Last Sunday evening, I was post and pre-night shift. I joined my family for a Bengali music concert, at the splendid Victoria Concert hall. There's this grandeur to the tall majestic buildings, carved in white - when the yellow chandelier lights are switched on, they look unreal almost. We found ourselves seated, for the first segment by Lopamudra Mitra, who is known for her catchy renditions of folk songs and Rabindra Sangeet. I quite enjoyed her performance, personalised with short anecdotes from her own life; even though they were in a language I don't quite follow, I personally think music transcends language. Music is born from vibrations within one's soul and a true musician knows just how to stir the audience's soul and I must say, she did a pretty good job at that! Be it songs about our motherland, about Kolkata, love or just rain, her voice quality and modulation was enviable and I found myself humming those tunes even while I was working on my shift, later that night! I couldn't stay long for the Anupam Roy segment, but I should be honest, I preferred the former's melodious segment to the latter's head-banging, wanna-be-cool performance - he could have done much better, or maybe I just expected better from the music director of Piku. Oh well!
That Monday night, I clocked 9+ hours of sleep - I can't remember the last I slept so long. Getting up to a stormy morning felt even more awesome. Some instant coffee for the husband while I had green tea, thoroughly enjoying the weather. The continental breakfast spread was quite vast and I was probably the glutton in the family, with the Mazumdar trio on their calorie-monitored diets :) The truth however is that how much ever I like my food, I just can't hog - 'eating in moderation or less', is the mantra that my stomach has dictated ever since I learnt the effects of diet on not just my physical body but also my psychological health.
That afternoon, we enjoyed playing a new board game that Maa's new friends had taught her - they even gifted it to her! Rummikub as it's called is quite like the card game, Rummy, with the difference being this is played with small inch-sized tiles, not cards. Prantik and I got the hang of the game soon enough and we were playing the game until evening! It was fun, and mind-engaging; we kept teasing Baba about how he overshot the time limit, every turn! Haha. Simple pleasures of life. :) We enjoyed many such games, that week.
The best part about the resort was that we could rent bicycles! Prantik and I haven't had the time to fix our foldable cycles, in Singapore (silly excuse that!) and so, when we set our hands on our rented bikes, it was exhilarating to say the least. We cycled around the resort, even racing each other at times, laughing and chatting, even taking a selfie while at it :D One of the evenings, we headed to the Sunset beach on our cycles. We chilled with the parents, by the beachside, on hammocks and reclining chairs - I even clicked one of my favourite snaps from the holiday, a silhouette-oid, featuring Prantik and Maa-Baba, with the sun setting in the background.
For suppers, we juggled between the Chinese restaurant, Hai Sang Lou, which served simply delicious food - right from their appetiser dim sums, hot and sour Sichuan soups, to their Saute'd vegetables with Macadamia nuts, or even the Diced chicken dish, it was all so yummy - we all definitely kept getting back for more! The mango sago pudding was to die for!
But, then we found the other beachfront restaurant, Sepoi Sepoi, to be even more tempting. Their special one night was Tandoori Chicken, and boy! It was spot on, especially with the chutney and raitha! Catering to South East Asian cuisine, it featured favourites like Satay Ayam, Thai green curry etc. which our palates have learnt to love. I must mention - The Gula Melaka dessert was out of the world! The moon smiling above with the countless sparkling stars, the waves lashing against seasoned rocks, the lovely candle-lit dinner over long family conversations - Life's Good, indeed!
Some mornings, we got up earlier than usual to behold the skies as they changed colours to welcome the sun, at dawn-break. Each villa had it's own balcony, and it formed a perfect place to click many snaps, as if to freeze that moment in our minds, for eternity. Photographs, are a perfect medium for time-travel! In a snap, time halts and a scene is caught in it's trap, filled with hues and shades, and all sorts of emotion - and a memory is thus saved; to which one may return, at will, from any time in the future. We are thus, all time travellers. And the power of our minds to be able to travel through time, I reckon, is one of its strongest capabilities.
One other morning, we headed to the beach and out into the sea. While Maa-Baba sun-bathed, Prantik and I, headed out on our first-ever kayaking journeys. To manoeuvre the boat all by ourselves wasn't extremely easy, but once we got synchronised and got the hang of it, we loved it! It was an enjoyable "Life of Pi" kind of experience, without Richard Parker of course :D
Another afternoon, we chilled at the infinity pool with the family. The cool water was a befitting reply to the overhead sun. We each swam a few laps, to and fro and the rest of the time, we'd just stand at the end, looking far into the horizon, watching as the waters changed colours....The name "Prantik" means "horizon" - an illusion of the end, where the sky meets the sea - but truly, there is no end...
Soon, Friday arrived and it was the end to our vacation. Rejuvenated, we traced our steps back to Singapore. I unpacked and worked the night shift later while the rest of the family, relaxed at home. Saturday evening, we headed with friends to a monoact by Rakesh Bedi - Massage. It was entertaining and funny in parts; kudos, to his voice modulation abilities, but I'm carved for the more serious plays like the one a couple of months ago, directed by Rakesh Bedi, enacted by Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta, Mera Woh Matlab Nahin Tha. After the play, we had dinner at the Singapore Cricket Club, with friends, catching up over Ginger Ale and Pratas.
A week away.
A week, creating memories, with the in-laws.
A week of deep love, deep conversations, surrounded by the deep sea.
T-11wks
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