scary stormy sunday

"tu bukan hujan, tu dah macam taufan bagi aku". that was what my colleague said this morning on our way to the office. Ya Allah, Kau lebih tahu akan hikmah di sebalik hujan yang mengganas semalam.

to me, when i was caught in the heavy downpour and furious thunder and lightning yesterday only one thought came to my mind, hmm no, make it two thoughts. first was Istighfar, Istighfar, Istighfar. second was i supplicated to Him to keep my children who were sleeping soundly in the backseat, safe and also keep me alert so that i would ride the 3 of us home, safe and sound. The journey home from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal took an hour or so compared to the usual less than 40minutes. the visibility on the road was so bad that few of us drivers had to turn the hazard lights on while driving. Alhamdulillah, biar lambat asal selamat, hub reminded me. Ya Allah, the ride was very challenging but Alhamdulillah You are always with me thoughout. Syukran Ilahi.

i felt a little bad though - as i was driving through a slip road into KJE, i switched lane to the right. then, few metres away in the right lane was a massive pool of water - i had no chance to slow down further (i was already at 50km) and drove straight through the puddle. the car on my left received a huge shower - thanks to me. i remembered holding my breath, gritted my teeth and then slowly smiled at the irony of it all. i've always wanted to drive through massive pool of water and hear the car goes vvvrrrrr.........macam syiok gitu. usually when that happened, i was the passenger. yesterday was just my ultimate moment lah. *giggles*. to the driver of that blue car on the left lane, if you're reading this...yes, aku lah orangnya!!! please pardon me, i'm a pathetic being who can't afford me a ticket to escape theme park so me have to resort to cheap thrills like that lah.

and oh, i forgot to mention an incident on Indera Bupala on our way home from bintan. half an hour into the sail home, engines died. before the engines died, the whole boat was shaking violently for a good 10seconds. i felt like the propeller had hit something hard and that something got stuck in the system or something to that effect lah. well, i work in a boating industry thus i know bit much about hulls. the captain's voice came into the announcement system not long after the engines died. true enough, he mentioned something about interference to "propulsion system" or "propeller system" and that they were working to flush out that whatever thingy from the system and move on. from then on, we were stranded in the middle nowhere on indonesian water waiting for the engines to rev up again. and so the engines did but only 1 engine managed to rev up. and Indera Bupala continued it's journey on a crutch.......slow but at least still moving.

by then i've already imagined the worst and working up a contingency plan at the back of my mind. should the boat sink, now it is a possibility in this situation - especially knowing Indera Bupala's age and the fact that she was just released from damen shipyard's dock 2 weeks ago.indera bupala is an ageing hull i should say. i should know better, i supplied her with our paints.

my paranoid thought making assessments :

1) life jacket under my seat - affirmative

2) life jackets for children near the exit - affirmative

3) call hub or text him - whichever is faster that we're stranded and get him to get help from their local maritime office. we were already exchanging texts when the engine 1st died.

4) what should i tell my kids? - put on your life jackets and jump into the water and swam away from the boat. ibu will jump after you. don't worry kids, imagine we're going snorkelling. yes, snorkelling. this should help them from being terrified.

5) help the rest. passengers in front of me had a young child with them. i could offer my help to the baby and the rest once i've settled my kids and put on my life jacket.

of course obviously i was being paranoid. i looked around me and the rest were mostly asleep and they thought nothing of it. everything was normal. the catamaran stalled another couple of times after the 1st and on the 3rd try, she managed to get her 2nd engine back running and it was smooth sailing after that. Alhamdulillah. heheee, i need to add..i felt happy cos in facing and anticipating a terrrible situation yet, i could think calmly, keep my cool and strategise. i was in control of myself. but still, itu dugaan kecik ajer...anak jer tu. May Allah continue to give me strength. Ameen.

and i love the rain. Thank you Allah.