Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

Reimagining Migration Infrastructure as Opportunity Architecture

Migration networks are opportunity networks, they are sources of sustenance when the well at home dry out. For states such as Punjab and Kerala it is a way of life, yet wealthier states like Gujarat also are sending states, as i have met many Gujaratis working in Indian Restaurants all over Singapore including this week. Ultimately it is a need based business, and countries like the Philippines and Bangladesh have mastered the many corridors.

The pic below at Lucky Plaza at Orchard Road, Singapore exemplifies ‘Migration Infrastructure’ in the words of (Xiao and Lindquist, 2013) as ones which support the life worlds of Migration, which support productivity and opportunity across migration corridors. It is not poverty porn as many an activist or scholar might have portrayed in literature. Many of these FDWs have college degrees. And might not fit the fundraising pitch of deprivation. And they are middle class at home.

It’s more textured than it meets the eye, let’s get a nuanced view of the human lens of the migration supply chains.

Entrepreneurial Musings from Singapore Kopitiam

Weekend Musings from a Singapore Kopitiam

There are several reasons global start ups love Singapore, things work seamlessly, great infrastructure (just look at the DE or the TEL Line of the MRT) and the sheer availability of options. It is a substantial vantage point into the region, and has a significant density of talent as well. It is a place also where cost cutting does not work, as talent demands it’s fair share. Companies have moved across the border with cost considerations and the Johor-Singapore SEZ.

It needs a certain kind of appetite for start ups to find their feet in Singapore and the region. Not every start up has the stomach for Singapore, as the demands for innovation in line with the best along with the cost are unprecedented. Other countries in the region have affirmative action embedded in procurement, or need a local company partner for everything. Understand the local politics and language, read a book- i can send you a reading list. This is region of the Wayang Kulit, a lot of it is unsaid over Kopio.

As they say, Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast.

Forty Shades of Grey

Am turning into my fourth decade very soon (this is my birthday month technically) , and it has gotten me very somber and reflective. The past decade has been a rough ride, more losses than wins. Was it great living in five different countries, and cities that i have lost count off, the answer is yes.

What do i count or what does matter in the overall scheme of things ? That I coined two terms, Desi Khaleeji on the multi generational migrant in the Gulf, which was the framework for an exhibition in Bahrain by artist Khurram Saab, and ‘ Hindu Nationalist Intellectual Architecture’ as was cited by Veteran Journalist, Sanjaya Baru ji in his book, The Indian Power Elite. And published an article in the Monsoon Journal by Duke University Press on the Indian Ocean World being a non PhD. And a former supervisor mentioned once that i cannot write?

Just getting started, only this time with clarity and purpose doing things which matter such as writing a good PhD (it’s been slow with parental care support and other assignments) and writing more.

To more journeys, and thank you for reading !

Reading at a Starbucks in Mumbai

Reading Brickfields

The best set of essays on KL
A seminal work
The spatial view

Brickfields or Little India in Kuala Lumpur is a site of Malaysian Indian History with the Kuils along Jalan Scott to the Warisan-fication of Jalan Tun Sambanthan. The condos which are Indian expat magnates are sitting on histories of previous generations of Railway workers. Vivekananda Ashrama makes its presence felt amongst Menara Shell and Nu Sentral, the mixed mall and railway interchange. Blind schools and Chinese eateries jostle for the backstreets of Brickfields, with migrant worker eateries below the LRT.

A few pubs show cricket with diaspora supermarkets stocking up Amul products. My personal favourite of Vishal Mess stands along with the Norwegian owned MTR. As Badrul Hisham Ismail writes in his essay collection, Reluctant Capital- Kuala Lumpur is a space of negotiation and contestation, between ethnic quotas and speculative capital.

It has been a fun two years in the city. To many more banana leafs.

Migrants are a ‘Material ESG Topic’

Migration is a Business and Human Rights matter, in turn is an ESG material topic, for industries such as Plantations, Rubber, Electronics, Construction and F&B (look at any server at a star hotel or a mamak in Malaysia). It is an Human Resources/Talent input, as the spine as wage debt is still a matter for the supply chain.

#BusinessAndHumanRights

A Bangladeshi Supermarket in Petaling Jaya

Chinese Language Politics in Malaysia; The UEC Case

Only in KL can a post dinner debate can be this enthralling. This was a panel on the Linguistic Politics of Independent Chinese Schools organised by the Allianz Centre for Corporate Governance at Universiti Malaya (my PhD School) at a coworking space. The boisterous Professor Wong Chin Huat laid out a case for the UEC schools marshalling evidence from the scriptures to the ethic of diversity. He was on point when he said that this is a case for ‘culture wars’. It is a divisive topic, a site of politicking more than politics as Mr. Eddin Khoo mentioned in final take on the matter as the chair of the UEC taskforce, which is about to submit its report.

Eddin Sir, as i call him laid out the complexities of Malayness and the parallel impoverishment of the language under a certain conservative gaze. His anecdotes of the hybridity of language learning and identity revealed more pressing issues of the education system beyond the medium of instruction, namely the mediocrity and instrumentalist notions of learning. The Singapore centric nature of the UEC is unwanted for. There are five states in Malaysia which allow the UEC as a university entrance criterion for certain courses such as Chinese Studies undergraduate programs, as is Singapore apart from Taiwan which is the main target of UEC students.

Race as a defining force in Malaysia, is a lived reality and can be gauged through these language debates.