Machines are unreliable. And they don’t even explain. Human beings generally are dependable and even if someone fails us, he/she would at least explain. My laptop failed me again. Could not blog, not check my mails, not upload the umpteen photos I clicked in Singapore.

About my observations on Singapore.

Changi airport was rocking. all it took to check out was about 10 minutes. Sure, it is pretty organized and has very efficient systems.

But a country is made of its people.

Singaporeans, or most of those, including non-singaporeans, that live in Singapore live to shop. Since they need energy to shop, they eat in between. And since one needs money to shop and eat, they go to work.

Singapore is full of malls and foot courts.

The taxi drivers were my objects of observation to understand their culture and outlook in life. Though in general many of them are of serious disposition, found too much of variety to draw any conclusions on their outlook.

One thing most of the senior bankers / others I met raved about was the growth in India (and of course China too). They do not seem to completely understand why one should look at coming away from an economy that is growing very well. I gave my reasons and I surely think that if someone wants to grow big in banking, then Singapore should be a good place to work. Singapore is the financial hub of APAC region (Japan excluded). It has 180 banks and about 700 financial institutions. The kind of financial products that are structured there are years ahead of what we did / do here.

The trip was quite fruitful. No, I did not get my job, but surely developed a good network, got a few thoughts clarified. Now I know what I am going to spend the rest of my time at ISB on. It is a nice place to go to work for, provided I get my price.