On the 17th August 09 the choir of MARA College Banting performed for the graduation of the 07-09 batch of MCB students. We had put in many, many hours in practice (for CAS hours, mostly, like co-curriculum marks) and I had arranged the choir parts for 3 of the 4 songs we sang. It was a great experience of learning to work together with other people who may have different capabilities, experience and expectations than I might have, to tolerate and adapt to change at the tenth hour (which happened quite frequently in major proportions), to be punctual, and to manage my time well around the practice hours.
The graduation itself was inspiring. I was quite moved when we were singing “You Raise Me Up” as the graduating students presented their parents with flowers and there were hugs and tears all around. Maybe it was because the solo singer, Asyraf’s voice could melt the coldest hard, but I think the moment and emotions of it all just came rushing in like a blast of warm air that surrounded the grand hall of Dewan Sri Endon, Putrajaya. I was inspired to do my very best to achieve greatness, which I believe is well within the reach of every one of us – not only to go further in our studies but to make my parents proud.
Quite unpleasantly, though, was that I learnt the true meaning of opportunity cost when I had to forgo excellence in tennis for choir. I was dropped from the national competition selection squad because I could not play sports for almost a month due to choir practices which clashed with tennis; worse still when I returned after the graduation; I had completely lost my touch and shot-making abilities (which weren’t all that great before that, anyway) and I was no longer in good stead with the advisor and club president. This, along with the expended time and energy, was the cost of pursuing what I love – music, which will always be a part of me; even when I get too busy to sing, my heart will still have its song.
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