Monday 4 December 2017

Daiyan's Giant Caterpillars (Part II)




                                      CEO of RapidKL's tweet inviting Daiyan to visit LRT depot...

                                                            Dato's tweet after the visit..



Almost all of Daiyan's closest relatives and staunch supporters  were there. Some took leave from work, Abiy, Ummi, Ayah Ngah and Assu. Sitty, that's me, Tok Bah my hubby, and my younger sister Toksu  were by coincidence in town for my daughter  Ain's convocation at University Malaya. Cousin Zara skipped school for the day.


 Daiyan's Nenek and Tok Wan could not make it and Uncle Fiq, my youngest son too, who had classes to attend at UniKL. Understandably so did Tokteh (my elder sister), in Kota Bharu who was in fact personally  invited by Daiyan "to come quickly, take a flight, for the depot visit". That's the picture which depicted  Daiyan's excitement  over this forthcoming visit.


Date: October 2017. Time: 14.30 pm. Venue: Foyer  of Prasarana Office, Subang....

We were  greeted by the Dato' Rapidrail CEO's PA, who before hand had informed Ummi's Daiyan, Dini, that Dato' CEO wanted to meet us in person. Wow, what an astonishing news!  Hopefully Daiyan behaves, no tantrum which we personally believe he won't because this is his favourite subject.... LRT.


We were happy and a bit nervous to meet the big man. Only Daiyan and his effervescent, bubbly and chuckling cousin Zara, 6 years old, were more naturally themselves . As children, they could not contain their excitements over the surroundings and were thrilled to bits, They were dashing around, admiring the big LRT poster . Everything at the Prasana's foyer amazed them.  Barely a few minutes later, the elevator doors  opened and two men stepped out, CEO Dato' Ir Zohari Sulaiman and COO Encik Ismail Abdullah. They approached and proffered salaam. Immediately Dato'   Ir. Zohari Sulaiman gave his attention to Daiyan. "Now, where is the little boy who loves trains?"



 
Daiyan was initially shy, as usual when meeting strangers even though he was an extrovert child, who could be talkative and inquisitive most of the time. However Dato' CEO, the COO Encik Ismail Abdullah and Encik Abdul Rashid Abu Bakar , Vice President of the Internal Communications of Prasana were well prepared to receive a very young guest! They presented Daiyan  a small LRT miniature!     On that instant Daiyan immediately overcame his shyness and focused his attention on his new toy. He changed back to his chatty self.    Encik Ismail said...ini kita buat lawatan ni special hanya untuk Daiyan tau...

                                        COO helping Daiyan to assemble the miniature train

 Now Daiyan was more than willing to ask and answer questions. The ice was broken, civilities were exchanged, we trooped behind Dato' and COO,  into the elevator that swiftly swept up to the above level, to the Control Room.


Daiyan (the adults too) were spellbound by the intricateness and complexity of the Control Room, and as Dato' explained this Control Room is the heart of the LRT. A big curving screen dominate the control room  with computers plus gadgets similar to the Control Room of the busiest train station in the world,  Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, India. I saw this control room in a TV program  Discovery World about this busy station..

                               Control Room of   Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminu, Mumbai, India

                                                   Control Room at LRT Depot Subang

                                                   CCTV''s images of all the LRT stations

Surprisingly Daiyan took this new situation with gusto. He was excited when told that the screens showed the LRT stations. Daiyan recognised a station at the top of the CCTV images as the Gombak station correctly, on the screen showed only the rail tracks, "That's Gombak Station,"blurted Daiyan, ....well, all the adults in the room were  astonished. When one is besotted with LRT by looking at the tracks you would know which station had that rail tracks😆😆


To the Rapidrail's personnels' delight, Daiyan ranted on all the  station names, 37 stations all together, in perfect order. He received a loud applause from his appreciative audience.

Daiyan was enthralled by the screens showing the stations. The  Masjid Jamek Stations seemed  to be the most congested at that time.


Dato' CEO mentioned to Daiyan that he would know if  Daiyan was at one of these stations. He could see Daiyan from this control room. Daiyan's jaw dropped in amazement, when knowing he could be detected from afar.


All the time  during this visit at the control room, l kept my distance from all those computers. So did the other ladies except for Dini who kept a watchful eyes on her son, who was constantly besides Dato' CEO.( Actually l kept my distance because l did not want to stumble and accidently pushed the buttons studded in front of me. Nobody dared touch these buttons. A push will immediately stop the trains now moving along the rail tracks all over Kuala Lumper and its outskirt!


Frankly, throughout the whole session at the control room, l could not hear clearly what were being asked or answered by Daiyan because l was standing way behind, and my attentions wandered on the stations screen. Me, too, as an adult was bemused by the opportunity to see all the 37 LRT stations at one go! l  too, started comparing which were the busiest and quietest!


