I feel it was only yesterday that I was struggling to get this trip done and now time has flown by so fast that it is just two weeks more here. And this time unlike all my previous trips, I would be glad if I can come back here to spend more time J I am so much in love with this small island. It’s a better shaped and organized India. So Rajiv asks me the other day, do you love it more than Bangalore – I say Yes. He is surprised by the reply because this comes from a girl who has the royal KV blood flowing through every cell in the body. I think he asked me the wrong question. J Bangalore inspite of being my second home , in spite of being such a lovely place to live , I feel it lacks any kind of engagements or activities for a culturally inclined person like me! There are no beaches in Bangalore, there are no middle class entertainment stuff which I am used to and feel part of. If he had asked me do you love Singapore more than Chennai or TVM for that matter…the answer would definitely be NO. J J
So the last few weekends were great. On one of those weekends we went to Indonesia. My colleagues here suddenly planned it on Friday evening and booked the tickets. One Indian friend from there also joined us. Totally “funny” (read as irritating and absolutely nonsense person whom I stay away from normally) guy he is. I hate it when Indian guys who are not so cool try to pretend being cool and think high of themselves. He is one such character! Like Karna having the kavacha and kundala stuck to him this fellow has a Ipod and two earphones !!! To add to our itch, he gives a silly smile and grooves and sings “its gonnaa bee a gooddddd nighhhttt” in his croaky feminish voice looking at each of us. DISGUSTING AND ATROCIOUS! I was contemplating at one point if we all should just throw him into the sea! If in spite of such a torture being around for a whole day I had a nice time, then you should imagine how good it was that it compensated for the torture! J
Indonesia consists of 17500 islands and is on the pacific “ line of fire” region. Normally there is an earthquake every other week. Followed by it is the tsunami warning! We were a little skeptical since there was a major earthquake just one week before our trip. Google is god- so we searched on it for any warnings of tsunami or earthquake aftershocks in the region we went to. There were none. So being brave we decided to leave at 6 am on Saturday, catch a ferry to an island called Bintan which is part of the Rheu group of islands of Indonesia. It is famous for watersports and golfing. The 55 minute ferry ride was beautiful. I was on the lookout for dolphins, but dint find any at all. Indonesia is running on an all time inflation. One Singapore dollar is almost 7500 Indonesian rupiah. And I also learned that corruption out in the open is something not limited to India. Indonesia is one step ahead of us…. At the immigration counter at Bintan, we were “offered” a easy hassle less entry without standing in the queue by the officer if we paid a tip of 2 dollars (14000 IDR) per person.
I also learned, arguing and fixing a deal with taxi drivers are also not limited to India. After some thorough negotiation we got a interesting cab driver who knows amitabh bachan, shah rukh khan. He even turned on the radio for some Tamil songs!
We reached the bintan lagoon resort which was a beautiful and huge luxury resort by the sea. We registered as day users and headed for the beach. I am invited by a breathtaking view of light blue-ish, greenish beautiful waters stretching up to meet a slightly cloudy sky. We were a little disappointed that it was going to run and a little tensed too to think of a sea storm or something coming this way. Rajiv desperately wished for a tiny tsunami to come so we could stand in front of it to take some snaps and run away! K
Since the tides were a little high, the water sports section was closed till 2. So we spent time playing in the water ,running around, playing beach volleyball, eating and blah blah… it was relaxing. There was a slight drizzle and it just enhanced the view of the beach. Once the clouds had vanished off and the sun came out scorching above us, we decided to have some “real fun”. We met two Indian ladies who came sightseeing too. Shivangi and Garima are students in Singapore and were on a weekend trip to Bintan. The bachelors in our group were obviously happy to include them into our gang. All of us decided to take the first ride which was –the Banana Boat. It is like a big yellow balloon boat which is shaped like a banana. It has a rope tied to a speed boat. So basically the banana boat would follow the speed boat into the sea speeding through the waves. Five of us got ready for the first batch. Sudheer, Rajiv , me and another couple – Nidhi and Pramod. Nidhi and Me were being encouraged and consoled by our respective hubbies that all will be fine, be brave, no tension, nothing will happen blah blah. Sudheer too joined them and said “yea girls..just take a long breath when you fall into sea and life jacket will bring you up in seconds”. Nidhi and I looked at each other jaws down and screamed….WHATTTT??? “we will fall into the sea????”. From that moment I froze. And so had Nidhi too I guess. My senses had stopped working, but there was no going back since we already paid. So while I was being strapped up with the life jacket I consoled myself -A lot of people must have already done so there is no risk involved. I prayed to god that there should not be any defects in the life jacket and it should bring me up! I cursed the person who created all these funny scary rides. I don’t understand the logic behind paying 40 dollars to get a feeling of drowning in the sea! I don’t know what all crazy thoughts came into my mind that time. But it was interrupted. I was asked to get on to the banana boat. I chose the safest place right behind Rajiv in the middle of the boat. I was clinging on to the string of my seat like a leech sticking on to the body refusing to go. I was worried that if I held on to it so strong, mebbe it will get cut. Sudheer being the first on the boat was asked to signal the speed boat driver with a thumbs up/down to increase or decrease the speed. The guys lined up for the second batch are waiting on shore watching us. Am sure they were thinking “ab inka kya hoga…watching them il decide if I should go or not”! But they were cheering “bye guys…hve fun””!!! Interrupt….silence….
