Room No : 201 - Kottakkal Diaries

"Please don't wait. Please try Ayurveda immediately", these were the first few words from a caring friend when he came to know that I have a cervical disc problem. The recommendation was based on the improvement he had seen for his treatment. Six months later, here I am, in Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, Kochi, almost at the end of my 21 days treatment.

In a years time, I have seen 3 Doctors for this problem and 2 of them suggested me to get a surgery done - a disc replacement surgery. So, I decided to give a chance to myself with Ayurveda before even thinking of the surgery. Like a lot of people, am not very comfortable with letting someone put a knife on me. It's scary. :) . When I was a kid, probably 10 years old, I had this appendicitis pain, and in normal scenarios, it is to be surgically removed. The word "operation" itself was enough for me to make a big scene in the hospital. I cried so much that the doctor decided to try medicines instead of surgery. And guess what, it worked! My appendicitis problem was solved just with medicines. I believe that this time too, I will escape the surgery.

After deciding to go for Ayurveda after the Doctors at Amrita Hospital also suggested surgery, I, along with Achan (my father), visited the Outpatient Centre in this Ayurveda Hospital. The Doctor after seeing my medical report told me that this can be cured in Ayurveda, and hinted me not to go for surgery. I was delighted by this news, it was the most positive feedback a Doctor had given me in the last one year. I enquired the availability of rooms which are normally fully booked for 3 months. But, fortunately there were some cancellation, and I got a room for 21 days from the very next day. I rung up my boss in office and requested for medical leave. I informed the Doctor that I am willing to get admitted. And then came the first shock, the Doctor said, "Very good, please shave your head before you come tomorrow, we have some oil treatment to be done on your head". I accepted the cruel request, and agreed to cut off the very few surviving vegetation on my head. I am strongly against deforestation. ;).

Achan took me to the barber shop where he usually goes. He told the barber to shave my head. It was an easy job for the barber to shave off the hair, as I watched my beloved hair falling down. After the job was done, when I looked in the mirror, I thought, not bad, this way I don't have to find innovative ideas to hide bald patches on my head. Achan wanted to trim his hair, so he took the next turn. I immediately took revenge and told the barber to shave Achan's head too. Achan almost jumped off the chair hearing that. Thankfully, the barber knew that I was just kidding. The same evening, I took off my moustache too, using the opportunity to see how I would look without a moustache. The courage came from the fact that I would not see anyone I know for the next 21 days. 

Next day morning, we went to the hospital, finished off the admission formalities, and the admin staff guided us to the room. We walked to the next block through the campus which was neatly maintained with a nicely landscaped garden. The block with patient rooms had 3 floors including the ground floor. We took the lift to the 2nd floor, and I was standing in front of Room 201, the place I would be spending the next 3 weeks. First look at the hospital and it looked like a resort home. Actually, it does give you such a feeling, but not if you are the patient. The room was well maintained with two beds, a TV, an attached toilet, a fridge. The view from the window is towards the front gate of the hospital. Happy with the nice environment in the hospital, I slowly settled down and enjoyed the thoughts of me sleeping all day and night in this place for three weeks. 

I started reading the hospital instructions leaflet, and there was the second shock, "Don't sleep during the day time". That is the time I started worrying on what I would do all these days. I was also restrained from working ( remotely logging in to office) by the Doctor. He said he would take away the laptop if he finds me using it for more than 30 minutes. The only restriction I really liked is that I should take bath only once in two days. It should have been more. ;)

I am allowed to eat food prepared in the hospital canteen only, strictly. "The patient diet", a vegetarian diet prepared with less of everything to ensure your stomach doesn't get upset during the treatment. But, I being a vegetarian (most of the times), I was ok with it. In fact, I liked the food, it was the kind of food I prefer. A bit more of salt and pepper would have helped though. As the days passed, I realized that the main pass time for me was to wait for the canteen to open for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.

