77. THE SG50 MRT 'MARATHON'

Singapore turned 50 this year, and it has been raining offers countrywide –Shops screaming out 50% discounts, concession for entertainments, museums, zoos, amusement parks and other activities -you are literally spoilt for choices. However, all these offers happen at the same time for a limited time, and you get so confused which ones to go for, that by the time you zero in on one, the offer is no longer valid. K

On the National Day, it was announced that we could enjoy free public transport the whole day. It was Sunday, and all I had scheduled for the day was church. Nothing much was planned for the evening, because the whole nation would be in celebration and plague like crowds were to be expected everywhere.

I was feeling a little guilty for not being able to utilize the free rides, except for the couple of trips to and from church. Little did I know this random crazy thought that zipped past my mind, would transform into a 5 hour long MRT-marathon.

Small as the country may be, there are still a lot of areas of Singapore that still remain to be explored by me. So I just thought of dragging a friend along and go to all the MRT stations, explore the area a bit and click a few pictures and chill. It took some effort and a lot of bull-crapping to get a friend to buy this idea –we would have to wait another 50 years to get a similar offer;  It would be a lifetime achievement; think about the money we could save and blah blah..

And that inspired him. Inspired him so much that in a couple of hours, he came along with two other friends, equipped with DSLR and a tripod! Woah looks like he took that a bit too seriously...

So off we went!

We still couldn’t get used to the open gantries. My hands kept reaching to my purse for the ez-link card as I approached the gantries

First Stop: Jurong East. The station was way too crowded and we had trouble finding a proper place to set up the tripod and the camera. So we contented ourselves with a selfie. The passerbys stared at us quizzically, trying to figure out what's there in an MRT sign board to take picture of!

Bukit Batok… Bukit Gombak….by the time we reached Choa Chu Kang, we were quite exhausted… that was only the 4th stop! We had 21 more to go!

The trains were mostly crowded. And just climbing up and down the escalator and running back to catch the next train drained us. We took a water break at Yew Tee and then continued….

Kranji…Marsiling…Woodlands…Admirality…

We tried to give funny themed poses at each station, and gave cool(read lame) captions for each. For example at Newton, we posed with our iPhones. (Netwon=Apple=Iphone…..smart eh?:P)

Sembawang…Yishun…Khatib…Yio Chu Kang…

Half way through I was so tired that I started losing my interest and regretted having come up with this stupid idea. I couldn’t wait for this to be over!

Ang Mo Kio…Bshan…Braddel…

At Toa Payo, we realized that by the time we reach the last station, the SG50 parade would have finished and we would have to face the plague like crowd. So we went to Marina South Pier directly and came back to where we left. The station was still crazily crowded! It was with great difficulty that we managed to get back inside the station after taking the picture.

Marina South Pier.. Marina Bay…Raffles Place…City Hall…Doby Ghat…Somerset…Orchard…Newton…Nouvena…Phew! It was finally over!

We were thoroughly exhausted when we finally checked in at the last stop and my friend suggested taking a cab back home. That would so not serve the purpose of utilizing free MRT rides and I strongly opposed the idea. They couldn’t stand another MRT ride. So after a bit of arguing and debating, we took a bus, which crawled its way to Clementi.

Total Money saved: 0.73x25=18.25$ each!

Total Hours lost: 6hrs each!

I got so used to not tapping at the gantries, that the next few days I found it so inconvenient and annoying having to use the ez-link card to access the MRT. K

Our 'Trophy'

69. Different people, and their totally different eating styles -Observations

The same kind of food; the same kind of mouth; the same kind of hands -but gosh! there are a hundred and one different ways of making the food reach the mouth!

This is one of the observations that I have made during the past few months in S'pore. Many gadgets have been discovered over the centuries to aid people in this 'laborious task' of making the food reach its destination. With varying latitudes and longitudes, the  permutation&combinations of different tools used varies -fork&spoon, knife&fork, fork,knife&spoon, chop-sticks&spoon and so on. However, from what I have observed, whatever be the kind of food they are dealing with, people generally prefer to eat it the way they have been taught at home by their mom, during their 'table manners' course. So that means, be it rice, noodles, yong tau foo, the Chinese can tackle anything that comes across their way with the help of two puny sticks. Likewise, the Europeans equip themselves with fork&knife. Singaporeans -fork and spoon and occasionally a pair of chopsticks too. And we Indians...well we don't usually require any eating aids. Why bother when God has given us awesome hands!! (But still most of the people, all over the world are taught that eating with bare hands is ill-mannered!! [sigh])

Rice and curry, I can eat with a pair of spoon and fork; noodles and the like, I can manage with a pair of chopsticks(my latest achievement :D ) but when it comes to chicken and other such dead animals which have bones, I need my hands desperately.

