It has been a busy week. My parents visited me and it was awesome. Then my graduation ceremony was also there and that was also pretty awesome. Its better if I had a reason like "I was busy so I didn't blog", than "I was lazy so I didn't blog".
***
The day my mom and dad came to Singapore was the day I didn't oversleep. I woke up at 4.45 am and I hired a cab to get to the airport for a plane that lands at 5.55 am. I was pretty early. Unfortunately my parents weren't.
Just after the plane had landed and everyone was getting of the plane, my dad went to take a leak. What's wrong with that? My mom didn't notice where he had gone and she thought he had got off the plane. She was all alone in one of the largest airports in the world and she can't even speak English properly. So she wandered off searching for him and after much desperate searching, he appeared. As they finally made their way to the luggage collection belt, they were the last to collect and about an hour had passed since the flight had landed.
Both mom and dad seemed happy to see me. We took the MRT to my hostel where they freshened up. The hotel check in was only at 1 pm and they figured that they could use some rest. Soon after my mom stepped into my apartment, she started unpacking all the stuff she had brought for me from India. All sorts of food items including fruits, cereals and ready-to-eat meals were followed by clothes, soaps and shampoo. After that she took out packets of poori and some prawn gravy and fried fish to go with it.
Me, my mom and my dad just sat on the floor. We didn't bother setting up the table. People didn't need dinner tables in India, at least not until the British came to India. In my dad's village, I've never seen a home with a dining table. Our house in India has one, but we don't always use it.
I never sat on the floor when I ate since coming to Singapore, and when I sat down today, I had a strange but good feeling in me. My mom served us food and we ate. I savoured every bite. I rarely eat prawns because I'm slightly allergic to them but I love them. I can't cook other non-vegetarian items as well because my room-mates are vegetarian due to their religion and I didn't wanna "contaminate" the utensils.
There was still a lot of the prawns and fish left and that was for me to refrigerate and consume for the coming week. "Enjoy it while it lasts", my mom said.
The next few days are a blur. I took them to as many places I can without getting them too tired. They loved the view of the Marina Bay Sands from the Robinson Quay. They enjoyed the cable car ride and the 4D Pirates movie in Sentosa. They were surprised by how large Mustafa Centre was. They had a shopping spree at Bugis street and Chinatown. They fed Lories at the Jurong Bird Park and they went on the Night Safari. And most importantly, they attended my convocation.
***
My convocation was an exciting day for me. I missed my Bachelor degree convocation in India because I was in Singapore. It was a pretty lame one as I would realize after seeing the pictures that my friends had sent. This time was going to be perfect, I thought to myself. I stayed home and made preparations while sending a friend to pick up my mom and dad from their hotel room and accompanying them to my room. I pressed my shirt and trousers, brand new, both of them. I practiced my tie knot, until I got the right size and length. I had resolved a belt emergency (I had gotten thin and my belt was pretty loose. So I had to borrow a belt from a guy skinnier than me.) and by the time I was done, I was pretty sure I can't look any better with my features than I looked right then.
My parents had reached and we started for my university. This was the first time they came to the university and they were impressed. Lecture "theatres" of this size don't exist in the average Indian engineering college and they found this grand. We had lunch and then headed out to the auditorium. The ceremony got under way and I could only hope I didn't do anything stupid on the stage.
When my turn to get the degree certificate from the vice-president, I was surprisingly calm. But only after I saw the video later, I realized the mistake I had made - I held the guy's hand as he shook and got the degree in my other hand. I stayed this same way for graduation photo as well and I can only hope that I didn't make the poor guy uncomfortable or that I had ruined my photo.
***
Then after eating some bad Chinese food (not sure if badly cooked or generally bad) we headed to my room where we changed and then headed to Mustafa Centre to buy a TV. We bought a Sony LED 42" TV and all I could think was "this is what they write rap songs about".
The last day of their stay in Singapore was pretty ominous. It started raining pretty badly. We went to my uncle's place where we had some great food and watched a Tamil movie. Then we headed to the airport where we were able to claim about a hundred dollars of GST.
The goodbye wasn't long or tearful. But when I headed back home I felt as if I should have said something more than I did. Their stay, though brief, had formed a part a memorable part of my life. I felt a little sad and lonely that night.
