I've Moved!

Hello there, person who is reading this!

Just wanted to let you know that I've moved! I got a little tired of switching between Blogger and Wordpress so I've decided to haul all my writing over to Wordpress (sorry Blogger, we had a good run).

You can now find me at anujap.wordpress.com (pretentious much, using my name and everything). If you're not on Wordpress (I recommend you get on it. It's tonnes of fun) and you want to follow my blog, you can do it via email. You'll find the link in the sidebar over at the new blog.

I hope to see you there!

- Anuja P.

Sky Scrapers

You could see blue skies from my window. I remember. I would take a break from work, turn my chair to the sun and gaze at the vast expanse of blue spreading endlessly across the horizon. It would occasionally be dotted by green; green trees. I remember. But no more. Now there is only sleet grey. Grey of buildings. And black dots of human beings silhouetted against the glow of their living spaces; "homes" they call them. These buildings, these "sky scrapers" are a solution to humanity's problems. I know. But they scraped my blue sky away, and made inspiration a little out of reach for me. Unfortunately.

When I say "working from home"

On the path of life

This post is an answer to the prompt "You've been asked to speak at your high school alma marter—about the path of life (whoa). Draft the speech.

The path of life is defined by two constants—change and uncertainty. You may have it all figured out in your mind but things will most likely go a different way, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. As your life path twists and turns, you will too. With age and experience, ideas change, views change, situations change, means change, and longstanding dreams can also change.

When I was 13, I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut. By the time I was 16, I didn't want to anymore. But you'll say that's ok, the resolutions we make as little children and teenagers almost always change, and I agree with you.

But then again, when I was 18, I wanted to be married by the time I was 24, I thought anything beyond that would be too late. I'm 25 and single now and I can't imagine wanting to be married for a few more years. But who knows, maybe in a few years I'll change again.

Life changed me, the decisions I made changed me, the experiences I had changed me, and quite importantly, the people I surrounded myself with changed me.

I currently work in writing and marketing. For almost four years now I have tried to decide between the two disciplines, and failed at picking just one. If you absolutely forced me to choose, I am still uncertain about which one I'd choose.

I realised that things started becoming more and more uncertain after I left school. Uncertainty was everywhere—which college I'd get into, which one I'd choose, what jobs I would apply for, so on and so forth.

I'm sure by now you get the gist of what I'm trying to say, especially because I'm sure you've heard it a million times before. And even though this might just be a reiteration, it doesn't make it any less real or true.

So, what I'm saying is, you never know where the path of life will take you. If you are the type of person who likes to have a plan, go ahead and make one, but allow for inconsistances when it comes to implementation. This path will take you to some beautiful places and some horrible ones, some happy phases and some lonely ones, but know that it might change at any moment. I'm not going to end by asking you to enjoy the journey, because a lot of times it will be far from enjoyable, but I am asking you to remember that things change and when you feel uncertain, lost, and down and out the most, try to fret a little less because you could be next in line for change.

On figuring out what to do in life [unsolved]

I woke up this morning with a career plan. I've always wanted to study more, and recently read that the UK government was proposing new visa rules that would allow international students a good chance at work after a PhD. So, I was like—great, awesome, that settles it then! I'd started dreaming of my perfect student apartment in New Town, Edinburgh that I would share with a cool American undergrad and a Scottish postgrad. I thought I'd be the toast of the "consumption culture research" world, with my radicle papers on how embracing post-post modern consumption might just be the way ahead. And I'd imagined all the fancy dinner parties I'd be attending at my supervisor's house, where apart from him and his lovely wife, I would meet other "cool" intellectuals like myself (ahem).

And then I read this article: The disposable academic which basically tells me that pursuing a PhD would be a wasted endeavour as there is more supply than demand in the market. The fact that this was posted by an acquaintance who is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics (a subject with far more potential than mine) added to my already vast disappointment.

So, what now? What am I supposed to do? There's a little voice in my head that tells me I should go for it regardless of this one article. But I know this isn't the only one, there are several out there, all saying the same thing. And this voice tells me "You'll be better than the best! You'll be the exception to the rule", but I know that isn't true. A very wise movie, and my experience with life, taught me that I am, in 99.9% of the cases, definitely the rule.

Image by Rijama

The thing is, it's very difficult—this thing called "life". One day you're dreaming about bumping into Paolo Nutini on the streets of Edinburgh after nailing a class on Erik Erikson's theory of stages of development, and the next you realise that not just the Paolo part, but all of that dream might not be possible. So then you start running through your back up plans—
I want to be a writer—No, there are too many writers out there who are far better than you.
I want to be a writer who finds a voice with which a niche audience can connect—No, there are already enough voices out there.
I want to be a travel writer—Have you seen twitter? Every third person there is a travel writer.
I want to become a musician—Get real, you're not 12 anymore.
I want to become a singer in a jazz band—Get real, you can barely hold a tune.
I want to be a writer—It's like you're not even listening anymore!


