Life, as it goes.

The sun shines doubly in the sea as the water reflects and breaks the sheets of gold into infinite diamonds. Thats what the sunrise looked like in the sea. Sadly, R is the one to sleep till late, of course he had a good reason to. He had done his bit to reduce the ship's supply of alcohol the previous night and it would take till 9-10 in the morning to remove the after effects of the indulgence.

I went for a walk around the ship. It was humungous. With 13 decks, the height is easily as much as a building with 11 floors. The 13th deck had a walking trail where many people were taking morning walks. It was close to eight in the morning and smell of freshly brewed coffee came from one of the restaurants on that deck.

The gym was unoccupied and I thought of trying the treadmill. I have never exercised on it so I went to check it out. It was the best thing I did. The gym was on the twelveth deck with one side of glass windows which looked out to the sea. The treadmills faced the windows. It was so cool to walk on the treadmill with the entire ocean spread in front of you.

After lunch we reached the first port of call, Penang in Malaysia. We got to land through a ferry boat and stepped out on the pier to an interesting sight. From afar it looked like a street vendor who had parked his wares in a stall, on a closer look, his wares were something we had never seen before in such a setting. Spread out in front of him, in numerous little boxes, neatly tagged were notes and coins of not less than 10 different currencies. Above him hung the latest buying and selling rate written by sketchpen on chart paper. The only thing that made him different from a street vendor was that he was conducting his business silently instead of the regular bellowing, "Le lo bhai khilone le lo."

R hesitated but the Star Cruise personnel said that it was ok to get money exchanged there, so we took some local currency and proceeded to take a taxi. Behind me I saw a fair girl with red and white bangles, the sign of a brand new bride speaking in Hindi with a man presumably her brand new groom. I approached them,

"We could share a taxi if you like. One taxi for the day costs 160, instead of spending 320 we can spend 160 and ride together." I said smiling in Hindi.
"Makes sense." The girl said, "Kya kehte ho?" she asked her husband.
"Koi gal nahi." the guy said. Revealing himself as the happy-go-lucky Punjabi. Don't know why but I have a thing with these Punjus, har jagah mil jaate hai.

Thus we met and made friends with V and S, a newly married couple from Delhi who were with us on the cruise and spent the day with them in Penang.

It was a charming little seaside town with big malls and a beach which is a rare combination of sea and mountains. It also has some Buddhist temples, one of them being the Sleeping Buddha. Alone, we would have been bored I think but with V and S it was fun. S was aghast when I told her that R and I were not yet married but recovered from the shock soon enough and admitted that she envied our guts.

We were to get back to the ship by seven in the evening. We spent some time at the temples, some in the malls and then stayed at the beach chatting till sundown. I didn't want to go into the sea because it wasn't that clean so we just relaxed and talked. A drunk man tried to sell us jet ski and para sailing rides. R and V had to literally corner him and bully him to leave. I was a little afraid that some of his cronies might interfere and turn it into a brawl but interestingly nothing happened. A massage lady later told me that the man did this everyday and nobody really bothered about him.

There was one thing that bothered me though, money. We just couldn't spend thinking that everything cost so much more here than in India. I was constantly doing the math in my head. We were not going to splurge because we did not have that kind of money but still, we were supposed to have fun and that cost money, so why could I not spend? Then R gave an profound explanation to this, "Pri, free fun is better than paid fun, what other reason do people have to get married?" I slapped him on the shoulder, V guffawed and S blushed.

Back at the ship, R, V and S went for a swim while I sat near the pool reading. At dinner we ate like we had been stranded in an uninhabitated island for months and then roamed around the ship. By midnight we were tired and with a promise to meet up with V and S again the next day turned in. I sat in my balcony for a long time watching the water my mind in wonder at nature's power - the sea on which I was a miniscule, irrelevant speck versus man's power - the ship which conquered the sea and turned me into the one to challenge it too.