I am slowly getting adjusted to the environment and culture. I stay in a PG and it takes me 1 Hr to reach my office by the MRT. My house owners are really nice people, they take very good care of me. They are very frank, honest and genuine people. The house owner cooks food for me and Rahul (IT buff from Bombay) sometimes for dinner and she also bought me a dress for my B day, they also celebrated my B day and I felt really happy and at home. This makes me feel I am blessed and this feeling always gets me back to my senses and restores sanity whenever I go off track. All through my life I have come across some really good people from whom I have learnt a lot and who have left behind a lasting impression. I am indeed blessed and that makes me believe in the supreme power.

I get to read books when I travel. Osho, Reddy, and J krisnamurthy are my companions. Not a single day passes without reading Osho and I think I have fallen in love with his thoughts. Jagit Singh’s Maa and Krisna bajans, refresh my soul at the end of the day.

I am surprised by the way in which things are structured and organized. I am also taken a back by their road sense, civic sense and common senseJ. Some time I wonder where is the room for creativity and ones urge to be natural. However I admire their concept of society. 80% of the houses are built by the govt and every society is well equipped with Gyms, Swing pool, Schools, Sports centers, Old age centers, shopping complexes. What amuses me is that at the end of every road there are these vacant lands and the Chinese in the mornings practice Tai chi and the youngsters practice aerobics in the evening and children practice karate, skating and basketball. This keeps reminding me of the Multiplex creativity villageJ. The Chinese are the one who come out for all this, I haven’t seen a Malai or an Indian. The work culture is also pretty different, I feel they don’t give much importance to work and they don’t carry work outside office hours. When the clock strikes 6.00, you would find people packing their bags and rushing out like ants. At the end of the day , you can see them either shopping or at a food court hogging. There are two things they seem to do religiously eat and shop.

Last week I went to one of the Singapore banks to open a savings a/c. After completing all the formalities, I just asked the lady at the counter what the interest rate was. She just looked up, smiled and said 0.25%. I was completely taken aback. I went home and spoke to a couple of my friends and then realized that the economy would be at great danger if people start saving. That’s when I realized that I need to come out of my Indian mentality.

I admire the Singapore kids, from a very young age the parents teach them how to behave and they are exposed to so much technology unlike their Indian counterparts that they become independent from a very young age. It so happened that one day I was at the MRT and was swiping my card against the wrong counter. I suddenly heard a voice from somewhere “Uncle not this counter, you need to go there”. I looked around and found nobody and somebody from below pulled my pants and that’s when I realized it was toddler. I was completely embarrassed, thanked her and started walking fast. I don’t know if I am right by making this statement, but in a short time I some how get this feeling and I wonder what happens to their ability to be natural. Does Fruedian principles don’t work here? The society is becoming more mechanical and programmed, so much so that they walk in the same side of the road, stand in the same side in the train and the best past is that people start walking in escalators (going against the very purpose it is there) even there they have a rule, people who want the escalators to take them stand in the right side and the others walk past them from left. I guess their Tai chi and aerobics keep them sane .

All set and done I feel there is something more in Mother India, Singapore does not have Thiruvanna malai, Ramna ashram is not here, ASB is not here, I don’t see cows, I don’t see people coexisting in chaos and more importantly mother’s curd rice and rasam is not there.

At work, I sometimes find it difficult understanding their Singlish and am also finding it hard to break ice, I don’t go out with them during lunch. I remember mam teaching us in CCM class that the Chinese, the Japanese and generally Asians get accustomed over Food. The problem is they go in for a Chinese restaurant and I find it really really difficult to find a veg dish, even if we go elsewhere, I don’t kind of understand what the item in the menu card is. I guess I need to take a course on these dishes and separate training on how to pronounce them.