Speedy Gonzalez

Here I was, stucked in a rush-hour traffic, in a taxi with the driver who did not understand, or pretend not to, that I had a bus to catch in less than an hour. Just when I expected him to beat through all the red lights and mercilessly run down every stray cats on the road to get me to the station, he leisurely drove on a slow lane and properly applied signals at all the right time and places. Ok fine. He just busted a myth that bothered me ever since I was legally a road user, that taxi signals actually work.

I kept glancing at my watch, hoping he would notice that I desperately needed him to speed up, beat the traffic and behave like any other typical swearing, raging KL taxi driver. It was useless. Well sorry mister cab driver, if I miss my bus, I won’t pay - I told myself. Then again, I imagined the moment this old man snapped his fingers, I’d be surrounded by blood-thirsty taxi drivers, ready to pounce and chop me up into 18-pieces. Or they could whack and threw me into Klang River, where my body will float alongside corpses of drug addicts. It's between the devil and the deep blue sea.

After those scary thoughts, I gave in to his couldnt-care-less attitude. Maybe, it was my mistake that I had chosen the wrong taxi. Or was this a punishment, for paying drivers to turn into speeding reckless devils on the road for my own selfish needs? Perhaps, I was thinking too much.

Don’t blame me for expecting the best out of our public transport neither should we blame the taxi drivers. After all, I was just being Malaysian. They surely earn their reputation as kings of the road in KL, and we pay them to do what they do best, getting us from point A to point B, with super-sonic speed, applying brakes and gear shifts to a minimum and at same time, joke around during the dull journey. Not too much to ask, I guess. They can tease about Samy Vellu’s hair and brag about how they could become the next Malaysia national football coach. I can handle that, so long I didn’t miss my bus.

The squeaking brakes of the taxi woke me up from my daydream. Surprised indeed, that I’ve arrived at the bus station 15 minutes early, What was more surprising, he got me there without breaking any traffic rule. And I was expecting he would. Shame on me.

p/s: Photo by Zaini Abdullah