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