My aunty asked my mum yesterday whether she's going to be worrying about me when i leave for NS. Mum was all "Of course, so many people die in NS. Summore got food poisoning in some places..."

As someone who's leaving for the Kg Baharu Camp in less than 2 weeks, i'd say i'll be fine, cuz statistically, the chances of survival is quite high.

I mean, i'm pretty sure it wasn't just the food poisoning, lost in the jungle, rape cases etc. that got published in the news that's worrying. Some incidents might be hush-hushed or receive less media attention (although i doubt anything concerning NS would escape the critisicm of some people out there).

But i'll live.

A friend who came back from NS told me this ridiculous rule she and her teammates had to follow: wash their sanitary pads after before they throw them away. I get it that it's the Muslim women's custom to do so, i respect their religion and all, but forcing it on other people as well is just unacceptable, imho. They were actually warned that should any of them did not do so, and got caught (my friend told me they actually conduct checks before you throw your sanitary pads), the punishment is as follows: They'll put your used pad in a bucket of water, then splash that filthy water on you.

How f***ed up is that?

Since i wasn't there myself, i have no idea if it's just to scare the kids or for real. But my friend is quite convinced that they really are going to conduct that kind of punishments.

Oh, one more thing.

On the issue of safety. A couple of guys i know who went to NS came back having learned this "game" from their NS friends, where you press some sort of pressure point on your buddy, and kind of stop blood flow to the brain. I saw them playing one day after class. One of them nearly collapsed.

Fun, eh?

Labels: before ns, ns death, period, safety, sanitary pads