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

---

Street Art in Kota Bharu

Not many people noticed that the back lanes behind rows of shop houses along Jalan Dato' Pati ,Kota Bharu have been been transformed into a colourful street art by the Kota Bharu Municipal Council (MPKB)..a refreshing sight!  

Parts of the walls depicted lives of the Palestinians in turmoil...in no particular order enjoy the pictures which turned out 3D like..

Don't mind if I sit here too?

Daiyan petting the cat below an opened window

A lady in blue amidst the clouds balloons and paper aeroplanes..

Hanging out the batiks

A damsel with flowing scarf looking out the window

Trying out the swing..

The painted carpets looks just real!

Yeay...that's right..I love Bahaso Kelate!

Two boys playing basketball

Lots of pictures to snap

Olive picking anyone? Litle photographer at work...

This picture says it all...

tokbah jahit eyelet curtain

Satu lagi posting terperap dalam draf...macam biasa upload gambar dulu dan dibiarkan jadi jeruk buat seberapa lama. Looking back at my blog archive  I only managed to come out with only a posting a month..well...not bad for a blogger who never give a thought when the sun rises and sets what topic should she blog about every day...hmmm.

Ok back to this business of sharing the method how to produce the 'holes' in an eyelet curtain.  I am not familiar with the term eyelet curtains so here what it says after searching what it means via Mr. Google...Eyelet curtains are a clean, elegant contemporary look, producing fluted columns of fabric that show off prints to perfection and give a lovely sculptured look to plain fabrics. The flat 'head' (top edge) of these curtains means that they slack back really effectively off the window without taking up too much room.  

I mentioned 'holes' in the curtain because that is what this posting is all about, sewing the whole six panels of the curtain is no big deal to the scissors not trigger handling happy looking man in the picture below but to make the perfect round holes is a big deal to him.  Of course I am of no help at all in this sewing business...never good at handling scissors thread and needles and of course the sewing machine ...leave it all to the man of the house, he sewed all the curtains in the house (yang ada loop tu) and other DIY odd jobs around the house, he is the one my siblings/ex-bosses/family friends called upon  for  help in minor maintenance work around the house and aptly my sisters referred to him as our own MacGyver..hahaha.  Whenever we travel to KL to visit our daughter be sure to spare a quarter of the space in the car boot for his tool boxes, one might never know something needs fixing around her house too.

Upon the desperate need of our eldest daughter and like any good Abah when it is possible, never to turn down his children's request.    Dini always has faith in her Abah especially when it comes to sewing curtains of course.  She dragged us to the newly opened Jakel Mall to buy the materials...yang si Abah ni ingat boleh saja jahit curtain yang simple-simple, rupa-rupanya nak yang design eyelet ni.  Curtain ini for main sliding door at her new house in Subang lepas raya puasa ini berpindah ke situ. Berjam-jam tunggu demo duo oghe tu duk tanya salesgirl and tengok samples curtains di Jakel macam mana nok jahit curtain jenis eyelet.

One might asked why not seek Mr. Google on how the rest of  the world make the 'holes'... as I was not involved in this sewing scheme, I particularly do not pay enough attention to what he is doing..he never even trust me to help iron the material thus it did not cross my mind to help search this hole making business on you tube.

None of the tailoring shops specializing in sewing curtains in town agreed to help cut the holes on  readymade curtains and all of them told him it is DIY thing...so our DIY man here had to put on his thinking cap how to cut perfect holes.  Fikir punya fikir...this is the first sample he did by cutting rough frayed circles and being always a detailed person on how his work is always done (he was a site technician involving construction projects and was always a pain in the neck for main and sub-contractors for demanding good quality work in the projects, there was a case of a main contractor asking him to quit his job and if he did the contractor would slaughter a kambing...hahaha!).  He told me it is not wrong to demand for good quality clean work tapi kan banyak kontraktor ni suka cincai cincai punya kerja...asal siap bangunan within contracted time...kalau runtuh tu lain punya hal lah...kerja bukan dengan iman begini jadinya.

