Singland, LA?

19th Dec, 2008
My first international trip (hopefully there will be more) and true to its reputation the Air India flight to Singapore was late. The international lounge had nothing international about it; the once plush leather sofas were torn, revealing forlorn looking foam that had seen brighter days. The metal bins stank of stale coffee and tell-tale red stains, which left me wondering how pan-chewing gentry were allowed in the first place. However, the wait gave me ample opportunity to observe other waiting passengers. There were few holiday groups; papa, mummy, chunnu, munnu, the smaller kids were getting crankier by the minute. There was no decent food available inside. Coffee was 30 bucks and small slices of cakes cost 50 rupees. I did not have the courage to ask the price of the Pringles pack, the only other eatable on display. The cleaver people (read frequent international travellers), had packed delicious food packs, and the smell of ‘dal puris’ and ‘kachodis’ made life miserable for the hungry hordes. The tired people (read infrequent travellers or first time travellers, who had no idea about what they were getting into and had arrived by 6 in the morning, as requested in their tickets) had pulled up an extra sofa and retired, snoring in the knowledge that the airport ground staff would lift them bodily into their flights, if needed. So, not one of the clever people, and presented with limited choice, I had coffee sans anything solid, I slept, and I people gazed. I saw laptop-carrying monks, burger eating South-Indian pundits, and sari-wrapped Iscon devotees. The world was truly becoming global!

The flight was finally announced three hours late. I actually saw people rushing with their hand bags. I made way for them, a conceited look on my face; little did I know that these were the same clever people. On the flight, the tired looking staff gave their over-used smile, their eyes saying, ‘get along fellows, and make it fast to your seat’. As I slowly made my way towards 23F, I was suddenly aware of a commotion ahead. A hostess made her way, jostling past the queued up passengers; passengers seemed to be fighting over seats. It seemed like in a local train or a long-distance bus. I realised why the clever people were running. The hostess managed to settle the problem with the dexterity of one used to it and when questioned by one gentleman, said, ‘the flight comes via Dhaka, na!’ I will not say much about the food served; I reminded myself that Air India was a cheaper option. Fortunately every person on board was ravenously hungry and more than full justice was done to the food. Every crumb of the sad looking patties disappeared without a murmur.

All the miseries of the past few hours disappeared, as I looked out of the window. A bed of white fluffy clouds spread below me. It looked like the most inviting place to snuggle up and rest. Soon the clouds disappeared. I suddenly realised that I was looking down at the Sunderban Delta region. What perfection nature presented! Each river, its tributaries and distributaries were drawn out in strokes that were nothing short of brilliant. The clarity of it all was a cartographer’s delight. How smoothly the rivers curved and met the ocean. The balance was undoubtedly divine. At that moment nature was the sublime presence that I held in reverence. As we left the coast behind, the shimmering blue brilliance of the Bay of Bengal stretched to the horizon. The blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean were one. While the blueness hurt your eye, the water just below was like a stretched brocade sari, golden shimmers rippling in the wind. We flew over the water for a long distance, sometimes along the coast. Then the clouds blanketed everything, and I went off to sleep. As we neared the coast of Singapore, nature was challenged by man. The perfectly manicured gardens on one side, the harbour dotted with boats and ships of all sizes, and the high rises outlined against an azure sky, were tribute to human skill and brilliance.
Changi International Airport was simply awesome. The expanse of terminal 1, soothed by green stretches, soft music, helpful airport staff, easy to follow directions, and a process oriented system was easy for the most uninitiated traveller, like me. I cleared immigration, collected my baggage, and found my son waiting outside the glass door, just as he had promised.
20th Dec, 2008
Today, I got my first real feel of Singapore. We took the Savannah Condopark bus and went to the MRT station. Abhi got me an EzLink card worth 15 dollars. I will be able to use this not only for the public transports such as MRT (train) or SMRT (Bus) but also to buy merchandise. I became quite an expert travelling along the travelator. It is basically a horizontal escalator, to make you walk faster. At every step you realize how easy life has been made for the citizens. No wonder people get accustomed to this and don’t want to leave this country. We first went around SMU, particularly the School of Economics, which is Abhi’s school. Since it was vacation time, the school was devoid of its usual buzz. The building, classes, study rooms, library, and the professor’s lounge and rooms were a perfect set-up for an academic environment comparable to the best universities in the world. Just across the street from SMU was the Kopitium (Food Court). We had delicious chicken rice and pork rice. Yes, I have decided to have non-veg for the time being. It was 6 in the afternoon and we got movie tickets for a 7 pm show of ‘The day the world stood still’, at Cathay, Singapore’s first movie theatre, which started before the 1st World War. Since there was still an hour left for the movie, we went around the Cathay mall. The mall housed a small gallery that exhibited old Cathay artifacts such as the projector, the reels, the old film posters, old photographs, the red wooden seats at the theatre, and numerous other memorabilia. Unfortunately photography was not allowed. Abhi was just picking up his mobile to click one (we Indians never change), when we saw the lens of one of the numerous camera pointing towards us. We abandoned the plan and took a free brochure instead. As malls go, they were all same, with their display of branded products, the glitz and glamour heightened by the coming festive season, and teeming with weekend browsers, most of whom like us were having ‘a look around’. The movie was funny. Never have I seen such a badly produced movie, particularly an English one. We laughed hearing Keanu Reeves speak Chinese. After the show, we went to the nearby Plaza Singapura, another mall, again fully resplendent in Christmas lighting. Here an exhibition of books and DVDs was going on. We checked and DVDs were available for 5 dollars. We have planned to check it out on the last leg of the tour, when we know how much money we have left to splurge, if at all we do. We had our dinner at Mc Donald’s and caught the MRT back to Semei.
If I have missed out commenting on the local people, then it will be an injustice to this perfectly designed place and its perfectly designed local population. They, particularly the fairer sex, come in compact models with hour glass figures, black straight hair, and strained un-smiling faces, as if the entire burden of the world lies on their fragile shoulders. They look like clones dressed differently. A Chinese (the highest percentage of Singapore’s population), who is fat, is a rarity. As I watched them heaping their plates with food at the Kopitium, I wondered how they could possible eat that much and still remain stick thin. Another of nature’s wonders. The men are also cloned versions bearing a serious, bespectacled look, and you wonder if their parents know them from one another of if they can make out between their parents (obviously by looking only at the face). Thinking differently, we may appear as similar to them, when they look at our dark and brown figures, loud and emotional, always bursting at the seams of our passion.

