Fevers, Delirium and Fun

Not much later after the Bintan holiday, we all started falling prey to Mr Rhino one by one, until it left us all sick and immobile by the weekend! All of us specialized with different kinds of infection with I- sinus cold, Mrinal- killer dry cough, and Dhiren- cold fever. Mrinal and I having decided to rest and sleep through the weekend, lolled on the couch savouring the hot tasty soup made by Satty.  

Post lunch, Mrinal and I took an afternoon nap only to feel worse by the evening and realizing that we cannot consult health centre doctor for the next 36 hrs. Restlessly idle and craving for company, we asked Dhiren to come over to our place to spend and celebrate our sickness together. Packing aloo parathas, sabji with hot rasam from Koufu, we had dinner at home disinterestedly just to finish the mundane daily rituals. After enough consideration and looking up on the internet, we decided on watching the spy thriller D day at night 10. Having nearly reached my sleeping time, I was dozing off short lengths in the first half - losing the gist of the movie, much to Mrinal and Dhiren’s annoyance, since they essentially had to narrate the whole story.

By midnight, Satty joined us after watching Dhoom 3 and we whiled away the time watching some random Bollywood classroom videos. With Mrinal-Dhiren and I being desperate attention seekers, Satty acted as our virtual thermometer to check our forehead-neck temperature to decide who was most “hot” and needed more care. Very soon Mrinal and I succumbed to our tiredness and hit the bed, whereas Dhiren continued watching movies with Satty, and thus proving to be the least sick of all.

After having slept with intermittent coughing, sneezing- nose block disturbing our sleep, we woke up late on a Sunday morning to find not much improvement in our health. Satty and Mrinal made breakfast and tea for us, while Dhiren and I lazed on the couch grumbling about not feeling well. It was commendable how Satty’s immune system was strong enough to resist and fight back all the infection that had potentially attacked her by being amongst us three. Indolence overpowered our appetite, with us “kindly” ordering Satty to do every small thing for us- Pratik accuses us of child Labour. After reaching heights of procrastination, we finally stepped out for lunch at 2 in the afternoon, where we were joined by Amar who was still recuperating from his two week old similar infection.

Pratik living at the other end of Singapore, self-invited himself to visit us patients and spend some good time together in the evening. Satty – Pratik belonging to the non-infected league, tantalized us with yummy chocolate ice-cream, I resisted it with determination while Dhiren gave in to it. After mediating the differences in opinions among people’s choice for restaurants, the decision finally rested on Mrinal who saved it as a surprise for us (I knew it though!). We reached Komalas only to be disappointed to see them serving very few, not our favourite south Indian meal options.

 

After placing our respective orders, we started chattering amongst ourselves excitedly, swaying to the music being played, being our own selves oblivious to the surroundings. Us breaking into riotous laughter after every sentence spoken, did prompt one of the waiters to enquire about us- if we were new to Singapore and where we belonged to.  Far from being embarrassed, we enthusiastically continued our nonsensical talks and jokes, although Amar could not relate to most of it since he has missed out on many of the events/outings owing to his work pressure. Nothing can ever stop Pratik-Dhiren from the Andaaz Apna Apna jokes and their “mutual Understanding” one liners, incomprehensible to most of us in the first go. They continued picking on Satty for every word that she uttered, and she sportively chose to be mocked at. There was an outrageous repetition of jokes, until Mrinal imposed a limit of 5 times for one joke. The frequency match and comfort level was so amazing, that nobody shied from exposing their mindless self.

This was the first time I didn’t miss home while falling ill - having sick and non-sick people to take care, and had such an eventful sickness. Sometimes I wish time goes static, and nothing around me changes. Love you guys, thanks for making the good and not-so-good phases of my life equally exciting and fun-filled! 

Penalizing Budding Talent

One fine morning upon arriving at my desk, I found something lying on my table with a note, that seemed to pose a grave threat to one of my most valued congenital faculties- my Punning Humour! A cuboidal pink coloured piggy bank secured with a lock, which has been in the pipeline for weeks now, has finally been materialized by Aicha.  Not just me, it endangers Peter and Kim, who  also suffer the obsessive compulsive disorder of playing with the words. The audience comprises Aicha, Joy and CS mostly, and sometimes rest of my lab members.