At last he came up with the idea of drawing the circles on the material and sewed it first before cutting around the circles...I had a look at a video on you tube where the lady drew a circle too on the material and immediately paste the grommet casing around it. 

Tadaaaa...siap homemade eyelet curtain!

the man at work....

sekadar satu perkongsian....sharing is caring :)

Sharing this....

 

RECOGNISE PALESTINE

Date 17 December 2014
Written by Che Det

1. Spain has decided to recognise Palestine. And now France and Ireland have also done likewise. There is even a suggestion that the European Union would do the same.

2. It is all long overdue. If the Europeans care to think, it is they who started the terrorism in the Middle East. If they care to admit, all these violence, killings, wars etc started when the Europeans created the state of Israel by seizing Arab Palestine. Before that terrorism did not plague the Middle East and the rest of the world. Now there are irregular terrorists and state terrorists.

3. To the Europeans Israel can do no wrong. They can massacre the Arabs. That is acceptable. For three Israelis killed a thousand Arabs must pay with their lives. A hundred thousand will have their houses destroyed. And humanitarian aid cannot be given to the victims. The Europeans by saying or doing nothing virtually agreed that the punishment is right.

4. There was a Palestinian state before Israel was created and recognised. Then Israel decreed there is no such thing as a Palestinian state. The Europeans agreed. They acknowledged there is no
Palestinian State, only a Palestinian Authority. And the United Nations, the creation of the Europeans derecognised Palestine as a state. And the state just vanished. And the frustrated Arabs resorted to the primitive weapons they had. They tie themselves with bombs. But mostly they kill other Arabs.

5. In “retaliation” the Israelis killed them with bombs and rockets dropped from the skies. The Israeli strategy is to out terrorise the terrorists. States are allowed to terrify people. Their terrifying acts do not constitute terrorism. It is to restore law and order. The Israelis are only retaliating.

6. But who is retaliating against whom. The Arabs kill three. The state of Israel and its democratically elected Government announced that it would teach the Arabs a lesson. They killed thousands, destroyed cities. This is Israeli retaliation. But the Arabs killed three people because their own stone-throwing children have been arrested and some shot and killed for throwing stones against bullet-proof tanks. Unable to do anything more they retaliate by killing three Israelis.

7. And so violence escalated as anger and frustration mount among the Arabs caused now by more Israeli settlements in Jerusalem. And the Europeans declare that the Arab/Jew war is a religious war. It is a religious war because Jerusalem Arabs killed four Jews praying in a Synagogue. Israeli forces have killed the Arabs involved, destroyed their houses and those of their extended families. And more destruction is promised.

8. When a Jew fired a machine gun killing dozens of Arabs praying in a mosque, that was not an act to provoke a religious war. When Jews build illegal settlement on Arab land and in Jerusalem that is not provocation. The Jews will claim and their Europeans allies on both sides of the Atlantic will agree it is just retaliation. It is double standards of the most blatant kind.

9. Truly Europeans are in a state of denial. They refused to acknowledge that they started the “terrorism” in the Middle East which is now spreading throughout the world.

10. Their refusal to admit that it is their need to solve the Jewish problem in Europe is what prompted them to agree to the setting up of Israel on Palestinian land. They refuse to admit that their unmitigated backing for Israeli crimes is what forced the beleaguered Palestinian Arabs to resort to unconventional means to regain the land stolen from them.

11. They refuse to admit that their refusal to recognise the state of Palestine at the behest of the Israelis is what aggravated the frustration, the anger and the escalating violence.

12. The decision to recognise Palestine comes late. It is brave of Spain. And now France and Ireland. Can Europe recognise and admit its role in destabilising the Middle East, in promoting terrorism by unashamedly supporting everything that Israel does, including international crimes? Can the European link their de-recognition of Palestine with the violent reactions of the Arabs?

13. I hope the Europeans will read this. They normally don’t. They only read about themselves as seen by themselves.

14. Tell me. Are all the things that I say here fabricated lies? Is there not an iota of truth? You condemn censorship. But aren’t you censoring all the news that come to you from non-European sources? Aren’t you lying to yourselves about yourselves?

