Commuter & Dozing Off

Yesterday, Saturday, I was ordered to come to work at 10am. Since I was in Seremban & Mr.H had weddings to attend to, I had to take the commuter to work. Mr.H dropped me at the Seremban station and my kids waved me goodbye. As I waved back, it occurred to me that the last time I took the commuter, I did not have any kids and it was usually my mom I would be waving to.

It has been more than 7 years since I last took the commuter, I was worried I had forgotten how & age has made me "not up to it". At the counter, I said "Nak beli tiket pergi balik."

The counter guy smiled cutely and said "Pergi mana?"

"Putrajaya," I replied confidently. He smiled even wider and told me there's no commuter to Putrajaya. "Oh, lupa," I said, trying to hide my embarrassment. He told me I could take the commuter to bandar Tasik Selatan & take the ERL to Putrajaya or I could take the commuter to Serdang and there would be a bus every one or two hours from Serdang to Putrajaya. I had earlier arranged for a colleague (who also bernasib malang had to come to the office on Saturday) to pick me up at Serdang but somehow that had slipped my mind when I approached the counter. The return ticket to Serdang from Seremban was RM10. I paid up & had to cross the jejantas-with-many-stairs to reach to platform 2. There were so many people already waiting. Despite the schedule showing next train 9.25, the train arrived 9.05. Was the train early or was it the one that's supposed to arrive before this? A girl in purdah, taller than me, cut right in front of me and entered the train. There was a seat right next to the door but no one seemed to want to sit there. I looked at the Indian boy who was occupying the seat beside it and saw that his eyes were as red as blood and assumed that was the reason people didn't want to sit next to him. I sat anyway since I don't think I had the strength to stand for too long, having a fever, flu, terrible cough and all.

The useless LED screen on the top left.

Suddenly I saw the LED screen wrote "Next Station Teluk Pulai". What??? Since when did the Seremban route change? I couldn't have gotten on the wrong train, could I? I looked outside the window in suspense and waited to see the next station. When the next station's sign board was Batang Benar, I concluded that the train's led screen is really unreliable, no wonder no one was bothered to even glance at it except me. Government wasting money over something that nampak canggih but totally useless. The tv screens in the train were playing the IM4U song non-stop, to my annoyance. Reaching the Serdang station, I had to squeeze my way out pass a few people (argh!) and again I had to use the jejantas-with-many-stairs. My colleague arrived just as I stepped off the jejantas. What perfect timing.

We were at the office at around 10.15am. Some people (who were obviously disrespectful of other people's time) arrived a few minutes after 11am. By evening, my fever and flu got worse, I felt so tired and for the first time in the history of my 8-year career, I dozed off during a discussion. How embarrassing that was! Even more coz I was quite sure my bosses saw me dozing off. My #2 boss (a Dato') was sitting right opposite of me. Sigh.

I certainly could not take a commuter back to Seremban in that condition so I asked a colleague if he could give me a ride to my parents' house in Kajang. He was kind enough to comply despite being in a hurry to rush back home coz he had a majlis at his home that night.

Mr.H came to Kajang with the kids after Isya'. I slept alone that night coz was afraid I would pass on the flu and fever to the kids.

Air Kelapa for the one with fever.

I spent the whole Sunday hibernating, only waking up at noon coz Mr.H forced me to eat the chicken porridge he cooked. Mr.H and my dad took care of my kids the whole day. Around 6pm, Mr.H said I needed to get out for some fresh air (mana ada such a thing as "fresh air" in a city like Kajang) and took me to Haji Samuri Satay. I was barely able to sit up straight so I hunched at the table and barely ate. I remembered there used to be a few food stalls near Court Mammoth that served satays that tasted much better than Haji Samuri's. Used to. They were torn down to give way to "development". Sigh.

Hope I'll feel better tomorrow. Have a "university offer letter holder" dinner to attend to in KL tomorrow evening.