Thus l could not relate what was going on. But Daiyan was seen  talking animatedly to Dato' CEO and his personnels. We heard them laughing when Daiyan imitated trains making the 'gegegup' sound while changing tracks. They  seemed to enjoy talking to Daiyan. And were humoured by Daiyan's antic and cute pronounciations of two of the stations' names, Bank Rakyat Bangsar Station and Ara Damansara Station.


We proceeded to the workshop where new trains parts were installed and 'broken' trains being repaired. Quite a tedious and tiring walkabout for a grandma and grand aunty too. The complex was huge and l felt was walking kilometers around.  But, l saw how happy and engrossed our grandson, he was listening with keen interest to what the CEO, COO, and other Rapidrail personnels were saying,all of these made me forgot my ailments.


The climax of the tour for Daiyan and Cousin Zara was of course, the ride on the LRT for the wash-up! The CEO really understood a child's interest. (probably the ride during the wash up would remind Daiyan of the character James, Thomas the engines's friend who always pleaded for a wash up when its body was sticky with dirt)..It was a hilarious ride for Daiyan and cousin Zara.  Watch the video...



The tour came to an end. It was fruitful visit for all of us. We were grateful and appreciated Dato' CEO, COO and other personnel 's willingness to have spent their precious working time with us, especially for making the efforts to entertain  a five year old train enthusiast!

They knew Daiyan wanted to know what the LRT trains were doing while resting from work . This visit fulfilled Daiyan's request.


On our part, we were  marvelled by the ability of Datuk CEO and the COO to communicate with small children and effortlessly and easily drawn their undivided attentions to the their explanations about the running the LRT trains and stations plus the depot.


After the visit, Daiyan was too busy telling everyone about his visit to the depot. He retold his tales dozens of times, to us, his friends, his teachers, relatives and strangers too . He was basking in happiness. May Allah blessed Datuk CEO and his personnels for making a child happy!


On the last note, well, we sometimes have doubts.Did Daiyan understand what he had heard and seen at the depot?

                         In this picture Daiyan was given the opportunity to announce 'Next Station'..

                                                               A peek under the train



                                          What's under the train...must be interesting to Daiyan..

A few days later we heard him talking via video call to his Tokteh in Kota Bharu. He was countering attack on Tokteh for thinking the depot was for broken LRTs.  He told Tokteh that Dato' Zohari told him the LRT were new. New LRT trains were shipped  from Canada. The ship placed the LRT at Pelabuhan Kelang. Then the lorries brought the LRT trains to the depot where all parts were installed and,  the trains were ready for work.  (Now, Daiyan has never heard of Canada before, we have not brought him to Pelabuhan Kelang yet. That was the first he  heard these names).


In that video call, Daiyan, happily  swept aside Tokteh 's statement (she actually meant to tease him by saying  LRT train had  a captain). Before the depot visit,Daiyan did adamantly tell Tokteh that captains are for MAS and other planes . LRT  trains had not need for captains. After this depot visit he proudly told his Tokteh. "You are wrong Tokteh.   "Its true. LRT does not have captain! LRT has 'onjiniar'(ie engineer). That was the first time he heard the name, engineer. Before this he only  heard of doctors, teachers, hafiz quran, captains, pilots, singers, office bosses, even pianist (his cousin is a pianist), Engineer has yet to enter his young life.


Daiyan also brought up Tokteh's statement about the depot was only for broken LRTs. He said, "Tokteh, LRT will only 'rosak' (broke down) when too much oil get into its wheels or something. He did mention a term but Tokteh could not catch what he had said. That's a technical term, Tokteh did not know it neither me.


Anyway this conversation proved a point. Daiyan understood whatever he had been told, even the technical terms and parts.  I remember now during the whole tour at the LRT depot, the boisterous Daiyan who was dashing around at the Rapidrail foyer earlier  was gone.  In his place was an attentive little boy or could l described him, as an engineering student, who was quietly listening to his Guru?

                                           Thumbs up for a very informative tour at the depot










Thursday 30 November 2017

Daiyan's Giant Caterpillar (Part I)



You can call it a miracle or prayers answered. Well, we kind of describing what has happened as a mixture of both.  We are a normal, humble family with no cables plus no acquaintances in the corporate world, the Malaysian corporates to be exact, no titles attached to our names (well Malaysians have a penchant for this), meager living incomes plus many more under privileges as you name it.

 Now, coming to the reason for my writing this article,  how in the world could we obliged  a request by a five year old  grandson, a train enthusiast, for a visit to a highly strictly security LRT depot? Its just impossible, says a song. We du'a for a miracle. 

How it begins ...

