• Chaos brings inspiration

August 26, 2004

My dad, sister, and mum sending me off to Khartoum	Malaysia Boleh!

I always consider birthdays to be the advent of new beginnings as well as the time to reflect and be thankful for countless blessings received. I consider my birthday this year as really special as it fell two days before I am scheduled to leave for the greatest adventure of a lifetime.

The Trans-Sahara expedition is indeed a new beginning, especially considering that I have never left the comfort of Malaysian shores. I must admit that this expedition is indeed a great birthday gift of sorts – a gift to be savoured and cherished as well as a blessing too great for me to comprehend.

Considering new beginnings, I never thought that I would be sitting on the staircase of an LRT (Light Rail Transit) train station penning down the sudden overflow of inspiration. It is almost 8:45 on a Thursday morning. There are about 100 agitated and impatient people around me, as they are rushing to get to their respective workplaces on time, yet are delayed as the trains are having some technical difficulties.

I am writing this article in the midst of such chaos and noise. I suppose writing helps me to keep my thoughts distracted from franticness of the current situation as I had planned to rush into the office and be back home in about two hours. Yet I have been at the train station for more than an hour.

I have to be at the airport by 11:30 p.m. today. For the past few days, I have been doing many handover notes, as my colleagues would be standing in for me while I journey across Sahara. What I find really amusing is the list of things people request for: some asked for stones, some asked for sand from the desert, and one person even ask for Coca-Cola cans.

I do not particularly like farewells as emotions tend to run high, and I often find myself choked with emotion. The past few days have been filled with farewells at home and in church, with friends and relatives bidding me a safe journey.

As I count the final hours before the take off, I am reminded of the simple yet extremely thoughtful gestures that came my way as I prepared - Lara loaned me a book in anticipation of my journal writing; Halim called to ask about my food arrangement; Azman called to enquire about my preparations for the Community Relations programme and Khaleed was extremely helpful to gets things organised with PETROSAINS. I cherished the fact that there are many who took the trouble to be thoughtful.

With that, I leave for the expedition, and my next article will be from a land thousands of kilometres away.

Simba’s paw note: Birthday wish? Is it too much to ask for fireworks against the backdrop of a million stars?