.jpg)
Walking With Who’s Who
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright November 2021
mihardias@gmail.com
“Whom are you walking with?”
I heard a lady’s voice, when I was busy tightening my shoelaces at the entrance of the Royal Lake Club, getting ready for my morning walk, at the Kuala Lumpur Botanical Garden.
I turned around and said, “With you! May I?”
She was smiling. I knew I have seen that face before but not outside the clubhouse so early in the day. She was well dressed in a designer tracksuit leaning against a pair of walking poles.
“That would be splendid because I hate walking alone when it’s still dark!” She replied overjoyed at finding someone to escort her.
“You do not mind walking with a stranger?” I asked.
I was hoping she would reveal her name. I vaguely remembered her being among a group of friends that my wife introduced to, years ago, at a dinner party.
“You do not remember me? I am a friend of your wife. We met when she and I attended a dance class!”
I apologised, blaming old age as a cause for my forgetfulness. To help jog my memory, she told me where we met and who elsewhere with us then. But still neglected to mention her name. In the deeper recess of my mind, I knew she had a title. How do I address her? I set that aside. It would come to me soon enough.
We walked past the guardhouse towards the gardens. At a quarter past six, it was still dark. The guard greeted us and commented in Bahasa “Ada kawan baru hari ni, tuan!” I replied that I too was entitled to a new walking partner.
Along the way, we picked up others who were eager to join us and wanted to know my latest partner!
One, in particular, a junior in school, was fascinated by her charm and friendliness. He wanted to know everything about her. Was she single? How did I know her? Could he have her contact details and so on. I kept mum but he continued asking. I recalled, at one point he did offer to take her to dinner and share a bottle of wine. But she politely declined.
She smiled and whispered, “Are your friends always so inquisitive? And so pushy?”
It did occur to me to tell her that many of these old walkers were “busybodies”. But that would not be flattering to many more well-behaved gentlemen in the group, that she had yet to meet.
So, I did not answer. Instead, we talked about the headlines
I heard on the six o’clock news, earlier.
Mr Headliner, who usually updated us on the latest news, arrived. He told us about what some politicians said the day before and editorialised why we would never be able to locate JLow, the notorious 1MDB fugitive.
His constant companion was an “Orang Putih” (OP) who once helmed a multi-national company in PJ and retired in Bangsar, under Malaysia My Second Home. In between the Headliner and the OP we could hardly get a word in, whenever they talked about the news. She was glad that they decided to push forward by a few steps arguing the merits of disguises when a criminal, like JLow, was on the run. That gave us some peace for a few minutes.
However, realising that we were too far behind, they decided to stop and wait for us. When we caught up one said “Today is the day when you made the headline. It’s not every day that a lady walks with us.”
With these two as broadcasters, it would be at the top of the garden news in the next few days. They would spread the word to all groups in the park, like wildfire.
Suddenly, an old schoolmate rushed to my side and without hesitation asked in Kedah Malay, “Who’s this you picked up this morning?”
“Well, what if I told you, she picked me up outside the clubhouse? How’s that for an answer?”
He ignored my sarcasm but like the earlier guy, persisted in asking for details.
“Maybe over coffee! I would be happy to tell you more if you’d buy me breakfast”.
I introduced him as the “Mayor of the Botanical Gardens” because he had been a serious walker for 20 odd years, longer than anyone else in the group. Thus the title. But I told her, he did not receive his datukship for being a mayor of the gardens. That drew a burst of loud laughter from her.
When the laughter subsided, I added that the gentleman was very generous. He would often buy breakfast for everyone in the group after our morning walk at Garden Cafe, QBistro, Rebung, Sadam, Haslam and other restaurants in town, too many to mention. I added, sometimes he would organise dinners, at the club or elsewhere to celebrate birthdays. I recommend her to attend because on such occasions spouses were often invited. So, she would not be the only lady present.
We kept pace, walking with the group, first along the lake then up the hill towards the orchid nursery, struggled with the “killer slope” and down again past the central canopy, the children’s playground and the spice gardens.
Along the way more walkers joined the entourage until we finally had a group of about fifteen men, all wanting to know about this newbie or “new baby” whom they hoped would one day be a permanent member.
“Your friends are quite old and rather fresh aren’t they?” She remarked.
I told her that most were above 60 and were quite harmless, so she was in safe company.
“They are often referred to as NATO; No Action, Talk Only!” That drew another loud laughter from her.
