What I learnt @ Singapura....

On a short break to India recently, I was doing something that I always thought I wouldn’t - compare Mumbai and Singapore. Though I in no way am belittling Mumbai, yet constant comparison, even when not aloud, is almost ingrained in the human psyche.

Yet the fact that I compared, led me to think what all had changed in me post life in Singapore. I had taken up a job in Singapore on instinct- I just knew that I must work there for a while. Most people advised me to come back to India, especially Mumbai- yet I knew at that point of time that would have been disastrous. Now after 7 months of working in Singapore and 1.2 years of being in there, I assess myself on the things that have changed in me, or that I have learnt. Some are surprising, some expected. 

Taste in Beverages: I always consider myself to be an absolutely non-fussy and chilled out person as far as food is concerned. So a strong preference in beverages is a shocking revelation to me. Maybe it is a year’s drink from vending machines that did this. In any case, I find that coffee HAS to be filter coffee, Tea has to be with ginger and Taj (other brands don’t blend well with ginger you see), or ginger-lemon black tea, or Milk is best with Boost or Horlicks or Hersheys and that I would probably kill the next person who offers me MILO!! It’s these details which make me wonder if there is actually a foodie-monster lurking inside me, and all that stops me from coming out in the open about it is my sheer laziness and my superior proclamation that “Food isn’t everything!!”

Spending Pattern: Living in another country, with my own money has really shown me that I am capable of being in every position of the extravagant-thrifty line. I can spend just 100 dollars on food in a month, and spend 400 on a microphone- though I consider this totally justified. However, wasting time comparing prices in Mustafa to get the best deal, proudly saving a dollar and thus missing the last train and spending 15 dollars on cab is most certainly not! Cent wise, dollar foolish, indeed.

Living in the moment: Having a roof over one’s head is something I always took for granted, especially since I had never been outside of home. Post college when I went back to Singapore for work, I had no house to stay in. I was managing to live in the college hostel with a friend, without being caught and then rushed one fine morning to move in with another friend on a temporary basis- to avoid getting kicked out! All this was definitely a huge learning! In some ways l started enjoying the nomadic lifestyle- there was something thrilling about not knowing where I would go next. Yet I worried to no end about finding a house and made huge analysis on what house I should pick and cribbed that I had to live out of a box. After a certain point of time however, I stopped worrying about it and started enjoying the current moment. And truly like magic, things fell into place in a week and I moved into a beautiful house. This was a lesson that living in the moment and going with the flow, can give you the exact things you need and worrying is indeed pointless.

This change in me is I hope here to stay. Sure, I still worry but I prioritize it 

Spontaneity: Maybe this has a lot to do with freedom and independence that comes with living alone. Yet Singapore is the place where I embraced my spontaneous side. I have always had my whims, yet could never implement them in Mumbai. Singapore’s safety and freedom allowed me to. Be it going ice-skating suddenly, or catching a street play in Merlion Park, to signing up for a Choir, to going to the beach at night- here I lived and loved my whims!

Ironing: Well this may seem funny. In the beginning of SP Jain days, my roommate Neha once watched me iron my formal shirts and remarked, “You have never ironed clothes in your life, have you?”. Well, I hadn’t, especially formals. Back in home the clothes were ironed by ‘istree waala’. And I was indeed struggling. But I am pleased to say, I can now iron clothes quite well! :) 

Things that I didn’t learn: Certain things that I really hoped I would do and didn’t- going on morning walks, meditating, swimming. I wanted to lead an “early to rise, early to bed” lifestyle and incorporate all the fitness activities in daily life. Yet the sad realization struck- laziness really has nothing to do with the place you live in! Maybe putting this in writing and publishing it will shame me to making another attempt at that lifestyle. 

Singapore is a place that will be forever close to my heart. It’s a place where I first learnt to live alone and provide for myself. Where I could on a whim go to a beach at 11.30 pm alone. It’s a place of many such firsts, a place I can call ‘mine’. And I feel a strange sense of elation when I realize that no matter where I go, Singapore will always feel like home to me. A feeling not even Mumbai as a city could give. A place whose every memory- good and bad- I cherish.

Yet, as I look out from my room at the beautiful night skyline of Singapore, I know I couldn’t live here forever. It’s when we try to hold on to something beyond the expiry date, and get too attached, does it cause pain. Maybe I always want my stint in Singapore to be an untarnished, beautiful experience- and not become ‘just any other place’. A memory I can always look back at and smile happily.