Of Sweaty Shirts and Fair Roses

I started my new job some two weeks ago at a network security firm in KL Sentral and had been taking the KTM Komuter to work instead of driving downtown as my job doesn't require me to go out and meet or service customers. This comes as a good thing as I stand to save as much as RM10 per day from commuting to work, allowing for some buildup in the bank accounts. Modest as it sounds, every little bit counts for that little bit of security I'm afforded.


Timing, Watson, Timing

I must commend however on KTM Berhad's ability to keep time despite being a public funded transportation network although it leaves much to be desired. The trains are normally in within 5 minutes of the scheduled timing, which is fine with me since I am often early to the station anyway.

What is complainable (if there is such a thing as 'complainable') however is the problem of delays or cancellations. Being that the public commuter network is so well utilised by the city folks, any such disruptions are definitely going to be a problem to those who needs to be in time for whatsoever. Good thing my parents taught me well, telling me to be early for every thing - wait instead of being waited. (In practice that's easier said than done).

Oh, don't forget about the crowd - one missed train means more people will try to board the next train, making it the proverbial sardine can. God knows how much I 'enjoy' getting squeezed from all directions inside the car, with smells ranging from dry sweat to fading perfumes filling the air. And that is if the air-conditioner is strong enough to help cool the temperature a little.

Aye, you win some you lose some I suppose - you're as cheapskate as everybody else so share their space. Get in line kidda!


Roses Amongst Thorns

If there's something that I should try to be more adventurous about nowadays is to see if I could chat people up on the train. Right, with everybody being rocked left, right and centre in a train full of people who can't wait to jump off at the next station, they would love to talk to strangers and share a laugh. *rolleyes*

Well, maybe since there are always a fair share of fair maidens in the car within speaking distance, why not eh? I'm single so I'm in the market.

For instance last Friday I stood in front of a young woman who caught my attention for the whole of the trip back home in the evening. Like all normal males would, I looked at her reflection on the train window to pass away time as she struggled to keep awake throughout the journey.

The funny thing was that throughout half of the journey I felt a certain bit of familiarity as I looked at her in such surreptitious manner (yeah kid, as if she doesn't know eh?). I thought, "I don't think I've met her before, but she seems familiar for some reason?".

As the train halted at the Seri Setia station, it came to mind like a slap in the face. It was no wonder I thought she looked familiar; anybody around Subang would know too if they saw Hannah Yeoh's campaign poster throughout the General Election's campaigning period ...

Anyway, it's quite unlikely that she's our Subang Jaya's own MP as she did not disembark at the station when I did and besides, they have travel allowances as MPs. I mean, it doesn't even connect all the way to the Parliament and she's a busy woman.

Samaritans too, some of them women. One of them tapped my shoulder this morning to tell me that my bag's zipper is open. Bless. There were backup tapes that I wanted to return to my ex-colleague as well as a few items used to keep notes and losing them might not be a good idea. I thanked her and pulled the bag's zipper up, wondering if I should whip out the phone and ask for her number when we came to stop outside the Sentral station awaiting the exit of a train to Singapore.

As the old Chinese saying goes, there goes another flower on my horse ride.


Miscellaneous Amusements

Speaking of good people, we often get cynical in such a big and impersonal city. Everybody's rushing to where they want to and pushing their way against the tide of more people, racing like rats to the top. Paints such a poor picture, this urbanisation lark.

Of course it's easy to be such a cynic - city dwellers lack the kind of genuine warmth found in towns and villages, but it is most unfair however to dub everybody a witch/warlock-in-waiting. It's not really completely absent, just that not many people feel like showing it to complete strangers all the time.

Of course at times we do get something that puts a smile on those weary heads on the way home from work and they normally come in small packages ie. children. The trip home last Wednesday was all right except for the delay that caused a sardination (I coined another non-existing word again) but it was Labour Day holiday the next day so nobody complained. Too much.

As usual the ride home was as uneventful as it normally is as people are either downcast or eyes out the window or at other people but some colour came into the train when two kids, no more than five or six alighted with their mother. They stood one person ahead of me with sling bags bigger than their torso and hands holding a lunch basket. Being that the train was crowded, the people suddenly backed off and opened up a small space around them and their mother.

With all this Sharlinie and Ooi Ying Ying horror stories in the papers no one could be blamed for feeling pity to their mother, a little woman who had to keep an eye on the both of them in a crowded car filled with strangers. As more people hopped on for the ride, the little girl was separated by one person from her mother but a Good Samaritan held her free arm to make sure that the girl doesn't fall when the train rocks. The lady who held her arm looked with such a smile that said, "Careful little one, hold on". Her mother asked for her often and she replied with a little worry in her tone.

It was small thing this, but to many around the little spot where we were all crammed in the careless laughter between the siblings and their mother had our attention and brought a bit of a change to the normally monotonous and boring ride home - almost all lips were curled up into a smile, looking at them.

I, for one was glad that they finally got off the crowded train at the SB station. I took a glance as I passed by after touching my TnG card at the exit aisles, asking the heavens for a safe passage for the rest of their trip home.