EPLT. Eating, Praying, Loving. And Thesis-ing.

I love my thesis. I do. Sure, it is often a source of headache. Sure, it is often a source of many tears. And sure, it constantly brings me to my knees. But though there are days that I have to pull myself out of bed so that I could work on it, it’s still one of the many things in life that I am enjoying right now. Enjoying a lot, I might add.

Okay. So sitting in front of a computer typing away about wood and service science and business-to-business processes doesn’t really sound that glamorous. It isn’t. But thank God that that isn’t the only thing this research requires me to do.

Because this research allows me to eat. To pray. And to love. Though it doesn’t take me to either Italy, India, or Indonesia, it does take me out of my UKM room into the colorful world of KL. And Kajang. And Rawang. And yeah, maybe in a way, it does take me to India (there are many Indian communities in Rawang).

 

For my research I have to conduct case studies on several wood-based companies. Not having the luxury of owning a car (and not having the knowledge and license to allow me to drive one), I have to pick companies which are walking distances away from any of the known train, LRT, and Monorail stations.

Having only UKM, Serdang, Midvalley, KL Sentral, Pasar Seni, and KLCC as my usual stops, the whole thing spells out A-D-V-E-N-T-U-R-E.

To find one company I had to walk around the Petronas Twin Towers’ perimeter for around an hour or so. The walk allowed me to discover the whereabouts of the Masjid As-syakirin, to find people who were shooting some sort of documentary, and to realize that the company’s wisma was like, a mere 500 meter or so away from the KLCC Suria.

To find another company, I had to ride the KL monorail for the first time. It felt like riding a rollercoaster. And because I was standing up, I was just clinging on to the handlebars, holding onto dear life.

After riding the monorail, I unwittingly found myself in the middle of a Friday Bazaar at Jalan Tengah (and yes, tengah means “middle”). After escaping all the sights, sounds, and colors, I surprisingly landed in the middle of this highly cosmopolitan area. And then I found out that my company was actually in the complete opposite direction of the road I was walking on.

And that the menara in which it was located in had changed its name. (I had to come back for another visit because I didn’t find it the first time.)

To find yet another company, I had to ride the monorail all the way to the Titiwangsa station. And then I had to walk all the way to Jalan Ipoh. And then I was stuck wondering if I would reach the Petronas Twin Towers if I just kept on walking.

Somewhere in the middle of my walking, I had to stop in front of this building so that I could have a breather and so that I could check my map. Afterwards, I headed off again. But when I realized that I had gone way too far, I backtracked.

And wouldn’t you know it. The map told me that the building where I made my first stopover on was the building that I was looking for. Funny lah!

And to find my last company, I had to travel all the way to Rawang. Yes, Rawang. There I found myself in the midst of an Indian community. And there I found myself (again) walking, walking, walking… until I couldn’t walk anymore. I would have given up, but persistence and determination kept me going.

So guess what? I so wanted to give up and turn around — but just when I was about to head back – there it was! The block where all the industrial buildings were located! Yey! The site of my final breakthrough company! Woohoo!

All that adventure wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t step out to visit my first company. In Kajang. Just a T430 bus ride away. It was this “obscure” little company which didn’t even use e-mails to handle business transactions.

But from that humble first step, I got to go eat, pray, love, and thesis all over KL and all over that Indian community in Rawang.

Like I said. I love my thesis. I do.

Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got some write-ups to do.