11.00am. I was late! Anussa quickly scrambled into my car as we headed off onto the highway. “Does she know we’ll be late?” Anussa asked me. “Yup,” was my quick reply, and I pressed the accelerator hard. It wasn’t that I needed to speed like a demon, but the thought of discovering my hopes of tomorrow raced the adrenalin in my blood stream. And harder I pressed, for our destination that day would take us to the land of tomorrow, for the people of today. That land is called Cyberjaya, and in it, was our prime target: The Multimedia University.

 

11.30am. “Eh, Anush, are we going in the right direction?” “I think we’ll follow Puchong, not KLIA, ok?” “Eh, Anush, where got one?” “Don’t worry, sure one!” “Eh, Anush, not that one?” “What you know one!?” “Eh, Anush, here no bank one….”

 

	11.45am. Finally, we arrived! The blue-coloured rooftops of the modern structures juxtaposed the lush surroundings and greeted us like a smile on a deserted passage. But there were more smiles yet to come… “Quick, give her a call,” Anush said excitingly as I parked my car. “Damn!” I thought, “No reception one…” I shook my handphone vigorously, and as the reception increased, so did my pulse rate. My call got through! “Hi! We’re here. Yeah, we didn’t get lost…. easy one. Where’re you? At the Faculty of Creative Multimedia? Sure, we can get there. See you then…” and I smiled towards Anush affirmatively.
	12.00pm. While we waited at the exhibition hall, we admired the art pieces that decorated the partitions, and I was particularly drawn to the video of 3D animations, dancing in the dim setting of the area. I’ve always loved such virtual creations, where the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. But to render such worlds, one has to be patient. Seconds would take hours. Minutes would take days. Time seem to stretch intolerably. It felt like that as I waited. It felt like waiting for a tomorrow that would never come. A tomorrow so here yet so far.
	12.05pm. Then she arrived! A figure slender with face so fair, a contrast to the hall quite rectangular and without glare, she greeted us with a smile only a rose on a summers day could declare. Shaking Anussa’s hands, she said, “Hi! I’m Rita. You must be Anush!” And when she shook mine, I knew that my discovery of tomorrow would happen today. “C’mon then, let me show you around!” You see, Rita was our personal self-volunteered tourist guide for our visit to the Multimedia University, and without her, all would be lost! (And if you’ve reached this far into the narrative, I might as well inform you that I’d been ‘quid pro quoed’ into writing this story…. hei, sabarlah…)
	12.15pm. Rita then brought us to her room first. The prime reason for this transition was not so much as to delight us with her quaint and new abode, nor was it to demonstrate the fine art of opening her door with her key strung on her smartcard neckstrap, nor was it to show us the view from her window, which she uses as an interesting observation post. Nope. The main motive was to rendezvous with her accomplice, Sakina! Yup. Rita gathers that two heads are better than one, so a supportive hand from across the building corridor would prove tactically positive. My first impression of Sakina was that she had a kind yet mischievous look! She seemed the reliable and helpful type but her cheeky personality beamed passed her obliging ways. Rita on the other hand was courteous and sweet, yet boisterous and spontaneous. She would take pot shots at any passing target. “Oops, that’s the President passing by,” remarks Rita. And both these girls suddenly dashed towards the Professor, and we hurriedly along behind them. “Prof! Prof! Wait up…” Rita waved frantically. “Glad we caught up with you Professor! These two are visitors from TNB and Uniten,” Rita introduced us. Professor Gauth was happy to see us and he definitely seemed an approachable and pleasant character. And it seemed that such characteristics pervaded throughout the University’s staff, as we later discovered the merry rapport everyone had with each other.
	12.30pm. One after another amazing places did our two hosts bring us to, from cybercafé’s that had wireless networks, to upbeat DJ studios and modern SGI multimedia labs, to roofless constructions (oops!), and even to computing workshops where high-end research was done. And everyone we met along the way knew Rita and Sakina, and was very friendly towards them and made us feel welcomed. Needless to say, one of our last stops was also the best. It was in the Faculty of Information Technology where we met up with Professor Lee, and mixing the likes of Rita and Sakina with Prof. Lee produced explosive laughter that brought stares from the other visitors! I remembered hearing Prof. Lee before this, as he was once the Chairman of PIKOM and would always give entertaining and educational presentations during international conferences. He seemed very much at home tinkering with all those leading-edge technologies, and was delighted to demonstrate his student’s projects like the digital photo maker, from which a group photo of us was taken, and where he generously gave Anush and I a digital printout glassed in a wooden Ikea frame. Incidentally, Prof. Lee dashed off enthusiastically to his room to get the Ikea frames, a practice so alien to what we’re accustomed to, which is to be dashed off enthusiastically and get framed. Another advanced project his team had completed was the voice-activating digital scroll. This incredible device would be used to certify the graduation of a student. When the student swipes his smartcard over the reader, his photo would be displayed on the screen while his name mentioned in an American-accented computer voice! Of course, laughter echoed the lab when Rita tried out her smartcard!
	1.30pm. Alas, the tour had to end shorter than I desired. Rita had to leave early as she had prior arrangement that required her to employ her driving skills to the max: she was to attend a friend’s wedding far up North in Sungai Petani, an adventure which she promised to unfold. We bid goodbye to our smiling guides, smiles that have opened our hearts to the hopes of tomorrow. Smiles that have left its mark indelibly to us of today. And I too smile, hoping that although I may have been late at the start, it may not be too late for a happy ending.

Don’t miss the next episode – Putrajaya: The Lost World!