The Big Walk 2007 Experience

I slept late the night before our Big Walk. Despite this, I felt fresh in the morning. We (Nikhil, Tarang and I) started together from the Gillman Heights with full enthusiasm. We took bus service no 166 which directly went to Mac Ritchie Park from the Gillman. This was a double decker bus. Immediately Tarang and I secured the front seats of the deck of the bus and started enjoying the architecture of Singapore. That day I realized why some Indian cities, like Mumbai, are modeled after Singapore. The morning was so beautiful and it felt as if I was passing through heaven.  One saw the charismatic civil engineering structures on both sides of the road. I salute the engineers who have decorated this city so perfectly and systematically. We reached the meeting place 28 minutes late. Marty was guiding the group through Aerobics. We joined all of them and concluded the warm up exercises with meditation. Finally we started the walk at 0750hrs.

 We were running across the lake on the wooden platform where one side was covered with the rain forest. Our target was to go from Mac Ritchie Reservoir Park to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. We started with this aim towards the Golf Course which is a private property and was also a first meeting point for all of us we (nearly thirty of us) were moving in small groups of five and six. Golfers were hitting the balls over the green grass and were a little perturbed by the noise we created.

 In the course of the walk, I got to know everyone better. We were taking snap-shots of almost everything and anything. A memorable time for me was the meeting with the tortoise which was standing over the stone surrounded by the water and was not affected by our presence. He allowed me to move up very close to him. I remembered the shloka of Srimad Bhagvad Gita where Sri Krishna gives the example of the tortoise to Arjuna in practicing celibacy. Along the way, we stopped for refreshments. We were passing through a so called forest, like a prototype of our Indian forests. Venkatji was relating to some of us about Singapore’s success stories. I admired the people behind the making of Singapore. The whole discussion was very interesting and a great learning experience for me. While discussing these issues, we were crossing the Rifle Range to enter into the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve which we visited last week as a part of our monthly walk. Up to this point, we had covered more than 10kms but everybody was looking as if they had just started. I am not exaggerating and this fact can be verified by studying the photographs we took along the way (inserted herewith). Finally we reached the summit of Bukit Timah Hill where we had some food. We ended the Big Walk by remembering The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and sharing our experiences of the walk.

 This Big walk was a great time one for me. I made many new friends like Pranav, Surekha, Pradipta, Niharika, Mr Ram, Krishnan and his family, Ms Marty and her family, SJ, Sudhaji and a few more whom I am unable to name. Pranav asked me about the load, fulcrum and effort when he was opening the energy drink bottle by putting the effort on the tag. I see in him a shadow of a great engineer. Surekha likes Albert Einstein although she is unable to recall for what he was awarded the Nobel Prize. I enjoyed the questions these children asked at this age.

 I could do with exploring Singapore a little bit more.

 I did not feel any kind of exhaustion although I walked the longest in my entire 27 years. I am grateful to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother for giving me such a nice company and experience in Singapore.

 Sri MAA Samarpanam astu.

- Photos & Write-up by Rahul