There was still some prawn gravy and fried fish left. Eating it seemed to help a little.
Ciao
***
The day my mom and dad came to Singapore was the day I didn't oversleep. I woke up at 4.45 am and I hired a cab to get to the airport for a plane that lands at 5.55 am. I was pretty early. Unfortunately my parents weren't.
Just after the plane had landed and everyone was getting of the plane, my dad went to take a leak. What's wrong with that? My mom didn't notice where he had gone and she thought he had got off the plane. She was all alone in one of the largest airports in the world and she can't even speak English properly. So she wandered off searching for him and after much desperate searching, he appeared. As they finally made their way to the luggage collection belt, they were the last to collect and about an hour had passed since the flight had landed.
Both mom and dad seemed happy to see me. We took the MRT to my hostel where they freshened up. The hotel check in was only at 1 pm and they figured that they could use some rest. Soon after my mom stepped into my apartment, she started unpacking all the stuff she had brought for me from India. All sorts of food items including fruits, cereals and ready-to-eat meals were followed by clothes, soaps and shampoo. After that she took out packets of poori and some prawn gravy and fried fish to go with it.
Me, my mom and my dad just sat on the floor. We didn't bother setting up the table. People didn't need dinner tables in India, at least not until the British came to India. In my dad's village, I've never seen a home with a dining table. Our house in India has one, but we don't always use it.
I never sat on the floor when I ate since coming to Singapore, and when I sat down today, I had a strange but good feeling in me. My mom served us food and we ate. I savoured every bite. I rarely eat prawns because I'm slightly allergic to them but I love them. I can't cook other non-vegetarian items as well because my room-mates are vegetarian due to their religion and I didn't wanna "contaminate" the utensils.
There was still a lot of the prawns and fish left and that was for me to refrigerate and consume for the coming week. "Enjoy it while it lasts", my mom said.
The next few days are a blur. I took them to as many places I can without getting them too tired. They loved the view of the Marina Bay Sands from the Robinson Quay. They enjoyed the cable car ride and the 4D Pirates movie in Sentosa. They were surprised by how large Mustafa Centre was. They had a shopping spree at Bugis street and Chinatown. They fed Lories at the Jurong Bird Park and they went on the Night Safari. And most importantly, they attended my convocation.
***
My convocation was an exciting day for me. I missed my Bachelor degree convocation in India because I was in Singapore. It was a pretty lame one as I would realize after seeing the pictures that my friends had sent. This time was going to be perfect, I thought to myself. I stayed home and made preparations while sending a friend to pick up my mom and dad from their hotel room and accompanying them to my room. I pressed my shirt and trousers, brand new, both of them. I practiced my tie knot, until I got the right size and length. I had resolved a belt emergency (I had gotten thin and my belt was pretty loose. So I had to borrow a belt from a guy skinnier than me.) and by the time I was done, I was pretty sure I can't look any better with my features than I looked right then.
My parents had reached and we started for my university. This was the first time they came to the university and they were impressed. Lecture "theatres" of this size don't exist in the average Indian engineering college and they found this grand. We had lunch and then headed out to the auditorium. The ceremony got under way and I could only hope I didn't do anything stupid on the stage.
When my turn to get the degree certificate from the vice-president, I was surprisingly calm. But only after I saw the video later, I realized the mistake I had made - I held the guy's hand as he shook and got the degree in my other hand. I stayed this same way for graduation photo as well and I can only hope that I didn't make the poor guy uncomfortable or that I had ruined my photo.
***
Then after eating some bad Chinese food (not sure if badly cooked or generally bad) we headed to my room where we changed and then headed to Mustafa Centre to buy a TV. We bought a Sony LED 42" TV and all I could think was "this is what they write rap songs about".
The last day of their stay in Singapore was pretty ominous. It started raining pretty badly. We went to my uncle's place where we had some great food and watched a Tamil movie. Then we headed to the airport where we were able to claim about a hundred dollars of GST.
The goodbye wasn't long or tearful. But when I headed back home I felt as if I should have said something more than I did. Their stay, though brief, had formed a part a memorable part of my life. I felt a little sad and lonely that night.
There was still some prawn gravy and fried fish left. Eating it seemed to help a little.
Ciao
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