American wonderland

Despite the fact that I have visited the US many times over the years, being there is always an "Alice in Wonderland" type of experience for me in so many ways. First, it is the re-sizing effect. Back home here in Asia, I am usually quite comfortable in my 170 cm frame. Not so in the USA.

Everything seems magnified by 2-3x, making me empathise not only with Alice, but also with my little Yash who must see the world in a different proportional perspective!

The streets, the pavements, the lampposts are all wider and taller than what I am used to in my little Singapore, and the cars that run on those streets can be really big!

They build bigger bridges, bigger houses and offices. They eat bigger burgers; heck, even a random ring on a wall is too big for me!

It is easy to see that Americans think "big is beautiful", an insight that Pamela Anderson has monetized to great effect! :)

The diversity of culture within the USA is another reason why it comes across as a wonderland. It may not seem obvious from far away, but New York, Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Miami, Dallas and San Francisco (not to mention Las Vegas) are completely different cultures, each being rich and beautiful in its own way!

I spent a little time in San Francisco last week, and was amazed by the culture of this "minority majority" city. Walking down the street, the "face of California" is almost as likely to be like this as it is to be white and blonde! This fact alone makes California very different from the rest of the US: it creates a highly vibrant, multi-ethnic society on the one hand and creates an undercurrent of racial tension on the other.

With Disneyland and Hollywood to boast of, California is obviously well known as an entertainment wonderland, and Silicon Valley also makes it an entrepreneurial and technological wonderland. Thanks to a friend, I discovered this time that it is also an artist's wonderland, and I would let some of the famous murals from San Francisco's Mission District speak for themselves to make that point!

By contrast, Manhattan with its ultra-chic fashion, fine wining and dining, 24x7 life and Broadway scene is a wonderland in itself: Miami (where it is arguably easier to get by with Spanish than with English) has its beaches, golf courses and its flashy yet alluring Latino culture, while Dallas is a swashbuckling cowboy wonderland, where apparently there is a good chance your cabbie carries a gun!

Of course, culture is a multi-layered construct, and surely I am just skimming the most superficial aspects of American culture here. What is quite apparent, though, is the wonderland-effect of the cultural diversity within the US.

But above all, the US is a wonderland because of its people, their polity and their core ethos. America has given more than Hollywood, Michael Jackson, Coke and McDonald to the world. Regardless of whether it retains its numero uno position in the future world or not, American ideals - equality, freedom, innovaton, courage, risk-taking - have left an indelible imprint on human civilization. Admittedly, Americans have time and again fallen short of their lofty ideals. Yet the US still remains a nation whose story holds useful lessons for the rest of the world, and gives us a lot to aspire to. So while it is not a utopia (far from it), the US is surely a wonderland - at least to me! 

Indian weddings

Recently, I attended two weddings in quick succession: a Christian wedding of my colleague in Singapore and an Indian (Hindu) wedding in my family in India. And I couldn't help marvel at how different an Indian wedding is in form, while being more or less the same in essence.

A full-blown traditional Indian wedding is one of those unique not-to-be-missed experiences of life. Most Indian people would say it is a huge drain on the wallet and a pain in the neck, but that does not seem to stop them from reliving the experience over and over again, both in real life and in reel life in Bollywood movies and numerous TV series! Weddings are big globally, but an Indian wedding is truly the mother of all weddings!

Firstly, it is much longer. The preparatory rituals can last for as long as you want them to. One month is not unheard of, but a few days of pre-wedding rituals are quite common. Every little process step (like the bride's skin care ritual on the left) and every little meeting within and between the families can be blown up into a massive ceremony, complete with lights, music, elaborate feasts and colorful decorations.

There is a reason for that (I think) and that relates to the second unique feature of an Indian wedding. Unlike Western weddings which are mainly about the two people getting married (and especially the bride), an Indian wedding is at least as much about the families. Marriage in India creates strong familial ties beyond the immediate couple, and the high degree of family involvement in the wedding reflects that. "One could cut out this entire loop and just get married in a court, but our families would be so disappointed; we do this for the family", remarked a sleepless relative on the third day of the wedding I attended recently.

For the family members just attending the event though, this is great. Indeed, as you can see in the picture on the left, my little son (fooling around in the bottom right corner of the pic) and I had a great family reunion under the aegis of the wedding! What else could bring together my family members from many countries around the world and across cities in India under one roof? 

Third, the mood of an Indian wedding is very different. Compared to a church wedding which is a relatively solemn, decorum bound occasion, an Indian wedding is very festive - celebratory, very colorful and noisy. All the women wear henna and are decked with beautiful, bright sarees and heavy gold jewelry on key occasions, the men wear colorful turbans and even the bride's dress is pink or blood red, not pristine white. In fact, it is considered inauspicious to wear white to an Indian wedding, as white dresses were traditionally worn by widows! An Indian wedding is a celebration of love and of life itself, and so it is colorful, bright, musical and vibrant in its mood. 

Fourth and last, the ceremony on the big day itself is very different. The groom shows up at the venue in a massive procession with lights, music and dancing and is usually mounted on a horse or even on an elephant!

At the gate of the venue, there is an elaborate welcoming ritual, where key family members from the bride's side welcome the corresponding members of the groom's family in strict protocol. This is followed by the garlanding ritual, where the bride and the groom officially greet each other with garlands and then ascend two throne-like seats on a raised platform. A steady stream of a few hundred guests then enters from one side of this platform, congratulates and gifts the couple and exits on the other side after the mandatory photo. This can last for hours and takes a heavy toll on the couple, who have to rise and deeply bow each time and smile all the time (I still remember my "cheek-ache" from this exercise).