Wan Ahmad Daiyan's love story with the Light Rapid Transport (LRT) to be exact the Kelana Jaya Lines before this is known as the Putra Lines started when he was a baby. Well, at what age a child starts to be aware of his surroundings? That could be the first time Daiyan fell in love with the LRT.

This LRT services has been here long before Wan Ahmad Daiyan (born 2012). This will specifically explained why LRT has become part of Daiyan's daily routine, living in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur where LRT is fast becoming an important means of transport for the city dwellers.

 Daiyan not 1 year old yet in his Abiy's arm excited when the train arrived


As stated above, Daiyan's LRT love story started when he was a tiny baby. Every weekdays, his paternal grandparents looked after him while my daughter and husband were at work. His paternal grandparents live on the 12th floor of a condominium, overlooking an LRT station, The University Station, now  known as University KL Gateway Station.

                                  Night or day this is Daiyan's favourite spot at Nenek's home

His paternal grandparents remember how everyday baby Daiyan insisted on looking down at the LRT station. He was extremely excited looking at the 'giant caterpillar' weaving down the rail tracks, in and out the station down below. Nothing pleases Daiyan more than watching this giant caterpillars. Well, to pacify him from his babyish tantrum, just step on the balcony and he would stop crying and smile. 

Now, that was Daiyan as a spectator.  Now, he was then old enough to take a ride on his beloved caterpillar? In fact almost every other weekends when his parents  were free, the little family will go for the LRT ride. Daiyan never had enough of the rides even today.

    Eagerly waiting for the train with Ummi
   His very first train ride with Abiy and Ummi💜👦😁
He loved to sit (as a baby) and stand since he is tall enough,  near the front window, for him to have a good view of the rail tracks and probably be the first to spot the next stations. He would rant out the stations' names, imitating the train's announcement.  His first baby words are Trains, Stations, and Lights, and of course tunnels. Don't be surprised he memorised all the names when he was two years old.

 A lot bigger now at 3 years old..awaiting another ride on the LRT with Cousin Zara



                                                   
The thrill of riding trains  continued at home. He imitated the LRT sounds. It was irritating and deafening when Daiyan makes the screeching sounds of the trains. He explained that the trains screamed when it entered the dark tunnels. The louder the train screamed the faster it ran on the tracks.

Daiyan and his LRT were inseparable. At home too, LRT will always be on his mind. Besides him sounding like a  train,  YouTube LRT videos were his constant companion.  Never a bore to him, videos showing trains moving along tracks, stopping at the stations, doors opening and closing and moves again to the next station, intercepting only by announcements, heralding names of the approaching stations.  We easily dozed off while accompanying him watching these videos.  Yet he became more alert; besotted by every trains movement, counting the seconds and minutes taken by each movements, and was aware of physical appearance of each train's carriage.  For Daiyan no trains carriages are similar, he could spot the difference!

 Since at a tender age he  prefered to watch LRT You Tube to cartoons show except Upin and Ipin, of course. In the begining his parents helped  him to find the LRT you tube videos, as he got older and had acquired the needed skills, he find the webpages himself. When he was four he typed the letters LRT on the google search. 
 
Talking about Daiyan's learning process, that is recognising alphabets, his passion for LRT You Tubes, really made him a fast learner. He can read the Train lines Map! How did he manage to point  the stations names on the maps and said out the names?

Studying the train's map

When the Kelana Jaya Line expanded its services  to more stations, he easily remembered all the 37 stations and prattled on in the right order!

LRT is a wonder to Daiyan. For him,  a this non driver train is fantastic. He wanted to know more. Non of our family members works as a railway engineer.  We could not answer his countless questions and You tube videos does not sufficed his curiousity.  There were no videos on how the local trains are being taken care, repair etc. He was not interested on videos of other LRT especially overseas LRT and their  depots.  He wanted his LRT at the depot at Lembah Subang.

Probably Daiyan is influenced by Thomas the Train and friends adventures. At the end of the day, Thomas with Percy and other friends will relate their daily adventures at work pulling their carriages along the rail tracks. For him, his LRT trains did the same things.
We remember, whenever our LRT ride passed the Lembah Subang Station he would make us look down to catch a glimpse of the resting trains. He kept on pestering his parents for a visit to the LRT depot.  This was definitely not a normal request Not a small boy's demand for a new toy!  Daiyan's love for LRT is not a passing whim.  It is a passion which needed tbe fulfilled.  The whole family realised and recognised his virtues.  We do not want to disappoint and dampened his spirit and killed his love for trains.

We had tried our best to accomodate his request by enquiring around close friends who happened to know someone who is working with any of the train lines. But we were told that, it is impossible because even staff members are not allowed into the depot. We prayed silently. It is not our wish to dampen a young mind. 