I had two treatments on a daily basis for the first two weeks. Each treatment would be for an hour. I should salute the boys doing the treatment, they have to continuously massage your body for one hour without stopping. I felt tired just lying there, but these guys just went on, and upon enquiring how they manage this work, they said, they have 6-7 such massages every single day. Hats off to them for their hard work.

I used to speak to them during the treatment sessions, few of them were doing their degree courses while they took a break for this job. There was also a person who was doing modelling as a profession. He was self inspired with his ambitions to become a star one day. I hope to see him on the big screen soon. There was also a Manchester United die hard fan, like me. We shared the happiness and sorrow every Man Utd fan shares in this world. The boys play badminton in a court inside the hospital after their working hours, it was a joy to watch my favourite game, resisting my urge to jump into the court and start playing.

The third week treatment was the most adventurous of all. As part of the treatment, there is a detoxification program, and for that medicine is given to clear your digestive system. And to my shock, the medicine had to enter the system through the exit route. And it had to be done for 7 days. All thoughts started running through my mind including how I would even go through this. But nothing could be done, it's one of the panchakarmas in Ayurveda, I have to go through it for an effective outcome. They gave me this stuff, and told me, "you may not be able to hold it for more than 2 min...", before they could complete instructing me, they saw me flying to the toilet. Never before in my life, have I answered nature's call like that. I was literally sweating, more than I would have if I played 2 hours of badminton. The next day, I casually enquiried to the person administering this procedure, "How many litres do you inject?". He immediately replied, "No litres, it's just 900ml." my eyeballs almost popped out. But, I did feel lighter and healthier after this treatment. And to those people, planning for ayurveda treatment, actually, it is not scary as it sounds. It is just a normal procedure. I have just added some masala in my writing. So, don't worry.

During the two weeks, I approached the doctor two times for permission to go outside for a while. It was like my dreams getting shattered when the doctor denied permission citing that it is not safe to go out while in the current treatment. I would walk back to the room, and show all my anger to my Achan. Yesterday, during the morning rounds, the Doctor walked into my room, enquired my conditions, and offered me permission to go out. I was filled with joy, I took a quick shower and in 15 minutes, I was outside. I called my wife, I told her that I got parole for 3 hours. She was more delighted as she was a victim of my continuous torture for the last few weeks due to boredom. After 3 hours of shopping, I returned promptly and resumed my sage living.

Another two days to go, and I will be back in Singapore. Back in the busy life running behind time. But, really thank God to have given me time to spend with Achan and Amma, and a few miraculous moments. Maybe, the need for the disease doesn't exist anymore, and it is in the process of going away. 

Downsize me!!!

I once got inspired by this show "Downsize me', to shed off some fat from my overweight body. My wife used to ensure that the show is recorded if I am not at home, and make me watch it once I am back home. I can still not understand where she got the inspiration for that, 'cause she would always forget, even if I had asked her to record other shows, which were of more interest to me. Most likely, the inspiration came from seeing my consistent expansion over the years. I had hit another scary milestone, 80kg, and for my height 167cm, I was about to be declared as obese.

I love food. Usually, I eat until my taste buds are tired, my stomach never gets tired, it just adjusts according to what I eat, I sometimes feel that my stomach has no boundaries. Being a vegetarian (controversial statement), my choice of food is limited. The best food, is the food made by my mother. All of us would feel the same because that is the taste we have enjoyed from our childhood. And what more can a man ask for, if he gets a wife who can make food which is equally tasty as your mother's. Yes, I am one of those lucky person. The only consequence was that no one could stop my craving for food. My last known weight was 62, in recorded history :), and from there I consistently improved, 65, 68, 70, 73, 76, 79... And there I was, with a man's biggest asset, his tummy. I never used to worry about losing it, why should I, when that is where half of a man's earning is. :)

I have tried many things to reduce weight in the last 10 years. My first attempt was when I was in Pune, I had joined a local Gym there. It was a gym with modern equipments but with a traditional master.

