The meet – La Salle@75.

January 8th – one of the most unique days – I’ve experienced only 67 of them so far… Looking forward to experiencing at least another 67 of them in the coming years. Woohoo!

January 8th is the most unique day of this year because it showed up only once and is not expected to show up again. You probably will ask, “What’s the big deal? Each and every day of  this year will make an appearance only once this year, too”. True.

What makes it even more unique as in every date day is that there has never been a date repeat in history.

However, we can’t tell how the future will look at time in particular. People in the future may slow down the measurement of time by adding more seconds, minutes, hours, or even days in a year.

Coming back to January 8th, 2026 – it was more than just an ordinary day for 5 guys, including me who share a common nucleus: we are all from La Salle School Klang, 1975, now into our 51st year.

It all started with Harry, who came up from Singapore (1), wanting to try out the electric train.

While the train was modern, comfortable and fitted with the spoils for comfort, it did break down about 45 minutes into the journey. So much for EVs.

Harry got to KL eventually, without further drama. He hopped into another train where he got off at Klang.

He made an invitation to all the La Salle ’75ers, an invitation of sorts – a choice of any of the 3 dates (or all?) to meet with him for breakfast, lunch, dinner. I chose lunch January 8th. And so did 3 others – Chee Leong, Jason and Termizi.

I’ve not met some of those attending the January 8th lunch in multiple (more than many😃) years.

However, we hit it off from the word “Go”. We may not have met in person in recent years, but we were always connected through our WhatsApp group.

We met at a prominent hotel in Setia Alam (2). Harry, Jason and Chee Leong were already there when I arrived.

Jason was the logistics organizer – lunch, coffee, afternoon, coffee, movie, dinner, and massage. Setia Alam Mall was his “playground”. He knew every store, restaurant and entertainment outlet there because he lived in a condo which was part of the shopping mall complex. He had everything mapped out for us, with additional options if we were up to it. It looks like we will have to meet up with him more often to experience all that he recommends worth trying out.

I think what was interesting was that we hardly spent much time reminiscing about school days. We had some fleeting moments, yes; that was it. Most of the time spent, we talked about our lives in the present and what we would like the future to be for us.

Harry is on the hunt for a possible life-long lady relationship. Single, available, a good catch, young (we all are – we are the same age), suave, good sense of humour, o.k. with bak-ku-teh being his staple meal, loves travelling, and for the up-market feel – he has a Singapore address.

His whole week spent on this side of Malaysia, had a trail blaze of photographs. Who knows? He may display his photographs in an exhibition solely for his works. Keep a look out for it.

Chee Leong spends most of his time showing workers on his 50 acre palm oil estate, the ropes in maintaining the trees and land, ensuring good yield from the trees. He even shows his workers first-hand, how to cut the grass….then he does it himself (that’s what he says) – a perfectionist. The payoff is he looks very fit – watches his food intake, etc… but mainly cuts grass – not sure if he cuts the grass on all 50 acres – whatever it is, he sure is enjoying himself.

Termizi, from the very second he met us, he was talking business deals, one after another; non-stop. He is planning to introduce a very attractive Japanese lady (he showed us her picture) to Harry. I was trying to figure out when did he even have a moment to catch his breath. Termizi is a sort of DJ too – he sends videos and songs that brings back good memories to all of us in our La Salle@75 Whatsapp group chat. We know he puts in a good amount of time in research for music that will resonate with the guys and Mr. Michael Xavier (our teacher), who is also in this group. We guys are blessed with Mr. Xavier’s presence. His famous daily greeting is, “Good morning guys and take care”.

And yes, We did go for a movie – Avatar, the latest in its series – all of over 3 and half hours worth. It was interesting – gizmos, tech, colour – futuristic. My favourite character of the whole movie was Varang, starred by Oona Chaplin. I thought she was cute. The show ended after half eight in the evening. We ended the evening on that note.

There is a space of 50 years +1 (into out 51st) from the time we left (today’s term used is “graduated”) school till now. We all wear the La Salle Secondary School badge without physically having it on, yet we wear it proudly. Thanks, guys; for the wonderful time we had on this day.

Remembering CHARLES ROZARIO (BIJOU) – La Salle@75, 12th January, 2026

NOTES:.

1. Singapore is a tiny city-state south, across the causeway / Malaysia / Singapore border.
2. Setia Alam is an up and coming affluent township in the heart of the state of Selangor, Malaysia.