My Melaka-Nyonya friend

Jessie had come back to Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese New Year, and I was hellbent on meeting her before she returns home to Sydney in a couple of days. We decided to do lunch at KLCC (where else?) since it was within walking distance of her accommodation. So there we were, gaggling and giggling, like we used to do some 40 over years ago. Nothing seems changed as though time had stood still for us. (Except now we have a husband and children to talk about!).

I first met Jessie when we were both 'freshies' in the University of Malaya. As undergraduates, we stayed at the same residential college which became our second home for three years. Friends therefore was an essential component that could make life away from home that much more tolerable. And she did that for me with the warmth of her friendship. Friendly, funny and fearless was the Jessie I grew fond of. Make no mistakes; rub her the wrong way and you would receive a backlash that would leave you cringing. While she could be disarmingly charming, she was no pushover, I can tell you that. But it was probably her openness and non-judgemental attitude that made me comfortable in her company. And a talent for drawing that I envy to this day. She made drawing seemed effortless. Jessie was my introduction to the Baba-Nyonya community, and she provided a glimpse of their culture through her 'nyonya' accented ways, complete with slang (and curse words) and all! 

As fate would have it, she and her family now live in Sydney. Our meetings since we left university have been few and far between. In fact when we were both younger and busy building a career and raising a family, we hardly communicated. But the seed of friendship had been sown during our undergraduate years. On the strength of that alone, we could pick up where we left off. Yesterday, over a shared plate of char kwei teow and fried mixed vege, we reminisced our days in the 3rd Residential College.

As I looked at her walking away, I noticed that her manner of walking has not changed either - fast and purposeful - the gait of someone with a task to complete.