Myself and one of my friends joined, and on registration date, the master told us, the dressing code. Oops, you have to wear a langotti??? Our master asked us to buy one, and the next day he would teach us how to wear one. Well, since this news came after we joined, I didn't have an option of not going. We bought this thing, and I played a drama of not being well next day. My friend understood that I didn't want to attend the "How to wear session...", but he couldn't convince me, as I was still not well ;). Later, once he returned, I tried to get the secret formula, but he refused to tell me, and after about half an hour of sentimental requests, he finally taught me. I must have gone to that gym for 2 or 3 weeks. And due to personal reasons, which is laziness, I stopped going.

Another attempt, in Pune, me and my friend, Aji started to go for morning walks, we used to walk for around 5 km. The problem was that, at the end of this 5km walk, was a Kerala restaurant, and they used to have a nice breakfast. Once we reach there, as light refreshments, we used to take around 7-8 dosas, and after that we would be really tired, and then decide to go back either in bus or by rickshaw. As a result, I gained 2kg, which turned out to be a bit too much to get out of morning walks. So, we decided to stop this activity.

I used to love potato chips a lot during those days, and whenever I used to come early from office, I would buy a big potato chips packet (worth Rs 25), I think it was Lays (Tomato Tango), and eat the whole packet. The craving was so much that sometimes I eat faster to finish it so that I don't have to share even one piece with my friends :). I must accept that I was selfish in this matter. The morning breakfasts also used to be yummy, in the office canteen, I used to start the day with 2 Aloo Parathas, 2 boiled eggs, and a tea, this used to be a daily routine.

I moved to Bangalore after two years, where I stayed for 1 year, and I tried to continue my attempt to maintain my fitness :), first by joining a Gym. I used to regularly go there for two weeks, and thought that I will become a body builder in one month. But, in Bangalore too, the eating exercise dominated all the other exercises, and again due to personal reasons I stopped going to the gym. I decided that I should do something which I would really enjoy, and at the same time will become a good exercise. So, I bought a racing bicycle, worth Rs 3000, and started cycling either in the mornings or in the evenings after I return from office.

But, soon I started getting back pain, as I had to bend down to hold the handle of the racing bicycle. Ok, the truth was I didn't find it interesting, as the interesting part was already over (buying the bicycle). When I was leaving for Singapore from Bangalore, I offered to sell this bicycle to my friend, Aji, and told him that he can buy the bicycle from me, and it was very good for reducing weight, especially reducing the tummy. He just asked me only one question, "Will the weight reduce if we just buy the bicycle and keep it at home". My wife then told him, in an attempt to get rid of the bicycle, "It is very good for hanging clothes, it has lot of places, and hooks where you can hang any kind of cloth". Finally, I had to sell off the bicycle in a nearby shop for some Rs700 as I realized that no one would buy in my idea, especially after seeing my Gym body.

I reached Singapore on a Monday morning, and had to report to work on the same day. So, I skipped the breakfast, and was really hungry by lunch time. One of my colleagues took me to the food court, to an Indian stall. Wow, lot of dishes, in all colors, but when they served me, the quantity was so little that if I had to take a heavy breath at that time, the entire plate of food would have gone inside through my nose.

I felt so sad that a drop of tear escaped my eyes. And the meal cost $5 and that was Rs250, for which, in India those days I could have bought myself a feast. The thought about what my achan always said went through my mind. He would say never to bother about the money you spend for food, and there was no need to restrict spending in food even if we restrict it in other things. Anyways, little did I know at that time, that, Singapore was a place where you could get all varieties of food. You name the food, and you are very likely to find it within 3km of where you stand.

In the first two years, my wife and me used to get ice creams every time we visit a store. And we would have ice creams after lunch and after dinner. We thought breakfast would be an odd time to have ice creams. Potato chips, french fries and chocolates used to be side dishes or after meal snacks. Within years I was about to touch 80kg, but I never bothered, because I used to have a feeling that I was "living to eat", and not "eating to live".

