Going to work in Tears

It is strange but pleasant to wake up early on Sunday - even earlier than what I normally do on a weekday. The sweepers are still out there cleaning the mess from Saturday night and I could see the mother bathing her child in the streets. I am lucky that I live in Jakarta center unlike many of my colleagues who have to spend more than an hour on the road everyday driving to work. My taxi trip to the office only takes 5 to 10 minutes.

I remember when I was working for a multinational in Kuala Lumpur way back in 1995, I used to have to wake up early at 6.00 am in the morning so that I could drive from my home in Subang Jaya to the city center, avoiding the traffic jam. I would reach KL at around 7.00 am - two hours before office starts. With so much time to kill, I would indulge myself in a lengthy breakfast at a Chinese coffee shop behind Jalan Raja Chulan.

It was strange driving to work so early: the sun would not be out yet, and you had to switch on your headlights. At that time I had already caught the audiobook bug; usually I would entertain myself to an audiobook like what I did in my later years commuting by bus daily in Singapore.

Though my audiobook taste veers towards the classics and non-fiction, at times I would also indulge myself in a contemporary bestseller. I remember once, listening to Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County, driving to and back from work. The book was later made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, directed by Eastwood himself.

For a whole week listening to the book, I lived with the characters and was totally absorbed in the touching love story of Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson. On the day when I was driving to work listening to the concluding chapter, I had tears streaming down my cheek. Luckily I was spared the embarassment of having anyone see me in that state because it was still quite dark.

Nowadays in Jakarta I do not get to listen to many audiobooks anymore as I hardly need to spend any time commuting. But I remember fondly those early mornings of mine driving to work in KL, misty-eyed with my mind completely lost in Madison County.

footnote:
I only found out the other day while perusing at the QB World bookstore that there's actually an epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County, published only last year. It is entitled A Thousand Country Roads. Maybe I'll catch the audiobook again.