Jiman's aborted kenduri.

 Sat 25.5.24.

Jiman had invited me through Calit for his daughter's wedding at the hotel in Mara building in KL today. The four of us - me, Calit, Dekma and Yamtek - gathered at Calit's S 2 house at 10 am, and left more or less on the appointed time. We watched in amazement at the crazy south-bound traffic on the PLUS, and were relieved our side of the traffic was much, much better. That pleasure was short-lived. For around 10.30 Calit's NAD 9000 stalled and luckily he  pulled to the road-side just 100 m. past the Nilai R&R.

The weakened belting of the power-steering box had jumped out of its track, pulling out with it the wire connecting to the engine, thus cutting power. That seemed straight-forward enough. Fixing it was more time-consuming. Would Jiman's kenduri  be aborted ?.

Help seemed close at hand. The PLUS emergency box was just a few m. from where we stopped the car. It worked. The other side answered. But the voice was hardly audible and both sides couldn't understand one another, though the state of emergency must have been registered. 

Calit got his friend on his smartphone, and I got "PLUS hot line" on mine, and both helped. The PLUS patrol arrived in about 30 minutes as promised. Calit had got the tow-truck, but it didn't come in the time promised. The PLUS patrol conceded we'd better take up our tow-truck option. PLUS could only tow us to the nearest R&R. They arranged several cones to alert the speeding traffic of our position.

The tow-truck took more than one hour. Workshop bound, Calit sat with the driver. The 3 of us sat in the car on top of the tow-truck.  The workshop is at Nilai 7. The parts had to be collected by motorcycle from the supplier. Dekma and Yamtek were transported to a nearby restaurant to wait, and get some refreshment. Calit and I remained at the workshop.

When the repairs were done, it was about 2 pm. Jiman's kenduri definitely was out.

Calit stopped at the first Petronas station we saw. I did my zohor, while Calit refuelled. We took the Lekas Highway via Batang Benar-Pajam road, then to Seremban via Temiang, and stopped at Deen's Rojak & Cendol at S 2, near  the walkers' lake garden track.

Meanwhile I'd whatsapped to the cousins, Bok and Zainab, a few photos of our mid-morning misadventure. Both acknowledged, so Jiman should have been alerted.

I did my Asr prayers before leaving Calit's house, just as Ribena & family arrived to pick up the mother. I didn't want to be caught by the evening rain that has been the Seremban ritual these several days. I'd come on my scooter. And it was a good thing. The jam (on this Saturday, of all days !) stretched from Aeon Mall all the way to the Gateway. I simply cilok between the stalled cars and lorries, and even did 120 on the Lingkaran Tengah right to TDS.

Calit saved some money meant for Jiman's. But the towing & repairs cost him much, much more.

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