I realized this truth when I was lunching with some of my European and  Singaporean friends.
It was the Dutch guy's birthday, and the birthday co-ordinator selected this fancy Indonesian restaurant to celebrate his b'day. Browsing throug the menu card made me 'gulp'. The starting price for the main-course was10S$. I ordered roasted chicken rice for myself since it was the only comprehensible item in the menu that suited my budget. (My brain was calculating: 10S$ = Rs 400. I recollected those days in my UG college when one month's canteen fee was around Rs. 1200 = 30S$ . I gulped again.)

Our food arrived in no time,and all of us geared ourselves with fork and spoon to attack the food. 
'Uh Oh'... The chicken had bones, unlike the usual chicken rice. I so totally don't know how to tear the flesh out from the bones using fork and spoon. The Dutch guy was complaining too -he wanted a knife instead of the fork. I sat there wondering what in the world to do with the two metal pieces in my hand. My hands longed to reach out to the morsel.

Nevertheless, I dug in. With all my might and skill, I managed to finish off the first piece fairly decently. Hmmm...Unlike most of the other times when the chicken was half cooked that made me gag, this one was especially tasty. Yumm...I was into my second piece trying to do the flesh-bone-separating act, when, the spoon slipped and the chicken and the fork went flying away in opposite directions. I sat there stupefied, while the others burst into laughter. Needless to say, I was embarassed to the core:| And I was sad, and guilty too -sad for the chicken who sacrificed its life for nothing, and guilty for wasting money...that chicken piece would have cost atleast 2 S$. Sigh!

My so polite friends(Europeans are always nice) bent down to take the spoon for me, and I deftly used the time to grab the next chicken piece and have a bite ;)
..
..

Weeks later, I was lunching again with my international friends. This time, I played safe by sticking to  vegetarian food.

Our random conversations reached the Indian boundaries, and the Singaporean friend suddenly remarked: "The way Indians eat their food is so cool. They have special skills to eat their food. They not only eat rice with hands but can even tear dosa and pratas with one hand easily. The way they maneuver their fingers dexterously to take food and push it inside the mouth is amazing."

Well what can I say? I beamed at my 'awesome dexterous skillful hands' and ever since I have a special regard for my hand whenever they 'maneuver their way to get food into my mouth'. ;)

65. Do you like often like like saying 'like'?

Click on the pic and read

Like the plethora of the uninvited things that had entered into our lives and have taken roots, like those large ugly pimples, 'like' has become a part and parcel of our lingo. It has now got stuck to our tongues like leeches. Though it proves to be a convenient filler to the speaker, it is just like an irrrrritant gad fly to the listeners. Some of the other common fillers are 'means', 'mathlab' and 'you know'. You know....they just like spoil the beauty of the language....means they just destroy it!!

64. Hurt

People can hurt you only if (and only as long as) they matter to you!

-Blah

61. It takes all kinds to make this world-III

New guy on the net:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
New guy: Hey Nee, I think my flirting skills are getting better and better day by day!
Me: Oh really?! How do you know? :P
New guy: Abhay am serious. Gals out there are crazy about me!!
Me: really? :P :P
New guy: Yeah! they not only like me, but even keep expressing their fondness towards me!!!
Me: really? how?:P :P :P
New  guy: whenever i say something over the chat, they keep saying Lots Of Love....they even use have short form for that -'LOL' !!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yup! welcome to the club ;)

60. It takes all kinds to make this world-II

The final sem is nearing to its end. We were browsing through the academic calender searching for holidays to go home for the last time, as b-tech students...Someone suggested Easter hols. The others nodded their heads in agreement.
Suddenly #/\/\@ jumps up excitedly(as usual) and says:

"Hey wow! this time Good Friday comes together with Saturday and Sunday. We'll get 3 days holidays :D"

Yes indeed, it takes all kinds...... ;)

58. Being Inspired...

Do one thing everyday that scares you!