The final rules and regulations of this deal were attempted to reach a consensus, with the welfare of all the people around in mind. According to the implemented laws, someone who makes a bad/lame/poor joke/pun is liable to a penalty of S$1/bad joke, which happily makes its way to the fancy piggy bank. How to judge whether the joke is good/bad -- if at least half the audience ends up smiling/laughing, the person is waived from the fine, otherwise you know the fate... Aicha has been generous enough to introduce special discount schemes to encourage us during peak hours (like coffee time) called "Jokes Happy Hours", wherein we will be charged $1/2jokes. With all the honour and privilege, I inaugurated the PB because of a joke which was considered unacceptable without a second thought. Depending on the rate at which the money is collected, we plan to have a small party with the small money.

This PB is taken for every lunch/coffee break, group meetings/events, and is surprisingly proving to be an effective preventive measure. The number of poor joke incidents have drastically fallen with having people to watch their words, in order to save their precious $1 coins (normally preserved for laundry machines!).. Courtesy Peter, one of the inflicted victims, has been able to persuade the committee to reduce the penalty to $0.5, effective from today. The only unreasonable part of this deal is even if someone makes a good joke, there is no $1 reward. The PB is by the people, for the people and of the people- so let’s hope amendments to this law happen soon, in the favour of doers...  

Great Eastern Women Run 2013

After spending an anxious night tossing and turning on the bed, I woke up to a dark lousy Sunday morning for the much awaited run. The sky veiled with pregnant clouds made me wonder if the event would be interrupted by the rain showers. I was lazier and less prepared for this run than my first NUSrun, ran only when Aicha called for a practice and reminded me about it. Fortunately now my body is better conditioned to run continuously than it was a few months ago..

Priyanka and I took an MRT, surprisingly cramped (many GEW runners!), for as early as 6 am on a Sunday morning. We were informed that the run would commence as per  schedule since Marina bay didn’t experience major rains, luckily the roads were dry and not slippery too. For a run with 60k runners, the event seemed well planned and organized, with ample baggage counters, affable volunteers answering the questions being shot, guiding and cheering people through.The start line spreading over around 300m with thousands of red sleeveless ladies ahead of me was a sight unbelievable and slightly daunting. Entertaining commentators in the background, with banging fast beat music to tap our legs was just perfect for waking up the sleepy souls to warm up. Priyanka and I enjoyed dancing to the music, stretching our bodies in rhythm to the songs, further building up to the excitement of the run in such an amazing location.

                                          

We started running near the Singapore flyer overlooking the towering Marina Bay Sands and numerous other adjoining skyscrapers along the Singapore river. I ran the first kilometer fast to evade the cumbersome jam in the beginning, and cooled down to my normal pace thereafter. The first two kilometers, followed by a downslope near Nicoll Highway was effortless owing to the initial energy and enthusiasm. It was annoying to see people walking right after a few hundred metres and obstructing the run path in the middle, inspite of legit instructions for slow runners and walkers to stay on the left throughout. I sometimes went out of the periphery (longer yet faster) covered with damp grass, to overtake the people blocking the way out.

The hydration counters midway were inundated with thirsty runners, swooping down to have a sip of water and 100+ quickly, providing a much needed relief to their dehydrated throats and bodies. During the second half, there were boards reading “smile ahead”, following photographers taking pictures on the way, where people even posed with props. The last kilometer seemed eternal with countless curves and turns, with more of the dispersed crowd condensing, and the finish line to be seen nowhere. The energy levels were still high, thanks to the runner friendly weather, mild drizzling wetting the sweat and chilling the body. After covering a significant distance, I could see a light flashing “Finish”, with cheer leaders on either side bucking up people to run the last length faster.

There I went to cross the finish line Yayyy-ing and cooling down to let some oxygen fill my lungs in. Grabbing some electrolyte drinks and refreshments, I crashed down the floor in front of the stage with people performing on victory songs like “Jai Ho” and “Waka Waka”, and lay there still for a while.  I then queued in endlessly for having a picture with my finisher medal, and posed under- “I conquered the race!”- with a background of  tall buildings shrouded in mist.. I have dared myself to a longer distance (10k) to improve my running potential and endurance, and thus registered with my lab friends- Joy and Aicha-Peter, Kiran (21.2k) for the run coming up in Feb. The strategy and training is still in the planning, looking forward to the exciting group runs and practices!

                                                    

                        Bollywood Dandiya Night

The excitement and delight for the Saturday Dandiya Night owed to several reasons- reminiscing the navratri in Gujarat, dancing our hearts out to the garba songs, spending an evening with friends- all of which were fulfilled to an overwhelming extent by the end of the day.. The preparations commenced post lunch with Mrinal, Ekta and I learning, rehearsing and synchronizing simple and most popular garba steps.  After reaching a level of confidence, we started sprucing up- a process which could potentially have been longer than the dandiya night itself. Mrinal wore a traditional maroon Chaniya Choli embellished with brilliantly shining mirror stones, whereas Ekta and I chose to wear sarees tucked in typical Gujarati style, doing justice to the “ben” look. Devika joined us later, and just like Falguni Pathak’s “Yaad piya ke” girls, we spent ample time mix matching accessories and preening ourselves in front of the wardrobed mirror until satisfied and certified by each other.