In Singapore too, I continued my attempt to get back into shape, and at least from the time I arrived here, I used to play badminton on all Saturday mornings, and cricket/volleyball on Saturday evenings. The problem that all the fitness activities were packed into one day, and so it was more of a torture to my body even if I enjoy to play from morning till evening. And Sunday usually will pass because I will have all kind of body pains. And moreover these activities were not enough to reduce my weight even by 100 gms because the demand (for food) was more than supply (exercise).

I have tried to go for jogging, and when it became difficult to continue, I tried to make it interesting, by buying a MP3 player, so that I can listen to music while running. Later I thought it is too difficult to carry a MP3 player as I am already carrying my mobile phone, so I bought a memory card for my mobile phone so that all songs can be in the mobile phone itself, and I would have to carry only my mobile for running. But later I realized that it is difficult to carry my mobile as it was a bit heavy to carry while running. Actually, all these items were in my "to buy" list, and I used it as an excuse to get them.

Benny and Sheela, my best buddies, used to accompany me in all the weight reduction activities, from the time I arrived in Singapore. Once, we saw an article which said, we had to drink 5 litres of water every day, and then we started it as a full time activity in office. I am not sure whether there was any water shortage in office those days, as in the beginning, Benny misread it as "5 gallons", I used to see him going to the water dispenser every 10 minutes. :). I drank so much water that one day I could not feel any taste at all. Considering the productivity at office, as we used to spend more than half of the time in the rest room, we decided to stop this. Another incident, which brings a smile the moment I think about it is... me and Benny going for cycling, the main problem was that we under estimated the distance to the destination. We cycled a lot, for hours, and finally reached ECP beach, and since we were very thirsty, we cycled another 1 km to find a shop were we could find water. And worst part was that we had to cycle all the way back home too. Benny might have enjoyed the return journey, as his brakes were jammed, and he had to put extra effort to pedal the cycle forward. Finally, when we reached home, we were cursing ourselves for having gone for it, and were good for nothing for the remaining part of the day. After one year or so, we tried to go for swimming in Tampines swimming complex. Benny promised me that he will teach me how to swim, but I just ended up drinking some water from the swimming pool when I drowned a couple of times. This didn't last for even 2 weeks, and yet another try ended in vain.

I still considered myself as fit, as I was still able to play for the whole of Saturday, even though my weight was so high. One day, while me, Sreejith and Sheela were having a post lunch walk, we noticed a road show in Millenia walk, Fitness First road show, this was a Gym next to my office, and the sales manager, Gio, approached us enquiring our interest to stay fit. As we discussed about the pricing plan and features in the Gym, my interest to join increased as usual, and finally, he said the punch feature, 'you can even rent DVDs for free in the Gym'. That helped me make my final decision to join the Gym :). Sreejith, seeing my interest to stay fit, also jumped into this, and got himself registered in the Gym. He was unaware of my history of how I used to consistently continue such activities, :). Sheela knew, and so she didn't join.

After joining, for one or two weeks, myself and Sreejith used to go regularly to the Gym. Sreejith convinced his wife, Keerthi, also to join, and she used to travel a long distance to work out. And then as office work picked up, I started missing a few days, and then I stopped going to the gym. I had a contract with the gym for one year, and the payment mode was automatic from credit card. So, I was very punctual in paying the monthly charges, but never turned up. Sreejith and Keerthi used to regularly go for all those months. I had got two free personal training sessions when I had registered, and in June, I decided to atleast use that, and since my project had already completed, I was able to use some spare time for it. Sreejith suggested me to enroll with his personal trainer, Henry, according to him was good. So, I went to the trial personal training session on the first day, and met Henry. The trial session is for half an hour, and he made me do some simple exercises, and in 10 minutes, I was out, I felt giddy, wanted to throw up, and was about to faint. Henry made me lie down on a yoga mat, and asked me to raise my legs and rest it on a gym ball, a technique he uses for all such cases. That is when it all started....





(to be continued...)