21st Dec, 2008
I now know why Abhi feels suffocated at times. Radhika’s entire family is very good to him and as his mom I am being pampered. Today we all went to Radhika’s dad’s house. Her brother’s family also leaves there. We had a sumptuous lunch of idli, dosas, dahi wads, mirchi bhajis, halwa and ice cream. The way I am eating or rather being forced to eat, I will put on 5 kilos, if I am not careful. After lunch we went to Mustafa; it is huge, and has everything under one roof. We had a look around, while Radhika bought her essentials. I plan to go back and get some bulk items from there. In the evening Radhika’s dad took us all out for dinner at Rafael’s Hotel. It was one of the best Chinese eateries in town and we had some exotic Chinese veg; spicy and sweet and sour tofu, eggplant veggie, crispy rice and sweet and sour soup, noodles, and a mushroom and asparagus with broccoli. After dinner we went up to the 70th floor (the second highest hotel in the world) and saw the dazzling lights of Singapore; right from the Merlion, to the Big Eye, to the harbour, Orchard Street and some of the big hotels. It was amazing. Then we went for a drive along Orchard Street with its brilliant Christmas lighting.

22nd Dec, 2008

Sentosa (peace and tranquility) it was todayJ we went out at 11.30, and reached City Hall station by MRT. Walking the streets is a real pleasure, and does not tire you at all. We went to the Excelsior Hotel and confirmed our booking for the Sentosa trip. I picked up all the brochures on display and Abhi said I was behaving like a true Indian, going for all the free stuff. I agree, though there was foresight involved. It was the latest tourist info and would be helpful to others as well as me, if I was required to write about ‘Singapura’. Once through with this, we went to the Funan mall; it is an entire mall with electronics goods and you get the latest stuff here. Just going around the mall was fun. We checked out some cheap music players, and promised ourselves to come back, if we had money left after all the other shopping and going around. (Btw, if you have noticed this is the same promise I am making to myself every time I fancy something.) In the mall itself, we suddenly saw this Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani guy sitting on the floor in one corner and having his rice and curry. It was so typical, and for a moment I could actually understand why people from the sub continent were hated, as they were. We spend a good hour at Funan and decided to get a KFC burger meal ($ 3.60 – A burger, mashed potatoes, and a coke) to carry for lunch. Since there was still some time left for the bus to start, we had our meal at one of the numerous outdoor sitting places, opposite Raffles City. We finished our lunch and walked back to the pickup point at Excelsior. Accustomed to travel in India where a tour group would typically consist of an overwhelming number of Bongs, Gujjus, and Mallus, this was a welcome change. It was truly an international mix. We were given stickers, which said we were the Sentosa group of SH travels. Celina, our tour guide, welcomed us abroad the bus and we started our journey to the cable car station, with her calling our attention to the sites of the city. There was a long queue at the cable station but it was quite enjoyable to observe others. Before getting into the cable car, groups were asked to pose for pictures, and the system was so fast that in one minute flat, even before you had got into the car, the picture was framed and displayed for you. If you did not want to spend the 20 dollars then a polite ‘no’ was all you had to say.
The site of Sentosa from the cable car was awesome. There is lot of construction happening on the island at the moment. Universal Studios is coming up with a theme park and Singapore is opening its doors to Casinos (albeit with some restriction on the local people). Our first stop was the Underworld Sea. Though it is a fish aquarium under the ground, you got the effect of travelling under the sea. Huge fishes swam all about you (not below you), as you stand on the travelator. Abhi took a lot of videos and we hurried out to the bus, which took us for the Dolphin show. There were sitting arrangements all around a large water body. The show started. There were three dolphins and they performed amazing tricks. They performed dances, flips, somersaults, played with balls, and also kissed three volunteers from the audience, who went into the water. After the show, we went to see the Merlion. It is Singapore’s emblem; a figure with a lions head and a mermaids body. There was a lift inside the Merlion, which took us 10-storey high to the head area. Our last stop was for the event ‘Songs of the Sea’. We sat in a semicircular arena, beside the waterfront. The show was actually a light and sound show combined with laser beams. It spoke about a simple story about a princess who had fallen asleep only to be woken up by the sweet voice of a village boy ‘Lee’. The show combined fabulous coordination of light, sound, and clever use of laser beams with water sprays, and fireworks. It was a total technological marvel. The show was over by 8.30 and we reached home by 9.30.