So, what then? What am I supposed to do? They tell you you're supposed to figure out what you can offer that is different from everyone else and then work with that. But, come on, when was the last time someone offered something completely different, anyway?

So, I circle back. I think that's what you should do at times like these (note the Foo reference there), circle back to where you started and begin eliminating dead-ends that come disguised as options. Do your research, talk to people, and also try your hand at other things that are on your list of possibilities (perhaps try that writing thing again? write a blog post about your dilemma, maybe?). If you're lucky,  and I hope you are, and if you work for something, or a few things, or even many things, hopefully one of those things, if not some or all of them, will work out.

Singapore Re-discovered

View across the waters of Sentosa, Singapore

Last December, much to the outrage of many friends, I holidayed in Singapore for the fourth time! “Are you mad?”, they asked. “Not again!”, they cried. But we went anyway. “Why?” you ask?

Because Singapore is one of the most convenient holiday destinations in South Asia. A short five and a half hour—flight from Mumbai gets you there in relative comfort and ease. So when you're travelling with slightly older parents, like I was, this becomes a vital factor in planning your holiday.

Another reason for choosing Singapore was mobility. Having a bad back, my dad can’t really do too much road travel, so Singapore was ideal. Once you’re there, you can pretty much get anywhere in half an hour. It is also really easy to move across the city via metro, cabs, and buses.

And finally, the most compelling reason for choosing Singapore for the fourth time was that it is the perfect family holiday destination! It really is. My parents aren’t really into “off-the-beaten-track” sort of holidays, and we wanted to go somewhere everyone would have fun, so Singapore it was.

Was it worth choosing Singapore for the fourth time? Definitely! Here's why:

Everything was new... again.

Gardens by the Bay. Image © Erwin Soo 

Each time I’ve travelled to Singapore, I’ve found myself looking at a different skyline. The skyscrapers get taller and increase in number, new malls pop up even though there seem to be more than enough already, and there are always new things to do for returning tourists. 

Marine Life Park, Universal Studios, Marina Bay, and more!

Lions mane jellyfish at S.E.A. Aquarium, Marine Life Park

On this holiday, I strayed away from my usual circuit of visiting Singapore Zoo, Dolphin Lagoon, and Underwater Bay at Sentosa. Instead, my parents and I saw many new attractions like Marine Life Park and Universal Studios, and took up new activities like catching a magic+acrobatics+dance show (Incanto) at Resort World and doing the flying fox at MegaZip Adventure Park at Sentosa (a bit of an anti-climax, this one. It's not scary at all once they send you down the zip line, and the ride ends in less than a minute, but the views are spectacular!).

Exhibit at S.E.A. Aquarium, Marine Life Park

Hidden Chinatown

The most surprising part of my visit was discovering hidden jewels in Chinatown. I initially went looking for the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, believed to house one of Buddha’s teeth! 

Partial outside view of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

After exploring this beautiful temple complex (and not seeing the tooth since I didn't get there at the right time), I walked down the many alleyways filled with shops selling cheap clothes and knick-knacks, and stumbled across a store devoted entirely to Tin Tin! From collector’s edition books to figurines, bookmarks, and posters, this store has everything a Tin Tin fan could possibly want. 

Image © The Tintin Shop, Singapore

As night approached, iconic red lanterns started glowing around Chinatown and all around there were hawkers, tourists, and ladies of the night, all drenched in movie scene lighting of red and yellow. I was with a friend who recommended we drink and dine at Club Street nearby. This is quite a contrast from stereotypical Chinatown; it is stereotypical modern Singapore—you can find some of the city's finest European restobars here housed in quaint and colourful shophouses. Of the many options here, we settled on a nice–looking Italian restaurant whose walls were painted Greek blue and white. The food was alright, nothing spectacular, but the cozy ambiance and friendly service made up for it. Now, since the food wasn't spectacular, I refuse to tell you the name of this restaurant, or maybe I'm just not telling you because I've forgotten the name and hours of looking it up online hasn't helped (but let's go with the former).

The Stay

Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort

Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort is one of the best hotels I've ever stayed in. The incomparably attentive staff, the relaxing private beach, the view from the room, and the small touches that make your stay special and could be found everywhere in the hotel—it was perfect! You can read further praises of this excellent hotel on my "travel guide"—style blog post here.

So, that was an abridged version of my fourth stay in Singapore. Would I go back again? Hopefully not, but probably, yes!