'True blue' Victorian forever ...

Rashdan Rashid completed school at Victoria Institution (VI) in 1996 but keeps going back to it.
Being a committee member of the Victoria Institution Old Boys’ Association (VIOBA), he is even more attached to his alma mater, aiming to bring back its "glory days".
"You can say that I was made for VI and VI was made for me," said the "old" Victorian.

Calling himself the 'VIOBA clubhouse caretaker', he has big plans for the school which was founded in 1893.
"I will bring prominent figures, big names who are product of VI to inspire the present batch of students," he said enthusiastically at the clubhouse this morning as a monorail rolled on elevated tracks in the background at Jalan Hang Tuah.
To realize his dream, Rashdan is determine to get as many ex-students as possible to join the 86 year-old VIOBA as life members.
"Of the 2,000-plus active members now, only 600 are life members," said Rashdan who proudly administers the club website: www.vioba.com.my .
For the moment, he is literally in high spirit preparing for VIOBA annual dinner to be held at KL Tower on August 30.
"Don't forget that, bro," he reminded me as we reminisced our VI days.
"VI is my life...no one can take that away from me," said the father of four boys, who naturally harbours the hope that his sons would follow his foot-step at VI.

Rashdan is glad that the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) president Raja Amir Shah Raja Abdul Aziz is pro-active in efforts to bring back the glory days for the school.
High among the list of things-to-do is the setting-up of the Mokhtar Dahari football academy. The legendary striker, a former student of the school, was one of the best players in Asia in the 1970s.
He died at age 37 of muscular dystrophy on 11 July 1991.

*Rashdan can be contacted at 012-2055296.

Man without ears ...

"What do you call a man without ears?" asked MGN, our likeable colleague, who has set questions for numerous motor treasure hunts.
"Earless…dumb…no-ear man..," I replied but he just smiled, each time.
And when I finally gave up, he coolly said:
"Well, you can call him anything…he won’t hear you".
Ha, ha, ha, and I thought it was funny.
On a serious note, it’s no laughing matter if you have ears but do not hear. Better still, not just hear but listen.
From all these years in this profession, I’ve learnt pretty well the importance of listening.

In his book Organizational Behavior, Stephen P.Robbins said: “Too many people take listening skills for granted. They confuse hearing with listening”.
What’s the difference?
Hearing is merely picking up sound vibrations. Listening is making sense out of what we hear.
In other words, listening requires paying attention, interpreting and remembering sound stimuli.
My mind flashes back to school-days and recalled the favourite phrase from teachers:
"Are you all listening?"