The Not So "Sporty" Me

Four!!!! Antony had struck another fine boundary of a decent bowling attack by Tampines Rovers. We enjoyed every stroke played by Sreejith and Antony as we were cruising to a victory in a do-or-die tournament. Everything changed suddenly when both got out and I went to bat with just 11 runs needed of 11 balls. Yes, I messed it all up. I started playing my "not so usual" swings trying to hit every ball. Wasted 3 to 4 crucial balls and giving up my wicket by trying another stupid swing.

My presence in the pitch proved too costly for our team with the required run rate sky rocketing. We LOST!!! And "This loss was proudly sponsored by Rakesh". Every stupid shot I tried flashed through my mind over the weekend. I kept thinking, what was I trying to do? Trying to be a Hero??? I didn't have any answers to my own questions. Only think I know is that, it was my "Not so 'Sporty' me" moment. I really apologize to all my teammates who believed I could pull it off. Sorry. And great batting - Antony and Sreejith.

Actually, I love sports, to play or to simply watch it, be it on TV or be it some casual outdoor games. I have this very faint memory of my father buying me a football while I was a little boy. We didn't have lot of football loving kids those days, and I don't really remember me playing football in my childhood. The only thing I recall is a torn football with the inner rubber layer jumping out of the outer surface when I tried to fill air in it. My Achan (father) would get me all sorts of sports stuff. Even though I am not a sports champion or a well known celebrity, I still thank him a lot for what he has done. Without his support I wouldn't have known to play most of the games I play today.


We had two badminton racquets with wooden frame, and we used to play in front of our house with the gate as the net. I mostly would play with Raakhee chechi (my dearest sister) and my achan. Sometimes, my friends in the neighbourhood used to come and join. The top part of the gate was covered at that time and we would not be able to see our opponent most of the time. Sometimes, we used to play in our terrace and my amma would tell us to jump slowly or the house would come down. :)

My father got me a good racquet after the 10th standard board exams. Me and some of my friends used to go to the Rotary club Badminton courts (Cochin). Then, during my 11th and 12th standards, we used to play in a court near my friend's house. We used to cycle around 10-12 kms to go to that place. Me, Sujith, Nidheesh, Balakrishnan, Vikas, Kiran - this was the circle of friends that time. Badminton always used to be there, in school, in college, when i was working, in pune, in bangalore, and in singapore. I just love this game.

Cricket was my favourite game, as it is with majority of the Indians. My house was near the Cochin backwaters, and there used to be a big open field. There were some houses nearby, but the field was so good, full of trees, mainly coconut trees and a few mango trees. I used to play there almost every single day. After returning from school, I used to immediately change and run to the field with my cricket bat. If I dont find anyone in the ground, then I would start visiting everyone's house and would call them out to play. Balu, Jayesh, Jaison - were my playing friends that time.

I really dont remember how many cricket balls we might have lost, either by hitting it into the backwaters, or by hitting it on top of the coconut tree, or by hitting it to the house next to the ground, the aunty would never give us the ball back. If the ball goes into that house, then we never even used to wait, we would run for our life before the aunty could spot us. We would not attempt to enter that house also, as there were many dogs in that house, atleast 3. My mother was mentioning recently that they are facing the same problem, with some kids now playing in front of our house. She said my father would jump out and all the kids would run away. I am sure, my father and mother are enjoying those moments, remembering how we used to behave when we were kids.

I would never get tired playing, and my mother still says that even if the first group of kids return after playing, I would still wait in front of my gate waiting, and hoping to see another interested kid to play with me again. Finally, I would return home when it used to turn dark.

Our family (Achan, amma, raakhee chechi and me) used to get together at the Dining table every other day. No, not for dinner, we never used to have dinner together, thanks to the TV, we all could never open our mouth for eating, without the sound from the TV. Then why??? Our Dining table, used to be our Table Tennis table :). That is where I learnt to play Table Tennis. Again, thanks to my achan, I learned this wonderful game only because of him. He used to take a piece of cloth and make a net, and then we used to play. Smashes, spins, great serves, great games, everything used to be there in that wonderful stadium.


