A Farewell

No, not mine. Other people's. :-)

We had a farewell today. A friend of us is retiring. He is a retiree from government service before he joined us 9 years ago. So he had his second retirement today. Well, his contract ended actually and since he is an old man don;t you think it would lend a nice ring to call it a retirement instead of resignation? Or even contract termination.

A beauty coincidence is that, this old man shares the same birth day and birth month as I am. And we both left and will be leaving in the same month. He is a very nice person, very down to earth, a wise person and can be a little bit nerdy sometimes saya suka mengusik dia. I would sure miss his stories about his kebun pisang, mangga harum manis and his healthy diet. No more homegrown bananas for me. Sad.

After that another colleague that I rarely see came to my room. With his right hand shoved in front. I quirked my eyebrow. He said "I heard you are leaving". I said "Not today" beacuse I thought he must have somehow gotten it wrong. It was somebody else's farewell.

"I know. I might not be around" he said. Ok.
And then both of us went silent. We rarely see each other, we rarely spoke. He is a man with little words, but I don't know why I always feel a little bit intimidated around him.

It was awkward. I don't know what to say. He clearly wants to say something but I guess the news of me leaving came as a shocked to him it render him speechless.
After a long pause, he said "Going somewhere?"
"Nope. I'll be around"
Another pause. His gaze was intent. I guess he still need time to digest the shocking (to him) news and my answer.
I know, most people say my reason doesn't match. That's why nowadays I refrained myself from answering such question.
He breaks the silence again, "A wise decision"
Serta merta I feel relieved. Finally, someone agrees with me without me saying so why. He is a wise man. And a very observant one. Now I know why I feel intimidated by him. He could tell and read between the lines.
I smiled. And he left.

But it was really awkward. He know things that I don't want to say out loud. Things that I kept to myself. Things that some people pressured me to spill. But I kept mum. But he, he doesn't need to ask further. He knows. He understands. And he respects.

Bukan Used Car Dealer...

I made a stop at Petronas Kesas hi-way nearby Proton this morning. From a far the pump attendant hailed me towards a vacant petrol pump. I alighted from the car and i just inserted my credit card into the credit card pay machine when the pump attendant said this

"Banyak kereta"
I look up and saw he was looking at me, not to the road in front of us.
My brain quickly processed what he really meant. Tersenyum saya.
"Owh... itu kereta rosak. Masuk worksyop" Saya maksudkan cik sienna red kalau itu yang dia juga maksudkan.
Dia mengangguk kepala, "Ooo rosak"
"Sekarang saya pakai ini"
"Ada lagi?" Dia tanya lagi.
Saya dah naik segan pulak. Tak sangka dia perasan entah berapa banyak kereta yang saya pernah bawa singgah di stesen minyak ini. Aduhhh... mesti dia ingat saya kaya benar bertukar-tukar kereta dari besar ke kecil, habis kecil pakai bagak pulak.
Gatal mulut mau je saya jawab, ye banyak lagi (kat ofis!!! bukan saya punyalah semua harta kompeni). Ha ha ha.
Cepat saya geleng kepala "Takde... takde" Aduh tersengih malu saya dibuatnya.

Huwaaaa mat bangla ni pun perasan. Apatah lagi jiran-jiran ku mesti depa ingat saya kaya gila. Kat situ rumah saya lah yang paling kerap bertukar-tukar kereta tapi pernah satu masa sebiji kereta pun takde depan rumah sebab cik sienna rosak dan encik ford juga rosak. Kadang kalau penat melayan orang tegur macam-macam kereta kau, kami suka jawab begini "Biasalah... used car (dealer)".

Sedih pulak teringat cik sienna red. Masih tersadai di worksyop. Semalam saya call mekanik, depa tengah pasang gearbox. Tanya bila siap, dia jawab tak tau. Tokey takde. Saya kira congak dah hampir sebulan. Hmmm... rindu. Macam takde harapan nak pegang stereng cik sienna semula sebelum my departure from this company. Dah bosan drive encik bagak. Sebab tak boleh merempit. Gila ko nak merempit pakai CRV. 2.0cc je lagipun lambat pickup bila nak memotong. Switching gear pun tak smooth. Astaghfirullahal'azim... ni statement tak bersyukur ni. Ada kereta pun kira Alhamdulillah. Bukan harta saya, harta kompeni. Pakai sementara cik sienna under repair.

Incik suami selalu geleng kepala kat saya. Dia kata "gila bini aku ni", kerja dia nak bawa laju je manjang. Eh... siapa ajar saya merempit dulu? Skill cilok mencilok saya belajar hasil menjadi co-pilot dia setiap hari dulu masa saya belum pandai bawa kereta. Agaknya incik suami ada rasa menyesal kot paksa saya ambil driving license dulu. He he he...

Bulan depan takde dah kereta kat laman rumah. Dah tak sakit mata orang tengok macam-macam pesen dan warna. Kot ada pun menyemak kereta budak-budak bujang menyewa depan rumah. Bersusun tepi pagar saya kereta diaorang. Dah macam tempat jual used car rumah saya ni. Kawan hubby datang pun terkejut sampai tak jadi berhenti sebab was-was "Rumah kau yang banyak kereta tu ke?" Hahahaha sampai tak nampak rumah dibuatnya!

Hidup ini memang umpama 'roda di atas bas'. Sekejap kita di atas, sekejap kita di bawah. I pray hard that I will never regret my decision... untuk melepaskan segala yang saya ada. Dunia ini pinjaman. Semuanya bukan milik kita. Amin.