At the stroke of 7:30 PM, we rushed out to a restless wait, after which we hailed a cab to the venue at Goodman Road, in proximity to the East coast of Singapore, where we were met by the rest of our gang. The huge hall albeit inadequate, was flocked by multicultural Indians decked up in ethnic attire and shaking their legs to the not-so-garba music. Complying to the high entropy with people spread randomly making their own groups, we took possession of and reserved one of the last vacant attainable spaces and started dancing to the music being played. The music spanned contemporary danceable fast beat numbers like “Rangeelo Maaro Dholna”, “Beedi Jalaile”, with minimal Gujarati/Garba songs- surprisingly contrary to the purpose of celebration. We let ourselves loose and broke sweat to the intoxicating music, with intermittent breaks for gulping chilled water slaking our thirst. While we managed to fit in the Garba steps in every song, Pratik and Dhiren shook their bodies harder, neatly blending multiple dance styles to lead our group. Ronak, shy by nature and new to our group, joined us enthusiastically too, enjoying being in his own world of music.  A pro Odissi dancer, Lavanya left all amazed with her elegant and graceful dance moves, with us following only the few doable ones. We made a train, dancing and shoving our way through the lively and energetic crowd, spreading the hall, and continued the garba dancing till we were short of breath and sapped out.

 

Obeying the commands of our rumbling stomachs starving to be fed, we headed straight to the food coupon counter. Impatient with a long sluggish queue ahead, Pratik and I started swinging our shoulders to a dancy number in the background, with Ekta and Mrinal joining us dancing in the mirror, all of us conveniently avoiding the amused stares by the people around. We grabbed our food quickly, with desi chat and fast food constituting most of it, and managed to save a table big enough for a bunch of ten plus to fit in. After going bellyful, Utkarsh and Bassi rendered a famous heart wrenching song “Tadap Tadap” in their impeccably toned voices, stimulating us to accompany them, Ekta and Dhiren tapping the table in rhythm to the songs that followed.. The enthusiastic organizers comprising of a few middle aged couples challenged us for Antakshari, which we graciously accepted, and  thoroughly enjoyed singing some old and beautiful hindi music, until it was the time to wrap up the event, our gang being the last to step foot out.

Undecided what next and knowing its early to call it a day, we did the first thing that came to someone’s mind- went to the East Coast Park beach at night 12 clock. With most of the café’s and restaurants around being closed, and majority of the camping crowd asleep in their cozy tents, the beach gave a serene and peaceful look. The stars and sky view was marred by the natural Singapore light pollution and clouds hovering over. Ensconced on the rocks abutting the beach, and watching the sea waves hitting it, looked like the perfect way to unwind and revitalize ourselves after the eventful evening. Giving in to the irresistible urge of music, we all sang our favorite numbers, with Lavanya and I, being loyal followers, tried to include many of Sonu Nigam ones- woe betide anyone who’s against him! After singing to our satisfaction, we thought it was time to conclude the fun filled day, and waved a sleepish goodbye to each other at three, dispersing in different directions to hit our respective destinations…

           Childhood memories reawakened with Hritkrish..

Flipping through the pages of the popular Indian community newspaper “tabla”, I learnt about my childhood hero’s forthcoming visit to Singapore to promote his upcoming sci fi flick “Krissh”. Far from being a Hrithik fan now, I still decided to go watch his performance at the expo, only to reminisce and re-live the good old school days. My short lived craze after watching his first movie with Prachi, persisted being with a clan of delirious fanatics. Being a part of Karthika-Deepa’s discussions of latest Hrithik updates post school time, running with Palla and Pd to Fun Republic to watch him live (unfortunately a rumour), enacting his scenes and dialogues from Knph with Kittu, calling and playing his songs on cable RequesTv, checking the Indian express celebrity poster every Tuesday morning the first thing to see if its Hrithik – were few of the insane things I did back then!.. While the rest of us got over the teenage Hrithik mania, Karthika and Deepa religiously continue to be his admirers till date. 

Karthika was on cloud 9 on hearing about Hrithik‘s visit to Global Indian School (where she works) and secured a second row seat to watch his live interaction with the school kids, and surprisingly managed not to pass out. Whereas I, after a day’s outing at the River Safari, scraped to have adequate phone charge for taking pictures/videos, reached the expo just on time to join the crowd countdown for his entry. Escorted by brawny bouncers, and led by white-capped director-father, the tall figure behind the theatrical fog was welcomed by a deafening cheer and hooting by the jam packed audience.

