The Beautifullest Game

When I was in school, my history teacher's daughter, Pupli (her nickname, or daak naam, to be precise) was around 8 years old and very mischievous. Our teacher, Ms G, would sometimes bring her along on school excursions and picnics, but Pupli needed an eye on her at all times. I got on well with her – I seem to get along with mischievous and hyperactive kids in general – so Ms G would often ask me to come along too, even in later years when I wasn't in her class. I didn't mind, as I got to go for excursions which I would have otherwise missed out on.

The photo below is from one such outing; Pupli and I are on the right. It was a school trip to see the Victoria Memorial, but when we were having lunch on the lawns, some people offered us (oversized) World Optometry Day t-shirts and asked if we could pose for a photo, which appeared in a newspaper the next day.

One time I was at Ms G's place, playing Ludo. Pupli won, and in a paroxysm of delight, exclaimed in English (we usually spoke in Bengali), "Ludo is the beautifullest game!"

I don't know about the beautifullest game, though I do have some opinions on the beautifullest sport. But that's a topic for another blogpost.

Singapore, 7:33 pm

We occasionally play pickleball at these very nice public courts at an HDB (social housing) estate in Ang Mo Kio. They're multi-purpose courts, so in the photo there are two sports being played in parallel: pickleball and sepak takraw.

The courts can also be used for badminton. I actually prefer badminton as a sport, but pickleball has contributed more to my social life – I've made some new friends and had fun experiences.

This is the first photo I'm posting which is taken on my new phone, a Google Pixel 6a. I'll say a bit more about that later, perhaps, and more on badminton too.

Movie Night

Muzi and I set up a projector and screen in a random muddy field, and watched a short film: Yi Yi (Time Flows In Strange Ways On Sundays) by Giselle Lin.

We were initially going to screen it at home, but it turned out that the projector we borrowed from my friend – Toumei C900 – is a portable model with battery life of over an hour, so we thought why not just watch outdoors.

We projected on a $10 foldable screen (also borrowed), strung up between two tripods.

It was a memorable experience – well worth carrying all this stuff, plus picnic mat, bug spray, snacks and drinks. Next time we should bring a power bank too, as all our devices were running out of battery (though we just about made it to the end of the movie).

It was a public space and we weren't breaking any rules, but somehow there was a sense (which added to the thrill) of doing something questionable or even forbidden – a bit like nightswimming.

There's something special about projecting a movie, as opposed to watching it on a display, even if the display has better resolution and colours.

Another friend who saw my photos said "this in itself looks like a scene straight out of a movie".

I shared the photos in my Instagram stories, and Meta AI suggested "adding a few friends to the woman's movie night."

I generally avoid using AI, but this time curiosity got the better of me, and Meta AI spat out the cursed image on the right.

The "friends", magnified for your viewing pleasure:

Sayang

Last year I posted about a tailless black cat I met at my friend's HDB block in Eunos. I had an instant connection with him, as you do with some cats (and also with some people).

A few months later, from a post on a Facebook group which cares for community cats, I found out that he died.

The photo is by Ruth Sn, posted with permission. Here's the note she wrote:

Just to inform the eunos feeders in case you are looking for the short tail black boy with glue on his back. For 3 days since Monday he was not well & stopped eating, aunt managed to secure him yesterday. I wanted to rush him to the vet in emergency but very sadly he passed away just before I reached her home

Remembering black gentle cute boy with big eyes. You are always untouchable but I managed to sayang you when your body lay lifeless.

You are always friendly to the other cats residing there giving them head rubs. Still missing you 😢😢😢

Sayang (from Malay) is a lovely word – especially the verb form, which means something like showing love and affection through sweet words or gestures.

It's been more than a year, but I still think about him from time to time. I'm glad that Ruth and the other auntie cared for him in his final days, and he got a sweet inter-faith (Christian–Buddhist) funeral and cremation. And I'm glad I got to meet him, however briefly, and sayang him, receiving many head rubs in exchange.

The Number of Hours We Have Together

The other day my friend Muzi and I were going to a mall for dinner. Her place is on my bus route to the mall, and we were trying to coordinate so she could get on the same bus.

The mall is about four stops from her place, so all this frantic coordination was for an 8-minute bus ride (as opposed to simply meeting at the mall). We should have known it was bound to fail, given Muzi's lack of yuanfen with the 145 bus.

I have another friend, Juliet, with whom I play pickleball at various venues around town. She has a car, and often suggests I go to a bus-stop near her place from where she can give me a ride. In some cases it would have been just as easy for me to go to the court directly, but if she gives me a ride, we get a bit more time together, which is nice. Maybe I'm growing sappy with age, but I find it rather touching – these little things people do to spend a few extra minutes together.

