If a fraction of Bengali Academics in overseas universities over the last fifty would have worked for the state in even advisory capacities, the illustrious Bangali would have made his/her state better rather than celebrating Pujo over a weekend in Houston or London or Muscat. We (I am half Bong myself) love everything in absentia, and the nostalgia is limited to an annual tourist trip to Shantiniketan and patronising Mustard in Singapore.

Consultants maintain the strategic advantage by these elements: ideas, implementation, network, investing in learning by text and travel and looking out for green shoots where others do not see anything. Be beyond the report as life is one continuum rather than binaries of art and science, analytics and emotion. Think complex adaptive system, every node has a spatiotemporal coordinate, changing at the very sub second and the art is often the context and scientific data is the detail.

The sad reality is our careers are framed by a HR Manager’s perspective , rather than as a value creator, building IP for the Organisation, akin to what an artist brings on board through innovation in projects. Longevity is seen as a positive rather than project based cvs which millennials are building through gig work.

Knowledge professionals are creative business artists, reframing and reimagining the corporate conversation, one project at a time.

Earlier this month I was in a hotel in the Gulf for a couple of days. I met with staff from Rwanda at the front desk, Macedonia in the cafe, An Uzbek guy at the breakfast and transport staff from Bangladesh and Uganda. India and Pakistan are being displaced across the region thoroughly as new labor markets open up.

The region still has millions from South Asia, but the mix is getting more diverse.

#migration

Home is not a set of geotagged coordinates

It is the Maghreb Azzan of Taimur Masjid

The sauce of the Istanboly Shwarma

The familiar silence of the back alley

The parkway connector in Clementi

The smell of Block 708A Kopitiam

These ‘homes’ are lost

In the past

The past is nurtured as a ‘home’

That is what the ‘home’ remains

ESG metrics need culture centred indicators for the regional context. All the assessment frameworks are epistemologically embedded in the global north. New metrics are needed to capture the impact. Indicators are known as the technology of global governance and impact investing or ESG centred investing needs to be anchored in culture to reap the best dividends.

Battle scars

Battle hardened

Many more to fight

Life is a war

Where is the peace then?

Spoke at a World Health Organisation Seminar on Migration and Health with Global Health Policy Makers.

Incredible experience, thank you Prof Sanjoy and the Doha Institute Team for the privilege.

Such a bright and engaged student audience from across the Middle East is exceptional.

Tamil Paper, Daily Thanthi on Indian General Elections, with an opinion section on Mamata Di, as witnessed in Bur Dubai.

#randomnessinthediaspora