Her laughter was contagious. Everyone who heard my comment, could not help laughing too, at the mention of NATO, a term used to refer to the “big talkers” in the group.
However, I cautioned her she ought to be wary of their inquisitiveness. Although harmless they could be irritating because more often than not they were persistent and relentless with their penetrating questions.
Also, she was not to accept what they said as gospel truth, either. Most elderly people in the group, exaggerated a great deal, about themselves, including health and wellness. Except for an ex-military chief and a few young athletes, our group was made up of grumpy old men with ailments. They took pride in telling others about having been under the knife for prostate, knee replacement and spinal injuries. Yet they had the audacity of boasting about being super fit and still sexually active in their late seventies.
No sooner had I finished my sentence about elderly gentlemen, the youngest member of the group, cheerfully jogged towards us.
He is a hero-like character out of romantic novels, often described as “tall, dark and handsome”. She too obviously recognised the inherent characteristics from novels read in her teens. I was not surprised by what she said next.
“This is not your typical old grumpy mates! This is unbelievable, he reminds me of heroes out of my teenage novels. Now, will you please fill me in”.
As he approached the group, I told her his name, followed by what I knew about him, carefully omitting the fact that he was already married.
“He’s forty, a former marathon runner and would readily do anything for you. Yes, he’s very obliging. He’ll go out of his way to help you”.
I was not mistaken. Out of the fifteen, she met that morning, this “hero” was the only person who later came to her rescue, like a knight in shining armour, delivering groceries to her when she was housebound during the Covid19 lockdown.
Next came an upright gentleman who appeared about to take a salute but greeted her loudly instead, “A very good morning to you, our lovely lady. May I welcome you to the group? Wow! You are going to be the only rose amongst thorns, I must say!”
I formally introduced him as one of our most illustrious officers and gentleman of the armed forces.
Until now, years after that morning encounter he is still her most attentive and loyal walking partner. He would wait patiently for her to arrive at the club’s guardhouse and would be the one to help her with her “Nordic” walking poles when she was tired of lugging them around the garden.
Equally impressive was a highly respected civil servant and a former top diplomat who was extremely courteous to her when introduced. He too was overjoyed to have her as a new member of the group.
By the time we went through one complete circle around the lake, she was already impressed with our “walking kaki” but she was taken aback when she came face to face with the so-called leader of the group who received a rousing welcome from everyone.
When introduced she said she knew of him but they had never met previously. This guy whom everyone in the group referred to as “il capo” or the chief who served as an adviser to four past Prime Ministers was attracted to her, too. He was very curious about her but was more subtle than the rest. He did quietly enquired about her details.
However, I suggested it would be best that he found out more about her, by himself. But he was in no hurry, he told me in hushed tones. But she too was not forthcoming about sharing her own life story whenever anyone enquired.
I supposed he has not given up trying to get to know her intimately because when we met recently he confided he had not made much progress in that department.
On the way back to the club, with the group far behind us, I felt I ought to let her know that there was no other group like that, walking regularly at the Botanical Garden daily.
They were healthy partly because of their daily walk which normally lasted about 90 minutes. Then they would adjourn for breakfast for another hour before going off to work. She said she too would like to stay as fit and was determined to keep up with them.
But I cautioned her that she ought to be mindful of their idea of sharing a sumptuous breakfast after every walk. Although the camaraderie and espirit de corps perpetuated by having refreshments together after the walk was an excellent idea but the calories from their rich meals, might outweigh the benefits. Some have already developed diabetes from such indulgence.
She thanked me for my advice and was pleased to be introduced to one of the most illustrious walking groups at our Botanical Garden. It was indeed an eye-opener for her, she said.
“Yes, wow! That group, I just met was full of ‘who’s who’ with Tan Sri, Datuk, Datin, senior officers of the armed forces, CEOs of banks and public companies, as regulars. I sincerely appreciate the introduction!”
I hastily added that she too, with her high social profile, would indeed be suitable and would easily “fit right in” with that group of famous personalities.
At the entrance to the club just as we were about to say goodbye she turned around and asked, “What about you? Aren’t you famous, too?”
I knew she was pulling my leg. So, I gazed at the lovely, friendly lady in her fancy walking suit with Nordic poles on her shoulder, for a brief moment, before I replied, “No, sorry, ma’am, I am not. Not even close. Not by a mile, Toh Puan!”
Disclaimer: All characters in this article are fictitious. Any resemblance to anyone dead or alive is merely coincidental.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
Register at headliner.newswav.com to become one of our content writers now!
*The views expressed are those of the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
