Goodbye, old friend!

This is a post which I wrote the day after I moved out of my previous apartment.

Everyone has their routines, like morning chores or commuting to work or buying groceries, routines that people give little or no thought to, activities that just happen in everyday life when most people are busy planning other things. All of it changes when you know that this is probably the last time you are going to do what used to be just a routine in your life.

Yesterday when I walked to my apartment from the train station, I took my time to do it. I enjoyed the sunset more than I use to, forgot to cross the road since I stayed longer at the signal, simply looking around, got immersed in the beauty of the blue sky during twilight (my favorite time of the day) even though I have seen many times, all of this because I didn't want let go of that feeling, the feeling which I get when I am around that neighborhood for a random walk to the nearby shop or a Saturday morning jogging session, when the feelings are always that of hopes and dreams.

I didn't want to let go because, it was time for us to move out from our apartment, the place where I started my life with the love of my life, the place where we not only lived, but enjoyed every bit of it, for the last two years. The place which gave us nothing but happiness, the place which is full of happy memories, laughter and energy, the place which we set up from scratch, where we painted the walls with “loud” colors, the place which automatically gets transformed to a party place every Friday night, the place which we transformed from a mere apartment to our home.

When its time for us to move on, we all think about the time when we started it and it never looks that far into the past, it always feels like yesterday. The apartment was no different. It gave us a lot of memories to cherish for the rest of our lives. Each of those walls or windows had some special memory etched to it. The place never stopped inspiring and motivating us.

By the time we were done with cleaning and packing the last of the stuff, it was late night. Still we just sat there for a while thinking about all those nostalgic moments. Both of us felt heavy at heart. We felt that the apartment has a soul, one which we created out of our own soul, our lives, one which we hope will follow us, no matter wherever we go.

The last of the beer cans we consumed before passing on the keys to the landlord

Crazy Weekend

My weekends generally fall into either of the following two categories. 1. Good weekends - where I have lots and lots of fun and not even realizing the time flying by, till its Monday morning and yet I feel more energetic (even with all the lack of sleep) and 2. The bad ones - where I usually sit at home doing nothing and simply feel empty by Sunday evening and hate Monday’s so much that at times I end up taking a day off.

Then there is the third type, the one which happens once in a “Blue Moon” - The Crazy One. Two weeks back, it was a “Blue Moon”.

To make the long story short, one Thursday evening, I was at my apartment in Singapore wondering what I am going to do the next day at work and how boring my weekend’s gonna be. But less than 24 hours later, I was a 1000 miles away from home - Phuket, Thailand - the Vegas of South East Asia, trying to figure out how I ended up there.

Now to the long version as on why I was wondering about the next day’s work and why my weekend had nothing planned. Like in all crazy stories, I have a bunch of crazy friends with whom I usually do a bunch of crazy things. A lot of things were happening during the last couple of months (like one of my friend’s finding his better half) that we all wanted to have some time together and thought of planning a trip. Due to some technical difficulties, Manju and I had to skip it and my friends ended up planning it. Since their flight was on Friday early morning, Manju and I decided to meet them on Thursday evening to wish them a good trip. Generally when we meet, we end up suffering from lack of sleep (and hang over) the next day, which was why I was bothered about the the next day’s work. Since they were flying, we didn't have the “default meetup” planned and my weekend schedule was kind of empty.

Well, I forgot about all my worries once I was among my friends and started partying. I remember how we started the evening. I remember we playing cards, loud music, having nachos, singing songs, lot of laughs and talks (some about me not going for the trip) and like all parties, after some time, everything started to seem like a blur and time started to slow down. Soon, it was time for the last bus to head back home and I remember reaching for my shoes. We wished them happy journey (I thinks I did) and walked towards the bus stop.

