An Indian perspective

Its been almost 15 days since I am here, in Singapore, on project assignment.The quiet life here , the ease and comfort of this place is something anyone working in a crowded , fast paced city like Mumbai will come to appreciate. The fast growing economy of this sixth wealthiest country in the world no doubt attracts a number of Indians who have made Singapore their home away from home.

I am very intrigued by the fact that most of the people I see in my current place of work are Indians living here as permanent residents (still retaining their indian citizenships) or software professional like myself working on project assignments here.

 It intrigues me to see these people out of the Indian context and in their life here. I can relate to most of them but some I cannot. The ones I cannot are people who I feel are now Singaporeans, the only resemblance to their being Indian is probably their looks that distinguish them from other Singaporeans.
I picture a person here walking comfortably on his way to office, taking an MRT , walking into Starbucks on his way to pick up his morning coffee , working at office and taking the MRT while back home. His work pressures and his personal problems apart; this individual is at comfort. When I picture the same person in Mumbai , probably back from his assignment; his daily schedule then has to adapt to the pace of Mumbai life. His daily schedule would then probably be standing in a long bus queue and squeezing himself into an overcrowded bus, trying to get his foot onto the next overcrowded train if he has by mistake missed his regular local, travelling for around  1 hour at the minimum if he is lucky to have his house relatively closer to his place of work. Thinking probably at work, that if he takes the 08:00 pm call with the client, he will have to miss his train and have another struggle to reach home…..All this!!  and we have ‘experts’ figuring out why lives of the working professionals in Indian cities are becoming extremely stressful.
I am not being critical or trying to use these comparisons to draw home a point. I’m just
writing my thoughts and hoping that someday , hopefully soon, people in Indian cities too
can lead less stressful lives and are atleast assured of safe and smooth transport in their regular commute.

~ by dimplesblog on July 16, 2008.