In Continuum.

Blackcurrent Jellyfish

The very last of all exercises,like the fullstop at the end of every sentence,such as this one.That was what my superiors promised us,the night before the Watermanship exercise down at the Seletar Wet Gap.It sounds like some elementary swimming lessons,but it actually involves a whole bunch of people pulling a rope across a river,and the lot of us crossing the water obstacle by pulling ourselves over the suspanded rope.It might sound like fun now,but the main issue i had was the wetness.I hate to be wet especially when i am in my uniform,and my boots on.And it's not like i had a choice of taking them off or anything.

Army boys have thresholds when it comes to crossing water bodies.Anything below the ankle is fine,just as long as the socks are not wet.Once that threshold is crossed,we go on to the next one: Underwear.As long as THAT is not wet,everything is still fine and dandy.But of course,during an exercise like that,it is impossible for you to keep your underwear wet.Which was why there were moans and groans,when we submerged ourselves in the dirty river water infested with jellyfishes,testing out our life vests.I remember myself cursing under my breath the moment the water rushed into the boots,making squashy sounds as i took heavy steps towards the training shed afterwards.It was dreadful,and what made it worse was the smell of the water and the fact that it was infested with jellyfishes.

However,despite all the vomit-inducing stuff i mentioned above,the exercise turned out to be rather pleasant.Perhaps it was because it was the fullstop of my NS life,or because swimming is a hidden passion of mine despite my hydrophobic nature,but all and all it didnt turn out as bad as i thought it would be.Screw the wet boots and underwear,i had a blast pulling myself through the water,with a carabina attached to the main rope,and pulling my full load down the river towards the other shore.It was fun in a sadistic way,at the very end of the day when we had to carry the massive lifeboats back to the shed,and get them washed up.The boys carried them,and even with nearly twenty people to one boat,it was heavy as hell.Because really,they were metal and they were full of mud.But we heaved and heaved,marching towards the shed while chanting to our favourite letters of ABC,"ORD!ORD!ORD",we managed to get it to the nearest hose and back onto the racks.We were the serenaded by water hoses,and then the cheering of each other resonating around the empty camp deep into the night.

Between each 'dive' we had a lot of breaks,and because we had empty Blackcurrent syrup bottles,Stanley and gang went down to the river to catch some jellyfishes.There were bottles and bottles of those,pale white and pink jellyfishes floating around like bubbles in the water,and along with those classes of crabs and fishes,and even squids!They changed colours too,as they touched the rock and the side of the bottle,which was an eye-opener truly.It reminded me of the old primary school days when i used to catch insects at the back of the school with bottles as well,and the spiders with cassette tape covers.It was great fun,and there we were admiring those jellyfishes,drinking the water in a bottle,which used to contain Blackcurrent syrup.No wonder the jelyfishes got a little drunk,and their tenticles actually got tangled at one point.Jonathan treatened to put them in the ice box to make ice jelly,while Perry wanted to roast the crab with a lighter for black pepper crab.Poor animals,with their lives hanging by the fingertips of such wretched humans!


Watching the jellyfishes were fascinating.I remember when i was in Secondary school,and we were forced to take kayaking lessons in the Sembawang SeaSports Centre.They had schools of jellyfishes off the beaches,and we used to scoop them up with our oars in the middle of the sea.There were green ones,blue ones,red ones,and the pink ones,and they all looked like overturned brocolli to me,which was cute.But the ones floating around in the bottles were more like bubbles;Bubbles with legs.They floated around the bottle,crashing into each other and bouncing off one another,and gathering at the top,almost as if they were gasping for air.

So the jellyfishes reminded me of me,the people in the training shed,the people i know online and off,everybody in this world,with the bottle of Blackcurrent the universe.I know,it is QUITE something,to think about when you are merely staring at a bottle of floating jellyfishes,but i guess their beauty and elegance attracted,and in a way enchanted me.

We are all like jellyfishes,arent we?Crashing into each other and then bouncing off one another in the course of life.You meet somebody you like,your limbs get tangled.But once in a while,if you are lucky enough,you separate from that fateful partner and you are once again,all alone in the current of life,just wandering on the edges of the bottle,gasping for breath at the surface,as life puts its hands around your neck,suffocating you slowly.

Of course,we humans are not nearly as blind,as ignorant,as aimless as those jellyfishes.After all,we dont have mushroom like heads,with nothing inside them like the jellyfishes.We have brains,emotions,conscience,and so much more that differentiates us from those animals.But in essence,arent we all the same,in such miraculous and little way?

But it's strange,the way they were in that bottle,crammed together.At least their water - or life - tasted like Blackcurrent syrup.The water that we dwell in - the life - doesnt taste half as good as that.In fact,it probably tastes like some bad cough syrup they issue to you from cheap clinics.The truth is,perhaps being ignorant,aimless and blind,is a bliss afterall.Because really,you'd want to be like jellyfishes,if you intend to crash into one another as randomly and as blindly as them.