My attempt at a video blog, do watch !

Conversations are catalysts for change, and often these are in curated spaces which are outside the h-index tyranny of the academia. Dr Clarissa spoke about her non linear academic career and an art science approach to life. She teaches in business schools on the applied way of building things. A trained physicist with a STS background, she spoke about the ways of doing things outside the academic cv. Dr Gareth spoke about the publish or perish mindset killing the big ideas lens. The conversation was needed for me as an engineer turned migration scholar as silos in the real world would not solve problems. Dr Gareth, who is a famous editor having worked with the famed Ben Anderson, where the notion of the imagined community was needed to connect Indonesia from Aceh to Timor.

Which often begs the large question- what is the big idea that we are working on in our fields of interest? For me, what is the big idea in migration studies?

Hikayat is a one of kind bookstore where one is kind books are stocked with the best weeklies. The Malaysian bookstore and civil society spaces of discourse have been arenas of learning and growth over the last semester for me.

The Dr Sun Yet Sen Museum in Penang showing the value of diaspora funding in revolution.

Nasi Kandar, a truly creole dish from Penang needed a visit to the original Hameediyah at Lebuh Campbell.

The Sotong Goreng or deep fried Squid was legendary.

Penang is an UNESCO World Heritage Destination and known for its outstanding food, from Penang to Murtabak, but are these voices celebrated enough?

Long duree Tarikh between Bengal and Malaya.

Chowrasta brought back memories of Shyam Bazaar’s 5 point more in Kolkata.

Excellent fare with cool vibes, although service can be better. Certainly attracts the fashion set in KL as it is housed at the Four Seasons.

With the true stalwarts of the Migration Civil Society in SE Asia today evening during a community meeting with Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. Mr. Adrian Pereira, The Executive Director of North South Initiative in Kuala Lumpur and Mr. Harun, the ex Regional Coordinator of CARAM Asia, and the original Bangladeshi community organiser in Malaysia and Singapore. It was interesting and refreshing to understand the evolution of migration civil society in Singapore in the past two decades.

This is real migration studies, not the h-index one. Where lives are saved and transformed, not merely for the service of academic cv building, extracting voices of workers for publications.