There is an old saying that goes along the lines of "we only plan, God decides".
I think the saying is just so apt in my case this time around. What can you say - I drove all the way from KL to Terengganu, which is about some 400km away from the capital of the country, despite my flu, fever and cough.
On reaching my cousin's house at about 4pm yesterday, I was looking forward to unload my luggage and spend some time taking a nap as I only finished work at abut 2am on Wednesday morning - and I woke up at 6am to get ready for my long trip to Kerteh. Not to mention that I was leaving behind my sweetheard, the Scandinavian Prince who I have been missing like crazy to say the least.
But true to the "I only plan, God decides" saying, my plans were to be foiled by an unexpected turn of events. On reaching the door steps of my cousin's house, we were warmly greeted by her hubby and two girls - Alicia and Pinky.
Soon after, we got a phone call from my uncle who was supposed to join us in celebrating this Deepavali away from Kuala Lumpur. The call was to relay that he had met with an accident on the way to Terengganu and his car couldn't move. He was only past Temerloh when the incident happened.
Luckily, he wasn't injured. But the problem was, his accident and car had to be sorted out, which he managed to do with the help of his insurance company's appointed tow truck operator and panel workshop. But the real test came as someone had to go get him from Temerloh, which is about three hours drive from Kerteh in Terengganu and return to Kerteh again - so, in all, we're talking about another six hour drive to and fro.
My cousin's hubby offered to drive his Nissan Terrano and I felt it was only fair that I followed him as I wouldn't want to be left alone on a long distance drive, especially one on the eve of the auspicious festival of Lights.
So, my father too decided to join and the we started our journey at about 5pm from Kerteh heading to Temerloh amid bad weather - on nearing the location, my uncle contacted us to say that he has left the accident spot to the Mentakab police station to lodge the report and has the car taken to the insurer's appointed panel workshop in Mentakab light industrial area.
When we reached the place it was almost 9pm and by the time we got my uncle from the workshop and got back into the main road heading out of Mentakab, we decided we better have a quick meal as it would be past midnight when we reach home. So we decided to have KFC and make do with it.
We safely reached Kerteh again at about 1am today, which Deepavali day and the family decided to have the dinner which was prepared by my cousin. By the time we slept, it was almost 3am.
Woke up at about 7am, bathed, prayed and got ready for the traditional family breakfast on Deepavali day.
Then the day went on slowly as my cousin had several visitors to her house for lunch.
So my Deepavali this year, which was only a few days ahead of Hari Raya celebrated by the local
Muslims, was actually, a huge part of it spent on the road.
Never mind that i wanted a change of environment to celebrate this occassion, but I got one that I never imagined or would have asked for...DeepaRaya on the road literally.
Nevertheless, I'm thankful that we were all safe and sound. And for a real change, I did achieve what I wanted - I celebrated Deepavali in the comfor of home, with my parents and close relatives in a different state where we couldn't go to the temple as the first thing to do in the day like we used to and much more.
This is definately a Deepavali on the road to remember!
