On The Train, Mar 28, 2005

I just can feel it now that I am tired and wish that I am on leave. One whole day on the field yesterday that ended on a happy note for our team. Mior and I are coaching, if you can call it that, our under 15 football team. We were playing in the Bukit Mahkota/Bnadar Seri Putra closed U15 nine-a-side tournament organized by both communities. When the referee blew the final whistle and we won the final, by 4 – 0, I was so happy for the boys. I was not just happy because they won but more of being happy that we provide them an option to be confident, brave, creative, learning and live within a community instead of involving themselves in something negative. Frankly speaking I am a bit selfish in that sense. For if I do not have a 13 and 17 year old sons to worry about I may not involved actively coaching them. Now, I plan to continue guiding them playing football. Thanks to Mior, the players, both team A and B, and their parents for making all these possible. This is only the beginning to more good things.

I do not know why but I just love to see people coming and leaving for a long journey. Especially a train journey. I do nit mean I love goodbyes, farewells or things like that but just watching them with their activities and watching their faces with different kinds of expression gives me a good feeling. There are faces that show, ‘phew!, what a relieve finally we are here’. Faces with, ‘ok, what’s next?’ ‘Where are the guys that suppose to wait for me?’, ‘taxi! taxi! I need to find a taxi!’. I am writing this from my observation point, Mc Donald’ KL Sentral where I arrived about 20 minutes ago. I am waiting to join my colleagues at Sentral Hilton for a day KM Program. Actually our first KMO get together for the year. Of course I am watching train travellers come out from the platform with their bags. I just could not help but to say to myself, ‘when is our next train?’ Ever since we took the Langkawi Express we have not been to anywhere by train. A new set of office workers emerge now. These are people that clock in at 9 am rushing out of the KTM Komuter towards their next connecting transportation or straight walking to the office. Lovely sight and if for what ever reason everything scheduled for the day were cancelled I would have stayed there just observing. At 8.30 am I abandoned McDonald to walk to Sentral Hilton for our KM program.

On the way home after a tiring session of badminton I slouched lazily at my favorite seat. At KL Sentral boarded a woman and what seemed to me her daughter. But what caught my attention was the woman’s face that indicated tiredness beyond my condition. Her appearance gave an indication of a woman that had been working very hard on laborious tasks. I could imagine her pushing carts, washing things or mopping up the floor. I genuinely felt sorry for her. Despite her tiredness I observed certain kind of contentment in her voice when she spoke to her daughter. I was sure after getting down at Bandar Tasek Selatan she’s not going to sleep when she got home but to do more chores until everyone else has gone to bed. She’ll start early again the next day and continue the routine until her body could not take it anymore. All because of her family….