Hidayah from the Most High Mighty. On Daiyan's fifth birthday celebration at his Kindergarten, his parents thought of a LRT birthday cake. A search on instagram, brought them to a baker who  promised to create an awesome LRT birthday cake.

An awesome LRT birthday! Daiyan was over the moon. His parents took a photo of smiling Daiyan with his lrt birthday cake. Hidayah from the Most Beneficient. His aunt, Ain, my other daughter tweeted it and tagged it to the Group CEO of Prasarana...Daiyan and his birthday was warmly received by the Group CEO and the RapidKL company. 

We decided to push our request for a visit to the depot in our thank you tweet. Rest assured.... our dua was answered. Daiyan received an invitation for a visit from the Rapidrail CEO ..well Daiyan need company thus all of us, parents, maternal grandparents, parents,  aunt and cousin, maternal aunt and uncle plus a great grandaunt join the wagon. Who received us, no less than the CEO and COO of Rapidrails. All praises to Allah swt. A child's dreams realised. It will pay to believe in Allah beneficiancy.   Aamiin

to be continued Part II..


Sunday 27 August 2017

akhirnya..terlaksana jugak hajat Dinner @ Rebung!


Sudah beberapa kali rancang semasa ke KL hendak ke Restoran Rebung tak kira lah makan tengahari atau makan malam.  Tuan punya restoran pun dah berkali-kali jemput seleke lah ke restoran dio ni..semasa restoran ni di Jalan Maarof Bangsar lagi...talk jadi2 nok gi nyo sokmo, sapa lah awal bulan Mei 2017 baru ni baru lah boleh jijok kaki ke restoran Mail ni...oops...Dato' Chef Ismail Ahmad.  Berasa segan pulok lah ko Mail mugo dio pangkat Dato' loni..mugo kenal ni dio jak dio mudo-mudo ting ting lagi lah...maso samo-samo kerja dengan dio di Nestle Jalan Brickfields zaman dulu-dulu nuh...nok akhir-akhir tahun tujuh puluhan lagi.  Bangunan Nestle pun takdok situ doh...doh jadi KL Sentral loni.  Maaflah dok beso panggil dio Mail so lekat gitu lah panggilan ko dionyo..memang rapat benar friend dengan dio dulu...maklumlan satu ofis gak dio pulok jenis suko buat kelakar sokmo.  Perangai dio pah ko loni supo tu jah...mesra alam dengan semua oghe.  Dulu bos2 hok kito tok suko masa di Nestle dio boleh buat saing ko dio..pelik sungguh!  Nok oyak cerito xjupo dengan Mail ni lamo benar...tok termasuk duk tengok dio dalam rancangan masakan TV tu..lebihkurang 37 tahun tapi telefon tu ado lah jarang-jarang sangat.  Baguslah Mail...you reach this far in your career dah jadi celebrity chef sohor..so proud of you!

Dinner di sini pun dirancang oleh my daughter yang sudoh acak kali makan di sini, ofis dio selalu buat dinner or lunch di sini.  Kebetulan malam tu anak ada office dinner event so kita tumpang sekaki lah ke sini..contact Mail dulu nak pergi restoran dia ni..bawak suami and anak cucu sekali.  Baik hati sungguh Mail diberinya kita semua makan2 sambil bersantai dalam Bilik VIP ... segan jugok nok masuk makan ssitu!  Kito oghe biaso2 jah...kkejut smeta tengok dio letok namo kito dalam bilik tu..hahaha..daghak xhabih lah ambo ni..


Suko tengok decoration ala kampung2 di Rebung
dengan rakan kongsi beliau
namo kito ttebeng atah mejo



The spread...sikit jah amik gambar makanan, banyak lagi di luar restoran tu ado gerai macam2...malu nok amik gambar kut napok nyungguh pulok..

 Catching up with Mail on old acquaintances at Nestle...nostalgia betul masa ni
 my sweet grandson tu..
 first meeting with Florence Tan, tengok dio dalam tv jah dulu...rupa2nya dah jadi kawan baik Mail







one for the memory..my family with Mail

A recent picture of Dato' Mail with my brother and sister-in- law at Rebung.  I need to mention that Mail has only met once my brother when I was staying in Kampung Baru in 1980...he was visiting me that time when I was busy preparing to come back to work in KB...amazingly he recognized and remember my brother when  he went for lunch at Rebung.  Well..that's Dato' Chef Ismail Ahmad who is always humble, to me he does not change a bit from whence I knew him...Semoga sentiasa maju dalam bidangnya...In Shaa Allah!

Daiyan's Giant Caterpillars (Part II)

                                      CEO of RapidKL's tweet inviting Daiyan to visit LRT depot...                          ...