Hello, there.
I've been contemplating on whether I should write about this incident that happened almost a fortnight ago.
It was something rather out of the blue and I have not been posting almost anything about my personal life for the past few months.
Even so, seeing that it is my blog and I can write whatever I want with it, I decided to just tell you the story of how a trip to a wedding turned out to be a beating for one van in particular.
It was Saturday, February 28th and a group of friends and I were to attend a wedding.
Actually, it was my good friend and featured inspiration Azraii's wedding and we had planned a convoy to the venue.
The day started out rather uneventfully: I woke up, watched some TV, got ready and carpooled my way to Shah Alam before rendezvousing with the rest of the pack.
There were three cars and twelve people in total.
The first car was driven by Papa, the second by Abbas but the third car, a Toyota Estima needed a driver because the car owner, Jue, didn't want to drive such a long distance.
It was a long discussion of who should drive, who should volunteer, name-naming, name-calling, digressing, side-tracking, joking and really not a lot of discussing.
I had my reservations and knew damn well that I shouldn't volunteer because my dad once said,
But the discussion was going nowhere and I didn't have any excuse not to drive so in the end, I was appointed third driver.
Damn.
Anyway, so we were on our way and making fairly good time.
There was a lot of traffic at one point in the journey but it was pretty much smooth sailing.
It was very strange to drive a van for the first time and I had to get used to the substantially slower pick-up speed and also the massive inertia as I brake.
Even so, after a while it got better.
Nothing really happened during the majority of the trip to the wedding.
Had a lot of laughs and I finally got to talk more with the girls of the group since I would usually be with the guys.
It wasn't until we almost reached our destination that things started to escalate very quickly.
Somehow, along our way, I was at the back end of a five-car chain:
Nothing suspicious was going on from the front end of the line but then suddenly
I hit the brakes just as well but didn't force it too much to not cause a too abrupt stop.
The inertia of the van brought me forward a few feet more than I anticipated so I floored the brakes and prayed to God that nothing would happen.
Nothing did.
Yet.
All the cars were in a complete stand still for a few good seconds and I saw the blasted Mercedes Benz take a turn in front, without it's bloody indicators.
So that answers that.
I've been in this situation before.
Well, not exactly this situation but sort of like this.
I was in definite shock but I had enough consciousness to pull the car over to the side.
This was it.
We're going to see the damage and do the whole working out thing with the other dude.
When we pulled over, I didn't alight immediately.
I needed to gather my thoughts and let everyone else check out the damage first.
It didn't help that it was a blazing hot day and I was already regretting the decision to wear a black top.
But then I gathered enough strength to go see what had happened and when I got out, the whole convoy was already there checking everything out and talking to the driver that rammed into our car.
(Sorry, I don't have any photos of the immense damage to the other dude's car and the minimal damage to our rear bumper)
Papa did all the talking and everyone else was asking how Jue (the car owner. Well, the car owner's daughter) was doing.
She was also in shock and was already super worried of how this will go down with her dad later when she brings the car back.
Jue and the other driver exchanged details and we all dispersed into our separate ways.
The remainder of the journey was filled with "It's okay, there wasn't anything else we could've done,", "Stupid Mercedes!", "At least we didn't hit Abbas' car," and other stuff so that everyone would calm down.
Jue was having a fit and I just didn't know what to say.
15 minutes later and we arrived at our destination.
Crap.
We were almost there.
Approaching the house where the wedding took place, the surroundings were a vast landscape of paddy fields.
It was a beautiful sight and certainly helped in calming down the senses.
By the time we parked our car, everyone regained their spirits and was looking forward to meeting the newly weds.
We had our lunch, took a lot of photos with the couple, talked for a bit before we went outside to take photos at the paddy fields, which turned out incredible.
The window of the co-pilot's seat was shattered and Fik lost his backpack that contained his passport and some cash.
It was a huge blow to us, and even more massive to Jue, who had just begun to get over the tragedy earlier.
I've never been in this situation before.
It was horrific and I didn't know what to do.
Nazz, Ad and Abbas helped clear the glass.
We told Jue to sit in Abbas' car to cool off because it was around 3PM and it was scorching hot.
I could not believe what was happening and from that point on, it was all gloom and doom.
