It was a rainy day

It was because my sisters are about to leave Malaysia soon, so we decided to stay for a night at our grandparents'. It had been fun I would say. Nothing could be better than meeting up with grandma and grandpa, seeing them smiling from ear to ear as they greeted our arrival. The journey had been rough as we had to change one of the car's tires which eventually ended up going for a long waited tire alignment. We did not see that was coming. But they were all quickly forgotten by the laughters and joy that had enlightened our stay at kampung.

The tire unevenly skinned caused by bad alignment

This fella was busy aligning the tires

Blackout had arrived much earlier than us. It was around 2p.m if I have not mistaken when grandpa told me the power has gone OFF several hours before we arrived he reckoned. While listening to him trying to explain what had happened, I carefully removed the switch panel cover and tried to examine the real cause of the power failure. Moving back and forth from the switch panel to the meter, I removed all the necessary parts at both devices and make sure that they won't be any current flowing to the house. As it was part of my profession, I knew and more than sure I had done all the procedures to make sure that everything would go smoothly. And then it happened.

A direct hit from the current flowed from my index finger to my toes as it was not my intention to touch one of the neutral wire. The sensation was so strong yet tempting in a painful way. It was the strongest one I ever gotten and I better make sure I won't get it again. Lucky enough I quickly pulled myself out of that bond. That quick shock gave me a sweet acidic taste at the tip of my index finger. That was insane.

My conclusion was that there should not be any current flowing from the neutral port of the meter and they might had switched without any reason. I was correct when the guy that normally does the wiring job for the villagers came and switched the wires to the correct ports in the morning. But it leaves us a question, how did it end up like that? So we spent the night with candles and oil lamps and it reminded me of the time when the government was still lack of wisdom and facilities to accommodate the village with electricity supply. Normally the candles ran out super fast because as kids, we were tempted to play with the wax and watched it hardened on our finger or maybe burned a few strings of hair which makes a very awful smell.

The Sunday service ended, and we walked down to the orchard to pluck mangosteens. The amount was superb and we did not even finish plucking all of them. The afternoon got better with the presence of durians and hot brewed coffee.

Kampung dogs chilling at the church compound

enough say

It was raining on Sunday evening and we had to leave. I never like this part because leaving is always painful. Each of us would take our time to say goodbye to grandpa and grandma. We all had our chance to hug them and they would normally shed tears. As I watched my grandma hugging my sister in front of me, I could feel it was painful for them because as we get old, we would never know when will our biological time stop ticking. They would not know theirs and they would always keep in their mind that it might be the last chance for them to see their generations. I know it is bitter to swallow, but that is just how it rolls.

Our car took its last reverse before it climbed to the hilly gravel road. I waved at grandma and grandpa, and I caught myself smiling as I remembered the priceless moment of the great talk they had, grandma's smiles and laughs, and grandpa's jokes.

"The house will be empty again" said grandpa. We will be back soon!

p/s : unedited pictures were taken using my cheap hand phone.