Unconventional.

'Tis the season for education-related news. Typical conversations with fellow recent SPM graduates nowadays usually go along the lines of:

"Did you get the scholarship?" 

"Which university will you be studying at?" 

"Why the f*ck are you studying there?"

That last one happens to me a lot. But I can't be the only one, can I?

Anyway, recently I've been learning that quite a large number of my friends have been picked to receive scholarships from various benefactors, like Petronas and JPA. Good to see them getting to achieve their dreams and whatnot.

By right, I should be happy for them. And I am, although that wasn't the case at first, I'm sorry to say. You see,  quite a large number of my Valedictorian batchmates were offered said scholarships. Scholarships that I hadn't even bothered to apply for. So, I shouldn't have too many complaints about not getting any offers. It's more of a case of regret, and a bit of mentally kicking myself.

Add that to the studying (read: last-minute cramming) that I had to do for yesterday's exam that never was, and I got a big headache. But I'm all better now - a bit of shut-eye always does the trick. 

I have, once again, had to convince myself that my decision to go to Nirwana College and subsequently the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) was a good one. 

Sure, Indonesia may not be as glamorous as most of my other options - but then again, neither was Rembau. I had friends going to other older, more established institutions while I was exiled in a new, fledgling boarding school in the middle of a relatively-undeveloped area in Negri Sembilan. That school and I still managed to do pretty well in the end, I guess.

My point is, the unconventional way may not necessarily be the wrong way. So yeah, my friends are going off to tried-and-trusted public universities, or preparing themselves for a few years overseas with financial aid from tried-and-trusted government and private sectors. And then there's me - enrolling in some obscure college that's sharing a shady-looking building with some publishers, located right in the middle of the big city.

But who cares, right? Just as long as it works out in the end, it doesn't matter what path I took to get there - just as long as I didn't do anything illegal. The ends justify the means, and all that. 

And besides, tried-and-trusted is too mainstream.

Ideal.

You, you may say

I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I hope some day you'll join us

And the world will live as one

- John Lennon in Imagine

In a perfect world, there would be no pollution. The rivers and seas would be perfectly clean, and thriving with beautiful and wonderful marine life. There would be no holes in the ozone layer, and people could go to the beach without having to put on any sunblock. The land would be clean and litter-free. Cars and other vehicles would run on some sort of safe, renewable energy source that did not necessitate the expulsion of harmful waste products into the environment.

In a perfect world, everyone would be nice to each other. There would be no hate, no jealousy, no greed - and thus no fighting, no war, no slander, no backbiting, no treachery, no crime. Peace and unity would rule the world. Complete strangers would greet each other on the street. In fact, everyone would be so nice that the whole idea of money would be abolished and people would give things away for free, out of the kindness of their own hearts. And everyone would also be so nice as to not take advantage of this and go around asking others for anything, even if they knew that by doing so they were bound to get it.

In a perfect world, people would respect their elders. There would be no quarreling with parents, no running away from home, no eloping. Everyone would be perfectly disciplined, ready to do anything they were told to do. And since there was no such thing as cruelty or unfairness there wouldn't be anything to object to.

I could go on, but I believe I've made my point. Or have I? Maybe you just haven't seen it yet.

If you think about it, and ideal world would actually be pretty dull. There wouldn't be any crazy nuts to laugh at, and even if there were, everyone would be too nice to laugh at them. Complete tolerance and no discrimination would mean that no one would have a cause to fight for. A lack of tragedy would mean no drama. No politics would mean no entertaining debates between two sides intent on degrading one other. And a combination of all the above would mean there wouldn't be any good movies to watch.

And there lies the dilemma. Would you rather have an ideal, albeit boring world? Or would you stick with our current, more entertaining one - with all its evil, corruption, greed, death and controversy? Think about it. What would be your honest answer?

Streets.

First of all, I'd just like to tip my metaphorical hat off to a fantastic season of football. A season that was so incredibly unpredictable and ridiculous that I myself would have struggled to come up with anything like it. A certain football journalist even jokingly suggested that England's Football Association might as well end football for good, 'cause it's never gonna be this great again.

Moving on now to the main point of this post: college life. It's currently my third week as a student at Nirwana College, and it's been just fine so far. I'm catching up with the lessons, the lecturers are great, I've made lots of friends, and I'll be playing futsal at the college Sports Day this weekend.

However, what I believe to be the best part of all this is all the new experiences I'm getting. Sure, more well-known names like Taylor's and Inti may offer more academically, but there are just some things you can't get at such established institutions.

For starters, the college is located within the walls of the Plaza First Nationwide, near Pasar Seni in KL. The building has 14 floors, but the numbers in the elevators go all the way up to 18. Upon closer inspection one will find that the numbers 4, 13, 14 and 15 are missing. There are four elevators, but not all of them are accessible at all times. At certain times only one or two elevators will be working, and even then some of the buttons in the elevators won't light up even when hit aggressively and repeatedly. There's a kind of elevator schedule that I haven't gotten round to working out yet.

For lunch I would go with some classmates to eat at one of the many shops in the area. And since the place is a tourist hotspot, foreigners walking around and taking photos are a common sight. Now that I mention it, even locals walk around and take photos of the place too. They're probably from out of town, I guess.

As for prayers, the building has two designated 'suraus'. Well, more like two small, empty rooms with prayer mats in them. As for Friday prayers, my friends and I would walk to the nearby Masjid Jamek, where arriving late would mean having to pray out in the open where you would be exposed to the sun and rain. That's how congested it is during Friday prayers, although that's hardly surprising when you consider the fact that the mosque is pretty much located in the heart of the city.

Walking to the college from the Masjid Jamek LRT station and back every day is, in itself, a learning experience each time. I've seen all kinds of people - beggars, roadside food sellers, office workers, and plenty of others. I've seen how crazy the traffic can get. I've learnt to cross busy roads. And I've learnt how to get a seat on the LRT ride home almost every day.

Sure, it hasn't even been a month yet. Sure, I'm probably still going through my jakun phase. And sure, I might be brimming with blind optimism. But going to Nirwana was a decision that I made, and I firmly believe that I made a correct one. Well, whatever happens, I'll just go with it. Just like I always have.