The Last Leg of my daughter’s Journey to a pretigious MBBS deggree

The alarm rang at 5.45 today on 2nd March 2024. As usual we got up and called MS who was visiting his friend in London, before proceeding to pray Fajr. We already packed everything needed to take Sofi for her FINAL exams in Seremban. After discussing with Ak and Sofi and phone calls to the hotel, we decided to leave a little later than planned. You see, check in time to the hotel was at 2.30 pm. It usually takes 4 hours to reach Seremban from wbere we live. So if we leave at 9:30 am, it will be just nice to have lunch a d check into the hotel. That was the plan. The journey did not work out as our plan because exactly 2 hours later on the highway we came into a complete standstill. 

Apparently, a treller had overturned and caused a massive traffic jam on both the north and southbound traffic. In my lifetime, I have been in several traffic jams on the highway. Usually the traffic will move after about 15 to 20 minutes. This time, we were still at the same spot, after 1 hour of waiting in the car under the hot scorching sun. Initally we thought, this will of clear in a bot. But as time went by, we inly manged to cover about 5 Km in 2 hours. I remember my sister travelling to KL on the same day. Do I called her to warn about the traffic situation. Unfortunstrly, she too left just before us and now in the same situation as us. .. So after 4 hours in the traffic jam, we reached Simpang Pulai rest area which is small compared to the one in Tapah. We decided to take a break, pray and have our lunch. There was nothing fancy in this R&R. Ak snd Sofi had pau, which is a steamed buns with sweet snd savoury fillings. I had laksa noodle soup. Than I bought some red guavas and Sofi bought some waffle for dessert. Just then my sister called and informed us that the traffic had cleared and they are on their way to KL finally. We quickly got back into the car and continued our journey. Traffic started to flow but people who had bern stuck for many hours in the heat, were driving recklessly. Time and again I had to remind Ak to sliw doen. I can see he was slso getting tired. Since he had his frozen shouldre prinlem, he had bern having a lot if pain in his arm especially driving long distance. But what to do? I can’t drive long distance and Sofi is also not used to driving on this highway. Finally after another 2 hours, we entered Kl. According yo the GPS, it will take another 2 hours to reach our destination. So we have already sat through 8 hours. I reall pity the one sitting behind me. She ean really get overwhelmed with all that is happening just before sitting for the most important exam in her life. 

So finally around 7.30pm we reached our destination. The hotel we chose, Hotel Villa, is nothing to shout about. It is just a simple 3 star hotel in the location we want. Sofi did not want to stay in other hotels. She was familiar with the location here and getting in and out of the hotel was very easy. We settled down and had a good night sleep, Alhamdulillah. The next day was Sunday. Ak and I went for our morning walk after Subuh prayers. We went to the Lake Garden and was surprised to see very few people at the park. Back home, our parks will be full of exercise enthusiast especially on weekends. We saw only a few old people at this park. Later in the day we just tried to cheer Sofi up and kept ouselves busy. By evening, both her siblings called to wish her good luck. Sofi's exam day is on the same day of Ms's birthday. As a mother, it was very difficult for me to see one child miserable because of exams and another miserable because he far away from family on his birthday. We had to call Ms later to cheer him up. So afetr getting Sofi's clothes and all her OSCE apparatus ready, we settled down for the night. I set the alarm for 5 am, but end up waking up and 4 am.

So finally, the exam day dawn upon us. Sofi messaged at 6 am that she is awake and getting ready. Ak and I prayed and quickly called Ms who although is in another country, always is involved in everything we do. At 7.15 am we left to sent Sofi for her exams. We reached the campus around 7.35am. We parked the car and just waited awhile. I saw many anxious faces coming to attend the exams. Some came with friends, a few drove themselves and some came with family. Exactly at 7:43, Sofi decided to go into her examination hall. We gave her a hug and wished her all the best. For now, the door just shut behind her, and all that I can hear is the sound of birds chirping around the campus.