Clad in a loose moss green shirt with shades hanging and khakhi pants, the charismatic star held the crowd captivated through his 45 min stay.  Adhering to the purpose of his visit, Hrithik flaunted his rich American accent while speaking about his role with superpowers in “Krissh”, concluding with clichéd phrase about achieving the impossible by believing in oneself. Surrendering himself to the public demands, he mesmerized the audience by loosening up his agile body to the tunes of  “Ek pal ka jeena” and a couple of other songs, which was all the rage ten years ago. He ceased his jumpy movements on being reminded about the prohibition by his doctor owing to the recent brain surgery.  In reciprocation, he was entertained by a cohort of high school students who performed on his most popular numbers and also managed to fish accolades from Hrithik himself, before the brief program wrapped up.

Hrithik graciously thanked the audience for all the love, and vanished into thin air, leaving me nostalgic and cherishing the eternally beautiful childhood memories. Cheers to my Vikki Nagar gang!

 

RunNUS Run!

Coinciding with the recent release of an Indian biopic “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” about a famous athlete Milkha Singh, I registered for my first ever run two months ago- The NUSRun. It is an annual university sport event, participated by thousands of students, and welcomes the local public as well. There were various run categories depending on the distance/gender, I chose to go in for the shortest one- 5km fun run!

Having predominantly jogged with sporadic short distance running in the gym, I had as little experience as a novice runner. I was skeptical about my stamina and competence in running long stretches, but someone convinced me I could do it with time and training- it was our lab post doc, my mentor Aicha! Aicha (a chronic runner) used to run with me at my pace, giving important running tips and explained to me how important it is to “get out of your comfort zone” and run longer distances. I had several training sessions on the tracks with Aicha over two months, starting with 2 km and gradually increasing the distance to reach the 5 km. The real challenge was to run 5 km around the NUS campus which has a wavy terrain with perpetual uphills and downhills. We did 3-4 mock runs taking the route specified- the ascendings were excruciating, I could feel every cell of my body screeching with pain- slow although, I still kept running. I lacked all the motivation whenever I ran alone, missing Aicha’s encouraging words- “You’re almost there!”, “Keep going!! This is the last uphill!”- it all makes a huge difference..

On a rainy day two weeks before the actual run, I slipped and rammed onto a bus pillar, resulting in a bleeding big toe nail chipping off, and leaving me unable to wear shoes. Fortunately my toe had enough time to recuperate, but allowed me only a single practice before the real run day.

The D day (25^th August) found me and Aicha sitting on the tracks an hour before the event- stretching and warming up to be primed for the run! Hordes of students with their race bibs on their blue sleeveless NUSRun shirts, were chattering excitedly amongst themselves. I too was rolling on the floor, fidgeting with mixed emotions- thrilled, wired and apprehensive, with my stomach churning mildly. I was awestruck to see the fastest male runner, a tall brawny guy, who whizzed through the winding 10 km track even before we started our run!

On the blow of the whistle, a condensed mass of runners slowly diffused spreading over a large area, with the first and fastest racers headmost. Aicha and I kicked off the starting upslope together, and struggled our way through the initially jammed road track. After running together for a while, Aicha sped up to her own pace and I enjoyed my own company. Within half the targeted distance, I could see clusters of students sapped out, and starting to stroll relaxedly. Seeing them made me weary, but I could hear Aicha in my mind – “Uttara! Run slowly, but run, walking will defeat the whole purpose of it!”, and I thus kept running. The blazing sun showered all its energy on us, I could feel the heat and sweat dripping into my eyes, fagging me out all the more. At the water stalls stationed every 1.5 km, I could see an assembled multitude of students, swilling in water and electrolyte drinks in huge amounts to quench the thirst. I dare not sip any drink, lest I get a stomach ache while running the remaining length. As it had to happen without drinking water, my abdomen started aching while crossing the mean slope near the central library, further making me tardy. I recalled Aicha’s tips to pull my hands down with  thumbs out, thereby letting the lungs expand, and breathe hard through my mouth, since this ache happens due to lack of oxygen. Within no time, my pain vanished and I saw myself running the last leg of the run, and excitement overpowering my tiredness. In the last stage, I also overtook some “initially enthusiastic turned spiritless” runners, thus validating the hare-tortoise race tale. While coming close to the 5 km end, I could see Aicha waiting and cheering for me- “Yayy! Uttara, you did it!!!” making me smile broadly while crossing the finish line, despite my burning leg muscles and torrid ruddy face..

