I was watching a young boy on the train today, who was peering at a map of the Singapore transportation network. His excited expression sort of reminded me of myself studying the London tube map, thinking how amazing the extent of the network was, and how I had never seen anything like it before. Who knows, maybe in some ten years that same boy will be able to look at the Singapore map with even more fascination than today as this metropolis grows and heads in the direction of other mega cities.
I came back this summer in time for nation-wide celebrations marking Singapore’s 50th independence anniversary. It was a good time to look back at the last 50, last 100 years to see where this place has arrived from, and I guess, trying to put it simply, Singapore has always been a place for immigrant people to find a livelihood, work for themselves, and somehow get tied up with the land along the way. To an extent, it still is like that today, even if the face of the nation is now very different from the past. What has been constant here is that the land and its people seem to change very quickly, continually adapting to the circumstances; and since independence that attitude has been mostly beneficial. So if adapting and looking to the future is a good recipe for success, I sincerely hope that this nation continues to do so, and that it changes wisely as well, so that those little kids can continue to enjoy modern train rides, and so that bigger kids like me can be proud of my homeland.
Local drink in a non-local mug