There was one table tennis table in our school, and everyone used to play there. There was a main group of players, with all expert players, and then there used to be an amateur group of players of which I was part of. We really used to wait for a long long time to get our turn on the table, and even if we got one, the expert players will smash us top to bottom, and the match would not last long. One particular incident I remember during that time, there was a tournament in our school, and my TT racquet was in bad shape, and I asked my achan for a new one. Achan was a bit tight with finance at that time, and he asked me to manage with the one I had. I went into Satyagraha, and I remember not speaking to my Achan for 3 days. Finally, Amma came and told me that I should not be doing that, and I should go and speak to achan. I broke my strike and became friends with achan again, and then very next day he bought me a fantastic racquet. I took it to the school and went boasting about it for days. I sometimes feel sad when I think of the way I behaved with my Achan, but then if not to my Achan, to whom can I behave like that :).

I remember my physical training sir in school, Poulose Sir. My school, "Kendriya Vidyalaya No. II, Cochin", was located in the Katari Bagh naval quarters. There were lot of mango trees in the courtyard of every house, and during the season the kids from the school would climb on trees or throw stones to get the unripe mangoes. And all this normally used to happen during the lunch time. The house owners often used to complain to the school management about this. Once, a few children were caught by Poulose sir, coming late to the school after lunch, and some of them had mangoes in their hand. And, by default, all of the latecomers were branded mango thieves. I was one among those unfortunate kids, although I was not involved in the mango stealing. I had gone to play with some friends, and was late. Sir caned all of us in the hand, and after the whole ritual was over, I started crying and told Sir that I did not steal any mangoes and was late for some other reason. Poulose sir scolded me for not telling him before he caned me, and then later comforted me, gave me a chocolate and asked me to stay in his PT room. That was considered to be a privilege a student can get, the room was full of sporting equipments and trophies.


My school taught me the basics of Volleyball, which I love to play even now with my friends here in Singapore. The only problem I faced, back in school, and even today, is that I am a bit short for playing this game. I like to play near the net, but to block a smash or to smash a ball would seem nearly impossible. My generous friends would sometimes lower the net for the benefit of all the short players to experience how a smash could be hit :).

I hope my body would allow me to enjoy all these sports for a lot more years in my life. I can't imagine a life without sports. Every game I play brings back a lot of memories in my life, which I would always cherish, and bring back the child in me. Sports for life....

A "Night Out"

I was really tired and driving when one of them said, "Take the next left turn, that is a shorter route". I put the left indicator and steered left. After driving for a while, I noticed it was a really secluded area, and that is when one of them said, "What do you think, we brought you here for..... No one will hear your cry even if you scream your heart out".I......

This is not a scene from any movie. This was one of the best days or rather night in my life in Singapore when I got to hang out with my best friends for a whole night. Yes, a guy's "Night Out", and of course a decent one.

The day was so hectic, as usual, with the afternoon cricket match under the angry equator sun, followed by the gruesome 3 hours of weekly volleyball enjoyment for another 3 hours. I was dead tired, and just wanted to go home and fall down on my bed. I reached home, had a cup of my favourite tea, and then went for a quick but refreshing shower. My darling wife served me my low calorie dinner, and I sank into the sofa eating it and immediately got disappointed to see the TV News reading out that Manchester United had again thrown away a match, a draw against Everton.

"Ok, whatever. Why do I have to bother so much?", I tried to drag myself out of that disappointment which I anyway knew was impossible. The very thought that a Heaven was waiting inside my bedroom, a comfy bed and the cooling breeze from the fan was already running through my mind.

It was almost 11.30pm and I was just enjoying my eyes becoming heavier and heavier when all my dreams shattered with the ring of my phone. My daughter ran to me and said, 'acha, acha.. phone phone', and gave me my phone. The voice from the other side said, "Have you slept?". It took me a while to understand who it was, but soon realized that it was Satan in the form of my friend, Mr. Pramod. He asked me about the night out which I had suggested while we were returning from the cricket match in Sajith's car.