Losing no time, I dived to grasp a bottle of water and hundred plus to feed my dehydrated body with electrolytes, and still recovering my breath which was coming in short pants.  It was an amazing experience, All thanks to Aicha for training me and making me believe I could do it, fighting all the odds!  I’m eagerly awaiting the next- “Great Eastern Women” run at the Marina Bay(wow!), now coaching with Aicha to better my speed. Running is truly life changing!

Kayaking at MacRitchie

The beginning of a perfect Sunday morning saw a bunch of twelve of us at MacRitchie Reservoir on the dot of 9 Am, oddly everyone conforming to the plan despite the  commuting uncertainties and delays. Kudos to the thread of fifty plus emails planning and discussing the logistics!! 

Without further ado, we made a beeline for renting the Kayaks. The guy explained to us some simple and easy-to-follow rules to be complied to during Kayaking. Aquaphobic people being a bit reluctant had to be coaxed to join us for this exciting water sport, and they mustered enough courage to get onto to the double seater kayaks. Wearing the armour like life-jacket, each couple held the hefty kayaks and marched towards the pontoon like army jawans. It was a bright sunny day, conveniently refuting the forecasts of rains and storms.

We all cautiously boarded our respective Kayaks and started hand paddling. I and Mrinal were together, and tried coordinating our paddling by saying- left-right-left. Being amateur kayakers, we were putting in all the energy to propel ourselves forward by pulling the water behind,  resulting in the water splashing all over and leaving us completely sodden. We thoroughly enjoyed getting acquainted to the skills essential to move the kayak forward-backward, turn and prevent hitting someone or the trees/land- it was an experience of a kind! 

Not much later, we saw Keerthana's and Dhiren-Amar's kayak coming close to each other, and in the blink of an eye their kayak capsized making Amar and Dhiren fall into the water. Several sincere attempts of getting onto the kayak again were all in vain. It freaked us out, Mrinal started whistling (attached to lifejacket), our other friend's Kayaks gathered closer only to realize that it was Dhiren- Amar  who fell into the water. Dhiren appeared nonchalant and managed to get onto the Kayak again, while Amar (being one of the aquaphobics) turned frantic and felt his life jacket wasn't helping him keep afloat, and that he was going to drown. There was no life guard at the end, and we all were shouting  for help. The shop guy was trying to convey something through signs, but was incomprehensible. It was tricky for Dhiren to pull Amar into the kayak, since it was almost likely for both of them to fall into the water again. There was a chaotic traffic jam of kayaks around them with noone being able to help the situation much. Surabhi-Pratik tried to pass the paddle over, it was a task in itself and dicey too.

Then came the Saviours- Vinaya and her husband Prashanth, to whose Kayak Amar held onto. They needed to be steady, balanced and paddle the kayak bearing Amar's one sided weight. Vinaya energized herself by drinking 100 plus, which gave her all the strength and vigour to paddle harder and they travelled a significant distance carrying Amar, which was commendable!. The kayak owners were ridiculously sloppy with regard to rescuing inspite of Amar's agitated screams. Meanwhile, Dhiren returned to the pontoon only to realize that the guy was asking him to get the kayak back so that he could carry Amar on the same Kayak. After all the efforts and arguments, Amar was brought back lying on the kayak, all exhausted and traumatized. 

We resumed kayaking soon after the "rescue operation", and met together in the middle of the reservoir, Surabhi-Pratik directed everyone to align their kayaks together and we took some nice pictures together. Sportive Dhiren joined us back rowing a single seater kayak and throughly enjoying what he wanted right from the  outset. We also tried kayak racing with Priyanka, but realized it was beyond our potential to direct the kayak in a single direction and thus just enjoyed whatever we could! An unexpected spinoff of the kayak capsizing was we all got almost double the time than that was allotted for kayaking!

Drained and famished, we headed straight to Little India and had a hearty Nepalese meal at Everest Kitchen, with starters satiating most of our appetite. The inordinate amount of time taken for serving the orders were filled with discussions and recapitulations of the series of actions and reactions during the kayak capsizing. All the onlookers had their own edited, spiced up versions and speculations as to what caused the kayak to topple. Poor Amar was the scapegoat the entire afternoon, with a few others being targetted and poked fun at for different reasons. Whatever said and done, Amar truly lived upto his name with a near-to-death experience,he believes it was a re-birth for him, which he owed to the pro kayaker couple Vinaya and Prashanth.  

We all thought that this event would not have been so exciting and fun-filled, but for the Kayak toppling. ;)

Cheers to more eventful, thrilling and adventurous outings!