Jump-start the car: please!

Last monday, 30 July 2007, I came to work in the midst of slightly heavy rainy morning. Struggling to get my handbag and my document case out of the car while still holding an umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh....rihanna that is), i closed my car door without realising that i have left those pair of smaller headlights on. I clicked the alarm button and left in a haste into the faculty block. Not an alarm sound made by my Toyota Vios 1.5G car but the usual locked indicator sound. Like any other occassion, i thought, for a short glance, that the car was left on a safe mode.


It was a long day at work that monday and I left the building at around 6.30pm. As I walked towards my car, clicked the security alarm to unlock it, but no "open" sound came from it at all. I walked right next to the car, clicked again and still to no avail. I decided then to check all the side windows and anything else including the tyres just to see if anything might have contributed to it. But still nothing. My car looked like in a mint condition (physically speaking).


Right....just unlocked the door manually i said, and so i inserted my car key and turned it anti-clockwise. As the car door opened in a complete silent, not even breaking the alarm at all, i suspected at once that my car battery must have konked out. Yeahh....now i remember....i must have left those lights on resulting in the battery gone dead. Even the immobiliser was dead. A battery-dead car.


What should i do...??? At 6.40pm, nearing maghrib time, the dusk was so near and I must think fast. It's already past office hour and i doubt the car workshops nearby were still open. Yuppp, call the auto-assist. It's free innit as it came together with the comprehensive car insurance package. Just as i hung up my mobile after making an arrangement for the insurance company to contact the nearest workshop panel to my location, i saw one of our faculty technicians walking towards his Avanza MPV. Not knowing what his name was, I called to him anyway,

"assalamualaikum, excuse me encik, ade jumpstart cable kit tak?".


He turned to look at me, smiling and told me that he might know somebody who has it.

"Tolong pi carik dia encik",

as I pleaded him to go find the other guy to bring the cables there. Off he went without any hesitation.


While waiting for the technician and possibly the mechanic from the panel workshop, I sat down next to my car hoping that everything will be fine soon. I tried not to call my parents as I believed that i can sort it out meself. Then I saw one of my lecturer colleagues, Dr.SrA, who was about to leave and waved at him to stop his car. He came out and asked me what was wrong, and so i asked him the same question i asked that technician previously. Like maybe so many people, he didnt carry the cables in his honda stream MPV and called his RA (research assistant) who kept the key to the engine lab at mechanical engineering department. Unfortunately, at that wee hour, the RA has left the building leaving me to place my hopes on the first technician and perhaps, the panel workshop mechanic.


Dr.SrA was waiting with me at the car park. He rang a few other people that he thought would possess those jump-start cables. Just a few minutes after that, the technician returned with our office maintenance fella and told me that they managed to get someone with those cables. Apparently those two fellas were in the middle of playing badminton when i first saw him near his Avanza.


A few other faculty staffs stopped at the scene and immediately it looked like some kind of an accident scene as the onlookers began chatting with those three fellas who stood not far from my car. At that moment I was actually rather relieved and pleased that help was on its way.


At last, the one with the cables came driving his car towards the front of my car and asked me to lift the bonnet up. Without further ado, he quickly took those cables out of his car and began connecting those cables skillfully at each negative and postive points on my dead battery to his fully functioning battery. While doing that, he asked me whether my car has passed the 1 year old age or not. I told him that by the end of this week, it will reach its first 12 months and then asked whats the relevance of it. He then suggested that it was about time that i replace the battery with a new one.


Actually, I've known about this battery replacement 7 weeks earlier when i send my car for its 3rd servicing. The toyota executive has already reminded me on that especially after the first dead-battery incident end of May. It was due to the car being left at the porch for over 2 weeks without any engine warm ups. Silly me as i did not unplug the battery first before leaving to the UK in early May.


As I turned on the ignition, my car was alive once again. I had to leave it on for a few minutes to warm the engine up and to ensure that everything was back to normal. Shortly after that, the panel workshop mechanic came over and saw to it that the work has been done. I still had to fill in and sign the auto-assist form as a proof to my car insurance company that the car has been sorted out.


It was really amazing the sense of camaraderie that were displayed by my faculty tehcnicians and colleague even though i did not know those technicians' names. I recognized their faces though. As i thanked them for their kindness, I went asking their names too....ala2 sessi ta'aruf giteww....They all laughed and said that they all knew me all along even during my tutor time back in 2000-2001 before i left for my PhD studies. Dear oh dear...tak sangka fofuler gak aku nih, hehe...


I made my way home with smiles all over me face. Thank God that I managed to get an immediate help and thank God that there are so many good, reliable people around me.
If somebody actually caught me doing that in the car, they wouldve thought that I was like over the moon in love or something the way i smiled. Such was a blissful feelings.



Here's a video clip of what u need to know about how to jump-start a car:


VideoJug: How To Jump Start A Car


Senja pon berlalu nan indah.....