This was Cheras on the south-eastern edge of Kuala Lumpur in the 1960s, when Syed Ahmad Jamal (SAJ), later Datuk, spent invigorating years between 1961-1963 at the Specialist Teachers Training Institute in Jalan Yaacob Latif (he was made principal in 1962). It was then heavily forested with great biodiversity with waterfalls and hills like Bukit Ketumbar (Coriander Hill), Bukit Saga, Bukit Apek, wildlife and bird-watching hiking trails. Now, it is a concrete jungle of housing estates. Stylistically, SAJ, back from his England art studies, was in the throes of his calligraphic, cursive and curvilinear forms in re-romancing the landscapes of great arbours, hilly terrain and streams. And the swirling sonorous elements were evident in works such as The Bait, Terbang, Tulisan and Starry Nights. His brushstrokes were raw yet elegant with a refreshing palette of blue, green and yellow. The hills/mountains were not so structured or symbolic as in his latter-years Gunung Ledang Series. Here was what started as 21 shophouses in Ulu Pudu into a vast arterial housing conglomerate served by a network of massive expressways and 11 MRT stations. The Five Arts Centre even commemorated this real-estate boom with Cheras The Musical. Another interesting observation is that the idea of Puncak Purnama was already rooted in the artist's mind as early as in 1961 (as shown at lower center of the painting), while the sculpture was later erected in mid 1980s, and unfortunately brutally demolished by DBKL in 2016. Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal's career: from his art tutelage to his manifold administrative duties, his scholarly writings, and most of all, his significant art legacy of paintings and sculptures. He got into the Chelsea School of Art and London University after aborting studies in Birmingham School of Architecture, and continued at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, and the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. He headed the Asian Cultural Centre (Universiti Malaya, KL), the National Art Gallery (NAG) KL, and the Specialist Teachers Training Institute. The NAG honoured him with a Retrospective in 1975, and another big Retrospective titled Syed Ahmad Jamal: Pelukis (2009). He was also honoured with a major historical overview (1954-1994) exhibition by the Nanyang Gallery of Art, Kuala Lumpur, in 1994-1995. The only visual art recipient of the National Artist Award, he was made a Datuk in 1996. His major books included Rupa Dan Jiwa (1992) and the autobiographical Kunang-Kunang (1999). He also designed logos, décor and costumes for stage plays and was noted for several cartoon illustrations.