Invictus

It has been a long break away from the blog. The writing has been more infrequent than ever

Over the past few months, I have moved to my new role in Singapore. I am slowly settling down into my new assignment. My major markets are China and Philippines, which are quite different from the ones that I am used to. I hope to travel to these markets frequently, even maybe as frequently as I did to Delhi, Ludhiana and Chandigarh in the past few years.

I have found a house in Singapore and would be moving in next week. This will be fourth house shifting in 4 months. I am totally tired with all this house shifting business. Hopefully this should be the last one for a while to come.

I got a chance to make a very hurriedly planned trip to Shanghai and Manila for two days each. I was extremely excited. New countries, new places. Most of my business trips are the same- airport, hotel, conference room, hotel and airport. This one was also no different.

Shanghai was the first stop. The great Shanghai Expo is currently on. The Shanghai Expo lasts for 180 days. Yes, you read that right, it lasts for 6 whole months. It is an expo where each country has a pavilion, yes people, pavilion and not a stall. The size of each pavilion is massive. The expo is drawing close to 400,000 visitors daily. Overall in 6 months they expect 70 million visitors. Here is the link. http://en.expo2010.cn/. I don’t think that the Chinese ever think in anything less that Gigantic terms.

The entire city of shanghai is geared up for the expo. Tourists, businessmen from all over the world are in Shanghai now. The number of Indian businessmen and families that I saw at the immigration line and in the hotel was staggering. Most of them were there for the Expo, scouting for business opportunities and partnerships and new markets. Since our trip was planned at the last minute we struggled to get hotel bookings. We finally managed Holiday Inn express. After landing in Shanghai, I wanted to extend my stay by a day, so that I could get to go around the city, but alas, there were no hotels. Not even for backpackers. Quite disappointed I returned to Singapore without seeing much of the city.

I however managed to squeeze out an evening where I visited the post expat hangout area of Shanghai. I don't remember the name of the place. It was in Chinese and I couldn't pronounce it properly. I had to get it written down on a piece of paper and I showed it to the taxi driver in Shanghai who took me there. I managed to capture a few pictures of the place

In Shanghai, the predominant language is Mandarin. While the hotel receptionist may speak smattering English, the people on the road – shopkeepers cab drivers etc do not speak or understand English. So I did have difficulty in getting around, asking directions. I had to get everything written in Mandarin and show the sheet of paper to the people to get directions, order food and so on.

Manilla was like homecoming. The moment I reached the airport, I saw a huge queue at the immigration and it was exactly like how it would be in Madras or Mumbai. As we drove through the city to reach our hotel, the place reminded me of Mumbai for some reason. People spoke English, the shop name boards were in English and Filipino. There were big skyscrapers, a bay area, slums and shanties. I felt I was home :)

Again, I got only a few hours for a brisk walk around the hotel, which again happened to be an expat area in Manila - Green belt. It had a lot of good restaurants, shopping malls etc. I ate dinner at Cafe Havana, a Cuban restaurant in Mexico. They had some unique items in the menu which looked very interesting. With limited choice for a vegetarian, I tried their vegetarian Paella - which is actually a Spanish (or Valencian to be precise) dish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paella The Paella was outstanding. Supremely tasty. Café Havana also had some good music and some dancing. A must visit place.

One picture of Greenbelt and one of the hotel where I stayed

The flight hours were long. Singapore shanghai is 5.5 hrs and Singapore Manila is 3 hours. All my flights were during the day. I was able to utilise my in flight hours to catch up on a lot of movies. I think I saw 6 English and one Spanish movie. The Spanish was of course for Penolope Cruz. Sigh!! Of the movies that I watched, Invictus has since stayed with me. Invictus is story of how Nelson Mandela tries to unite the fledgling nation of South Africa using the Rugby world cup in 1995 when rugby was in fact seen as the symbol of apartheid. A well shot movie by Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman as Mandela was almost like mimicry. He has acted just like Mandela. Wow! The soundtrack of the movie is very good and even during the movie I found myself responding to the background score. Here is one of South Africa's popular songs - a very catchy, light hearted one. Do have a listen.

But the highlight of the movie is the poem 'Invictus'. Nelson Mandela derived strength from this poem while he was imprisoned for 9000 days (27 years). I was introduced to this poem with Morgan Freeman reciting it. I have reproduced it here ..

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

I have always been a sucker for words. They move me. And Invictus seems to have that effect on me. The poem may seem dark and cynical but it isn't so. It is liberating. May be we all can draw some much needed inspiration in our lives.Here is Barack Obama, talking about the power of words. This is during the election run up. So obviously ignore the political rhetoric and listen to him.