Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Keto api - Bahagian 3 (The English version follows)

Se cumo setaun di Kelantan walau pun se ingin tingga situ lamo lai. Ado kojo kosong di tompek se kojo kaghang ni di Soghomban. Se pun mintak dan di toghimo. Lopeh tu se ghaso tak payah lai naik keto api sobab se dah boli keto. Keto api kito pun dah beghubah. Maso se sekolah dulu tak ado Ekspress Rakyat. Kaghang dah ado dan masih jalan lai. Cumo se sodih bilo tengok keto api kaghang ni tak panjang macam se budak-budak dulu.

Lopeh se nikah dan ado anak se ado yo bawak oghang ghumah dan anak-anak se naik Ekspress Rakyat poi Kolo Lumpo. Balik kito nak bas.





Maso se kojo ado yo se mintak tolong daghi KTM Soghomban. Tengok gambar ateh tu. Bondo tu namo eh 'Multi Purpose Machine'. Ponduduk satu tompek namo eh Taman Bertuah (Lucky Garden) di Rasah ado mengadu longkang eh asyik ponoh dek air. Dah betaun-taun macam tu yo. Se pun tengok dan dapek tau punco eh io lah pombotong tosumbek di bawah rel keto api dokek taman tu. Sobolom ni bolum ado soghang pun yang nak jumpo KTM. Se pun jumpo soghang namo eh En. Baharin. Baik oghang eh. Dio pun hanta bondo yang macam gamba tu. Kato eh bondo ni datang eh dari Gomeh. Nampak eh oghang Taman Bertuah ni memang betuah. Lopeh tu se tak ado toghimo komplen lai.

Masa KTM buek rel bokomba daghi Soghomban ko Rawang dulu En. Baharin ada yo ajak se naik bondo namo eh Trolley daghi Soghomban ko Nilai. Trolley ni macam keto yo bosa eh. Isik eh dalam onam oghang. Yang sodap eh boleh boghonti mano-mano dan bilo-bilo ndak yo. En. Baharin ni nampak yo diam tapi gaghang yo. Maso se naik Trolley samo dio tu dimaghah-maghah he budak-budak pekojo buek rel bokomba tu kebanyakan eh sobab tak pakai jeket yang memanca bilo kono suluh tu.

Ado sekali se bawak anak se Miza sampai ko Juho Baghu naik keto api. Lopeh makan di Juho Baghu kito balik ko Soghomban naik keto api yo. Dalam keto api se ghaso macam budak-budak balik. Se bejalan dari pangka sampai hujung keto api tu. Bilo keto api boghonti pulak se tughun. Bilo bunyi wisel se naik balik. Miza mengadu kek omak eh yang ayah he bukan duduk dalam keto api, tapi asyik bejalan yo. Sobona eh ini yang oghang putih kato 'instinct'. Se ghaso macam budak-budak balik.

Maso KTM mulo guno Komuter se lah antagho yang mulo-mulo naik. Maso ado Tiket ko Mano-mano dulu kadang-kadang sampai satu haghi se duduk dalam keto api yo. Masa Kolo Lumpo mulo ado LRT dulu se yo yang samo-samo naik dulu.

Bilo se di hanta poi ko Fukuoka, Jopun ompek taun dulu se ghaso keto api Jopun sopueh-pueh he. Di bawah hotel se duduk tu ado stesen subway LRT. Ado bobogahpo haghi tu lopeh yo Subuh se naik LRT poi ko lapangan kapa toghobang di situ. Se pun suko tengok kapa toghobang, tapi tu coghito lain. Topat maso eh se pun balik dan jumpo kawan-kawan se di lobi hotel. Soghang pun tak tau mano se poi tadi. Keto api Jopun ni topat maso eh, jadi kito tak takut kono tingga.

Alang-alang poi Jopun se pun naiklah keto api pelughu atau bullet train eh. Oghang Jopun sobut keto api pelughu ni Sinkanshen. Se pun naik sampai Kokura io tu stesen Sinkanshen paling dokek dongan Fukuoka. Banda Kokura ni pun betuah yo. Se ado tengok wayang coghito Amerika jatuhkan bom atom ke Hiroshima dan Nagasaki maso hujung poghang dunio koduo dulu. Lopeh di jahanam eh banda Hiroshima Amerika nak bom Kokura pulak. Tapi bilo sampai yo ateh Kokura derebar kapa toghobang tu tak nampak apo-apo sobab Kokura ditutup dek awan. Jadi dicaghi eh banda lain. Nagasaki lah yang jadi mangso. Nasib baik tak di bom eh Fukuoka.

