IN EUROPE

For the past 6 days, I am in Europe. The first  4 nights were spent in Rome, while since yesterday, I am in Paris. At the moment I am in the Air France Premeire Lounge at the Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, waiting to board for MAS flight back to Malaysia.

A lot of experience have been collected in both countries. It is too many to note them now here, but suffice to jote down a few. First, Rome is an historical city with historic building, hence becoming a tourist city. Except at the Termini Statioze (Bus Station), you do not really feel alien as they are a lot of foreign tourists from all over the world there. Second, there are a lot of Malay speaking Bangladeshi (who have been working in Malaysia, Singapore or Brunei before) selling tourist items. Thirdly, there is a big mosque in Rome but seems to be under-utilized and not well-kept. Fourthly, the organiser of the 3rd International Conference on Human and Social Sciences which I participated is relatively not too efficient as there were only a handful of them in-charged of the whole Conference. The themes of the Conference were also so vast and diversed, difficult for you to choose the papers you want to really hear. The participants however came from all over the globe, from Europe to Africa and Asia. Fifthly, the cost of living is so high. A plate of beryani rice costs you €6 (about RM30).

Enough for now. I am boarding now. Will continue later, InshaAllah.

IT HAPPENED AGAIN

Yes, it happened again. There seemed to be no improvement, except the length of the duration.

My Penang-Kuala Lumpur flight with MAS on the 10th of September was delayed again. This time for half an hour. So was the Kuala Lumpur-Penang on the 13th September on my way home. It was also half an hour delayed.

The reason for the former was the weather while the reason for the later was the delay of the plane from earlier sector. The same reasons as previous delays.

Fortunately, it did not affect my connecting flight to and from Brunei, and gave me much time to engage conversations with USM Vice-Chancellor in the lounge. We were together on a trip to Brunei Darussalam.

However, for those who have to catch for appointment, the delay could become a hectic one. We met at the satellite terminal a friend from Oxford who was rushing for a meeting. His flight was delayed for four hours at Heathrow!

MAS OH MAS

This is not the first time. It happened to almost all my flights recently, at least the last three.

Not long before this, my flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpur was delayed for about 2 hours. I have to run for my connecting flight to Brunei from the domestic building of the KLIA to the satellite building with the help of the airport staff. I only managed to arrive at the plane just few minutes before the door closed. I was lucky because the flight to Brunei was waiting for some Malaysian royalties to arrive. I was not told why the Penang-Kuala Lumpur flight was delayed, except receiving a sms from MAS few hours before the scheduled time.

Last Sunday, my Penang flight to Kuala Lumpur was delayed again for an hour. The reason given for the delay was the adverse weather at KLIA. The flight could not land there.

And now, at this very moment, my Kuala Lumpur flight to Penang, which is supposed to be at 1820, till now is delayed for unknown hours. We have actually boarded a flight at Gate A2 earlier an hour later than the scheduled time, but after about an hour waiting in the flight, we were told to board another flight at Gate B11. Now we are packed at the waiting room of B11, waiting to board for the new flight at untold time. We are still waiting patiently.

The reason for the delay tonight, we were told, is because of the late arrival of the flight from other earlier sectors and later on because of the plane's technical fault that cannot be rectified by MAS engineers in a short time.

I saw on the departure screen just now that mine is not the only flight delayed tonight. There were a lot others. Our USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor who I met at the lounge also experienced the same. He missed his meeting at PWTC today as his afternoon flight from Penang was delayed till evening.

Oh MAS the "golden" national airline, why all these delays are happening? Can't we trust you anymore to reach at our destination of appointment on time?

COINCIDENTAL ENCOUNTER WITH A HUMBLE CROWN PRINCESS

I must record this, for it reflects how pleasant and surprising humbleness is.

On my Penang-Kuala Lumpur flight yesterday evening, a lady - the last passenger of the flight - came to sit beside my seat on the first row. At first sight, my heart quietly told me that she must be somebody, may be a lecturer, may be an executive, or may be one with a high position. We have quite a conversation, from questions on where she comes from, where to go, where she works, the book she was holding and later on reading (something on the heart and entrepreneurship), her studies (in Australia and currently a part-time graduate student in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), et cetera.

All along the discussion, I could not trace even a bit of her real identity. She portrayed herself as a common person, hailing from Kelantan and now living in the North of Malaysia, trying to start learning about entrepreneurship, working with a private Medical University, becoming a graduate student at the School of Social Sciences in USM, leaving her husband (who "works" closely with a University in the North) and children for few days to meet the wife of the owner of the Medical University, practising drinking just plain water and seldom taking peanuts, and others.

I came to know who really she was only when I stepped out of the plane at KLIA. I was surprised to see many policemen waiting at the door of the plane. One of them told me that they were waiting for the wife of a Crown Prince of a state in the North of Malaysia. And that Crown Princess was the humble lady who were conversing with me on the air! She is "working" with the private Medical University as its Chancellor, while her husband is "working" closely with a public University in the North, also as the Chancellor of the University.

How pleasant chatting with a humble royalty without knowing her identity, and how surprise to know who she really was later on from somebody else. I feel ashamed of myself - of my still uncontrolled pride and ego. I wish all of us at ISDEV would possess humbleness such as of  the Crown Princess, InshaAllah.