I managed to spend a bit of a time visiting the many halal restaurants operated by the Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and the others.
This is where we stopped for our meals of kebab and fried rice and being able to see Nottingham from another perspective altogether.
And as we drove along the more quiet road, I felt a tinge of sadness especially at seeing the many rows of apartment and commercial buildings which are left vacant.
They must reflect the vibrant times that the city-folks might have experienced in the economic book which forced the developers to construct them to accommodate the growing population, many of whom had to be brought in from India and Bangladesh.
We got to meet some of them, and because most of them are Muslims we were able to strike interesting conversations with them. Some of them had met Malaysians who were studying at the university or living in the city, and also visitors who had come for a short stay there like the two of us.
And we also enjoyed eating the types of foods they sold and it saved us from having to go to India, Pakistan or Bangladesh to sample them. They are equally tasteful at the restaurants here as well as those in these countries including in Malaysia.
Yes, Nottingham is a city for me. It was unfortunate that I did not consider coming here to study, but I did not regret it because coming here allows me to see it in a totally different light altogether. Returning here in the near future, would be a blessing, especially if I am able to work on my film here and get it shown to many later.
Nottingham is not too far away from London, but it looks like it is so, especially if one is alert and is able to compare living in these two cities. Nottingham is not so world famous. It also cannot be compared with Liverpool and Manchester or Bristol. But that’s because it wants to be what it is.
And if not for Nottingham University, I doubt it if there will be many Malaysians who would have flocked to come here to study.
Of course the city has their own tourism office, but they hardly ever promote itself in Malaysia. They just exist for the local tourism.
Comments