Sometimes when I stare at my old Proton Tiara, I feel like giving the car to my younger sister and just buy a new car. It surely looks like it needs a paint job. Sometimes the window (on the driver’s side) gets jammed and it’s so not funny when it’s raining cats and dogs and I’m stuck in a traffic jam. Sometimes the CD player broke down or skipped a disc or two.

My family and friends kept asking me why didn’t you just go and buy a new car?

I kept telling them I don’t want to be burdened with any monthly payment. I just don’t see the point.
My car, despite being ugly, is actually a good and reliable car. The aircond is the best part of the car (so cool), and it never broke down. The maintenance is cheap, the car is quite stable (compared to a Kancil la of course) and I don’t have to worry abour parking it anywhere at anytime because no one would want to steal it! Hahaha! I have no good reason to buy a new car. The only reason is because my present car looks ugly (but there are plenty uglier looking cars on the road, puh-lease) and people tend to discriminate you on the road because of the size, the looks and of course the costs of the car itself. Security guards will only wave at you if you are driving a BMW or a Merc. When you enter a particular place in your Proton, they get suspicious.

I tell why I’m not in a rush to buy a new car. I kept getting flashbacks in my mind. At least three things just kept coming back to me:

1. Years ago, when I was still a secondary school student in KB, I always saw this very old pakcik riding his bicycle. It was a 3-wheel bike for disabled people, and he rode it with his hands. He didn’t wear any shirt; he only wore a kain pelikat and a semutar (a piece of clothing) on his head. Everyday after school, I would sit comfortably in my car, watching him carrying bundles of haystacks on his bike. He always looks happy despite his condition. I couldn’t see him anymore nowadays, I’m not sure whether he is still alive or not.

2. Last year, I went to the market in KB to buy some stuff before returning to KL. While waiting for somebody in my car, I saw an old man across the road. He was a cripple (physically), his left leg was bent. He didn’t wear any shoes or slippers because of his condition. Can you imagine walking around the city without wearing any slippers? At that time, he was trying to climb a staircase to get to the upper side of the building, and he really struggled. He had to hold on to the parking meter and with great difficulty, he managed to climb the stairs and vanished to the other side of the building. I looked for him at the market months later when I returned to KB, but I couldn’t find him.

3. A year ago I think, I was cursing at my car because the there was something wrong with the CD player and I just wished for a new and better and bigger car etc. It was not fun being stuck in the traffic with no music to listen to. At that precise moment, a bus stopped right next to me, also stuck in the traffic jam. I looked at the bus, and I can see a lot of people in there, some of them are standing up, some of them were holding their babies and toddlers, staring outside of the bus windows. As the bus moved forward, I could only imagine the condition inside the bus -  a lot of people, people sweating, feeling very tired. How lucky I am to be able to sit comfortable in my car with my full blast aircond.

How dare I even complain.