I've heard people saying that love and alcohol tend to amplify our emotions. Well, I had both in my system and I remember feeling a void somewhere in my head. I think I started my usual philosophy session and after sometime, that crazy idea stuck my head. (I do not remember whether it was me or Manju who initiated it). “Why can’t we go back, book the tickets right now and go with them?” Immediate, as the afterthought, the following questions also popped into my mind. “But then how about work tomorrow, the weekend plans? I haven’t packed anything, well I don’t even have my passport with me, how am I going to do it?” Then Manju said, “The worst thing that can happen if we go back now is, we will miss our bus and may have to get a cab to go home. But the best case scenario is, we can have a crazy weekend”.

And yeah, we did go back, partied more, arranged for “emergency” leave for next day, booked the (super expensive, last minute) tickets (barely 6 hours before), took a detour to get our bags packed, and made it to the airport just in time to board the flight - extremely hungover and with little sleep the night before.

Now when I think about that night, all I can recall is only some flashes here and there. But it was just the beginning of a crazy weekend. What happened in Phuket, is the subject for yet another post. Sometimes in life, there comes a point when you have to do something, without thinking a lot. That’s when you have to remember about the Nike ad campaign - “Just do it” (I remember thinking about it just before boarding the flight). Because, during most of these situations, you know very clearly what you want deep inside. If you ponder a lot over the decision or try to come up with every possible consequence it will make in your life, it might never happen. You might  cherish the memories forever or might regret it in future. But always remember what the “wise man” said, “Never regret anything you have done in your life, because, that’s what you wanted the most at that point in time”

Over Enjoyment!

Usually when I don’t write blogs for long time, it means, either there are not many happenings in my life to write about or I am having so many things happening that I hardly get enough time or mood to even think about writing. The latter seems to be the reason for last couple of months. Even those blogs I managed to write was more of photos and less of content. The reason being, I was determined to enjoy my vacation to the fullest. And I did it.
Looking back, I can easily say I just had the best vacations ever and I don’t have track of the things I did. By the time I was back from India, I promised myself that, no matter what I do, I’ll write all about it. I somehow managed to do it for one or 2 things. Every time I do something new, I think about blogging. But then again, I managed to microblog (twitter) some of them I guess. And I really wonder now whether I have lost the grip of writing.
I am not that sure why I am writing this blog now. May be as a desperate attempt to get back in the track of writing or like I read in one of the blogs, it’ll be fun to read about this vacation after 10years or so.
Ok here comes the list,
Places we changed upside down - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
In Singapore (The ones I remember) - Singapore Zoo, Science Centre, Labrador Park, Sentosa, Chinese Garden (which used to be in the back yard of the place where I stayed last time), Clarke Quay, Clarke Quay, Clarke Quay…
Bottles we finished! (Outings & Parties) - numerous, I have no idea about how many, on an average, 2 - 3 parties per week.
Others - PADI open water Scuba Diving Certification. Sea diving at Tioman, Malaysia next week, Marathon 2 weeks from now.
Movies I watched in Silver screen (The ones I remember)
Angels & Daemons - Great one, loved it
The Taking of Pelham 123 - Good One
Transformers - Crappy
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - I liked the previous one better
Ice Age 3D - loved 3D, but not the movie
Luck - I thought this was the worst movie until I watched…
Love Aaj Kal - Great Movie if you want to waste your money, time and peace of mind
Hangover - Excellent, the best part is, we went for this movie after a party, really drunk and I want to watch that movie one more time
UP (3D) - Awesome movie in terms of both the story and the 3D, loved that one
Paintings - The Lake House
Games - Tomb Raider Underworld, Crysis Warhead
Books - Around 5 I think, now reading Harry Potter series, again
And many other things which I don’t remember now…
Above all, I made many new friends.
Finally, the vacation’s over. New semester is starting from today. At this point, I feel drained of all the energy, exhausted from over enjoyment, but with the satisfaction of having the best vacation, ever. I used to wonder whether I’ll even get tired of overdoing the things I love. Guess I got the answer. Tired to the end that I am promising myself that there won’t be any more parties and outings, (atleast for a month). I wish I get to ‘execute laziness’ like I did some time back and get back my writing ‘grip’ so that I can be back to my regular blogging and blog about atleast some of the items in the list above. Hopefully I will, let see!