23 rd Dec, 2008
Yesterday’s hectic travel and long sitting hours spelt the worst for my tail-bone, which wanted to script its own tale. Gave a break to Abhi and my tail, took a couple of panadols and slept late. We went out around 2 and headed straight for the 24-hour shop called Mustafa. Today was totally for shopping. After Mustafa, we met Radhika and Rajiv (of course Raheel in tow) at China Town. Again we shopped; I sat on a trishaw for a photograph, and eat a local delicacy called ‘bread ice cream’ (a scoop of ice cream inside coloured bread, to be eaten like a sandwich). Since Abhi wanted to take me for a dinner of Chicken sambhar rice, Radhika dropped us off at Katong. After a leisurely meal of this exotic local food, we walked around Katong, saw a few malls and then took the bus home. I was thrilled to ride the double-decker and experience the SMRT travel.

24th Dec, 2008.
Christmas Eve and the sky is overcast with rain clouds. We will leave later in the day. The plan is to browse round the town area, City Hall, Bugis, round the malls, look at the displays, avoid any purchase but one – Raheal’s T shirt. Abhi is not keeping too well. He has a cold, and I know how awful he feels; so the very fact that he is out, shows the effort that he is making. We roam around for a while, sit for some time and generally soak up the atmosphere. We still have not bought anything for the kid, as I found nothing that suited both my taste and the price I was ready to pay. I get two watches for R and B, fake and $6 each. Don’t know how long they will last, but since they are not too costly, I picked them up. By the time we are hungry and ready to eat, it is 5.30. We get some non-veg snacks from the 7/11 shops (You find them almost one every mile, they are open 24 hours and have good offers going on certain things. So, if you are lucky, you sometimes pick up good value for money). Then we came to the Kopitium, in front of SMU, and Abhi ordered two chicken and rice meals. They are for $3.60 and include a bowl of steamed rice (very tasty), a plate of chicken slices (cooked very light with some vegetables) and a bowl of soup. We eat heartily and sat their relaxed and satisfied. At around seven, we headed for the MRT. We were going to Orchard Road to watch the Christmas lights. We change MRT; the whole atmosphere, right from the time you take the escalator, is different. As we come out of the station, we are swallowed up by the flow of Christmas crowd and have no option but to follow them. However, before we let ourselves go, there is a pending task. We go into the Wisma Atria on Orchard; fortunately we like something at the Gap shop. We pick up a t shirt for Raheal. Job done, am relaxed and we walk out into the streets again to find that it has started to drizzle. Nonetheless the crowd is boisterous; families, friends, everyone is out on the streets. We are actually walking shoulder to shoulder on the footpaths, while the streets glow with candy pink lighting. The shops and malls and hotels and cafes on either sides glow like lighted Christmas trees. The bread-ice-cream vendor doles out this typical Singaporean delicacy. The hottest item this Christmas seems the Santa Cap clip that both men and women have on their head. They are for $5 and the rage this season; coming in gold and red these tiny cap clips really look cool. I start taking videos, my camera in one hand and clinging on to Abhi with the other hand. If I get lost here, I will probably be able to make my way back home, but then I don’t want to go into that hassle. I quickly decide on a contingency plan, in case we get separated. We walk for over a mile, along with thousands of other people. Tomorrow (Christmas day) Orchard will be closed to traffic and then one can walk on the street itself. The lights seem to glow and blaze in an unending strip. We turn around after sometime as we have to take the MRT back from Orchard station. The MRT station is very crowded, so is the train. We have to stand, as seats are all occupied. At Semei, I tell Abhi to take a cab, as I can see he is feeling ill. But he says he can make it. So, we walk back home.

