The world of JULIANA

Everybody knows that living in KL can be very dangerous. There are risks involved in anythin’ and everythin’ you do. On Thursday evenin’ last week, I had no choice but to take a taxi frm the LRT station to my home. It was a cold rainy evening. There were so few available cabs on the road.

Just as I was beginning to give up hope, a cab drove towards me, and slowed down. Thankfully, he agreed to take me to B’sar. He seemed like a middle-aged quiet man of few words on first impression.  Few minutes into the journey, I asked him if he knew exactly where my housing-area was. Instead of saying "yes", he opted for a rather hostile, " if i didn’t know where your neighbourhood was, I’d have to dig a hole in a ground and sink into it. It brings no meaning to having been a taxi driver all these while!" *sigh.

Then, he "switched on a light" in the cab. Seriously, this light was actually a "menthol lamp" that you usually see in ROOMS of homes! Havin’ been caught by surprise, and knowing very well that this taxi-driver had a razor blade mouth, I proceeded to ask him WHY he had such a powerful light in his car! Personally I had never seen a light as huge and bright as that being inside a car in my entire life!

He looked at me frm the front-mirror whilst driving and coolly said, " so that I can keep an eye on movements in my backseat,especially late at night". I figured he was referring to couples who try to get all frisky in the middle of the night.  I still remember years ago, when the taxi-drivers-association folks came up with funky stickers which said, " indecent behaviour will not be tolerated" and stuck it into all cabs!

By now, Mr Taxi knew that I enjoyed chatting and hence, began with a bucket of stories to fill me up with! We spoke ’bout the recent happenings of murders,robberies,etc in KL. It was at this juncture that he whipped out a very very random statement which went along the lines of :-

" These days, anythin’ can happen in KL. You know what MY precautions and safety measures are? I carry a BIG LONG PARANG in my taxi".

At this point, we were ’bout 5mins away frm home. Being the paranoid-freak I am, I begun to have nightmares of this Mr Taxi holding me at ‘parang-point’ whilst demanding for all the cash and valuables I had on me! Quickly said my prayers silently and hoped that all traffic lights will turn green so that there was no time wasted in the journey and tht I’d reach my home as soon as possible!

Sensing that I had become a tad bit fearful upon hearing the revelation of his parang-existence, he then proceeded to explain the benefits of carrying "Self-protection" on him. He explained, " these days…even us taxi drivers are not spared frm the ruthless thieves who’d do anythin’ just for a few extra bucks. i don’t want to end up dead in my car because some young punk wanted $$ for his drug-fix. i decided i’d do somethin’  ’bout it by at least, threatening anyone who decides to harm me for some $$".

For further "proof of self protection" , he opened his car-drawer (err…u know, that compartment at the front of the passenger seat) and showed a huge spray can that resembled a hair-spray can. He said, " i’ve got a special spray too! if a passenger tries to act funny with me, all i have to do is spray this ’special spray’ onto his/her eyes and my would-be-assailant would never see again". Knowing very well that it was merely a pepper-spray can and that one could not possibly go eternally BLIND frm it, I gave him a warm smile. I realized that in times like this, it’s best to let a person believe what he/she wants to believe instead of tryin’ hard to knock sense of facts/reality into their heads.

Morever, the LAST thing I wanted to do was provoke Mr Taxi,knowing very well that he had a BIG LONG parang right next to him, under his seat!

After what seemed like eternity, we had finally reached our home. Thankfully, I had almost the exact change to give him. Then, being the curious girly I’ve always been, just before alighting frm the car, I gave him a cheeky smile and said, " do you think I might get a chance to have a GLANCE at your parang??" . I couldn’t believe I had just asked a man who might potentially use a weapon on me when provoked to show me his ‘weapon’!!! . He calmly looked at me and said, " this parang will only come out when I face a ‘BAD’ person. You certainly look like a GOOD person to me and I do not intend to hurt good people for no rhyme or reason! Now, please get off as I need to go fetch other passengers at various pick-up spots as this is my bread-n-butter". Feeling silly, I forced a smile and thanked him for the trip and walked into my home.

Perhaps he really did have a parang, which he might well take out in a dire emergency. Or perhaps he had an ‘imaginary’ parang which he kept talkin’  ’bout to passengers just so that HE’d get a personal satisfaction of knowing that he had "some sort of protection" on him should the worst happen.  

No matter what, takin’ a cab in KL after sunset is certainly risky and after that experience, I shall definitely think twice in future prior to setting foot into another cab !!