The idealism of youth

I just finished watching another F1 race. The Singapore Grand Prix one to be precise. Sebastian Vettel won (no suprise there). He was driving a Ferrari (again, no surprise). But three former world champions DNF-ed (did not finish): Alonso, Button and Hamilton. That's quite surprising given these guys know how to look after their cars and to nurse their damaged equipment to the finish line. The really pleasant surprise was a young Max Verstappen in his debut race. He finished in a decent point scoring 8th place from 20 cars and even set one the fastest laps in the race. At 17 years old, he is even younger than J (who is just starting to get his driving license). If this photo from telegraph.co.uk is any evidence, this kid still has spots... And he's already shown that winners mentality.

What a way to start and he drove with all the exuberance of youth. I remember that phrase well. I once started my career with just as much gusto where I would write to my Managing Director - oblivious to any hierarchical constructs - and shared what was right and wrong with the company, which was then and still is one of the world's best airlines. My director had to explain and cover for me and he nicely put it all down to youth. I sometimes still pull these 'puppy' moves. But more often than not, I am now a recipient of such equally earnest and exuberant exhortations from my staff and of course from my children.

At dinner tonight with the family, we had a good energetic conversation. Dinners at home for us can sometimes efficient affairs. Pray, eat, chew, leave... All within 10, 20 minutes. Not much love. But not tonight. I was browsing my Facebook page just before dinner and started the meal time conversation describing this photo (from gregasamar's blog) that was posted.

Both M and J truly care about environment and they are especially keen to ensure it and everything on it are sustained. For instance, M has decided her first car is going to be a hybrid or electric one. This topic really got J going and he expressed his views passionately. It gave both D and me to share our perspectives, which are expectedly different from each other's, and from his. It's been said, "where all think alike, no one thinks at all". So, we enjoy these differences of views, no matter how challenging and loudly these are expressed! It's vitally important to have ideas and to stand behind them. Wasn't it Gandhi who famously said,

“Your beliefs become your thoughts, 
Your thoughts become your words, 
Your words become your actions, 
Your actions become your habits, 
Your habits become your values, 
Your values become your destiny.”

I took a moment to share with them what I thought were two recent 21st century ideas that has had truly profound impact. First, the 'gentrification' of social services such that it became more mainstream and that the 'landed gentry' ie the ones with the resources to make a bigger difference, found it not just right but also fashionable to serve. The second was that we should unemploy the label 'unemployed'. If one is not hired by another, one should simply resort to being self-employed. This mindset (like what gentrified social services does to the middle classes) will cause people in the working classes to fundamentally rethink their self worth and hence what they can do even when they are not able to find a job with another. In fact, that's how the founders of AirBnB started. Out of the desperation of unemployment in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, they rented out a room in their own apartment and the rest is history. 

That's the power of a great idea. And very often these ideas and the ideals they purport to originate from our youth. 

Purpose

Today, I concluded the third day of meeting with my colleagues who lead various businesses and functions across Asia Pacific. We discussed many things, including some aspects that were difficult, but in a wide-ranging forum there was indeed a thing or two that I found joyful to engage on. One of these topics was about purpose.

J is at an important juncture of his life. He has to make some big decisions about which university he'd like to attend, and what course he'd like to major in. In short, time to really know his purpose. 

Throughout his life, he's always been driven. The drive comes from having set a goal and then venturing assiduously towards it. As he approaches his exams, he along with all his classmates stood down from their various responsibilities (and J had a few) to concentrate on acing the exams. I knew he would find this vacuum hard to fill. So, I was glad that he managed to fairly quickly figure out his interest, destination and even sponsor. These imbued him with a sense of purpose, and helped him get into the groove of studying for the exams, ostensibly to qualify for sponsorship, get into the school of his choice and read the subject he is keen on.

But given how busy he has been, the mono line act of just studying proved challenging and soon enough he took on another project. To make a treasure chest for a friend of his. He has always been good with his hands but without the right tools and experience, this side-project took him longer than anticipated. It threatened to take away important studying time. I lost my cool, worrying that he has lost his sense of priority (purpose notwithstanding). 

