Disclaimer: To all non-Coldplay fans, bear with this post as best you can.. To Coldplay fans, watch out for all the puns in each paragraph, and stay tuned for part 2 ;-)It all began when the Sunburst festival deliberately deceived us all into thinking Coldplay was coming to Malaysia. We were all so excited we wept tears of joy and began singing ‘It’s suuuuuuch a perfect day’ while dancing arm-in-arm in imaginary strawberry fields.
But then we found out the announcement was just a publicity stunt on the organisers' part to get us poor ecstatic Coldplay sods to sell out their pathetic concert. How could they toy with our fragile feelings so cruelly?! Nazis, the whole lot of them. Our collective fury conjured up rainstorms that blanketed all of Malaysia for 42 days and nights. And no, not one of us were singing ‘I love it when you come over to my house,’ throughout those rainy days.
In a way, I was not terribly surprised. After all, this wasn’t the first time Coldplay had so deliberately ignored my undying love to them and chose Singapore over Malaysia. Yes, you heard it. In pure twisted logic, instead of coming to Malaysia, the best band in the world had opted to grace their presence to our diminutive neighbour for the second time. Blame it on the politiks, I guess.
I was at my lowest of the low. I felt like Coldplay had torn my heart into shreds, stomped on them, and then gone off to visit my second cousin thrice removed whom I secretly despised because she was prettier, younger and smarter.
‘At least I didn’t fall over myself to buy the Sunburst tickets and waste hundreds of ringgit in the process,’ I reminded myself. ‘So, really, everything’s not lost.’ And with that, I resolutely stopped listening to Coldplay on my MP3 player and told everyone who bothered listening (i.e; no one) that I now considered Tokyo Police Club as the best band in the world, even though I'd only listened to two songs by them. Okay, two versions of one song by them.
So life went on in a series of classes dutifully unattended, assignments completed and sent in on or slightly past the dot, pre-marital obligations to fulfill, and the song 'Juno' played over and over again as I walked to class (listen to it, you guys. Both versions of that song are best gila babas kari adabi tahap gaban binti dewa). That is, until I got a phone call one day by my sister Aisya that truly ignited my bones. (Awkward, since I was at Low
Fat Yat Plaza at that time.) 'Anisah, do you want to come watch Coldplay in Singapore with me?'
With a rush of blood to the head, I agreed on the spot. Cheapskates that we Shurfas are, my sister had devised a method to travel to another country without putting a major dent into our budget; g-r-o-u-p p-a-s-s-p-o-r-t. Other members of the group that would be going were Aisya's boyfriend Awi, and a bunch of diehard Malaysian fans she met on a Coldplay forum. Excellent. Risky as hell, but Coldplay was worth it.
Sadly, Nazriq couldn't come along with us, despite all my credible powers of persuasion (there was one point that I threatened not to marry him if he didn't join. *cue evil laughter*).
Now the sky, could be blue, I don't mind, without you it's a waste of time.To cut a long story short, the group passport had to be made all the way in Ipoh, Perak, because one of the forum members, Rudy, lived there and was a few months underaged. So on the 27th of February, Aisya and I ended up taking the KTM to Ipoh, with a vague plan of killing our time at some random mall when we reached there. We really should have seen the warning signs there already. That day was horrible because:
1) We had to wake up early, so I dressed in a half-conscious state, realising only a few hours later that the shirt I was wearing was
not freshly laundered. It was even a bit yellow at the sleeves. Eww to the max.
2) We had to sit behind this nauseatingly PDA couple on the train and witness their every shiver-inducing gestures. i.e.; The Boyfriend snuggling his head in The Girlfriend's boobs.
3) A few hours later, while the train was traveling at the speed of sound to Johor, Aisya realised she left her wallet back home, along with her money and IC and, basically, everything that's needed to make a passport.
4) Rudy's neighbour passed away and united with death and all his friends.
5) We had to abandon our brilliant plan of hanging out in a mall when we arrived in Ipoh because, too late, we discovered we were lost! in an area where even
atm machines were half an hour away. By
car.6) No atm machines, and I only had RM13 in my wallet. And yes, Aisya had no wallet at all.
7) When Rudy and his dad came to pick us up at the station 2 hours later, we couldn’t exactly travel to the immigration office at high speed, thanks to the infamously horrific traffic jam that regularly haunts the town of Jelapang.
8) Poor Aisya got to reunite with her long-distance boyfriend Awi at the immigration office for all of 20 minutes, after not seeing him for 2 months, before having to part again. Sigh. Nobody said it was easy, Aisya!
9) The three girls also joining us in the group passport offered to give us a ride back home to KL on their car. We thought things were finally looking up, but more trouble was ahead; we took a wrong turning and traveled along the highway in the opposite direction of KL for almost an hour.
10) That day happened to also be the one and only day I could settle my registration problems for my classes for next semester. As it meant I had to split myself into two and be in multiple places at once (IIUM’s finance division and Johor), I settled for the next best thing. I had to talk Nazriq (or the “male version of Anisah” as one hateful commenter so amusingly dubbed him) into going to the finance division in my place. Thanks so much, dear! :-)
Finally, with the group passport behind us, all we had to do was survive until the day of the concert itself! As the concert would be on a Monday (March 23rd 2009, also Kak Amnah’s 25th birthday), I would have to skip my classes for that day. I kept wandering what if I got barred for my exams due to my appalling attendance so far this semester. Oh Coldplay, the lengths I go for you.
And so came the hardest part; waiting.
