SO MAJESTIC: the exterior fountain of the hotel near the vacinity of the crime sceneonce there was this guy, named after the great roman emperor, Marcus Arrelieas - Marcus Tan. he was on his sem break for two months. troughout his break, he helped out in school, attended to his potted plants at home, set up a computer for his friend, and worked part time with an event management company. it seemed to look like a wonderful way to spend one's holiday. after all, keeping oneself occupied is much better than lazing around at home.
but a series of unfortunate event that took place a few days back led to the creation of this short story on this blog. =)
after a long day of registering, ushering, headcounting participants - as well as carrying big boxes of collateral and re-collecting buntings - of a seminar at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, off jalan sultan ismail, marcus was zonked.
HIDDEN & CONCEALED: behind these beautiful walls, marcus worked hard and longyet he had to drop by low yat plaza to send a free modem frm tmnet for maintainance. so he decide to take the monorail frm Raja Chulan station. thinking he cud well save his energy and breath frm walking to lowyat, he swiflty climbed up the stairs to the ticket counter. a huge crowd of human mass filled the platform, most were office workers goin home. not being his usual bubly- and upbeat-self today, marcus kept to himself and read the papers - which he picked up from the hotel toilet - amidst the crowd of ppl waiting impatiently for the next monorail to arrive. and the most unfortunate event tht followed didnt even cross his mind.
one monorail came and went. it was filled to the brim with people. another soon came, but the result was the same; not many from the platform actually got aboard. and then after marcus has read bout seven articles - which was equivalent to flippin thru the paper's section 2 - a considerably empty monorail eventually arrived. everyone gave a sigh of relieve. finally. when the doors opened stimutaneosly, malaysians being malaysians - marcus to be excluded - the crowd pushed their way thru inside with no regards of the passengers from inside, who was relentlessly trying comin out.
after cramping this way thru to the middle of the monorail, he managed to hang on to a bar while the monorail shake and rattle off, as if on a rollercoster ride. first stop, people got on and got off. second stop, a bunch of aunties come aboard - chit cha chit cha like they were in Pudu wet market. finally, it was Imbi - time for marcus to get off. as soon as the monorail came to a near sudden shakeky halt, malaysians once again, of all race and creed, began pushing thru all the 6 exits of the monorail. by tht time, marcus had already made his way, halfway, to the door area nearest to the drivers panel. when the doors opened, a group of spice girls wannabes (about 6-7 of em') squeezed in from the exit tht marcus was at. instantly, marcus - being his vocal and couldn't-careless-about-being-heard-in-public self - started telling those girls to stop rushing in and let people get off first. "Cik, cik, tunggu dulu, biar orang keluar dulu.. Jangan tolak, tunggu dulu...!!" he went on in bahasa malaysia, as he attempted to manouver himself out of the human mass in a swimming style. use ur imagination. go figure. and as expected in all situations like these, marcus' call for patience and toleration fell on deaf ears - as if those commuters didn't even understand a word of bahasa malaysia, let alone the frantic hand gestures waving "stop". yet, they pushed and parked their into the monorail and continue rambling as if nothing happened. gosh.
anyway, when marcus finally made it out, he gave a breath of relief. "fuh", he said. little did he kno, tht somthing had happened while he was "swimming" of of the jampacked monorail. but since he was pressed for time, he quickly sped off to lowyat plaza to settle his errands. upon arrival at the shop, marcus wanted to make a call. he reached into his leff pocket. and he realized his hadphone was missing.
panic and chaos ran all over him. for moments, he was speechless. he couldnt believe tht IT has actually happened to him, tht somebody had actually stole his handphone. as his senses began to click again, he quickly called his dad to inform him of the unfortunate event. marcus then proceeds to call digi service centre to block the sim card. it seemed tht tht was all tht he could have done. as helpless and lost as he was, marucs quickly settled his errands, and decided to go home. of course, he was cursing and swearing at the bloody fool tht stole his phone!
in wht seemed to be a series of unfortunate event may have ceased, as wht marcus encountered after this wat nothing short of a new, wondeful, and meaningful experience.