Walau pun keto api di Melesia ni dah moden sikit tapi tak macam nogoghi lain. Nak bezokan dongan Jopun jangan cakaplah. Kadang-kadang se polik yo. Tengoklah di Soghomban yo. Stesen eh bulih tahan jauh he daghi terminal bas. Nasib baiklah baghu-baghu ni opis se dah buek tompek jalan kaki beghatap dari stesen ko terminal tu. Opis se nak buek sampai botu-botu kek stesen tu. Tak diboghi pulak dek KTM. Itu lah kalau poi tengok ado 'missing link' kato oghang putih lobih kughang limo puloh meter. Dopan stesen tu pulak ado kompleks boniago, tapi nak poi situ silap-silap kono langga dek keto. Apo tak dibuek jambatan jalan kaki, duo-duo kompleks dan KTM boleh untung.

Di Kolo Lumpo pun, namo yo KL Sentral tapi kok nak naik monorel kono jalan kaki seghatuih meter. Di stesen Masjid Jamek pulak tu kalau nak tuka daghi STAR ke PUTRA kono kolua kek jalan bopaneh dan boghujan.

The Train - Part 3
I only stayed in Kelantan for a year although I wished I could stay longer. There was a vacancy at my present office so I applied for it. By this time I felt no need for the train since I was driving my own car. The train structure had changed too. The Ekspres Rakyat was introduced and it is still running today although I feel sad that the Malaysian trains nowadays are not that long compared to those during my school days.

After I got married and having children I used to bring them on the Ekspress Rakyat to Kuala Lumpur. We returned by bus.

Once during my work I had to engage the assistance of the KTM. The pictures above was taken more than ten years ago. It showed a machine called the Multi Purpose Machine clearing both ends of a culvert which which was running under the Seremban - Port DIckson line near Taman Lucky, Rasah. The people of this housing estate had been complaining that their drains were waterlogged thus breeding mosquitoes. I found out that the only solution was to clear the blockage inside the above culvert. Fortunately the KTM people headed by one En. Baharin, a really good man was willing to help. The people of that housing estate never complained since.

I had further experience working with En. Baharin. Once when the KTM was constructing the double tracks he called me and brought me along a machine called the Trolley to Nilai and back. This Trolly is the size of a car and can accomodate about six people. Although En. Baharin looked cool, he could be fussy. He blasted the double-tracking workers for not wearing luminous jackets.

Once I brought along my daughter Miza to Johor Bahru on the morning train. After having our lunch at Johor Bahru we returned to Seremban by train too. Once aboard the train my childish instincts returned. I walked the whole length of the train. Every time the train stopped I alighted too. Miza complained to her mother that I never stayed long in my seat. For me I was feeling the instinct of being a child again.

When the KTM introduced the Komuter train I was among the first passengers. Unfortunately they don't issue the Tiket Ke Mana Mana anymore. I used to enjoy this facility and just sit down on the KTM Komuter doing nothing. Again when Kuala Lumpur started their LRT services I was among the first passengers.

When I went to Fukuoka, Japan four years ago for a training I fully enjoyed the Japanese trains. There was a subway station situated just below my hotel. This subway ends at the Fukuoka airport. There were days after my Subuh prayers I took the subway to go to the airport and watch aeroplanes land and depart. At the precise moment I would return to the hotel and meet my friends at the hotel lobby without any one of them knowing where I was. The Japanese trains are so much on time that you do not have to worry about missing any appointment.

I even rode the Japanese bullet train which is called Sinkanshen. I went to the nearest Sinkanshen station next to Fukuoka which was Kokura. I saw a film about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the end of the Second World War. Actually after Hiroshima the Americans wanted to drop the second bomb on Kokura. But when they flew over the city they could not see it because it was engulfed by clouds. So the flew further south west and dropped the bomb at poor Nagasaki. I think Fukuoka was spared because of the clouds too.
Although the train services have improved it still lacked behind. Just look here at Seremban. The train station and the bus terminal are situated quite far apart. My office wanted to build a sheltered walkway between the station and terminal. But it was not fully agreed by the KTM. So you can see a 50 metre missing link at the moment. There is also a shopping complex opposite the Seremban station, but to go there you may be knocked by cars. Why not build a overhead bridge to gain both parties?
Even in Kuala Lumpur you have to walk about 100 metres from KL Central to the Monorail station. In Masjid Jamek to move from STAR to LRT you have to go outside and face the elements.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LoL, nice reading your experiences Uncle Maarof - though the Kelantan/ Neghori accent threw me into 'Does not Compute' mode for a moment.