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Monday, September 28, 2009

Of an indifferent brother, harmless accidents and a romantic Bee

Thanks for all the comments. They have renewed my commitment to blogging and….running. More on running in the next post. This article is about something else. If you figure out what it is about, let me know as well.

My brother arrived on Saturday morning for the Singapore F1 weekend with nothing but a handbag or a smaller version of a travelling bag as he calls it. I think ‘tiny’ would have been the right description and even that would be stretching the limits of imagination. But really, packing was just a glimpse of his under-preparation. The full extent made itself apparent when it turned out that he was expecting me to be his tour guide for the weekend. I rightfully advised him to spend some time on the internet and figure out his itinerary by himself. He reluctantly did that while complaining an awfully lot about it.

Oh…and complain he does. In fact, that’s all he does. Either the food is not good or it is too hot or the TV menu is difficult to figure out. Apparently, the immigration authorities also warned him that they wouldn’t allow him to travel on his soiled passport next time. I wouldn’t blame them. They were probably and rightly worried about the potential spread of negativity and depression.

When his negativity is augmented by his indifference, you wonder how this gene made its way through the evolution. He is just not curious. I took him to the East Coast Park for lunch and he simply…..ate. And he did nothing else. He didn’t notice the green panorama disappearing into a shallow coastline. He didn’t notice the busied human beings showcasing an alternate life-style. Hell, he didn’t even notice the pretty girl sitting at the next table. Back home, I had to specifically point out the stylish interiors of the apartment that I live in, in an effort to extract a compliment. My car received five compliments from his couple friends in a short five minute ride while it is yet to be regarded favorably, or for that matter unfavorably, by him.

So I wisely left my brother to himself. Instead, I surrendered myself to a series of random and not so random events that unfolded. It started with a spare pass for a guided tour to the Red Bull Garage. I took a cab because of the road closures. The cabbie promptly ran into the nearest concrete divider that was also lined up with some serious iron railing. All of it happened in relatively slow motion with no other vehicle within a mile on either side. I could see the road curving but the cab wasn’t. A quick look at the driver showed that his attention was caught by something in the glove box. As I screamed bloody murder, he lazily pressed the brakes out of reflex action. The car hit the divider at about 60km/hr, came back on the road due to the equal and opposite force before swerving and finally hitting the curb from the rear side. When the dust had settled, we got out to survey the damage. The rear right door was wedged in at an acute angle and so was the case with one of the iron rails. Both of us survived without any scratches. The car was not so lucky, though. The hilarity of the situation was further accentuated when the driver asked me – How did this happen?

Luckily, Mark Webber’s car had also crashed the day before and as we walked in, the car was wide open and was being operated upon by various sleep-deprived technicians. You would have expected a lot of rocket-science to have gone into the car but it was just a hodge-podge of tubes, card-boards and similar other junk you can find in your neighborhood dump-yard. It is amazing how a bunch of engineers operating out of their garage can manually assemble a car that is at the cutting-edge of racing technology. What is even more unbelievable is the disproportionate presence of hot females in a crew which is otherwise dominated by engineers and in a sport (if you can call it that) which has a largely male following. But I wasn’t complaining. Neither was Rubens Barrichello when I ran into him.

I was entertained in the evening by Black-Eyed-Peas and Beyonce. I danced after a long time. A bee got too excited in the process, bit me, paused to reflect upon its life and then decided to die. It must have been because it realized that it would never be able to achieve anything more significant in its future life. I, on the other hand, have different ideas. I will see you around.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved your romantic encounter with the bee. The 'dying' of the bee makes me think that either you are too poisonous or the bee was so taken by your charms.

It seems your brother prefers to travel light... quite an interesting character... can I have his contacts pls ;)

Anonymous said...

And I thought you are reclusive...

Beta said...

#1 - Given his indifference, chances are he wont even return your call. So why bother :-)

#2 - Only at times.

Mika said...

Im back - as usual late.

About a year back another set of brothers got together for the F1. This year it was your turn. Well dont crib to begin with. Elder bothers do make a fuss about small things. One thing in common for you younger siblings is that once you've lived away from the family - you all get used to living alone.

The bee must have been a bit too sick of singaporean skin and decided to hit on you.

Beta said...

Hiren - It was actually my younger brother. I dont think I can slam my elder brother like that.

And yes. Its been exactly an year since our road-trip. What a time. I am still using your disk (have burnt it onto my iPhone - helps me in running) but more on that in the next post.

Anonymous said...

May be the poor guy is just too terrified of your reaction to whatever he may have had to comment. Does he also blog, in which case it would be interesting to read his version of "Of an indifferent brother, F1 race and blah blah blah"

Annoymously said...

You calmly narrate your shocking accident and miraculous/ chance survival with Dick Francis'ian flair. Which is to say you lead us up to it unsuspectingly.

Also reassuring to know there are other siblings of whom one thinks one cannot be related to genetically. I have one like that too. But mine is the winner by far. Maybe someday, I'll get pushed to the brink and toss in my rant too :)

Beta said...

Terrified of me? Doubt that. He is 6'4" and weighs 80+. I am half his size. Unless I gave him some childhood psychological scars. And I highly doubt that as well. I will ask him next I meet him though. About whether he blogs or not too. Although, blogging would totally not be in line with his character but you never know.

Annoy - I myself was led upto it unsuspectingly. I narrated as it happened. Would be good to read about your brother too. I know enough of brothers but not the dynamics between a brother-sister.

Annoymously said...

Oops. Noticed this much later.

Actually i do hv a bro - he's been briefly immortalized in the archives. Younger bro- elder sis dynamics could take up a whole book :) as far as i'm concerned. We now have a strange sort of alliance/ empathy.

I meant my sister. Now that's a touchy issue.

Anonymous said...

6'4" - 80 kgs -hmm.. tell me more about your brother

Beta said...

I don't think his girl friend would like that.

Dudette said...

Just watched 'Due Date' a few days ago and am glad that the Hollywood is also drawing inspiration from your blog. If you still didnt get it then I am referring to the 'How did this happen?' episode. :)
Cheers!!

Beta said...

Will have to check out the movie. Thanks for the tip.