The Rupee room dance with dollars

After watching an yet another disappointing but convincing performance by Indian cricketers against New Zealand, i set out to meet my sister. We went to the Vivo City to have dinner and probably watch a movie. Fortunately we did not get any movie tickets, besides she was leaving to Macau, China today, so she preferred to get back home asap. Meanwhile i get a call from my friends back in NTU about a bhangra night at a pub called Rupee room in Clarke quay. So we all met up at clarke quay MRT and went to this place at around 10.30 in the night. There were 5 guys and 4 girls, although the whole pub was inordinately filled with Indians.

Rupee room was modern with dim but classy lighting, the inside is lined with booths that encourage groups of friends to congregate and mingle. All the booths were reserved and we jus sat down at a table. Although there isn’t a formal dance floor sectioned off, there was a place at the centre where we can dance. We were a bit early and we started of the 'bhangra' in quite a style.

I thought of drinking. but ended up having sprite and fruit punch as always. All the others had nice shots of tequila and vodla. As the night progressed and when more alcohol started running through people's body, any standing place became an arena for you to get up and move your legs to the Indian beats, provided by a DJ.

I just remember dancing my ass off for like four straight hours. At one point of time there was not a single person sitting, and the room was full of people dancing and jumping around. It was kickass fun. People were all so pumped up.

Finally we came back an hour back, 4 am in the morning. It was an evening worth sharing. Thanks to the company, coupled with alcohol and a dance floor, I guess we nailed the right combo...

Been-Tan Millionaires!

It has been ages since I stepped onto this domain. I apparently was dwelling in happiness in the 10th dimension and the decision to jump on to this dimension was a tautological choice to make for the fastidious-me. Finally that was not the case nonetheless...I found the one that genuinely pokes my intellect and arouses my characteristic choler, apart from the I-sketch-for-my-happiness sketches that i make once in 3.14159 fortnights, or the random chords i play in my amazing guitar...and so i am back!

First, I was in a fix as to whether i should spend the weekend with my friends in Bintan, a cool island in Indonesia, or with the computer with which i am narrating this to you. Well i am glad i chose the former.
I thought this trip would be no different, it was just to arouse my inner self to the harsh realities of a PhD student's life, for instance, reminding yourself that you still are as vibrant as ever and the transformation into a fully grown nerd is only in its beginning stages. Nevertheless as they say fun is a state of mind, and we were all so keen on bringing that state of mind.
We were all so pumped up that few of us did not sleep the previous night, and were ready to catch the first bus out of NTU, to go the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal from where we were supposed to catch a ferry boat to Bintan. We left NTU with a rocking, upbeat mood never seen in the history of tourers in singapore. (Ref: Picture)

It is a 1 hr 30 min ferry ride from Singapore to the east coast of Bintan called as Tanjung Pinang. It was an awesome ride for the three reasons, one, it was really an awesome ride, two i decided to rampage the nuances of smoking (guys not kidding around this time, you can ask hari to confirm) and three, not to forget the tittle-tattle of my good friend hari. Within few minutes into the sea, i forgot about my PhD work and synched with the people around me. The place was India-look-alike, with the only people knowing english being the Immigration. They too preferred to swim in their own territory, even with my hard trials to showcast my newly learnt and adapted singapore culture (The culture being, people here are so humble, that they say sorry, if you ask them to excuse you and throw a smile at everybody) . Thanks to our friends Hari and Amrith, we had booked a hostel called Nostalgia Yasin Bunglaow. We were picked up by a 8-seater van at the ferry terminal, and went on an hour ride to this place.
The place was very desolate which added to the fun-factor. There were very few inhabitants in and around that place. And the beach was an amazing art by the harbinger of resplendence, nature. After a heavy and satisfying lunch, being the glutton i am, we started off with water snorkeling. They took us in a van to a nearby beach from where we were taken on a roller-coaster ride to an island called the White sand Island in the most expeditious way possible. We had taken our snorkeling gear, which consisted of a snorkel, a pair of fins, and a life jacket. Once we put our gear on, we just jumped into the water and went deep into the ocean to glimpse the beautiful coral reefs. I was so amazed to see those beauties up close although i was a bit irritated with my own noise of inhalaion and exhalation through the mouth. After we got tired of plundering the under water world, we went to flex our muscles with an all-amateur beach volley-ball game.
In the evening we made plans to go to the main land Bintan but finally decided against it considering the time constraints, and went to Tanjung Pinang city. It did make me feel like in kerala, especially calicut, as pointed out by hari in his blog. We were previliged to go to the Ramayana Mall and Bintan Mall, the former being an out and out discount sale shop and the latter, a large grocery shop.
We then went back to our sister resort and had dinner there, which was made by a great cook and an ever obedient server who had the patience to bring us everything we asked for. Then the boys got into drinking, the only amazing thing to quote about that was hari being normal after 3 shots of tequila and a large of vodka, although he could not finish the latter. I had decided to remain in the smoky world and had quite a number of cigarettes, unlike myself. We just walked back to our resort which reminded me of the good old days with my friends in NITC.
I was woken up the next day by the door banging of my then room mate Manish. Me and Ravi stayed in one room (which had 2 separate beds) totally lost in our own dream worlds (No Pun there, not the least).
The next day was full of water sports like kayaking, banana boat and flying fish. It would be an insult to the kayak, if i don't mention the kayaking experience we had. Prasanna and me went on a kayak very far into the sea, only to realize the high tide which was slowly receding capsized our kayak. But then, we had the masters of kayaking, hari and ravi around us (luckily) who came to our rescue. I just remember trying to get on to the kayak for ages but in vain. We had to push it and bring it along. The boat propelled flying fish and banana boat are two things that you would want to do if you are the adventurous types. It kept us panting for more. Finally we finished with all our water sports and went to the room to get freshened up for lunch. This time around, most of them tried Indonesian food except me, since i do not like the smell very much. I was happy with a mere fried rice, called Nasi Goreng there. After a heavy lunch coupled with the euphonious sound of water hitting the shore, i was totally sleepy. Dragged along by others, we went and pillaged the souvenir shop. That was when we realized we were millionaires, (one Singapore dollar is around 7500 Indonesian Rupiah) and that we got tanned. After a marvelous weekend, i took 2 vows while coming back. One that i will not stop my blogging because that's what makes me who i am, and two (a cliched one) my lips will not hold anything that has the smell of tobacco from now on. Indeterministic quantum mechanics forces us to address the question of whether the actions of an individual carrying out experiments(like trying out cigarettes) can truly be excluded from the world studied by physics,(wth has smoking got to do with physics?). Well it appears that reality may be thought of as having two levels. The one you see and the one you don't with the hitch of wanting it to be the one you want to see :) To hell with my bull shit, is what you say, I am back to my PhD work now...