mrsjono

We arrived in Kolkata at night and the city was asleep. When I stepped onto the streets the next morning, I was in shock. Babu babu! Cycle rickshaws pedaled past women in saris along the dirt road. This was the first photo I took in India. At that point in time, I felt like I've woken up to a nightmare. Have I travelled back to the past? Such a far cry from my idea of what Kolkata, one of the major cities in India, ought to be like. We wandered along Airport Gate No 2 looking for food but nothing looked edible to us. In other parts of the city, the smell is overwhelming as open defecation and dumping are ubiquitous. Lucky we just had to hold our breaths for 12 hours...

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You can imagine what Singaporeans think of India when they go "Are you out of your mind? Why would you want to go there?" I was looking forward but at the same time afraid and anxious. The plan was to start from West Bengal, go north to Sikkim and then west to Uttar Pradesh. It turned out to be worse than I thought and more beautiful than I imagined. The good, the bad and the ugly, all in India. 

Time is never enough. We race against time everyday. Even in the virtual world, we're still racing against time. Give us a break man.

I bumped into Yejun recently and he asked me what was the outcome of the competition. I was surprised. I thought nobody cared and I could pretend I never joined this competition and move on with life. I was wrong. It spiced up my life for awhile and created conversations between me and my friends. But honestly, joining this competition has ruined me. I became obsessed with traffic and it makes me cringe whenever I find myself moving my dirty mouse to the Stats button. The current state of disequilibrium I'm experiencing right now reminds me of the day I said goodbye to Pejoy in 2009. I'm having difficulties gathering my thoughts and writing about my next trip. While you were feeling sick and tired of seeing Tap Zoo Fail every time you come here, I was reading the posts I wrote in the past and searching for the old me. I'm amazed at how well I articulated my emotions and crafted my adventures. I feel so incompetent with my writing skills now. So dear readers, in case you're still wondering, I thought I should at least let you know that I did not win the Singapore Blog Awards. As I close this short chapter of my life, I want to remember it as a milestone. I have no idea how many people still drop by here. If you are still following faithfully, thank you for not quitting on me.

I finally pushed the orange Publish button.