• Part 6 Day 2

“Good morning Kanmani, sleep well?” My dad asked. “Nnhhhh.” I moaned. My face was crushed against the pillow and a thin river of drool trailed from my cheeks to the pillow and down my arm. My hair looked like it had been in a hurricane with all the wind Mother Nature could muster. . I looked at the window and saw that it was a deep shade of cerulean blue. The stars were long gone, but I was able to make out the buildings and cars down below.  checked the time in the clock mounted on the wall. 3:00 am. So it is was most likely 12:00 pm in California. I thought as I emerged from the bed, my feet softly landing on the cold wooden floor. My mom took out the outfit she wanted me to wear for the day. Apparently she didn’t trust me enough to let me get out my own clothes. “You mess up all the clothes that I fold in there.” She says( and still says today). “Well excuse me if I am a dedicated scavenger mother.” Is what I say when she gets irritated when I leave a massacre in the luggage. “Okay Kanmani go take a shower and brush your teeth, and put this on when you are done okay?”

She thrust a knee-length dress in my arms. It was white with white buttons and it had these light yellow lemons and leaves on the dress, looking as if the citric fruits were painted on with watercolor paints and a brush. Along with the dress, my mom pushed a white t-shirt to put underneath the dress. MOTHER YOU EXPECT ME TO WEAR THIS WHEN IT IS MORE THAN 90 DEGREES OUTSIDE? But I said that in my head so she wouldn’t argue with me for the rest of the day and keep saying witty things like “Oh you look so cute in the dress, see it isn’t bad!” or “Why don’t you like this dress? You can’t wear jeans and t-shirts all the time you know.” I clutched the clothing in my hands sighing as I opened the door to the bathroom.

I came out of the bathroom, fresh and ready for the day. But I was surprised to see Jagan Mama standing there with my mom(Jagan Mama is my mother’s younger brother, so he is my uncle). “Hey Kanmani.” He said, attempting to break the silence between us. “Hello Jagan Mama.” I said, my voice sounded so quiet and reticent. Usually my voice is edgy and bold.  But my voice quickly changed back into my normal tone as I answered his question acquainting how I was. I then excused myself from the conversation and grabbed the hairbrush that seemed to be falling out of the duffel bag. Other everyday necessities seemed to be undulating out of the bag. My mom asked me just moments before to brush my hair, because it looked like a bird’s next at the moment. So there I was trying to tend to my unruly and untamable hair. When I was finally able to get my hair somewhat tamed, I stepped out of the dense atmosphere that was the bathroom and asked my dad if I could email my friends on the IPad. He let me use it, so I switched it on and went to my account and typed away.

Once I was done I gave the tablet back to my dad and stood up and took out my IPod and these huge chunky black headphones from my backpack. I scrolled through my playlists, finally picking one to play while everyone got ready. I just sat there on the bed tuning out my surroundings. A few moments later my brother started having a fit, saying he wanted a lollipop. So Jagan Mama took him and they went out to go by a lollipop. My dad and my mom were about finished by the time they got back. I stowed away my things and got up. It was 8:00 or so. We were all out the door. That morning I was quite agitated towards the sun. I UNDERSTAND YOUR CAUSE AND I DO RESPECT YOU. WITHOUT YOU I WOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE YELLING AT YOU IN MY HEAD. BUT SERIOUSLY YOUR AS ANNOYING AS HARRY POTTER’S COUSIN. AND THATS SAYING A LOT BECAUSE HARRY’S COUSIN WAS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE TOP MOST ANNOYING CHARACTERS IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. I SHOULD REALLY SHUT UP SHOULDN’T I? I THINK IT WOULD DO BOTH OF US SOME GOOD. And once again, the sun shined rays of disappointment and annoyance at my face.

We walked into Anand Bhavan and ordered. The same woman that was there yesterday was there that day as well. We all greeted her and she seemed very happy. After we ate, we brought a to-go bag with us and went into the car. Jagan Mama came with us as well. I watched as the world passed by. Busy tourists walking and talking, either holding shopping bags or holding cell phones and snapping pictures. Workers bustling to work, construction workers high up on top of what seemed to be the skeleton of the structure that towered above us. The city definitely looked different in the light of day. We passed by buildings that were like mirrors. Anything in front of it would be replicated in the crystal clear glass. I marveled at the way the sun reflected on the glass and the metal of each building or structure. We then saw from the distance a sign that read Singapore Zoo.

We arrived at the entrance walking towards the doors that had us stamped. I know what your thinking. “Did you guys seriously have to bring like paperwork or something?” First of all no. What I mean by stamped is that WE LITERALLY GOT AN ILLUSTRATION OF A LION ON THE BACK OF OUR HAND. I honestly don’t understand the concept very well, I understand it’s purpose but what if the stamp fades away? What if you wash your hands and it washes out before you leave the zoo. We walked into the other side. There were plants placed in specific areas with large figures of painted animals prowling among the shrubs. The first place we went to was this big rain forest area consisting of pandas. In one of the plaques they showed a little story about how the pandas became black and white. (I don’t remember bits of the story but I do know enough to confidently tell it to all of you.) Long ago panda’s were completely white instead of black and white. One day a little panda cub was roaming along in the rain forest when a panther pounced and almost attacked it. But a woman blocked the panther from the panda. Therefore leading herself to cease. With the grief of their friend’s sacrifice, the panda’s started turning black and white. The black representing their grief. Though this was only a story, my mom and I still got really sad, as if grief was taking over us as well. That was probably the thing that stood out to me the entire time we were their.

Probably one of the most hilarious moments was when there was this little kid ride thing where there were these little mini cars, decorated to look like little animals. We thought it would be fun to let Madhavan go. But you had to have an adult go along with you. We convinced Jagan Mama to go with Madhavan. He looked so out of place with those little kids. He was extremely tall as well. My mom took a video the entire time. There was so much blush on Jagan Mama’s face that he looked like a strawberry. But Madhavan was happy and that was what mattered.

We continued to other places like the Naked Mole Rat area. It was designed so it felt like we were underground with bugs painted on the walls, and a few Mole Rat terrariums. We then visited elephants. My mom’s favorite animal is in fact an elephant. So when we spotted a few babies we both squealed in delight. One of the really cool ones to see in the zoo was the alligator pond. We went to this area where it was set up with wooden risers to sit on. In front was this big tank. So we were able to see the alligator in a better appeal. Another really cool one was the snake area. It showed so many amazing snakes. There was even this little simulator in the wall where you stuck your arm inside this socket and it would feel like a snake squeezing you. My dad tried it but I didn’t dare to even do it. I didn’t want to be squeezed by an unknowing snake.

We visited a lot of animals before we got really tired from walking. So we decided to go drive back to the hotel.

Above is a picture of one of the pandas in the Singapore Zoo.