Monday, May 25, 2015

A lemmings story

So, we were on vacation (I had a great time. Thank  you for asking!) in Bintan, Indonesia. It is a short ferry ride away from Singapore. But the fact that it is in a different country makes things more complicated than they should be. Although the ferry ride from point A to B was only 45 minutes long, the actually journey took us more than 3-4 hours, thanks to the immigration formalities and the wait associated. Although Pickles was a darling during the entire trip, the journey was another matter. I had taken tons of things to keep him distracted and busy. It also helps that he is now curious about the things around him and pointing things out to him when we are outdoors is one of the things he enjoys. But, I digress.

On our way back home from Bintan, we were stuck at the immigration for a while with nothing much to do. There were a good number of people sitting around in the lounge, waiting for  the ferry to show up. Pickles was already done reading his books multiple times and running around the ferry  terminal. It was his nap time and so he was beginning to get slightly cranky. I picked him up and went close to the gate and was showing him the sea and birds and whatever I could think of. In a while, the ferry arrived and the people who arrived on it were disembarking. This was of course of considerable interest to my little one. So, he was watching with interest, all the proceedings at the harbour. Slowly, I began rocking him as he started to drift off to la-la land. In about 5 minutes, he was fast asleep in my arms. Relieved, I turned around, looking for R and a place to sit down. I was in for a shock.

There was a long queue of people behind me. Turns out that people had assumed that I was at the gate first and was queueing to board the ferry. So, they had all followed me blindly and there was now a queue to board, even before the boarding announcement was made. I stood there stunned, and as I looked around in confusion, I caught R's eye. He had seen what was happening and was sitting back and enjoying the drama. When he saw the shock on my face, he was almost laughing out loud. But then, he coolly came up to me and joined me in 'my place in the queue'.

Shortly, the boarding announcement was made and needless to say, we were among the first to board the ferry. And all, thanks to Pickles!

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