“SINGAPORE - I LOVE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE.”
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable. a cheerful temper joined with innocence will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured. It will lighten sickness, poverty, and affliction; convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity, and render deformity itself agreeable.
The above words are apt for a beautiful place like Singapore. It is the world’s most spoken about city with humble and very hard working people, which has mesmerized me all along. Right from the moment one steps out of the aircraft, he is greeted with warmth, affection,charm and courtesy. This is something I find it very difficult to find in my own country where smiling is a great pain.
Singapore’s arduous civic laws are enough to put even the worst idiot on this planet on high alert. To me, a stern discipline is as good as an order. He who has no taste for order, will be often wrong in his judgment, and seldom considerate or conscientious in his actions. When one looks at the very city from any angle, there is no word to stop praising it in the superlative. The climate the whole year round is scorching hot, with an equatorial climate. Yet, it is cool everywhere, with a lot of surplus greenery and the air crisp with freshness and no sign of pollution in any way whatsoever.
The real splendor of this charming city is its people. I wish the people of India learnt a thorough lesson from them, starting on how to stop wastage, how to recycle their brains (which forever is rotting with corruption), how best to utilize their spare time with hard work and last but not the least to develop in themselves the dignity of labor. The citizens of Singapore have a very broad outlook on life in general, a truly cosmopolitan group.
The administration is superb, unlike India where you are always left wondering why everything is under repair and when the next elections are going to be held in every state. A public transport or a taxi strike is never heard of in Singapore, unlike that in India. The reason is that every employee in any field is paid with a fairly good salary, enough to allow his family to live with dignity and honor. Corruption or crimes in any form is extinct. Try questioning any local citizen about their lineage or race. Pat comes the reply with pride on their lips, “ I am a Singaporean.” The sense of patriotism is written large on their faces. To them their government is their benefactor, one to whom they can always approach for any help without any hesitation.
The MRT system is very systematic, punctual to the dot and well-maintained. Passengers are greeted with a musical tone, “The train is coming, the train is coming.” Here, in India, passengers are greeted with, “The Mantri is coming, the Mantri is coming!” Even the ambulances with a near-to die patient is left in the traffic crowd, until the politician’s car is cleared. But, in Singapore, the very wail of the ambulance is enough to actually sideline all cars on the roads to make way for the ambulance to swiftly pass through. It is more like the entire system is running on a remote like in some 007 James Bond movie.
Cleanliness in Singapore needs a real pat on the back. The public toilets are sparkling clean. As for me, I would be honest enough to say that a dirty washroom always lands me with a severe constipation, in India.You are slapped with a fine if you are caught escaping without flushing. That brings to my mind - One would not find even the ordinary bird or a crow flying high ever dropping anything on the road. Even the birds seem to know that their droppings amount to pollution. In India, it is not just the birds, cows or dogs dropping on the streets but one can find even the Homo sapiens letting off without any trace of guilt or shame. I am sure many of you readers would jump at the opportunity to say that I am not being patriotic. The grass is always greener on the other side. I beg to differ. Things can be made more easy with a strict government on hand, who can take the administration with a no-nonsense attitude, coupled with honesty and a sense of integration in all respects. What is really required is simple logical reasoning in every sphere. What is rampant at the precise moment on the whole in our country is corruption, permeating in both the public and private sectors. Why cannot the Indian government decide on a zero-tolerance policy on corruption?
How often have we heard of the lokayuktha exposing a high level bureaucrat or a politician who has robbed the public purse. But, has anyone ever heard of him being chastised for his actions? Here, the common man is a silent spectator to the most corrupt human getting away with murder, saying it is quite normal to be corrupt. And the irony of it all is when he proclaims, “Mera Bharat Mahaan!” A stage has come when every common man in India has become contemptuous, simply because the government is turning a blind eye to his woes and miseries with a huge back log of unsolved cases pending in the courts for decades after decades.
One does not find these in Singapore. The government puts a firm brake on all such nonsense. Singapore government thinks twenty years ahead and then designs its policies. Here, in India, a newly appointed politician thinks from day one, how much he can pilfer from the public purse enough to see to the comforts of his family for the next twenty generations. No bureaucrat or any politician will come forward to take moral responsibility for his actions. He is never accountable for any wrong done on his part.
It is well-known to every tourist how educated the taxi drivers are in Singapore. There are many who are with high degrees from as good as Stanford University and have taken a break from their present jobs in the post of a CEO, only to rest themselves temporarily from tension and stress. How many CEO’s does one find in India who would skip their jobs , even temporarily to become taxi drivers? It is their ego that stops them and a failure of having the dignity of labor. They have a thorough knowledge of any given topic under the sun. You can rest assured that you will never get over-charged or cheated in any way with excess fare, in Singapore
Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.