Myself, Sajeev, Benny, Pramod, Suraj and Sajith were returning back from the Cricket match, it reminded me of a similar outing we had two years back. I had rented a car then, and had gone to Sajeev's house where all the other geniuses were waiting.

Well, coming back to the present, I replied in a tired voice, "Not today anyway, I am really tired and can't even walk properly. I am feeling so sleepy. I am.....". After listening to all my excuses, Pramod said in the most sentimental tones I have ever heard, "Ok, it is your wish. We thought you wanted to go, and we were all anyway ready. Anyways, it is totally upto you". I don't know what was wrong with me to fall into his trap, and then immediately told, "Ok, let's go. I will be there soon".

The Night started then, I reached Sajeev's house around 12 midnight. Sajeev's wife had prepared a big dinner for Pramod, Benny and Sajith (all "in"-eligible bachelors now). I grabbed a plate, and took a few pieces of fried fish and joined them. They teased me, calling me an insult to Vegetarians. I prefer to be known as a Vegetarian because of the fact that I am extremely choosy when it comes to having Non Vegetarian food. In case of fish, I usually make sure that the flesh is not visible, there is no skin, and the piece of fish actually doesnt look like a fish. Funny.. he he... I call it my love towards animals.

We chatted until 2:30am and decided to go shopping for fish in the Woodlands Fishery port. Sajeev and Pramod very frequently visit this place, and this is the place where the fishes are brought from the Sea and are distributed to all the retailers in Singapore. The price is really cheap compared to buying it elsewhere, and the most interesting part is being there, in the middle of all the fish, fishermen and the dealers. And the smell of fish is too strong that it will be there with you for another two days. But still enjoyable, once in a while :).

We reached there, had to exchange our identification cards for an entry card at the security post in the entrance. We parked the car, and then Sajeev realized that he didnt carry enough money to buy the fish. We checked all our pockets, and no one had money except Benny. He said he had around 70 SGD. Sajeev and Pramod immediately said that it wont be enough. After a short discussion, we all jumped back into the car and started our search to find an ATM. I think it was Admirality MRT where we finally found an ATM, and Pramod stacked his pocket with lot of money, I guess. We returned back to the Fishery Port and to our dismay, there were not enough fishes in the market. We thought hard and realized that it was because Hari Raya was on the previous day. Finally, we bought 15$ worth of mackarel and left the port. All the drama of not having the cash and searching for ATMs finally was useless. But what was really useful is the enjoyment we had while doing all these.

On our way back we had a plan to have some Pratas but all the shops were closed. Who will open a shop at 4:30am in the morning. I knew a 24 hrs prata shop, but it was on a different route and was a 20-30 minutes drive. So, we decided to drop the plan and go back home. We reached Sajeev's house and we asked Sajeev to keep the fish in the freezer and come back. Everyone were really tired but also didn't want this night to end, so we made up our mind to go to the 24hrs Prata shop. It was around 5 am in the morning, and I was driving through the Yishun Main Road.

I was really tired and driving when one of them said, "Take the next left turn, that is a shorter route". I put the left indicator and steered left. After driving for a while, I noticed it was a really secluded area, and that is when one of them said, "What do you think, we brought you here for, we are going to molest you. No one will hear your cry even if you scream your heart out". I started laughing along with my friends enjoying every minute of such stupid dialogues we cracked the whole night.

We parked the car next to the shop and walked to the Prata shop. We saw a cyclist in professional attire cycling through the darkness. At first we thought he might be crazy driving in the middle of the night, but the fact was that we were the crazy people roaming around the whole night, and the cyclist was probably doing his routine morning exercise.

We ordered some Pratas and tea, again cracked some stupid jokes which we all normally enjoy :). After spending around an hour in the Prata shop, I dropped all of them back to their house and drove back home to finally get the sleep I desperately wanted 7 hours back.

We took a wonderful snap in the Prata shop which says it all. "We just want to sleep, we can't take it anymore".