One more week....one week more....before I leave Trivendrum.

Power outs are getting more frequent and longer these couple of days. I'm starting to think that the power grid in Trivandrum is actually intelligent and monitoring my messenger conversations.

I was chatting with one of my friends back in Singapore and mentioned the frequent power outs we were getting. It immediately started to brown-out, i.e. the power started to wane, fans slowed and monitors started dimming and flickering. It recovered a little while later. Me and my big mouth had to type "haha...only a brown-out, nothing seri ---" tewwwpzzz.....This time it was a full blown black out, lasted half a day too.

I REALLY should learn to stop provoking the fates by putting my foot in my mouth at the most inappropriate times. It's like cursing the gods on a mountain top in the middle of a stormy night while wearing copper armour.

Today's lecture on quality management systems in the auditorium was a real torture in more ways than one.
Take one boring lecturer with an incomprehensible Indian accent rushing to complete in one day three day's worth of material.Add one boring subject taken in two 3 hour blocks.

the real torture was about to take place....

I had a good night's sleep, but I still had to struggle abit to stay conscious...or sane.
Picture this, we, the representatives of a global community, the pride of our nations in India, sitting in the front row of this big lecture auditorium crammed with Indian trainees, fighting hard to maintain the image of our respective countries.

Abid the Canadian didn't even bother to put up a fight. He sat back in the chair and went off to lala land. I heard a gentle purring behind me and when I turned around, Lo! and behold there was Alvarro from Chile stretched comfortably in his seat snoring gently. Big Mac Conor propped his big hands over his face and surrendered after a brief struggle. That left me and Beyhan the Turk. The little baby started to drool down the side of my leg....

The pressure to laugh was killing me. My shoulders were jerking spasmodically in silent laughter. I put my hands over my mouth pressing as hard as I could to stave off for as long as possible the inevitable explosion I knew was about to occur. It didn't matter anyway, the lecturer was about to look my way, and I knew there was NO way I could convince him that I wasn't laughing at him.

That's when I saw my open orange backpack. Desperate times called for desperate measures. With seconds to spare, I bent down and stuffed my head into the open bag.

oh what a day...

The group was saved. More or less. I managed to convert my incipient bout of mirth into a fit of furious coughing, which woke the group up. The lecturer was glaring suspiciously at us, but did not comment. Oh what a sad day for the international community. I wonder what the Indians were thinking.

I heard from my sister that someone she introduced my blog to liked my writing. Thanks Jih Shin. Hope to hear from you on the blog. Having people on blog helps me alot ;p. I followed my sister's advice and installed a guestbook link on my blog. Maybe it would encourage people who read my blog to add some comments. One can always hope.