spontaneity..

It is not easy trying to get 5 or more people together, especially when you plan in advance. Forget about 5 people, sometimes even with 3 people it can be difficult. You exchanged several texts and e-mails but at the end of the day, only one or two of the many can make it. It is much easier to just make a couple of phone calls or pings over instant messaging at the last minute and voila, you have an instant gathering of 7 people at the very last minute – no muss, no fuss.

It was an hour before lunch time yesterday, when I received a message on MSN instant messaging from Gabriel, a former colleague, asking if I was free to meet for lunch. The next thing I knew, I was on a taxi from my office in the west to Little India in the city for an Indian lunch with 6 of my former colleagues. Apart from some weight gain and loss among us, it is like nothing's changed. The spirit is still there, like we are still working together in the same organisation. Despite the lunch lasting only an hour, you could sense that each of us was enjoying the company. The good food was secondary. Much laughter was had and it is a good stress reliever (not that I was stressed out at work or anything but it was nice to laugh a lot in a space of an hour).

We all hoped that we could meet up like this again but we decided not to plan it and leave it spontaneous like we did yesterday. I can imagine Gabriel saying it in a very Singaporean way when arranging for a spontaneous meeting: "Eh, you can or not? Can? Ok. I can. He can. She can. Ok. We meet. Come, let's go!"