He got it, threw himself back to studying, and over the weekend (as I was sleeping) completed the treasure chest project.

It's really a beautiful thing, complete with a hidden compartment. The recipient is lucky indeed.

As his parent, I feel lucky too. To have a talented son, who is purposeful, determined and as the recent events shown, able to take feedback and yet get everything done. :-) 

Gardens and me

Even before I write this I know it sounds weird. I love gardens. I really do. Back in my younger wanderlust days, backpacking on a shoestring budget, I nonetheless always made it a point to get to the city garden. It didn't matter if I had to spend a bit f my precious little travel cash to hop on a bus to get there and to pay an entrance fee... I just needed to get in, walk the grounds, sit on a park bench, jot my thoughts in my travelogue and generally just soak up the tranquility afforded by the trees, flowers and lawns.

From Tokyo imperial gardens, to the world famous Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York or the beautiful Kirstenbosch in Capetown or Barcelona's Parc Guell, I've been to them all... More than once, even. 

But the gardens that I've been to most almost on a weekly basis,for the past couple of years, is the Singapore Botanical Gardens. I've made it a point to be the chauffeur for M every Sunday afternoon for her Math class. I drop her and then go to the Gardens next door and spend a better part of the next two hours on some functional core routines and run the paths in SBG. It's not too far fetched to say I know every nook and cranny of this impressive gardens. And as I jogged all over it, I am only too aware of its attractions and history and had hoped the UNESCO would see them too.

Yesterday, the SBG was conferred the status of being a UNESCO world heritage site. This means it will continue to be preserved well for posterity. That's a really nice thought. Too many things of worth and purpose, too many institutions too for that matter, have been destroyed by poor governance. In fact, as Singapore Botanical Gardens (and by extensions their custodian, the NParks run by the Singapore Government) is recognised for having taken good care of this asset, my home country is a washed with a corruption scandal so egregious, it boggles the mind. 

But back to Singapore, well done! And to the photographer of the above photo: Lee Hsien Loong.

Comfort food

I occasionally tell D that at heart I am still a small town boy. Yes, I can appreciate the finer things in life, and truth be told, I even enjoy them.

But when all is said and done, I can still live simply. 

Just this morning, I went for breakfast at a neighbourhood market, in my t-shirt, shorts (one orange in colour, the other red) and dragging my feet in flip flops (or Japanese slippers as we used to call it when we were younger). I had myself a large plate of black chai tow kuay (fried carrot cake) and a hot large cup of Kopi Siew tai (coffee with less milk).

It filled me up, warmed my belly... Gave me energy for the whole day. So much so, I could even skip lunch and dinner.

Now, that's what I call comfort food!

Bas, AustinJames, Pepe, Saffron, Stefan...

... All works of mechanical magnificence. I've been interested in them first from matchbox models, then trump cards, then from magazines and of course Top Gear and some 7 years ago started to collect them. 

Today is a milestone, for more than 2 years since I first bought Bas, in it's semi-restored state,from a migrating young man in Selangor, he is now coming home in a nearly fully restored state. I say nearly because parts of this old van still doesn't work. The side windows wing stay up. The speedometer has flatlined. The drivetrain rattles, and the air con fluid gurgles. Some non essentials like the clock, now set perpetually at 8am which was the time we set off from Skudai where it has been for a year being restored by D's mechanic uncle's network of friends and family. Shortly upon setting off, we found that its fuel overflow connector pipe has corroded. Uncle fixed it and here we are a mere half hour away from OOHH and Bas is still going strong. 

J is quite excited about this old van. In fact when I bought it, I had him in mind because he shares my passion for cars, and is an even bigger fan of Jeremy Clarkson than I am. Of the three Top gear presenters (sadly no more a trio now), I find the pedant James "Captain Slow" May most entertaining. It's the juxtaposition of the thing. He's a fussy, careful man-child sandwiched between a loud overbearing man-child and an egregious daredevil man-child (both of whom one would easily expect to find amongst petrol heads). 

Speaking of heads, here's a view of two similarly shaped ones, belonging to grandpa and grandson, in this old bus bravely traversing the North-South highway, averaging 90kmh (according to Wazw, since the broken speedometer can't do its job). 

