#34 - Manners

13.10.2009

Date: 10/10/2009

Woke up with jovial mood and joined mom to Kulim market. Passed through the right wing of market of Malay section where cars and motorcycles were double-parked, allowing only one lane to be accessible. So it’s either u or me from the opposite direction can pass at one time. I waited for my turn to pass. My turn….so I drove very slowly cos the road was way too narrow. A luxury car from opposite direction also tried to squeeze in, where in the end he had to relent. I can’t reverse cos there were 5-6 cars behind me. I gestured for the driver to reverse. I can’t see who the driver was due to light reflection.

He abide obediently. He reversed, parked behind the double-parked car to my right, got down the car, and crossed the road. But the car butt was jutted out slightly, making the manoeuvre harder. That’s not the end of the story. The Malay guy knocked on our car bonet and started calling names and shouting. I wound down the window to hear what’s he saying. Pointing a finger to my mom, he said, ‘U jangan nak mulut celupar aa..apa u cakap dalam kereta’. My mom and I got surprised. Wow, this guy got very sharp ears is it? Can hear what we talked about in another different car?

Come on, what do you expect us to say when u saw that we were coming from the opposite direction and yet u still tried to squeeze ur way through and in the end got all of us stuck in a jam, due to ur inconsiderate action? Of course we were scolding you, plus the drivers who double-parked. The weird thing is he had the gut to get down the car and accused my mom of sth she didn’t do, without any evidence. In fact, I was the one cursing him while my mom jz listened before he reversed. Maybe my mom frowned, and he got the wrong msg. So what? Human cannot frown one ah? My mom frowned due to the light reflection. Cannot a?

But of course, I didn’t retaliate like that la. I jz wind up the window again and proceeded to drive through the super narrow road with many spectators looking around. I jz wanted some peace. What got my blood boiling was when he said, ‘Hah…pandu baik baik sikit. Pandai pandai la kamu. Kalau kena kereta aku, siaplah kamu.’ I felt like winding down my window and scratched his car, then cabut! Unfortunately, my situation doesn’t permit that. Cos it was impossible to even drive at 20kph at that time. So I jz kept quiet and with the help of good Samaritans who helped to check for the gap between my car and the barbarian’s car on my right and the motorcycles on my left, I managed to drove safely away from the jam.

What I wanted to say was that, I can’t believe that someone driving such a nice and beautiful luxury car can be a road bully, and not enough with that, acted like a barbarian in front of two Chinese ladies. Either he stole the car or he bought it with black money. Who knows? I might be wrong. Perhaps he bought it legally. I still think that he didn’t match the car profile as the driver at all. I will be ashamed to hv such an owner. What kind of pride u had by jumping into conclusion with unreasonable accusations? A savage, I will call him. That thing alone spoilt my mood for the entire market trip.

Jz then, I thought of sth funny. Jz assume the driver is the food that I am eating and swallow him and later he will end up in the sewage. Yah, I know, a bit gross…But I didn’t visualise that cos I know that that food will taste awful then because the food quality will be too bad to ingest. Silap silap, got indigestion pula.

Date: 12/10/2009

Mom’s shop got burglared into again. This is the 2nd succesful attempt in less than 3 months. Really felt tired and disappointed with the burglars. Why can’t u buy sth with ur own hard-earned money? It so happened that there was a blackout the night before. No wonder la, cos I was thinking that my mom’s shop had a lamp installed in front and it’s situated by the roadside, how come no one realised? Blackout is the accomplice, I shall say. But even if there wasn’t a blackout, maybe the burglary may still go unnoticed, cos most ppl will be fast asleep anyway.

What ever it is, the community is no longer safe. One moment, u have burglary, snatch theft, robbery, rape and the other moment, u heard about quakes, tsunami, flood and landslides. Is the world coming to an end already? Will our future generations be able to live through what was supposed to be a beautiful and sustainable earth? We will only know when the time comes… Even if the earth is safe, we still have to deal with its habitants, namely human. The manners, attitude, tolerance dictates the future direction. So much for a 1 Malaysia. Hopefully, it succeeds….