It’s a funny feeling, boarding a flight at 7 p.m. , scheduled to reach it’s destination in 5 hours and then landing at 10 p.m. (IST). This is as close at it gets to having more than 24 hours in a day, finding time to fit in 5 hours worth of in-flight movies in 3 hours, if that makes any sense.
Since I started my chronicles from the end, I shall have to use the flashback mode to write my accounts…..
What is the first thing that comes to your find when you land in a foreign territory, eagerly looking forward to the various sights and sounds it promises to offer you??..What exactly comes to your mind when the air hostess welcomes you to your destination, and in her seductive voice ( not true for all airlines) wishes that you have a happy stay there??……………..You look for the nearest toilet of course, and that is exactly what I did. There is no better way devised by the human mind to mark your arrival in an alien territory than peeing all over it. After sitting through a 5 hour flight, with the air conditioner seemingly creating sub zero temperatures, you feel a rush of relief and joy when you take a piss in the airport toilet. And with the flow comes a euphoric feeling and thoughts like ,’Ha Singapore daddy’s here’ are bound to cross your mind.
Forgive me for these bits of profanity because my stay in Singapore did not give me anything ‘filthy’ to write about. Hence the rest of the account shall be devoid of anything vulgar.
In my opinion if any place ever came to be called perfect it would have to be Singapore. Every nook and corner seems to be prim and proper, not a single tree looks out of place. A great deal of effort has been put into the aesthetics and it clearly shows. The jungle, both the real and the concrete, merge beautifully together. It came as a surprise to me that a country spanning just 25 km N-S and 40 km E-W could have so much area under green cover. As one of the cab drivers told me Singapore actually increased the forest cover from 35% to 47% in the last few years, and considering Singapore’s strategic role in commerce and trade that is one impressive figure.
Most of this, as well as Singapore’s commercial success can be attributed to a single value – discipline. No cab will jump a red light even in the middle of a night or on a deserted road. No person crosses the road until the signal directs him to. If someone plans to take you out for dinner at 8 p.m. he’ll arrive at your hotel at 7:45. A 9 to 5 job implies you work efficiently for those alloted 8 hours and go back home, no overtime and no excuses. A stark contrast from what we observe in India isn’t it?
In every country you find whiners, the ones who’ll complain about something or the other. But in Singapore I found people who were proud to be its citizens be they Chinese, Indians or Malays. And why shouldn’t they be – the system is fair, each person’s religion & culture is respected, there is no corruption, no cheating and professionalism exudes from the people be it a CEO of a company or a cabbie. Unlike many other small nations, which fade into oblivion or remain unheard of, this one manages to become a model for all developing nations, and this can be attributed to its citizens who contribute enthusiastically and take pride in their small nation’s progress.
I also happened to visit the NTU campus and now I am regretting my decion to do so. The fact that I got so close to getting a seat here but missed it (due to an utterly stupid reason) shall always nag me and haunt my dreams (damn that school Computer Science building!). They are a great nation, they just need to work on their north indian cuisine a bit.
Thepr0crastinat0r's Weblog 