Friday, May 05, 2006

A cluster of memories!

Its the end of the semester.... time to move out of this room of mine... forever.

I will be back to the same hostel next year.. but not the same room. Every thing will change. I may not even get the same block (I am praying that i get it.. lets see what happens *sigh*). I have lived in this cluster for just 8 months. It has become my second home now. For those of you who are clueless about what a "cluster" is... A cluster is a group of 15 rooms with a common bathroom and common kitchen. I really am not all that well acquainted with my cluster mates. I know only some of them. But its been great staying here. Listing out the reasons why I don't want to move out will make the post extra long and boring (if it already is not that is!). So I shall make an attempt to list out the reasons I love living here and why I really don't want to leave this place with the help of photographs.... Hope this works...

First, the not so sentimental reasons... Just an attachment to the cluster and my room

Welcome to my cluster! It is also a High security prison. It is not that easy to get to my room, even if you know its exact location!You can't enter my cluster unless I bring you in myself.. Muahahaha!

You have now crossed the cluster gate and have stepped into my cluster. The third door to the left is my room.


My room door... Hey! what dya know!!! 'M' for Macho! The perfect room eh?

A room with a view... of the opposite block. But its not that bad! You will find out why soon.

Another view from my window... The harbour! Gosh, I hope my room next semester has a view of the harbour! That was a source of entertainment for me!


A view of the harbour at night. Yeah.. i know.. Its out of focus. I am not perfect with my camera!


This is what you see when you sit at my desk and just lift your head. Note the steps. Thats the fire exit of the opposite block. It has a role to play... Quite an important one!

Ok.. Now we move on to the reasons closer to my heart. These are the main reasons I want the same room not just for me, but also for all my friends!

Thats the block opposite to mine. Again, all I have to do is to look out of my window when I am sitting at my desk. See that red arrow in the picture? I think thats clueless' cluster entrance.. Not too sure though... didnt count the floors properly when I marked it and got pretty confused. But the point is that almost everyday, whenever she entered her cluster, she would wave and I would wave back! We hadn't realized for quite a while that our blocks were so close!

The red arrow is again pointing at what I think is the other entrance to clueless's cluster. It is so damn close to my room! Closer than her main entrance! The other day, I was just pacing about my room trying to mug up anatomy when I look up and get the fright of my life! I see clueless standing outside her fire exit! She seemed so close! I could even see what set of lecture notes she was reading! The next day she told me that she could see me life sized. One other cluster mate of her's was curious as to why clueless was standing outside the fire exit. When she found out the reason, she insisted on waving to me. And there they were... both of them standing and waving at me. I waved back, hoping they would get back into their cluster. But they just stood there staring at me... Hmm... um.... er.... uh... ok... so you have seen me... and said hi... what am I supposed to do now??? Stop staring at me! :)

This is a picture of my cluster's fire exit.


A close up picture of my cluster's fire exit. This is the door I used to open to let soleil and cookie monster into my cluster. They lived just one floor below me! Amazing right? It was nice to be surrounded by friends :)

My messy cluster kitchen. Me, clueless and soleil had spent countless hours here. Either sitting in the chairs or pacing about, preparing for the exams, keeping each other awake. We used to take away food from the food court and eat here while studying. This room brought out the nerds in us!

The cooking area of my cluster kitchen. The oven at the bottom is where we baked our first cake in the beginning of the semester, the water boiler provided us with water for making nice hot soup and the micro wave was used to make maggi and garlic bread when we got too bored of the food court food. The hot plates were used to make scrambled eggs. Ask clueless how wonderful my scrambled eggs are! I totally scramble them! Stop laughing! I make good yummy scrambled eggs :D

This cluster has been like the "perfect" cluster for me. It would have been more perfect if my friends were in the same cluster as me. But hey! When has life ever been perfect? I have gotten used to this life style... saying bye to clueless through my window... letting soleil and cookie monster in through the fire exit, experimenting with cooking in the kitchen... the list goes on... I like things as they are now... Packing has been so hard. Not just because my room is in a huge mess, its also because its not easy to say good bye to this cluster forever. And packing now equals to saying bye to this place.