25th Dec, 2008
Merry Christmas! We wake up very early and Vishakha (Radhika’s ‘man Friday’), is up and about. She has made tea for us. She will leave for mass and will be off for the day. We leave after I have tea and Abhi has his Panadol in warm water. He is in a better mood. The sky is still overcast but it is not raining. We take the 8 a.m. Savannah bus. We buy some chips from the 7/11 store at the Semei station, Abhi gets his stick of Vicks and then we catch the train to City Hall. We are there in time and the tour bus comes at 9 a.m. We are going to Jurong Bird’s Park. As the bus heads west, the streets are empty, it being a holiday. We reach by 10 a.m. On the way we pass by numerous factories. The Jurong area has almost 1000 factories. The Singapore Mint is also here. 10 percent of the population in Singapore lives in Jurong. Our tour guide Karen explained, how the ongoing economic crisis will affect asset-rich Singaporeans, where a lot of them will have to downsize their standards. Singapore is coming up with casinos in a big way. They are due to open by 2009 and 2010. However, in view of the depression that is affecting global economy this may not be a very good time for them to become operative. Singapore had 10 million tourists in 2007 and 2008 has not crossed that figure. Though Christmas day is not really the day to discuss such dismal situation, the topic comes inevitably into conversation. We enter the birds park and start with a panorail (a monorail) ride, which takes us through various points like Lory’s Loft, Flamingo Pool, The Dino bird, etc. But before the train ride we enter the special Penguin area, where an environment suited to house birds accustomed to arctic extremes, have been created in this tropical country. I have never seen live Penguins, and they are very cute. They often cry out loud, giving an eerie feeling. Some of them swim in the water while the others stand in groups. I get so caught up, taking videos that we almost miss the monorail. Lory’s Loft, where we alight from the train, is a huge netted area, where parrots and macaws of all colors are flying around. You can buy some bird food and they then actually sit on your hand and have the food. The birds seem very used to human visitors and are totally unafraid. We finish with the loft and then start walking around on our own. First we head for the Birds and Buddies show. This is an extraordinary experience. Birds right from macaws, parrots and vultures have been trained to do so many things. The birds fly very low over your head from one point of the open auditorium to another. Their trainers are positioned at various points. The show starts with a band of dancing flamingoes, all bred at the Jurong Park. They accompany the show conductor to the arena, and their graceful walk, complimented with delicate flapping of their wings to the music gives the impression that they are dancing. Two Macaws play basket ball (they have to pick four balls, one at a time, and put them into miniature baskets). The two birds, Barry and Cocky, have teams of spectators supporting them. We support Cocky and cheer him loud. Cocky wins both games and we applaud. The Macaws also do other very nice tricks. Volunteers are picked from the spectators and the birds go and sit on their arms and eat from their hand. We are asked to hold up money and a gentleman who is in the middle aisle is selected. He folds a $10 note, twice over, and holds it in his outstretched hand. The bird flies down to him, takes the money and returns to the trainer and drops it in his pocket. Later he takes it again back to the man and puts it on his palm. Then comes the hoopla-hoop show. Members from the audience hold up hoops and the birds fly through them. I pick up my hand and get selected to hold the hoop. Abhi says it is ‘Paisa Wasool’. After the show, we walk around the Flamingo pool and other areas. We are back at the bus by 12.30 a.m. and head back to the pick-up point.
Abhi is hungry for the Chili crab that he has planned for today’s lunch. It’s going to cost us a bomb but what the heck. We head for the pier, which is lined with numerous eateries. There are sea-food joints, Indian eateries and English pubs. We select one of the sea-food places and order two mugs of beer. The medium crab costs $75. We hardly have all that cash and Abhi goes to withdraw cash. We have a sumptuous lunch. The crab is mammoth and I am scared thinking of the amount that I have to eat. We are made to wear thin plastic aprons, so that when we break open the crabs we do not get stained by the juices. Dressed such, and armed with instruments that resemble pliers and plus, we start the adventure. We are so engrossed in the whole procedure that we forget to seep our beers. But it is fun. There is a Russian family sitting close by and they are also struggling like us. They drop the instruments and start with their hands. We also do the same. It takes us almost two hours to wade through that crab curry. Every moment I wished that Rintu was here; he would have enjoyed and made full justice to the food. Our bill came to a whopping $107. We could hardly get up after over-filling ourselves like that. We dragged around for some time and headed for the SMU sitting area. Here we slept on the wooden benches, our heads resting on the desks, and our tired bums resting on the chairs. And even in this uncomfortable condition we dozed off; the beer and crab settling down. Around 5.30, we refreshed ourselves at the college washrooms and walked back to the Excelsior pick-up point. Our bus for the night safari left at 6.15. The tour guide, Peter, explained the concept of the safari, and told us to be back at the bus by 10. After we reached the place, we got our tickets for the safari and joined the long queue waiting at the tram station. There was a tram car every 5 minutes, so it was not very long before we were seated on one. The tram rolled out of the station and immediately the night calm and silent air surrounded us. As the tram made its way through Indian jungles, Asian riverine forests, Amazonian rainforests, Hills of Burma, the voice of the tour guide briefed us on the animals that were there at a stone’s throw from the tram car. We saw rare animals such as the ant eaters. Rhinos, hippos, tigers, lions and hyenas, they were all there. After the tram ride we went on the Leopard trail. We saw a baby Leopard climbing the tree. We went to see the free flying fruit bats. They flew down quite low. Quite a few of them were feasting on the fruits that have been hung on the trees. It must be quite sad hanging down and eat; but then they may look at us and have the same feeling seeing us walking upside down. Apart from the fact that the safari was a unique concept, what struck me as enterprising was that each animal had been adopted by some corporate or moneyed individual. Right from Standard Chartered to Quality Walls, to Tiger Balm, they were all there. After this we went for the fire show. This was also quite entertaining and was basically a tribal show, with all sorts of displays with fire that looked quite risqué. By then we were just too tired and went back to the bus. We reached home by 11.30 and dropped into bed.

