On this Independence Day eve
I have a prayer
Let's not make a media spectacle out of it
Let's respect the 'peripheral' rather than the centre
National identity is a mosaic
Rather than a monolith
Save new born babies
Not cows
India, a tapestry of colors
Can do better then 'Gerua'
Gerua suits a SRK song better
And in Iceland not Imphal
The Kerala Beef Fry is tasty
As the Jalebi in Benaras
Work towards creating better support structures for our sena folks
Than pellets to blind our children in Islamkot
More jobs for laid off IT folks
Than debates on nationalism on Republic
Is a humble prayer
Happy I Day Bharat, BKMJ

Airports are interstitial spaces
Structured as Malls
Positioned as institutional valves
The Passport Control line is a terrific equaliser
The labor and the C Suite
Every one rushing towards the departure gate
For work or leisure
This act, is more deeper than it seems
A privileged terrain
More accessible as time passes
Has a un necessary snob value to it
After all, it's just a glorified global bus interchange

The Cooperatives were the original social enterprises before the basket of fancy conceptual categories were conceived. Think Amul and Seva. Why are today's social enterprises not able to scale? It's about founder vanity rather than community at the heart of the business models. Servant Leadership is an alien concept.

There are ways to process rejections
Either take it as the dead end
Or the spark of a new beginning
Vulnerability, ought to be embraced
The market treats it as a loser
But the human grows
Vulnerability is the path of winning

Celebrating NDP through my Instagram/Facebook feed. Now a days we are transported to events in our desire through visual stimulation to ones imagination. Social media feeds create realities every second through updates. One cannot though recreate the experience of watching the events at the Padang on the common TV with volume switched off, at the Block 108A Food Park Kopitiam at Sunset Way where I spent many a national day where my eyes used to swell and tear up when the Singaporean National Anthem used to play. Yesterday at Chillis in Muscat, there were two Singaporean middle aged men chatting away in Singlish lah, was music to my ears.

Oman is home to some really strategic talent from Singapore running the largest corporations here including a new SEZ and an Oil Refinery

The city, The Air Conditioned Nation where I found myself, as my own man ( never mind the rejected PR application)

Happy 52nd Birthday Singapore. Majulah Singapura. Majulah PAP.

Happiness is discussing Pakistan's new PM with a friend from Pindi in Urdu and the popularity of Star Jalsa soaps and Mirakkel Comedy show with another friend from Barisal in Bangla, in an Andhra Restaurant over Karak Chai in Muscat. The ferocity of the popularity rather the addiction of nonsensical Star Jalsa soaps causing a shutdown in daily activities at home in Bangladesh was a surprise. This soft power is not our best cultural export.

SAARC is a success in the GCC.

There are the fancy landed properties of Bukit Timah
Then there are the old HDB's of Kallang
Then, the newly gentrified Potong Pasir or BOT land
Housing is social geography
The stratification of the Lion City
Is spatial
The Smart Nation
Is also Survival Nation
Technology is for an ever buffering future
The card uncle and kopitiam aunties in Sunset Way
Matter as much as the Hip Set at Chip Bee Gardens
A city which is the beckon of development
Has paid a steep price

Passport Country and Home are divorced concepts
Often mistaken for married
Identities are plural
Preferred to be straight laced by nationalists
Third Country (Gulf) are mosaics
Low Globalisation's children
Grew up drinking RC Cola
Binging on Sohar Chips
Shwarma is staple fare
Mostly obese they are
Disconnected from holiday homes
In Kerala
Watching Asianet in a distant way
Connect more with lands that are arid
But are oasis of love

Virtual or Globally Distributed Work is quite the norm now a days with start ups or behemoths, in the digital economy work via Skype on the smart phone with declining data pack prices. I have consulted with social enterprises and start ups who work lean and digital in Singapore in the recent past and non profit initiative in Kolkata coordinated over Watsapp groups. Virtual work is about fifteen years old, exemplified by the ITES outsourcing space. But as tech is on our phone, distributed work teams can be in Singapore, Manila, NY and Dubai at the same time on the project/product. AECOM has an engineering centre in India catering to projects internationally.

Consulting firms have knowledge offshore centres all over the world tapping into cost advantage and talent pools in a de globalisation era driven by populist sentiment, is a work authorisation minefield. The theory is elegant and aspirational, though the mechanics of the fine print in the digital mode work era is something to consider:

Trust in Globally diverse and distributed teams is at a premium.

Maturity and Discipline from team members is a pre requisite. When in person meetings are not possible for extended periods of time, trust attrition is an affliction.

Digital Natives such as centennials are better at adapting to work cultures; others might have to learn up a steep curve culturally to survive in an outcome only environment

Project Managers/Start Up Leaders have to be situational leaders in a digital work era, sliding on a scale between micro managing to strategic in a blink; adaptive is the ethos here

Technology is hardly a constraint for Digital work mode. The software is free, and cloud sharing is affordable.

Trust and Culture of Collaborative work is the basis of digital work. Leaders need to build that for value creation across geographically distributed teams

Reading is an unknown chore
Speed glance through the headlines
The click baity, the better
Click share, Like or both
It's about metrics
Instant gratification, instead of understanding
No wonder, fake news wins
Not enough time to read
Research is for the nerds
Critique as a mode of reading is for humanities
We will glance through BuzzFeed
Or MenXP, Listicles are easier
Populism wins where critical thought falters
Tech class likes it crisp
Brevity is not everything
As life needs to be fleshed out
In a long read or a book