That is one of the lines from the video clip that Ziddi gave me when I was in one of those depressions and lows which usually cause heavy downpours.(It's apparently a sunscreen Ad, but I have no clue as to how it is related to the product!) Well anyways, guess what? I got inspired!

Maybe way too 'inspired'....Exams are among the things that scare me. I bet I am not the sole person belonging to this category. During the exam times, I take special care, to be extra careful as to not to waste my 'precious' time, indulging in any kind of fun. So exams are those times during which, I confine myself to self-room-imprisonment -No outings, No gossiping, No 'TV'ing, No blogging/orkutting/facebooking/tweeting/chatting -although all that I may do is sit in my room and sleep all day, or day-dream all day, or playing with my computer all day, or a combination of all!

Well, our exams are just 4 days away(gulp!)...and I haven't even laid my hands on any of the books. I was returning from the college, when I saw many of my classmates, all dressed-up, leaving for 'Backwaters'(IIMK). My heart longed to join them, but instead, I gave them a pitiful sigh, as they would be wasting their time over there, while I can use the time and mug in my room. But just then it struck me, that it was my last year in college, and why the heck should I sit and slog here, when I can as well give myself a break and go have some fun.

The 'nerd-me' and the 'non-nerd-me' had a great inconclusive debate, which can be compared to our parliament sessions, and finally one decision making phone call made to my parents, confirmed that I was infact going![Sigh! I might be probably the only 21 year old who still have to seek parental permission even for such cases..:( ]

By the time the rest of the group had already got into the TATA Sumo and were about to leave. I was in CM's room, eating Aloo Parathas that somebody flicked from the mess. I quickly changed there, grabbed somebody's handbag and dashed off. I wasn't even dressed decently -my hair uncombed, no earrings or chain or any kind of jewelery on - I looked like a runaway Pentecost. As I reached the main gate, Appu came running behind me, swearing -I had accidentally run off with her phone :|

It is really cool to travel through the Calicut roads at night! We reached the IIMK campus and was stopped at the security gate to check our IDs. Damn! I had forgotten to take mine. I had made it till here. Don't tell me I have to go all the way back again! I started cursing myself. But soon enough I found out that being invisible has its own advantages. They didn't seem to have seen me. I got in without any of those darned IDs!

The campus was really awesome. It is situated on the top of a hill. The ride uphill reminded me of one of those trips to the holiday hill stations.

Once we got out of the car, we went on a photo taking spree. We didn't spare any nook or corner. We wanted to get it across to those 'nerdos' mugging back in hostels that we were indeed having fun. We were behaved like a bunch of drunk hooligans. We didn't want any of them to know that we were from NITC, so in all our 'loud conversations', we mentioned Medical college and KMCT more than a few times. ;)

We didn't even spare the toilets(gents'!) or the random statue or the random tree or the random lawn

There were very few programs, and very few participants. The crowd was also less, especially compared to the stampede-level crowd in the NITC OAT during ProShows! So we were um...pretty much bored, which might explain our new found fondness for the camera.

Our dance team did a wonderful job though.

The other event was fashion show. It still remains a mystery, the purpose of these FS. I wonder why people go gaga over FS. Oh yea there are hot guys and girls on the ramp to ogle at, but I really dont get the point. The other day I was watching some FTV programme and I realized how people can 'adapt themselves' to survive with minimal clothing during these hard times of recession.

The Medical college team had an interesting show. Their theme was one that gave a message -AIDS- and there were HIV viruses, gays and guys with inflated condoms on their heads, walking down the ramp!

It was past midnight when we got back, and we returned with not much of memories, but lots of snapshots.

Oh my Gosh! Reality strikes again -I've got exams in a couple of days(gulp!). Hope I don't screw them up!(gulp!gulp!)

55.Just millimetres separated her from a 3 storey fall!

The year barely started and it’s already filled with action. Happening things are happening everyday, except for studying and this is really freaking me out.(my status is still unemployed-and-dunno-what-lies-ahead K) Now to my account of the suicide attempt that kept the LH on th edge....

It was at about 9.30 while I was returning from Chacko’s room, after a futile attempt to crack the geo assignment, that I noticed a little commotion going on outside my room. Some girls were leaning over the balcony parapet. Fear and horror were written on their faces! I feared the worst –a suicide attempt?No it can't be.... I was shocked to find that my worst of the wildest imaginations was being materialised right before my very eyes!