Engines of speed boat start and whrooomm we go. Nidhi and I scream at the top of our voice.
Rajiv: vavu…are u ok? See its so much fun.
Me: Yes.
Pramod: ya…lets scream….
All of us: Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Nidhi: God …I love u
Me: Yaa…I agree…
Nidhi: lets sing
Both of us: some crappy old hindi tragedy song I think. We both don’t remember. What…
The boat turns….
Someone: heyyyyy…..
Me: what?
Blank blank blank…
Its all blue around me. Blank….blank….And im going down…bubbles around…blank..blank…y am I not going up?....blank…drank a few mouthful of Indian ocean….and I surface….pheww…Im alive…open my eyes and look around….where’s Rajiv? I find him in front of me.
Rajiv: vavu…u ok? Don’t get tensed. Its all fine. You just have to get back into the boat.
I can see that pramod is also comforting Nidhi. Both of us look white…scared till each nerve. Like kittens in water! Eyes popping out.
It was just a matter of seconds. One moment I was screaming out and realized the boat was tilting and the next I am in the deep blue ocean –literally drowning! Even though being born in the water bearer sun sign – Aquarius –I have no control over my body when I’m in water- more so when I lose balance. So there I am floating on my back one moment…trying to swim and then I get turned around ..now floating on my tummy…struggling to keep my head above water. Rajiv is asking me to stay floating on my back. But I seem to have to control on it at all. He hands me a rope to hold. Nidhi n I grab it with all our strength. Sudheer by now is back on the boat. Pramod and Rajiv also hop on. Nidhi and I too managed to hop on, still not out of the shock. I can feel my heart inside the ears, mouth ..whatever. So I tell the driver, not to topple the boat again. To just take us to safety. The boys want more. So the driver obliges to them and we get tossed into the sea once again. Same episode a second time.
After drinking almost two glasses of the salty Indian ocean water and donating my hair band to the sea ( it disappeared somewhere during the fall and struggle to hop back on the boat), I am back on shore wishing luck to the next batch. Infact I don’t think I said anything at all… I just came to the shore and just lied down. Half in the water, half on the sand. Slowly my senses come back to normalcy. My hands and knees are still a little shaky but I was alive, and that felt great. I succumbed to the fact that I am a person who likes my feet touching ground- literally. I am not comfortable either high up in the sky, nor down under the water. I am comfortable when my feet are stable n steady touching the ground!
There was a snorkeling round as well which we all went for, but I decided to stay on the boat. The banana ride was enough adventure for one day! Rest of the evening was merely playing on the lovely beach…drenched head to toe…having a nice bath and having some good pizza. Managed to have a quick look at the indonesian wooden crafts and instruments before we left. We reached back Singapore at night around 10pm ; all of us were exhausted totally, with a nice tan. I especially have a very sensitive skin, so for about a week after the Indonesian trip I looked like a roasted tandoori chicken!
To be continued ….
In the next edition you will get to know about the mysore pak tragedy!!!! J
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