An alien in Singapore! (1)

Well.. The long awaited post by some including me.. coz, thru this i can tell my singapore tale to everyone. :)

It was kind of a relief for me that i had something to do soon after the exams got over. I love being occupied with things and work. I was in all enthusiasm. Once the exams got over, i started planning things. But don’t know why, gradually the interest started declining. Sometimes i feel this. I dont’ call it sixth sense and make fun of myself!! But i wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the Student congress in Singapore. I started feeling like, it wont’ be of my likes and kinds. But then, that immense curiosity was there to know about unknown things about an unseen country. That compensated for the declining interest. :)

We had our flight at 11.05 at night from Bangalore. At the airport i met the other girl who was from our group, Mugdha K Goud. Her mother and her cousin, Anushka were with her. We went to the airport from my uncle’s place in Hebbal , so it dint take us much time to reach airport and we were spared of the hectic traffic jams on airport road at those times! My parents, my cousin and my brother were with me. That was my first travel on air. I had wished the journey to be in the day time for i could’ve seen things outside the window , observe the manoeuvring of the wings and all.. But ours was night journey :( still i could see the things at dawn when we reached Singapore the next day at 6 in the morning. (Local time 6. Flight time was about 4 hours or so. There is a difference of about 2.5 hours between Singapore and India)

Though it was still dawn, the city was full of lights which could be seen from the skies only.. Hmm.. The feeling was one of the first of its kind. coz, i had never been abroad before. What all i knew was through someone else..

I wont describe how the roads were, what kind of cars were there and all.. but one thing i was impressed with was the cleanliness at public places there. From there only, one can't stop comparing things here and there. It's natural. But what i observed in people who had gone there from here was, the first thing they used to say , "it will take another 100 years for India to become like this ." hmm.. may be true. but what i was interested in was what can we do for that! It becomes a fancy for people who return from developed countries to start saying this. How many of them follow rules on road and at public places in India with the same sincerity as they do elsewhere?

The Student congress was to be held at National University of Singapore. A large campus it was. First thing we headed towards that morning after we reached the campus was for breakfast! I was feeling very hungry. One more thing is, it is hot and humid climate there.. I was sweating badly which i usually don't.. I was like, i'l be dehydrated in some time if i sweat like this.. We came to know that there is a cafeteria nearby the registration desk. We found it and went there... It was a nice place to look from outside.. Once we entered it. Devre! a peculiar smell. the whole cafe was smelling like something, which i can't describe in words!!! i later came to know it is because of a different kind of oil they use for cooking.. whatever, from there only i started feeling that my sixth sense was right. This is a place not for my kind! But what to do. had to survive the 5 days to come. I had to return alive coz i was to take up a job after coming back and also i didn't want to die this early in life! :p so, decided will eat something even if i wasn't feeling like.. we searched the place for an Indian food counter. Although there was one, it wasn't open yet. One said, 'Indian Standard Time'!! few of them settled for a cheese parata from one counter and got a curry along with that. I dint feel like experimenting with any food, so took a mixed fruit cup and banana... hmm.. everyone wondered at my diet!! :p I said i can survive with that and survived also! :)

Once we had the break fast, i dont know about others, but i badly wanted to take a cold shower asap. I told no, i was sweating like hell! but then we got the room keys at around 1 in the after noon. Till then we were roaming around the campus.. It was nice.. After we got the room keys, nope. it wasnt a key which is mechanical, it was a transponder= electronic key! I wil desrcibe about that. Whoever not interested in technical stuff, requested to scroll down and continue with the next paragraph :) It was like a car key to look at. it had a button. once we press the button, a light blinks. soon i found out that it actually sends a signal when we press the button. It was like, the building where we were accommodated, the floors were called levels. level 0,1,2.... each room had a unique transponder. i was assigned a room - 22/5/c. it meant, level 22 , cluster 5 and room c. each level had a number of clusters and each cluster had 15 rooms and a shared kitchen as well(well furnished!) for each cluster. With our transponder we could only reach the level we belonged to using the elevator from ground floor. and then in order to enter the cluster also, we need to use the transponder. press the button only then the door for the cluster opens. and for the room also, press the button and open the door. I know it is not that a great technology, just a centralised locking mechanism. But isn't that a great use of technology?? yep. but on the other hand, it reduces human intervention. Which is both good and bad according to me. why? i'll tell later..!

The rooms we were allotted was wonderful. It was well planned. The available space was used intelligently. Anyways, let me not describe the architecture of the place :) i so wanted to rest for some time meaning sleep! all my other friends had planned before only that they would be going to places like Sentosa, songs of the sea and other performances. Students who were organising the student congress and studying at NUS told that one 'should' visit all those places if you have come to singapore. Hmm.. I was not interested . First coz i was tired especially with the breakfast experience! and i dint want to experiment travelling a foreign country of which you dont know anything! I don't mind if people find me 'a slow paced moron'. So i told i wont be coming. I dint feel like, so i dint go. Thought will find out the reasons later! Slept after wards. Had a nice sleep atleast. Then got up at around 4.30. Then decided will see the whole campus once! Set out for the campus expedition :)

To be continued.....