After they got most of the glass cleared up, we headed to a mosque nearby to perform our Zohor prayer and it gave everyone another chance to just cool down and think of the next step.
We decided that it was best to lodge a police report because Fik had lost his passport and everything in his backpack, including the backpack.
Those who knew mechanics and car workshops tried to call up a favor because the car was supposed to be rented out on Monday.
Jue was now deep in thought of how she would confront her father with all this.
Papa suggested that we all met her father to help explain what happened and to apologize for abusing the car.
What happened in the consequent hours was just a long wait at the police station and a long drive back to Shah Alam before heading to Jue's house in Puchong.
Jue had mustered up some courage to call her father to tell him about what happened beforehand, so when we finally met him, he already had time to digest the news and didn't seem overly infuriated with us.
I guess he was pretty cool with it but we did promise to pay back the damages to the window.
We all had dinner after that.
It was definitely one of the longest days that I've lived through in my 22 years of life.
A roller-coaster of emotions and a Hell of a lot of explaining to do.
Despite what happened, what's important that we learn from the experience.
We came together, stayed together and were there for each other when we really needed it.
We dealt with the problem maturely, avoided panicking and also learned to always be extra careful with our belongings.
Even before that trip, we already considered each other as family and after that day, well, we only got closer.
Plus, I got to capture beautiful photos of beautiful moments together.
So, yeah, glass half full.
Dinner ended around 10PM and we were all ready to surrender into the night.
Everyone else was relieved that their day was coming to a close.
I, on the other hand, still had to drive back to Johor because I had class the next morning.
I had to endure 5 hours of hallucinations, extreme sleepiness and a lot of screaming.
But that's a story for another day.
I've been contemplating on whether I should write about this incident that happened almost a fortnight ago.
It was something rather out of the blue and I have not been posting almost anything about my personal life for the past few months.
Even so, seeing that it is my blog and I can write whatever I want with it, I decided to just tell you the story of how a trip to a wedding turned out to be a beating for one van in particular.
Jue's reaction
It was Saturday, February 28th and a group of friends and I were to attend a wedding.
Actually, it was my good friend and featured inspiration Azraii's wedding and we had planned a convoy to the venue.
The day started out rather uneventfully: I woke up, watched some TV, got ready and carpooled my way to Shah Alam before rendezvousing with the rest of the pack.
There were three cars and twelve people in total.
The first car was driven by Papa, the second by Abbas but the third car, a Toyota Estima needed a driver because the car owner, Jue, didn't want to drive such a long distance.
It was a long discussion of who should drive, who should volunteer, name-naming, name-calling, digressing, side-tracking, joking and really not a lot of discussing.
I had my reservations and knew damn well that I shouldn't volunteer because my dad once said,
"Never drive anyone else's car,"and I stuck to that for as much as I could for the past five years of having my license.
But the discussion was going nowhere and I didn't have any excuse not to drive so in the end, I was appointed third driver.
Damn.
Anyway, so we were on our way and making fairly good time.
There was a lot of traffic at one point in the journey but it was pretty much smooth sailing.
It was very strange to drive a van for the first time and I had to get used to the substantially slower pick-up speed and also the massive inertia as I brake.
Even so, after a while it got better.
Nothing really happened during the majority of the trip to the wedding.
Had a lot of laughs and I finally got to talk more with the girls of the group since I would usually be with the guys.
It wasn't until we almost reached our destination that things started to escalate very quickly.
Somehow, along our way, I was at the back end of a five-car chain:
- Old f***ing Mercedes Benz
- Some MyVi
- Papa
- Abbas
- Me
Nothing suspicious was going on from the front end of the line but then suddenly
EEE EEE EEEEEEKKKK!!!
(the sound of screeching tyres for you unimaginative lot)The brake lights in front lit up like a swarm of red fire flies and the cars jolted to a stop.
I hit the brakes just as well but didn't force it too much to not cause a too abrupt stop.
The inertia of the van brought me forward a few feet more than I anticipated so I floored the brakes and prayed to God that nothing would happen.
Nothing did.
Yet.
All the cars were in a complete stand still for a few good seconds and I saw the blasted Mercedes Benz take a turn in front, without it's bloody indicators.
So that answers that.
BAM!Out of nowhere, we felt a great collision from behind and I immediately heard the sound of metal bending.
