Archana is coming back today and everyone is sooo excited about it..

Initial plan was to be at the KLIA at 7.30 in the morning (what?!?! have to wake up at around 5a.m. on a weekend???!!!), but luckily (or not, read on further to find out why..) mum called early in the morning to inform me that the flight was delayed. So, now we were supposed to leave at 10.30 a.m.

So, to cut the story short, I left with baby LA around 10.45 (after the normal ding-dong and delay) from Kyoto to UK Heights, already earning dad's anger for being late by the the time we reached there. I switched car to cater for the large 'crowd' and the baggages that Archana might bring.The weather was good and the traffic was smooth flowing.

Upon arriving at the airport, we found out that the flight had already arrived. But waiting for Archana to clear her luggage and come out to the arrival zone seemed ages!!! Meanwhile, LA who was sleeping soundly, probably aware that his aunty his coming today, had awakened. Vimal was trying to entertain him at the soft-toys corner. LA immediately recognised his 'playmates' - Pooh Bear, Tigger, Sponge Bob, etc.. and was getting a little excited about them.

Finally, the awaited moment finally arrived. I saw LA's aunt from a distance and mentioned to mum. Not able to control herself, she stepped into the cordoned off area, where only the passengers were allowed. Tears flowed freely from both mum and daughter as they hugged each other and my son was just bemused at what was happening around him.

Though during her previous visit LA easily hopped on to his dear aunt when she called him, this time it was a little different. He seemed a little suspicious and tried to cling on to his dearest grandma instead.

We pushed the trolley towards our car where dad was waiting for his darling daughter. Then we packed the luggage into the car and started our journey home. But now it was really hot since it was noon time. Adding salt to injury, there was a huge agricultural exhibition going on at Serdang and a horde of vehicles were seen lining up at the toll exit. This unusual traffic jam on the highway caused us about 3 hours to reach home, instead of the normal 1 hour!!! Wish the flight had not been delayed.

We had to take a short break at the petrol station to stretch ourselves and have some bites as our stomachs began to growl in rhythm.

Along the way, Archana started telling us all that she wanted to spend quality time with mum, and so others were not allowed to come home and exhaust mum's energy. Surprise, surprise, the little one, as though understood that there was a great competitor in town, started tearing at the potato bun and BIGGER surprise - he started feeding his grandma!!! The first time he is doing it, and all by himself, neither coaching nor coaxing from others were needed. In that timeless moment of victory, all hopes and dreams of existing and would be competitors were shattered! He will remain the little blue-eyed boy of his grandma, always..

Petrol price increases... again!!!

As Malaysians, we are already finding it difficult to maintain with the price increase in the essential items such as rice, flour, cooking oil, etc.. Now comes a bigger blow - increase in petrol price!

Eventhough everyone were actually expecting the price to shoot up (despite assurance by some leaders that it will not), the level of this time's increase, which is about 40%, was a major blow to all.

Almost all major highways and main roads were jammed up from 6pm yesterday. SMSes were just flying across the networks and almost all phones were ringing non-stop, from house phones to mobile ones. The cause?

-The public, in its frenzy and panic, decided to save up a few bucks the last time before the price increase came into effect. And they also wanted to inform their friends and loved ones so that they could also do the same. So, all the petrol stations were jammed up, the line up of cars extending beyond the station compound and up to 100 metres and taking up 2-3 lanes of the road. Yes, including petrol station such as Shell, that was a victim of boycott call by some muslim parties againts all Holland products, just a few months ago.

And to add some icing, major newspapers such as the The Star reported that this increase will be reviewed every month. I wonder how malaysians or actually the entire world are going to cope with this very sudden huge impact on our lives. Brace yourselves as  we would soon see prices in goods  to increase as well..

On the 7th Sept, mum & Archana left for India, Bangalore to be exact. We sent them to the airport. She was going to do her MBBS in Manipal (a twinning programme with Melaka-Manipal College). Lucky had my camera with me. But since I was just practising using it in manual mode, only a few pics turned out well..

Cute little teddy bears..

            CoffeX anyone?  Yes, their flight no is MH 0192.

For friends who are out there wondering the meaning behind vaktum - it is actually a representation of all the initial letters of our family members ( the main/core ones, at least). It stands for :

                   

V	- Vimal
A	- Archana
K	- Kugan
T	- Thilak
U	- Utterah
M	- Muniandy

Apart from that, it also means 'to say' in sanskrit... Thinking about it now, it does make sense to have a blog to say...