All this reminds me of these lines from For M by Mikko Harvey:

The number
of hours
we have
together is
actually not
so large.
Please linger
near the
door uncomfortably
instead of
just leaving.
Please forget
your scarf
in my
life and
come back
later for
it.

* * *

From anything by Adrianne Lenker: "Carol has a little if we need some / Joa has a ride if we wanna come."

The first line is probably a drug reference, but it makes me think of close-knit groups where you freely borrow and share and exchange stuff.

The other day Juliet messaged me at 7:30am, asking if I want to join a game at 8:30. I got out of bed, quickly showered and left the house. When I got there she handed me chocolate milk and a banana, saying "I figured you didn't have time for breakfast."

* * *

There are a couple of companies which send me photography gear to test and review. My contact at one of these companies made a passing reference to "other influencers", which tickled me because it implies that I'm an influencer too.

I told a few people about it, and they all said something along the lines of "Face it, you are an influencer." But Abbi had a different take:

Abbi:	Look at you moving up in the world Actually, I think this would be a downgrade
me:	😳 Downgrade from what?
Abbi:	Who you are and what you do

It's another example of seeing the best in me.

Hornbill

I see hornbills often enough, but somehow I never seem to have my camera on me, so in all this time I hadn't managed to get a good photo. This morning, one of these majestic birds came to perch on my bathroom window – so close that I didn't even need a camera. I took this photo with my phone:

I then ran to get my camera, and luckily he was still there, now perching on the rail outside my window – an even better location, with more light on his face.

Previous photos of birds at windows: sunbird and crows.

Trees and Mushrooms

Been a while since I posted, but you can always just decide that you're so back.

* * *

Years ago, when I visited Hyderabad as part of the Biryani Leg of my travels, I stayed with my friend Rao, who was nice enough to not just host me, but also show me around. He even took a day off work for a trip to Golconda Fort.

Rao said he hadn't been to the fort since he was as a kid, but he remembered a tree with a hollow in its trunk, so big that you could climb in. I was privately skeptical – many things seem bigger and more wondrous when we are kids, and revisiting them as adults can be disappointing.

But what do you know: the tree does exist, and is indeed big enough to climb into.

I later learned that it's a baobab, nicknamed Hathiyan ka Jhad (Elephant tree), and is over 400 years old. Baobabs are native to Africa, so this particular tree is believed to have been planted by Arab traders or wandering fakirs.

First we had to climb over the metal fence – Rao said it wasn't there when he visited as a kid – and then the tree itself.

...and then we climbed in. In the photo above, I'm sitting on the lip of the hollow, and in the one below, Rao has already climbed in. The hollow is even bigger than it looks from above – it widens out, and was big enough to accommodate us both.

* * *

Speaking of trees, there is a big one next to our pickleball court, which you can see in this post.

Tommy asked me what kind of tree it is. I wasn't sure, so I said I would check next time I went to play. Conversation from a couple of weeks later:

me:	I went there a few times since you asked, but I keep forgetting to check.
Tommy:	The tree will still be there :)

It's a rain tree, in case you were wondering.

* * *

I saw bioluminescent mushrooms again, this time on a night walk on the Mandai T15 trail. Unlike last time when I only had my phone, this time I had a camera:

We also saw a super cute moth. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the wings, so it's hard to identify the species.

Paragons of Wisdom

My friend Abbi was recently trying to mediate a family conflict. I said it's good she decided to intervene, and she said, "Yeah, the cancer helps. People suddenly think you are a paragon of wisdom."

For the record, I always thought she's a paragon of wisdom.

Some guy she had a crush on in high school moved back to her town. I asked her if she still likes him, and she said:

No lol
I don't know why I liked him
And my type has completely changed
To kind people who want to be with me 😅

I tend to set a lot of store by similar interests, sense of humour, curiosity and so forth – and these things are important too. But if you had to narrow it down to just two things, I think this is as good a list as any: kind people who want to be with me.

* * *

In an earlier post I said how my pickleball group has a diverse age range. Here's Oliver (17) and his aunt, who came to play together:

It was my first time meeting Oliver – a sweet, soft-spoken guy who is into boxing and microbiology. In fact he was a bit reluctant to admit to the latter ("I don't want to sound like a geek..."), but I assured him that my friends circle has many geeks.

Later that night, one of the older ladies was teasing me about why I don't have a girlfriend ("Stop being so picky" and so on). I didn't mind; I tease her about various things too. But Oliver took it to heart, and said to me, "Don't worry about what they say, bro, just work on yourself."

My friend Li Ling overheard, and was like "Wow, you got life advice from a 17 year old!"