The Umbrella Boy‏.... English Ver.

Already 4 pm when I'm about to go home. But it rains heavily. I thought about calling friends to pick me up. But I guess they've all snuggled inside their warm blankets in this kind of weather. Sigh..
And it seems that the rain will last well until late at night. One thing I'm grateful about is that today I didn't have broadcast schedule! Yay! So as soon as I get home, I will indulge myself with warm milk and Indomie Soto Anget while watching MTV Disaster Date! Perfect! So I thought.

Tidying my desk, calculating daily turnover, Rico arrives, checking my bag, OK everything is already inside my Unisex Puma bag! I'm all set for the journey back home. Except for one thing: the rain! It hasn't subsided.

"You can take the umbrella with you," advises Pak Jan.
"Oh you have one?" I ask.
"Yes, the one outside there. Just be mindful to return it tomorrow." he answers.

So a few minutes later I find myself on my way home with this HUGE green umbrella. Normally it is a big no for a cutey like me to roam around under an umbrella! But even e bigger NO would it be if my newly bought shorts (in KL!) gets wet! So while risking public attention, I walked briskly through the rain to get angkot to go home.

Inside the angkot [music playing campur sari]

Everyone frowns inside the angkot. Don't complain, angkots are all we have in this town, no dreamy yellow NYC Taxi here. Fortunately the angkot is already fully occupied, so we no longer wait for another passenger. If not fully packed yet, angkots usually wait for passengers and it can take millions of years. I will surely frown too if that's the case.


After 2 minutes on the angkot, a lady by the roadside signals and the angkot pulls over. A tough lady. Under torrential rain, she carries with her a lot of stuff. She brings short pants, the ones usually put on by primary kids. Two sacks full of them. I can imagine how heavy those sacks are when I see them. The fact that noone is helping this lady with her sacks really bothers me. I would like to help, but I'm flanked by two guys who squeeze me so I can't even move. This lady laboriously lifts the sacks into the angkot. In my heart I support this lady, "You can do it girl!" [music playing - Ost. Andai Aku Menjadi Trans TV]

3 minutes elapse. And the lady and I step out of the angkot. I look at her. She tries hard to lift the sacks from the angkot. But the sacks won't move. "Are you going to support by praying in your heart only this time, Ben?" a little fairy whispers to my ear. I like this fairy when she is tender like this. But there are times when she punches me with a hammer, at which time I want to dry her with a hair-drier. "it's time to be a man Ben," the fairy continues. I finally volunteer to lift the sacks for the lady. I carry the two sakcs, while the lady shields us from the rain with the umbrella I borrowed from Pak Jan. [music playing - Michael Bubble "Everything"]

The lady is on her way, while I find myself waiting in another angkot. I sit in the front seat. Good thing. If I sit in the packed back seat, I would have to budge up and be squeezed again.

Not many passengers yet. So we wait until the angkot is fully packed.

10 minutes passed...

15 minutes... while waiting, I tweet everytime I see a cutey passing by :) Nothing else I can think of doing to kill time.

20 minutes. Finally the engine is turned on. I hurried the driver. But only in my heart of course :) I want to arrive home soon and take a shower and then cuddle in my bed while texting friends. A good therapy to offset the stress due to long waiting in the angkot!

The engine has been turned out but the driver hasn't yet moved the gear and hit the accelerator! I become increasingly impatient and angry. The fairt pops up again advising me, "be patient". I slaps her with a book and she disappears into thin air. "I'm aggravated, get lost".

Finally the angkot departs. Actually it takes only 10 minutes for me to travel home, without all the waitings. But because of those long waits, it costs me 40 minutes.

Finally I step out from the angkot. My home is just a few meters away. But the rain hasn't in the least subsided. I tried to open the umbrella... but it gets stuck! I forced it open and "KER-PLOP" it did open, but upside down! Looks absolutely foolish, and the tukang ojeks who are watching are laughing on me.... and that sissy fairy too.

Translation by Arema
Image Credit by treasuresthouhast
and you also see Indonesian version here