You know what? Maybe moving out of this cluster may not be so bad... Yes i know that a million things could go wrong when they allocate rooms next semester, I might get a room at one end of the hostel and my friends at the other end.. (lets not think about that shall we). For all you know, I might end up in the same block or even same level or same cluster as my friends! Life's not so bad when you look at it that way.

So now you know what my every prayer will be till our rooms are allocated to us....

10 comments:

Anusha said...

Stalker!!! Kidding. :P

Ah, my sweet beautiful cluster. I can't bear to leave it either. I have one more reason than you - really really nice cluster mates! They were all so sweet; I don't feel like leaving any of them *sniff*

You know what? The entrance to the cluster looks pretty dismal. The long corridor makes it look like some prison hall. Eeks. I guess it's the lighting, but still. :/

//Ask clueless how wonderful my scrambled eggs are!
Fine, fine! You make wonderful, delicious scrambled eggs. Happy? :)

Just Jane said...

Hi! Saw your post at Sayeshaz....would you be a dear and send me the song by 3 doors down...here without you...that you had mentioned there? Can you email it to me pls pretty pls? :-)

Nice pics btw....i love photo blogs :-) i also love singapore!

HOTWINTER said...

Hey Macho Girl,

Very emotional post. I pray to God so that you get his cluster once again.

But then there is a problem. Suppose if ur friends get a diferent cluster! Then?

Suppose, their cluster is far away and you are left alone in this cluster. What will you do then?

I hope all of you are allotted the same cluster, so that you can share the same kitchen for making scrambled eggs. Ha! Ha!

Keep posting. This was a nice post.

soleil said...

I like my cluster too! Not only do I have so many nice and sweet neighbours, I also have you upstairs! :D I'm gonna miss messaging you to open the fire escape for me :p

Don't worry ok Macho Girl? Even if we're at two or three or four different ends of PGP next semester, we can all still cook and study together ;)

Its nice to see that you have perfected the art of egg-frying! I still remember the first time you gals asked me to teach you how to make scrambled eggs. I only had to show you once and voila! You could do it on your own! Sure it took some time to become "pros" but that's what learning is all about isn't it?

Ah then there was the cake! Hilarious stuff with the canola oil and carcass :D ok this is a long enough comment. I don't wanna make it a post in itself :p

Macho Girl said...

#clueless
stalker???????? ME????????????? Dude! u r the one who peeks into my room! I can't peek into urs! Who is the stalker??? :P :D

//Fine, fine! You make wonderful, delicious scrambled eggs. Happy? :)
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D Does that answer ur question? :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

#chosen one
I have certain limitations with my mailing system. I have tried sending it anyways. Hope u get it :)

#hotwinter
//Suppose, their cluster is far away and you are left alone in this cluster. What will you do then?
I am not praying for exactly the same cluster that I got this semester. Chk out the last paragraph of the post! :) I am praying that we get in the very same cluster. Either that, or the same block at least. Or even the current arrangement is fine. I am praying that we shudnt get on opposite ends! I shud have been clearer in the post :)

#soleil
//I'm gonna miss messaging you to open the fire escape for me :p
Me too!!! I am going to miss that too!!!

//I only had to show you once and voila! You could do it on your own! Sure it took some time to become "pros" but that's what learning is all about isn't it?

Yep! thats what its all about! Cudn't have done it without ur help :)

HOTWINTER said...

Never Mind. Your post was awsome!

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

Hehehe...your cluster looked fun! And that harbour view was cool...I could kill to live in a room with a view like that. :P
And hey, your kitchen was pretty neat! I'm so dead sure that if I live like that, all alone, my kitchen would be a disaster. ;)
Anyhow, hope you get the same cluster as your friends next semester too. :D
Happy holidays. :)

Macho Girl said...

#hotwinter
thanks :)

#TGWSTW
i really loved the harbour view! On my last night in my room, i just turned off all the lights and sat gazing outta the window! Its really beautiful. Pity to think that I may not get that next semester. And about the kitchen, we had no choice but to keep it clean coz we had to study there!

And happy hols to you too! Once you get thru ur exams that is ;)

Unknown said...

nice shots! these should serve as a good reminder of the good ol' days, eh? Can you not "request" to get the same cluster/room? you should have some priveleges of being a senior, no?

Macho Girl said...

#TGFI
We can't really "request". crying in front of the Office of Student Affairs might work... but then again... I am a terrible actress :P