OH GOD, NO.
I've been in this situation before.
Well, not exactly this situation but sort of like this.
I was in definite shock but I had enough consciousness to pull the car over to the side.
This was it.
We're going to see the damage and do the whole working out thing with the other dude.
When we pulled over, I didn't alight immediately.
I needed to gather my thoughts and let everyone else check out the damage first.
It didn't help that it was a blazing hot day and I was already regretting the decision to wear a black top.
But then I gathered enough strength to go see what had happened and when I got out, the whole convoy was already there checking everything out and talking to the driver that rammed into our car.
(Sorry, I don't have any photos of the immense damage to the other dude's car and the minimal damage to our rear bumper)
Papa did all the talking and everyone else was asking how Jue (the car owner. Well, the car owner's daughter) was doing.
She was also in shock and was already super worried of how this will go down with her dad later when she brings the car back.
Jue and the other driver exchanged details and we all dispersed into our separate ways.
The remainder of the journey was filled with "It's okay, there wasn't anything else we could've done,", "Stupid Mercedes!", "At least we didn't hit Abbas' car," and other stuff so that everyone would calm down.
Jue was having a fit and I just didn't know what to say.
15 minutes later and we arrived at our destination.
Crap.
We were almost there.
Approaching the house where the wedding took place, the surroundings were a vast landscape of paddy fields.
It was a beautiful sight and certainly helped in calming down the senses.
Nature's therapy.
By the time we parked our car, everyone regained their spirits and was looking forward to meeting the newly weds.
Congratulations, Araii and Elmi!
This photo has over 500 likes across multiple accounts and platforms. Nice.
We had our lunch, took a lot of photos with the couple, talked for a bit before we went outside to take photos at the paddy fields, which turned out incredible.
STF Yeojas
Papa & Mama
Everyone in high spirits, ready to put the tragedy behind
Taking the last breath of fresh air before leaving for the city
But, then...
Jue's reaction - in color
I meant to take a photo of the shattered window and didn't realize I had captured Jue's reaction to seeing what had happened. This is a powerful photo, and despite the awful circumstances, I am proud of it.
The window of the co-pilot's seat was shattered and Fik lost his backpack that contained his passport and some cash.
It was a huge blow to us, and even more massive to Jue, who had just begun to get over the tragedy earlier.
I've never been in this situation before.
It was horrific and I didn't know what to do.
Nazz, Ad and Abbas helped clear the glass.
We told Jue to sit in Abbas' car to cool off because it was around 3PM and it was scorching hot.
I could not believe what was happening and from that point on, it was all gloom and doom.
After they got most of the glass cleared up, we headed to a mosque nearby to perform our Zohor prayer and it gave everyone another chance to just cool down and think of the next step.
We decided that it was best to lodge a police report because Fik had lost his passport and everything in his backpack, including the backpack.
Those who knew mechanics and car workshops tried to call up a favor because the car was supposed to be rented out on Monday.
Jue was now deep in thought of how she would confront her father with all this.
Papa suggested that we all met her father to help explain what happened and to apologize for abusing the car.
What happened in the consequent hours was just a long wait at the police station and a long drive back to Shah Alam before heading to Jue's house in Puchong.
Jue had mustered up some courage to call her father to tell him about what happened beforehand, so when we finally met him, he already had time to digest the news and didn't seem overly infuriated with us.
I guess he was pretty cool with it but we did promise to pay back the damages to the window.
We all had dinner after that.
It was definitely one of the longest days that I've lived through in my 22 years of life.
A roller-coaster of emotions and a Hell of a lot of explaining to do.
Despite what happened, what's important that we learn from the experience.
We came together, stayed together and were there for each other when we really needed it.
We dealt with the problem maturely, avoided panicking and also learned to always be extra careful with our belongings.
Even before that trip, we already considered each other as family and after that day, well, we only got closer.
Plus, I got to capture beautiful photos of beautiful moments together.
So, yeah, glass half full.
Dinner ended around 10PM and we were all ready to surrender into the night.
Everyone else was relieved that their day was coming to a close.
I, on the other hand, still had to drive back to Johor because I had class the next morning.
I had to endure 5 hours of hallucinations, extreme sleepiness and a lot of screaming.
But that's a story for another day.
""I don't have friends; I got family" - Dom"
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