So as I sit here in my room, determinedly typing out a post and melting slowly and steadily, my mind wanders back to the holiday. I suppose my aunt having returned from there today has something to do with it, as does the constant lamentation and insecurity that stifles me in Delhi. Isn't it so sick that you have to worry even about taking a walk by yourself, at any time of the day, in this city? The freedom I felt in Singapore, whoa. Nothing can match it. Well, nothing here ever has.
I think the one thing I was most looking forward to was ice skating. I've wanted to try it for as long as I can remember. So there we were at Kallang Leisure Park, a train ride and Italian lunch later, paying at the counter from behind which bursts of frozen air kept issuing. I could hardly contain myself. We procured the skates and proceeded to tie them tightly, while listening to a tiny girl in a blue tutu being scolded by her mother/coach. Skates and gloves on, we trundled across the carpet (walking on carpets on those skates isn't hard at all, contrary to what I expected, though I should have known it was all too easy to last). Inside the rink were a bunch of brightly attired kids and youngsters, skating away to glory, complete with spins, jumps, twirls et al, à la Ice Princess. There were a bunch of others clinging to the yellow bars, but I was too entranced by the able-to-skate category to pay much attention to them. I couldn't wait to get in and spend two glorious hours in this freezing haven.
Then I stepped onto the ice.
And my feet must have decided they had a brain of their own instructing them, because the one in my head sure wasn't. They squiggled around a lot and I could barely stand and I cursed for doing this to myself. For two whole friggin', frigid hours. I panicked so much that everyone around me must have had a good guffaw watching me trying to stop moving and only making it worse, and S actually ABANDONED me that way and went off. He came back after I screeched his name a couple of times though.
But in the end, I did have fun. I managed to cling to the side and waddle a bit, even surviving the railing-less areas and making some friends along the way (who just took pity on me, I think) and then finally, after two entire clingy rounds, I got my gloved hands off the railing and moved a bit. S decided I needed help after all, so we took some daring strides across the rink, in the process of which I got so excited at being able to keep my balance that I tried to go quicker and landed twice on my backside. Which was quite fun too. S managed to avoid falling with me by doing some signature acrobatic moves (read: waving arms and legs like a windmill to keep his balance) which probably looked funnier than my falling.
I think the one thing I was most looking forward to was ice skating. I've wanted to try it for as long as I can remember. So there we were at Kallang Leisure Park, a train ride and Italian lunch later, paying at the counter from behind which bursts of frozen air kept issuing. I could hardly contain myself. We procured the skates and proceeded to tie them tightly, while listening to a tiny girl in a blue tutu being scolded by her mother/coach. Skates and gloves on, we trundled across the carpet (walking on carpets on those skates isn't hard at all, contrary to what I expected, though I should have known it was all too easy to last). Inside the rink were a bunch of brightly attired kids and youngsters, skating away to glory, complete with spins, jumps, twirls et al, à la Ice Princess. There were a bunch of others clinging to the yellow bars, but I was too entranced by the able-to-skate category to pay much attention to them. I couldn't wait to get in and spend two glorious hours in this freezing haven.
Then I stepped onto the ice.
And my feet must have decided they had a brain of their own instructing them, because the one in my head sure wasn't. They squiggled around a lot and I could barely stand and I cursed for doing this to myself. For two whole friggin', frigid hours. I panicked so much that everyone around me must have had a good guffaw watching me trying to stop moving and only making it worse, and S actually ABANDONED me that way and went off. He came back after I screeched his name a couple of times though.
But in the end, I did have fun. I managed to cling to the side and waddle a bit, even surviving the railing-less areas and making some friends along the way (who just took pity on me, I think) and then finally, after two entire clingy rounds, I got my gloved hands off the railing and moved a bit. S decided I needed help after all, so we took some daring strides across the rink, in the process of which I got so excited at being able to keep my balance that I tried to go quicker and landed twice on my backside. Which was quite fun too. S managed to avoid falling with me by doing some signature acrobatic moves (read: waving arms and legs like a windmill to keep his balance) which probably looked funnier than my falling.
Good times.
SINGAPORE:
I. Dawn in an airplane
II. Wild night
III. Chinese things
IV. I see sparks fly
Comments
Post a Comment