Soaring dry heat of Georgetown 

Taking me through Lebuh Acheh

The exquisite Muthu’s Banana Leaf

And Islander Chendol

Walking through Swettenham port

Taking the Langkawi Speedboat 

Hauling a yellow luggage and a 35mm Canon Eos

Searching through Butterworth KTM 

 

QR beep towards Platform 4

Coach B Seat 10D

Zhuzhou KTM 93/2 

Sumptuous train of tomorrow

If only Malaysians can dream of building it

Quietly sat down and gazed around

View of gentrification blasting through 140kph

4 Hours of brightness through darkness

Swifting through Oil Palm Plantations

Beautiful Bukit Merah, a man made river

and the Colonial Ipoh Train Station

 

24 Stops, 2 delays

One hour extra, 8.30pm 

Every stop, All walks of life

Paced around with their luggages

Minding their own business

Every conversation and every story

Every seat and every coach

It could be their big break 

It could be meeting their long lost parents

It could be meeting their LDR

It could be their first time

But

It could be their last time 

It could be their heartbreak

It could be their final time in home soil

 

While resting and listening to Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 

Two patrons fill up on seat 10D

One reading novel FIXI

while the one the left taking notes on his ipad mini

Gathering thoughts before the next class

As what everybody does

 

As twilight hits

It’s the month of April, the month of Ramadan

Iftar berbuka puasa at 7pm

Muslim patrons began taking their first bite after prayers

While in front of me sipping Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea

Before she left for Sungai Buloh, trainstop.

While on the left, she took a small bite of Tuna Sandwich

Before we both left for Muddy Confluence

Oh I lost my Ikan Bilis Gardenia 

Along the way.  

 

4 hours of cramped legs

Fit watch says “oi stand up la and do stretches”

Passed through Kepong stop

Rain began to fall

cars sedate through heavy rains at 6pm

Mercifully as passing through old train station

It drizzled before halting at Platform 2 KL Sentral. 

 

Stepping out and walking through Starbucks

Getting Dim Sums at Old Klang Road

Axia all the way to Pantai Hillpark

There I sigh with one kretek of Sampoerna

Viewing patio with dusty view

Kobelco jamming non-stop till 12am

Before the next 7am

Again and again for the next 268 days.

 

Jotted down on: 8th April 2022

11.30pm Pantai Hillpark, Bangsar South