15. You are powerful. You are influential. But you prefer to delude yourselves into thinking you are right; you are innocent. And because you delude yourself you continue to bring death and destruction all over the world.

16. So don’t read what others say. Read only what you write about yourself and about the rest of the world. Your ignorance will result in your continuing to endanger the world with the unfairness and injustice of your policies and actions.

What a sheep!

 Could not believe my eyes when I see this picture photographed by Andres Beregovich for National Geographic Your Shot.  He was wandering through Isla Riesco (now where is this place?) when he bumped into this forgotten ranch.  He asked whether he could photograph some of the processes and could not believe the size of this sheep when he first saw it.  He almost couldn't take the picture because he was so impressed by this 140 kg sheep (about 300 lbs)!  - from 10 fascinating photos from around the globe.  Sekali tengok macam seekor beruang besar ...kalau buat korban ni nok boleh muat duo kawoh besar hehe..

Another awesome photo entered in the same category as above...a photo by Graham McGeorge.

 As captioned by the photographer, this is an Eastern Screech Owl that likes to take over woodpecker nests that have been dug out over the years in pine trees.  MashaAllah.. a truly awesome camouflage!

Bekas putih ni lagi...

Kalau seboleh-bolehnya I avoid my food being packed in this 'white' container...dah tau bahayanya so buat apa nak ambil risikonya kan...tapi entahlah memang tahap kesedaran warga-warga di negara ini masih di tahap minima tentang betapa bahayanya bekas ini.  Rata-rata berleluasa penggunaan bekas ni...di majlis kahwinlah, di jamuan-jamuan pejabatlah etc etc etc, semua orang dah malas nak basuh pinggan gelas cawan so ringkas, senang, cepat guna benda ni but they never think of the consequences... benda remeh temeh macam ni pun nak diblog jugak kah, sajalah sebagai peringatan kepada sesiapa yang mahu diingatkan (eleh macamlah blog ni ada ramai pengunjung!)

This is what I ordered this afternoon for lunch, mee goreng and it comes packed in this container lagi...cepat-cepat tukar ke dalam bekas di bawah

at least bekas plastik ni boleh masuk microwave kan....

It takes at least 500 years to decompose (bekas putih ni ler)

What happens when we add hot food or drinks to Polystyrene?

Polystyrene contains the toxic substances Styrene and Benzene, suspected carcinogens and neurotoxins that are hazardous to humans. Hot foods and liquids actually start a partial breakdown of the Styrofoam, causing some toxins to be absorbed into our bloodstream and tissue.

Polystyrene food containers leach the toxin Styrene when they come into contact with warm food or drink, alcohol, oils and acidic foods causing human contamination and pose a health risk to people.  Avoid drinking tea with lemon, coffee with dairy cream, fruit juices, alcoholic beverages and wine from Styrofoam cups. Red wine will instantly dissolve the Styrene monomer.  Do not eat oily foods from Styrofoam containers.

Most interesting is the degradation of food that contains vitamin A (beta-carotene). In packaged foods with the addition of heat (such as microwave temperatures), vitamin A will decompose and produce m-xylene, toluene, and 2,6-dimethylnaphthalene. Toluene will aggressively dissolve polystyrene. This renders polystyrene as an unsuitable package for containing or micro waving products that contain vitamin A....read more here.

ACTION PLAN: Petaling Jaya City Council has drafted a three-year strategy to ban the containers

PETALING JAYA: TAKEAWAY meals packed in polystyrene food containers may soon be a thing of the past in the city. 

The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is pushing for a ban on the containers.

Read more: Polystyrene food container ban - Central - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/polystyrene-food-container-ban-1.315498#ixzz2cJMelqjO

Baguslah if this action plan really takes off.

I read somewhere this styrofoam container was referred to as a 'white coffin'! ...fikir-fikirlah demi kesihatan dan juga untuk alam sekitar yang selesa untuk anak cucu kita.