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Now that it’s been more than a year since I left Singapore, time for a bit of reflection. What do I realize I now miss?

• Singlish - I still occasionally form sentences in Singlish in my head, and suddenly realize that the listener would have no clue if I actually speak that. Imagine the ease of using 1 or 2 simple words like Can meh? (as opposed to its translated long form - “Err, I dont think that’s possible. Are you sure of that?”)
• Chilly crab - I think it’s worth taking a flight back to Singapore to enjoy an evening of Chilly & Pepper crab, Fried buns, Sambal kang kong. There was some Chilly crab festival in Dubai once, but those who went for it advised to stay clear.
• Red tape (or the lack of it) - Probably the biggie of the lot, Singapore is the worst place you should stay if you wish to relocate to any other place in the world. You would get used to things getting done easily, and the steps to get that done clearly defined and quantified. You go anywhere else, a hitherto unknown concept of Red Tape presents itself! The only thing that’s more complicated (on purpose) in Singapore is when you want to buy your own car.
• Rain - After a year in Dubai… “Rain, what’s that?”
• Singaporean Cabbies - Probably the most entertaining lot, of all the professions you come across in Singapore. I think every single one I have come across had something to talk about the ‘gahmen’.
• Public Transport - Even though you can literally see the Metro being built all over the place, it’s still a long way to reach the levels of Singapore, where almost everyone takes Buses or Trains to work.
• Having private conversations in public - In Singapore, it’s fairly safe to talk in either Malayalam or Hindi and be sure that it would remain a private conversation. In Dubai however, those 2 languages combined is spoken or at least understood by probably 60-70% of the population!

Oh, and happy belated National day to all in Singapore!

And HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, INDIA!