By: M.Zulkifli
Once upon a time, getting a place to study at a university was a pretty big deal. HUGE. When I was in school, there were like 7 public universities around, and it felt like a monumental task to secure a spot.
In my own extended family, 2-3 of my older cousins got into “menara gading” before it came time for me to sit for my SPM. I thought those guys were so smart and “grown up”.
But I was always sufficiently motivated to try my best to become a “Budak U”. And I can say that pop culture played a positive role in this.
I don’t know how many of you remember the show “The Paper Chase”, but that was the first thing on TV that made me think, “I need to study law (which I eventually did) and have this kind of cool nerdy vibe with a grumpy professor, lah!”
Then there was the local film, “Ali Setan”. Ah, yes. It was released in cinemas in 1985, but I think I watched it on TV during one Hari Raya (movies during Hari Raya were quite the treat!), and it left a long and lasting impression on me.
The rom-com featured the “IT” couple of the time, Ogy Ahmad Daud and Allahyarham Azmil Mustapha, and it told the story of a notorious playboy Ali, (Azmil) who tried his best to woo a freshie, Asmidar (Ogy).
It was set in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang, and while it’s remembered for the cool soundtrack and super funny lines (“Tak makan kacang? Bubur kacang, makan?”), the fun campus life portrayed in the film proved to be aspirational for many from my generation.
But a couple of years earlier, something else also had a great impact on my life.
I was still in primary school, and I remember frequently going to this Chinese kedai runcit (grocery store) near where I lived to buy stuff. It was one of those friendly neighbourhood shops where you would eventually become friends with the owners. And the owner was this simple pagoda singlet-wearing uncle.
One day, my late mother said that I should go for maths tuition with the uncle’s daughter who was doing her Lower 6. And so, I did.
The uncle and his family lived above the shop, so on certain days I would walk up to their house for my tuition lessons. I remember the house being quite messy, and they didn’t have any real luxuries.
As a tutor, she was quite nice and patient with me, although she did kind of give me some deathly stares when I couldn’t get some of the maths right.
But after a few months, I was told she could no longer tutor me as she was about to further her studies… in Toronto, Canada.
We didn’t keep in touch thereafter, but I did see her a couple of times when she returned home for her holidays. She would show me pictures of her life in Canada, and I thought, “Wow, from a kedai runcit in JB to a university in Canada, how amazing is that?”
I was in total awe. And it also helped to plant the seed for my own university dream.
And here’s a little cool P.S.; While I was a graduate of IIUM, I did get to visit the USM campus in Penang circa 1993 as part of my uni basketball team. And I was totally getting the Ali Setan vibes! (Photo above)
mymuslimin.com 
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