26th Dec, 2008

We chilled at home till around 5 in the evening. Matthew had invited us for dinner at the East Coast Seafood Centre. It was on the beach, and looked similar to Bandra Bandstand. We had a sumptuous dinner. However Matthew has changed a lot. He has grown up and not the talkative boy I remember. The place also had Singapore’s first rail ski place. Here instead of speed boats, an automatic overhead wire line speeds you across the water while you hold on to your ski board. You get dunked once in a while, but it’s safe as you can swim back. Later on we took a walk around the place, and Matthew dropped us off at Savannah.

27th Dec, 2008

There was a movie, a trip to Mustafa, and a visit to Clarke planned for today; and everything went according to the plan. We left at 4.30; Malav, Rahil’s cousin, came along. We first went to GV to see Australia. I loved the movie, so did Abhi, though both of us felt that the editing could have been crisper. This movie has a big chance to make it to the Oscars. I am glad that I watched it (each ticket is $10) for Nagpur will never have it in the theatre. After the show I and Abhi went to Little India, while Malav went home. We collected the GST form from Mustafa, exchanged money and then went to an Indian Biryani place. The food was good and Abhi said, ‘nothing beats Indian food’. After our meal we took the MRT to Clarke; this is Singapore’s clubbing area. Since it was Saturday night, it was chock-a-block with people. Youngsters, office goers, tourists, they were all there. We saw some belly-dancing; it was happening in the open. Went around the place. It was quite late; we took the night bus (the no 12 according to Abhi is the magic bus as it goes everywhere). When we reached home the family was still up. We started chatting; Rajiv and Rahil went to bed. Radhika, me and Abhi chatted till 4 in the morning.
28th Dec, 2008
My last day here. It has been a grt trip, an eye-opener in many ways, and an opportunity to see Abhi as an adult. We went out in the evening to roam around east-side; Semei is east side. We had coffee at Starbucks. Another dream fulfilled. Dinner was at Mittal’s place (she is Radhika’s elder sister). There was Afghan food in the menu and another first for me. Took the recipe of what looked the easiest.
29th Dec,2008
Will leave in sometime. Abhi has gone out for an interview. My bags are packed and am ready to go. Pray to God that Abhi has a very happy and long life.