while on his way down on the escalator, to his suprise, he saw his dad! in lowyat! sheer coincidence? or sheer fate? what ever it was, marucs was sure glad to see a familliar face. they went to the digi centre on ground floor and got a replacement sim card. marcus cudnt believe it was tht simple. within moments of his dad sihning sum forms, and paying rm18, he got his new sim card but old number back. and this is what it looked like:
Yellow & Brand New: DiGi, always the smartest choice
then they both sat down at ta stall nearby for dinner. at this point, marcus was happy but dissapointed at the same time! what a bummer! happy to have his old number bcak and had his dad to help him out, but totally dissapointed tht his phone (it ws his friend's actually, he was just loaning it for awhile) got stolen, lost all his numbers in his old sim card, and eventually, because of the all the inconvenience he had caused to the people around him. mracus felt like a loser.
after dinner, marcus and his dad drove to the H.S. LEE police station, nearby stadium Merdeka to make a police report. altho in most cases of handphone theft, there isnt any point in making a report for the chances to recover the handphone is zero to nothing. anyhow, it was for the sake of it and for the experience. one thing should be known, this was the very police station tht marcus' dad reported an assault, and him mum, a snacth theft, at. and now its his turn. kinda bizarrely funny huh? Dad said to marcus, "all of us have came here to make a report already. better make sure michele (sister) doesnt have to do it also". haha. marcus went in, while dad waited outside. marcus wanted to be a man and take responsibility for his actions. he felt he has troubled others enough. he went it, and marched right straight to the counter with a lady cop who was typing something.
"Selamat petang" he said with a big smile. marcus went on explaining as to what happened and that he wanted to make a report. the lady cop agreed. she asked a few questions, and marcus answered. the whole process involved only the lady cop typing marcus' answers into the computer. he didnt even had to write anything, save his signature when the report was ready. it took roughly bout 20 mins, and it was done. just as he thought it was done, the lady cop told marcus to go into the next building to meet with the IO (Investigating Officer). he thanked the lady cop, and made his way to the next building with the report in hand, not knowing what to expect. the report looked like this:
Black&White: All computerized, save for the signatures
the next building looked dark and grim. it was actually a police squatters turned into an office. the IO's room was on the second floor. having had bad experiences with lifts and horrow movies, marcus didnt gamble with his life and took the stairs instead. he finally found his way to the IO's office, which was empty. panic starts taking grip. moments later, the IO arrived. he went for prayers. so marcus went in and sat dwon. it was a rather small office, previously a room, to be exact. old fashioned air-conditioner and radio. a computer with maybe pentium1 and alot of files messily stacked on top of one another whoch took up most of the space in that already small room.
the IO's was a nice guys. he asked marcus what had happened and all the other same things the lady cop aske him. the IO cud well enough read from the report. gosh. nevermind tht. he then went on rambling of the past and of his once glorious days as a cop. he mentioned on how the crime rate increases daily, especially in the pudu area, as well as how the policemen in malaysia (or rather in the KL area) are not well paid or taken care of. the IO's room tels all. thts why, according to him, many officers resort to bribery. others resign from the force and some even go crazy. the society isnt doin them any good either - when they conveniently put negetive labels on police officers when something goes wrong. at the end of the long chat with the IO, marcus was feeling better already. not tht the IO had rewarded him somthing, but because the IO had made him realize tht its not the end of the world, and tht there are people far worst than him - and are surviving still. he took the IO's advice with a smile. he thanked the IO for his time and went to meet his dad.
well, besides the big huha whn marcus told the news to everyone, the rest was history. lesson learnt. never be over confiden tht IT will not happen to you. because it HAS happened to him. and till this day, marcus is in denial on how stupid he was for not thinking to put his hands at his pockets when exiting a jampacked palces. apparently at that time of the incident, marcus felt like goin for a swim in a mass of people. gosh. he should have known better. and one more thing: there is no need to "overdress" ones handphone. after all, it is only for calling and other communcation purposes, not to create a fashion statement. if one would want to create a fashion statement, he/she should apprear in public without shoes or even wear innerwear outside. haha. no long, colourful strings attached to handphones which will evidently stick out of pockets. no keychains. no. no. no. not now, not ever.
beware~~~! you think its never gona happen to you? well, you;d better count your lucky stars, cause you might very well be the next victim of handphone theft... *devilish grin*
take caution before its too late. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERECE. lolx.
thanks for taking time to read this!
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