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Monday, January 07, 2008

The day I had to stand by the roadside

I was waiting for cab at Glenmarie, by the roadside this morning for almost half an hour. My ‘Cinoni’ was sent for tyre change and today I have to take public transport. Previously, whenever I had to send Cinoni for service, I’d get one my team mates to pick me up at the service center. Now that they no longer work here, I had to either call for a cab or wait by the roadside.

Okay, the last time I had to do this (standing alone clutching a bag by the roadside – not taxi stand or bus stop) was in 1986. I was in standard 6 then, have to take public bus to go to school and there’s no bus stop in my kampong. Road users were much nicer back then. If they happen to be my close relatives or my friends’ parents, they’d stop and offer me a ride.

It’s not that people who drive in Glenmarie area are bad; I think I was not really lucky this morning. There were many cabs passing by, but they already have passengers. Some were not occupied, but they’re on the fast lane, and since Glenmarie roads are busy in the morning, it’s not possible for the drivers to swerve to the left. Nak mampus kena langgar dengan lori?

Dahlah tak dapat cab, the motorcyclist and lorry drivers keep on honking me and sengih-sengih macam kerang busuk. I checked my blouse, skirt and scarf many times. Who knows, maybe they’re honking me because I’ve worn my blouse ‘Pak Uda’ style (to the uninitiated, Pak Uda is Zami ismail in Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu tv Sitcom. His shirt is always buttoned ‘senget’ly.) But when I think again, maybe they’re warning me not to stand too close to the road because it’s dangerous. Memang dangerous pun, but if I stand too far, I wouldn’t see the cab coming.

After standing there for 20 minutes, I started getting feet cramps. I was baking cookies yesterday and had to stand in the kitchen for quite long. Maybe my feet expected to get some rest today, but had to stand firmly by the roadside, pulak. That was when I started feeling rather desperate. Suddenly I remembered a few comic strips from magazines in the late 70s.

I used to read the magazines over and over again at my late grandmother’s place, so the image sticks in my head until now. There were two friends waiting for taxi, but none would stop and pick them up. So, friend No. 1 asked friend No. 2 to lift her skirt to expose her legs so that it would attract the attention of the taxi drivers. Friend No. 2 did what she’s told to but all drivers started speeding their vehicle once they saw her. As you might have guessed, it was not a beautiful sight, lah that has scared all the taxi drivers away. I was smiling to myself visualizing the comic strip. Friend No. 2’s leg was really hairy; it’s difficult for me to describe it here. He he he he.

That’s not the only that keep on sticking in my head all these years. There’s a jingle I first heard in 1982 that follows me wherever I go, especially to the mall. If you are from the same generation as me, you might recognize this:

Yang mana satu, idaman kalbu,
Tak mau yang ini, bukan yang itu,
Nissan March baru, model seribu,
Satu liter, berbatu-batu.

The Nissan March commercial starred the then-so-sexy Noreen Noor with oh-so-eighties hairstyle. I found the jingles funny because of mix usage of ‘liter’ and ‘batu (mile)’. Malaysia has just standardized to use the metric system for trading in 1981. I think maybe some people were still quite confused with the usage in 1982, hence the mixed jingle lyrics. But until today, I still wonder what is model seribu?

Well, the jingle started haunting me again because I saw this new Nissan March last week. What is this? Model tiga ribu? Quite cute, huh? Hehehehehe…



For the sake of finishing my story, well, I finally managed to hail a cab after 25 minutes standing by the roadside. Luckily, he only charged me RM5.

13 comments:

hanazita said...

ya Allah.. aku pun kengkadang tak tau dari mana, ternyanyi jingle tu dalam kepala.. but i don't remember noreen noor part. just the song.

Yang mana satuu....

yg model seribu tu, i think it's 1000cc.. time tu kira dah canggih la gamaknye.

Anonymous said...

I say makcik..you should have called me la. Luckily you were standing by the road side and not in the middle of the road.

1986 you were in Standard 6? You really know how to make me feel old. I graduated and joined the Armed Forces that year.

Noreen Nor? The only thing I can remember about her is...it's okay, I'll keep my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Hi DNAS..Saw u at bake with yen counter,puchong last saturday.And i said to myself..'eh eh..dia ni yg blog red sandal diaries tu'.Sori tak tegur u sbb takut salah org pun ya.but in yr latest post sebut pasal u baking2 ni.hah! betul lah...it was u!salam perkenalan dr i aka sea diamond (i kdg2 suka mengomen kat SD's blog)

D.N.A.S said...

Hana,
aku still ingat seluar kaler biru yang Noreen Noor pakai dalam commercial tu.... hihihi.

SD,
you ada syarikat teksi yang boleh calling-calling tu ke? Lah, awat tak habaq. Company teksi lain semua tak rajin nak cover area Glenmarie tu.

Anonymous a.k.a sea diamond,
Kalau jumpa makcik muka mcm I kat semua kedai jual barang baking kat Klang Valleh ni, memang I le tu... hahahaha. Hobi terbaru I ialah berkunjung dan membuat survey di kedai menjual bahan-bahan kek.

all jazzed up said...

wei, noreen noor ada dalam ad tu eh? aku rasa kalau aku gemuk sikit boleh la pass as noreen noor's cousin. hahahah.. But you guys are so right, that jingle is one of the most successful in Malaysian tv ad history.. Heehee...God I feel old.

dillazag said...

DNAS,
hah hah I remember that jingle. Another one that really stuck in my mind is:

Joy untuk satu, Joy untuk dua
Joy untuk SEMUAAAAA

Whatever happened to Joy, I wonder..
Oh, and thanks for the birthday wishes, sissy..

Anonymous said...

DNAS...anyway, I'm tagging you.

http://narcaholic.com/blog/?p=1476

Lady Gargle said...

I remember the old 'bus mini' days. I was hanging on to dear life!

New car? Try searching for Toyota Ractis. I loike it much :)

Cosmic_GurL said...

Pak Uda made me laugh everytime! LOL!! Mmg butang baju dia sentiasa senget!

So dangerous la dnas berdiri tepi jalan tu...

D.N.A.S said...

Mimin,
no need to feel old, lah. Even Noreen Noor doesn't look that old in her recent pictures.

Dilla,
ada satu lagu tema tu kan, dulu dah lupa. Tapi lately ia telah kembali menghantui saya:

Transformers! More than meets the eyes...
Transformers! Robots in the sky...

D.N.A.S said...

SD,
lalalalalalala! I dah lama buat tag ittew..! Kalau tak silap more than a year ago kot.

Frankensteina,
zaman mini bus dulu, kesian kat akak-akak pregnant yang kena bersesak-sesak tu, kan?

cosmic_gurl,
Sapa la wakil rakyat kawasan Glenmarie ni gamaknya, ye? kenapa lah takde bus stop ke, taxi stand ke yang proper sikit.

Hazyr said...

Kak,

I dont remember that Nissan advert (maknanya I'm pretty young la kan? hehehe..) but I can clearly remember the Scott's Emulsion advert (a dad coming back from fishing scene) since I was forced to take it when I was small and I hated the smell and the taste so much!

The funny thing is, I just found out a couple of weeks ago that all my girlfriends (batchmates) had to go through the same traumatic experience too... so we are all the Scott's Emulsion generation la gamaknya!

Anonymous said...

Okay...I'm tagging you again:

http://narcaholic.com/blog/?p=1486