A society gone way too right??... or wrong???
Its Sunday night again.. the weekend flew by faster than I had imagined.. and its again the Monday morning blues hitting me well in advance.
To make things worse.. i actually could not laze around this weekend... had to go through the extremely excruciating and painful experience called shopping.. and not electronic gizmos or clothes.. but pots n pans, bedsheets, utensils etc etc.. So there we were ... 3 macho guys... jostling for space between middle aged women with crying babies and sulking husbands.. sheepishly trying to find the cheapest item on the thousands and thousands of racks of the most worthless items stocked in the planet...
Anyways that pain is done.. and as i move into another exodus called work for the next 5 days, i have to stop and ponder on what the city i live in has made me now... Singapore has been called by many as the "model nation", the land of dreams, the land where everything is done right.. and so on and so forth...
What the people say is true.. u land in changi airport, which is the BIGGEST and the BEST, u travel to ur accomodation on the MOST EFFICIENT Mass Transport System, u see efficiency and perfection every where... U are shocked and awed.. as to how such a system can run on clockwork...
However, the longer u stay, the layers that cover the lovely surface slowly starts peeling off and a more realistic picture starts coming through. The most troublesome thing I have noticed is instructions... There are instructions for everything.. how to walk, talk, behave...
You are initially amazed by the orderliness of the people and the traffic, however it has been enforced by extremely stringent system of fines and surveilence. All this is good, the govt has used the strength of technology to its advantage... However the slightly discomforting fact in my mind is that, while in countries like Europe and USA, people act the way they act, because its a courtesy to act, people here might be acting because they are obliged to..
I think there must be some sort of study on how a system of orderliness affects a society's development. As I travel in the MRTs and see the faces of the kids, usually with walkmans on and going on with their daily ritual,, somehow i get the feeling that the orderliness and the regulations are affecting them in some way or the other... I would definitely want to visit some of the schools and talk to the kids there to see how same/different they are to us...
Yes, Singapore is a model of development from the macro point of view.. it is a model which India MUST follow.. however from an inidividuals perspective.... in this race to be the best and the most efficient.. are we losing out on somethin there???
posted by Padakkam @ 7:47 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
That was an astute obeservation! Wonder how the Singaporeans would behave if the rules were not enforced by fines. Rigid control of once self in public would definitely lead to some kind of a rebellion in private spaces. Looks like a city of automatons...
I think there must be some sort of study on how a system of orderliness affects a society's development
u hav absolutely no work at office, don't u?
hmm thinking is good.. I guess it can be relaxing and therauptic and a nice way to spend a weekend .. even if not necessarily think abt the middle east crisis ... nice thoughts ..
I guess discipline that comes from within ..naturally is the best form of orderliness..i myslef feel I have come a full circle from discipline to indiscipline back to discipline ..and thts the beauty of life ...
@silverine - that must be an extremist view point.. however 1 thing is certain.. these people rarely laugh!
@dew drops - i dont work on the weekends.. duh!
@shruti - that confused me.. as always :)
Recently red a book review ( forgot the name of the book ) which was banned in communist Russia..The theme included 'cultivating' an ideal state with people assigned various roles and they are not supposed to do anything other than their roles..People having numbers instead of names..Something like an Utopian Communist state where all spontaneity is banned..Wonder if Singapore is progressing towards a similar one, albeit in a capitalist setup..
referring to ajith's comment, it makes me think that there is a very fine line between a very efficient capitalistic setup and an ideal communist setup. food for thought, hmmm.
Binu,
Interesting observation.
I have something to add.
http://alexmthomas.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/the-political-economy-of-singapore/
PS: Came here via Silverine's tip. Proved worthy indeed.
guess Ajith is talking about Anthem by Ayn Rand.
Regarding the orderliness, it should be enforced to a certain extent in India, esp. to stop littering.
- Just a browser.
Dont you think orderliness is actually good? It can be very annoying when you have to be perfeclty perfect but then I am guessing the country is imposing rules and regulations only when you are out on the roads which makes sure that no one is a nuisance to anyone... or does it say, you shouldnt walk naked inside your house as well??? :)
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