Witnessing the actual wedding vows is usually limited to close family members, perhaps because this happens so late in the night and continues almost into the next morning. The mantras are read out in Sanskrit (language of Gods) and then translated in Hindi for us humans to understand. Most of the ceremony involves tossing an assortment of goodies into the holy fire. Some of the tossing is done by the parents and the siblings of the couple, too.

Finally, it is time for the iconic moment, the tying of the knot and going around the sacred fire not once, but seven times, to signify the seven vows and the creation of a - hold your breath - a seven-lifetime long relationship. My uncle witnessing the recent wedding remarked, "Well, who is to say this one is not the seventh lifetime already"? It certainly felt like we'd been there a long, long time.

Indian weddings: exhilarating, exhausting, extravagant, expensive, exuberant and exotic! For a potential groom, also a really long-drawn and tiring experience. But then if the bride looks like that, heck, go for it!

10 predictions for 2010

Is every new year really new, or just the same old year all over again? Maybe a bit of both, actually. As I see more new years roll by, I do get a sense of deja vu. The same new year parties, the same new year resolutions, and of course, all kinds of new year "forecasts" from astrologers and economists alike. 

So what will 2010, the Chinese Year of the Tiger, bring us? The truthful answer is, who knows? But it is fun to speculate. So I am going to go out on a limb here and make my 10 predictions for 2010. Here goes (in no particular order): 

1. Stocks will rise in the first half, then dip in the second half

The economic tsunami has elevated competing economic theories almost to the level of religion, and so it is with great solemnity that I reveal by subscription to the "double dip" school of thought. I think the second dip will start some time in the second half of 2010, when stimulus funds run out and interest rates start to rise again. What I don't know is whether the second dip will be just that, or more like a crash. Regardless, if you're heavily invested in equities, especially non-BRIC ones, get out by June!

2. Tiger will return to golf ... with a vengeance!

The Year of the Tiger will be good to Tiger. Yes, his tigress will probably maul him in court and extract her $300-400 million pound of flesh. And yes, the media will make another couple of hundred million sensationalizing and selling the divorce story. But then, both Tiger and the world will realize that golf is what really matters more than all of this nonsense. The world will forgive him for being the fallen moral idol and love him again, this time just for being the greatest golfer ever. We will even come to know - and perhaps like - his latest girlfriend! And Tiger will re-take the golfing world by storm - he will have lost time and a lost 300-400 million to make up for!


3. India will not be (as) embarrassed as the Commonwealth Games host.
If expectations are low enough, any level of performance can look good, and the Indians know this well. The world of sport currently thinks they will have to walk to the games in Delhi, and carry along brick and mortar to build the stadia. So when this does not happen, they will be pleasantly surprised. Also, India will not be embarrassed because more embarrassing things are likely to occur anyway, like Obama executing a 90-degree bow, this time to the Chinese Premier Hu (he got the country wrong last year owing to jet lag).


4. A 3-D animated character will win an Oscar.
Avatar has changed the movie business, and the full effects will become visible in 2010 and beyond. Animation has come of age, and it is beautiful. 3-D movies are having their 2.0 moment (a la Web 2.0). We will see more 3-D animated heroes and heroines, and someone will go on to win an Oscar for their role in creating a 3-D animated character in 2010.


5. We will spend more on war, less on peace
The US spends roughly half of the world's defense dollars, and they have decided to increase their spend in 2010 to an all-time high of $660 Bn. This is mainly to fund the Afghan troop surge. Many other countries will take their cue from the US and spend more on defence - India, China, Iran, Russia and others are already planning to do so. 
Beyond direct defense spending, we will spend more on costly security measures for travel (no thanks to the underwear bomber and his ilk) and for intelligence and counter-insurgency efforts around the world. As a result, we will be forced to spend less on human welfare and poverty reduction, at least in percentage terms. Sad, but true.


6. A global climate deal will prove elusive (but it won't matter)
The financial hurdle to a global climate deal is too high for the (now less rich) First World, and their bargaining power is now too low vs. the emerging world. So a global climate deal is a non-starter. But in 2010, there will be a growing realization that we are wasting time barking up the wrong tree. Cuts in greenhouse gases - whether voluntary or involuntary - are unlikely to reverse global warming unless they are so drastic as to be economically crushing. The answer, as always, lies in innovation, not in cutting down on economic activity. What we need is path-breaking, world-changing technological innovation both in greenhouse gas management and clean energy. The scientists hold the key, not the politicians. Will the geniuses who will save the world step forward soon, please?


7. The Year of the Tablet
The hi-tech landscape is littered with failed tablet devices (as are our desk storage spaces). But that's because Apple has not (yet) innovated this space. They will do so in 2010, and tablets will never be the same again. With tablets, Apple will do to mobile computing what they did to mobile music with Ipod and to mobile telephony with Iphone: bring sexy design, outstanding user-interface and powerful marketing to bear on simple, existing technologies to make them much more top of mind and widely accepted by general users. 

8. Made-to-order babies will be the newest rage

Well, strictly for multi-millionaires at this time, sorry. Advances in our understanding of the genome have brought us to a point where we can influence the genetic code of a human embryo. We can increase the odds of desirable genes to turn on and undesirable ones to turn off. Genetically made-to-order babies are (almost) possible now, and I predict that at least one multi-millionaire will produce one in 2010.

9. Singapore will have a good year
It behooves me to include the city-state I live in among my 10 predictions. I am bullish on Singapore this year. The integrated resorts are on track and look fantastic. They will boost tourism. Singapore's trade and export oriented model will benefit from a slow global recovery, but even more from a shift in global economic power to China and India. Singapore is well positioned for this year and both real estate and stocks will rise together with GDP.


10. I will have a 6-pack this year
Ok, this one is based mostly on blind hope, unlike the 9 above, which are based on blind guesses. But then again, who knows?


Cheers!