She was standing on the edge of the sunshade. A chill ran down my spine! I froze! My whole body became numb. My throat had gone dry. I couldn’t even give out a scream..... just millimetres separated her from a 3 storey fall!

We tried using hangers, broomsticks and ropes, but the feline seemed to find them more life-threatening than a fatal fall.....After about half an hour of cajoling, coaxing and trying to lure her to safety, she finally jumped to the relatively flatter and broader part of the sunshade, where the inclined shades came to a stop. From there, many interconnecting sunshades and pipes could serve as her route to safety. Phew! We returned to our rooms. At least no bloodsheds on the 3d day of the year!

An hour later I heard voices and hurried footsteps outside my room. I opened it to find nearly the whole wing gathered in front of the room. I followed their transfixed gaze down the balcony. The paranoid suicidal kitten had returned to the suicide point!

We held our breaths –sure to witness a tragic free fall. Some weak souls turned their faces away. Some said ’tch tch’. A few tear drops were shed.....(okay that was a long shot! :P)

What are we to do?

Suddenly, our hero –The Che-Kkan-enters the scene. Under the frenzy to save the kitty, Chekkan tried to jump over the parapet and save her.

But we were in no mood to witness multiple murders on the same day. We pulled Chekkan back in.

Come on, think something smart!...and quick!....someone suggested a bucket(Gee!was that me?:D)

I volunteered to give my bucket. So now I will have an excuse for not taking a bath tomorrow! ;) The bucket was brought and lowered in.

Look at her! What Jaada! What Ahangaaram! She wouldn’t get in. Guess she was rather enjoying the limelight.

Come on again...think something smarter! Someone suggested a bait (Gee! Was that me too? :P)

Saliny(now Tintu Mol :P) brought a piece of cake from her room and threw it inside the bucket.(I made a mental note to pay her a visit soon). The cat fell for it. It was inside the bucket, and Swoosh! Kitty was bucket-lifted to safety. Somehow, the cat reminded me of Joey( I told you I am watching too much of F.R.I.E.N.D.S these days!)

So thanks to Che-Kkan and the piece of cake(and my bucket too!), the day is saved!

PS: This incident made Che-Kkan to go down the long list of the legendary Khans(Shahrukh-Khan,Aamir-Khan,Salman- Khan,Ghengi- Khan,Sher-Khan,Moor-Kkan ......:P)

52. Another random post

I never really didn’t want to write this post, until she made the remark, “You are gonna blog about this aren’t you”...”Well not really” was my clichéd remark...but here I am!

Last week we had this school-reunion, wherein I met up with friends from school, after almost 4 years. Though I couldn’t spend much time doing ‘reunioning’ with everyone present, I had a fun time there! I was taken aback when many of them asked me why I hadn’t updated my blog for a long time. Wow! That was unexpected –people who barely are in touch with me, gets updates on me through my blog.

(Mental Note: I should censor future posts)

(Mental wish: i wish they would leave a comment when they read!)

Anyways, just knowing that there are people who read and enjoy my crappy posts, and giving feedbacks(er... that I have a ‘weird sense of humour’) itself was kinda thrilling. I didn’t need to explain them that 4 years in college have changed me a lot(except my hindi speaking skills) –the blog did that job too. They even asked me to consider writing a book. Yea right! LoL! (But seriously I wish I would one day....sigh!)

Later, I was horrified to realize that I had forgotten the names of atleast a dozen of my batch-mates!! I had to resort to asking awkward questions like, “Hi, what was your full name? I kinda forgot your surname.”, “I think I lost your e-mail id...what was it again?”...But I guess that’s not as bad compared to the situation in college where even after 4 years, I don’t know even the names of half of the guys in our batch. (Sheesh!..Neethu, you need to socialise!)

The journey back home in a friend’s car was..umm...interesting, I experienced Einstein’s time-dilation. ;) –a 5-minutes journey turned out to be a half an hour journey (No insults intended Neeta, I know you are a careful driver, and the traffic was horrible ;)

The day was good... it is good to know that friendships span time and distance. :D

(Note to the friends: Hope to meet you all again for Ragam ’10 .You better come!!)