Committed to improving the state of the world

Here I am in a private meeting room, set up for the purposes of bilateral discussions for delegates to the World Economic Forum. The forum, which I first attended with D 20 years ago in Davos (even brushing past Yasser Arafat and his entourage of security personnel) has since then grown into quite a brand and its meetings has become the de-facto place for the business community to meet. 

I usually attend the East Asia gatherings, first in KL, then Jakarta, Bangkok, Nyapitaw and now in Jakarta again. After several such meetings, it becomes a bit like a school reunions. There is a bunch of people one has interacted with and even know well, and a whole lot of familiar faces because one has seen them over the years.

But unlike school, everyone here has an agenda. To shape some policy, to help their business, to publicize their company, to brand their wares and themselves. 

Likewise I am here to meet relevant people (clients or clients to be of the firm), to understand where they are and share with them our views. But I am also here because whether we like it or not (esp since some have likened it to be a bit of a vanity talkfest), the people here can and do make a difference to society. They are government leaders, and if they are truly listening, may take away an idea or two that will find it's way into the next policy implementation. They are corporate captains who has the ability to move products, services to where they are most needed. 

And nowhere is the need as stark as the view from my room, where it's obvious how the growth in Indonesia, manifested in modern sky rise towers are gobbling up all spaces.

I then flew from Jakarta to HCM City, another 10m+ mega city in ASEAN, and here the development is no less frenetic. Even the notorious district 4, which curiously resembles other poor quarters elsewhere in the world like the Favelas in Brazil, are giving way to new buildings. In fact HCM City is even boldly re planning their city, including turning Nguyen Hue in front of City Hall into a pedestrian mall and building underground tunnels for traffic to flow. 

These developments are common all across Southeast Asia and if you consider that these are being implemented in countries that are not regarded to be the most well run, or having the most competent civil service, you must believe in the future of the region. It is rising despite of inefficiencies, despite of corruption, even despite incompetence. There is a force unleashed.

I am fortunate to be in the middle of all of this, experiencing it, even shaping it. And I am able to contribute to shaping it because I have spent much of my life living, studying and working in this region. Looking back, it's amazing how all the dots are connected. When as a management trainee, I learnt that my first posting was to Bangkok, I wasn't overjoyed. My colleagues and friends were getting assignments in HK, in London. Then my next posting was to Ho Chi Minh City. While some of them got more developed stations. But what then seemed like inferior postings now look like it a divine plan. It allowed me to understand these important countries in the region from the ground level and have certainly helped me function better leading the business across the region. 

Nothing is lost forever

Nostalgia. One word. Many meanings. 

Technically, it's defined as a wistful desire to return to the past, in thought or even in fact, of pleasant times.

In more melancholic terms, it's about how this world is all painful progress, longing for what we left behind. 

But most importantly, if one gets nostalgic, then there has been moments of happiness in one's life. So, nostalgia is really about a happy life and it's accumulated memories: the day I did well in school, the family vacations, the day I got my scholarship, the day I met D, got my first job, the day I proposed and then married D, when we had J, and then M, got promoted. I reminisced about all these happy memories as I watched "Still Alice" on board a KLM flight from KL to Jakarta.

It's a slow movie, compared to the action and violence so common nowadays. There is no wizardry, compared to the computer graphics animation we see everywhere. Even the synopsis sounded slow... But it starred one of my favourite actresses, Julianne Moore, who has never been afraid of playing emotionally scarred role. It looked like Alice was one such character.

I was not wrong. She played a 50-year old woman suffering from an early onset of Alzheimer's. She's losing her mind and even more tragically her happy memories. The body is still there but like a shell. In the movie, she asks, "Who can take us seriously when we are so far away from who we once were?"

As I blog here, I realize that I am imparting my memories to this medium, to be captured in posterity. No, I don't have Alzheimer's and I hope I won't. In any case, it's comforting to know my memories are here.

"For the time being, I am still alive. I have things I want to do when alive. I still have moments when I  pure moments of joy. Please do not think I am suffering. I am not suffering. I am struggling."

‘Struggling to be a part of things. To stay connected to who I once was.’

Photo from lifethroughframes.tumblr.com