Sleepless in Singapore
L.I.V.R. - Learned, Impartial and Very Relaxed aka Judiciary Pag from the Hitchhiker's Trilogy is what my father loves to be refereed to as most.It was, in this way not in the least bit surprising when he revealed the idea of 'Benign Manipulation' to me the other day over our discussion on my negotiations submission. Benign Manipulation - a form of strategy that looks awfully convincing and fair at the time of use, but is in fact a carefully planned and calculated move, one with the result already decided well in advance.
What really made me think was when Dad went on to extrapolate it to the growth of Singapore, . This city, will all its set laurels, well shined roads and surfaces, and almost clockwork efficiency must have its cracks at the bottom... there must have been beginnings, errors and the occasional 'streakers' who drew the curtain on this well rehearsed community performance.
So it began with the buses. Morning & evenings, as i now travel to work i would see the locals snoozing blissfully. Perhaps it was the comfortable temperature of the air conditioner, the green leaves newly wet with the rain, or just the smooth road devoid of any substantial bumps, i couldn't really tell.
But what i can tell is how I've discovered/ or say developed a hypothesis on how the local Singaporeans without any apparent reason, as if by timer or intuition can wake-up seconds before their bus stop arises. And walk out, as if the feat they've just performed was as normal as eating lunch or tying shoe laces.
For us Indian's this isn't easy to digest. When we eat- we eat. When we talk- no one else should, and well when we sleep - you have balls if
you're gonna wake us up. So it began as challenge. How did they do it? Uptil then my strategy for catching up on sleep while traveling was rather crude. I would look for the most friendly face nearby - ask him/preferably a her if she was traveling uptil my bus stop and would casually summon her to be my 'wake-up buddy' for the ride. The chosen one would be given the responsibility of precisely timing her instruction to wake me up with enough room left to rub my eyes and hold my balance while the bus swayed to stop at my stop.[I was once given the 'wake-up' buddy role. Jaimin reached office half an hour late that day(haha) - but i know he had the best bus nap in Singapore, even if he wont admit it outright.] And while i wasn't at the losing end this time, i had to think of other alternatives - just in case. Two ideas came at the top of my mind. I tried em both.
Step1: Find a familiar face who i can promote from occasional to a regular, everyday 'wake-up' buddy role . With a slight manipulation of arrival and departure schedules and a quick check on the internships of my fellow MBA's - I narrowed down on one - who i wont name. It worked beautifully for the first few weeks. I slept, she read. She signaled, i woke. wing-woman for my 30 min/day dream flight - synergy at its very best.
But the ride ended sooner than planned, and her timing's have now shifted. She leaves for office at 9 30am, way too late even for my flexible advertising schedule. Next then i thought? would i need to fly solo?
Step2: So i brought out all stops. Cell phone well charged. vibrator mode on, and hand tightly clasped around the device lest it falls while I'm playing 'shut-eye' on the bus. Not too bad i say, the method works well. I was shaken literally from
my sleep at the precise timing (18 min - morning am, 20 min- evening pm).People around me would find this act odd but why blame them?- they were still getting up without any external help. They were the pros and here i was, a mere amateur making use of a handicap while celebrating his first goddamn birdie.
Practice makes perfect i guess. Consistency, try try try - all that jazz. A month into this method and I'm sleep trained like a toddler. Who needs a 'wake-up' buddy. Hell, for the last week, I've been getting up on my own, almost preempting the time my phone will vibrate.
Wait a minute. So this is it perhaps. My hypothesis - Did all the locals go through such trials and tribulations before discovering their way of sleep nirvana? did they attempt and preempt their phone alarms too before outrunning an alarm's need altogether? perhaps. They are kinda secretive though - the kiyasu tendency would probably kick in if i ever ask them them to share their mantra openly.
So as has been my recent revelation - there are in fact teeny weeny cracks on the surface of Singapore's well painted face. Some more
welcome signs of human emotions behind the much practiced facade the locals have been trained in. Fear, doubt, sorrow even rebellion. Its uncanny when you begin to observe this - the number of jaywalkers in Tanjong Pagar and the CBD, passengers chewing gum without getting caught, drinking in a crowd at night yet not making too much noise.Last night we even managed to carry an entire single-bed mattress in a bus for a few stops! A month earlier i would've cringed at even the thought, but now there's really no limit to how much you can push. There are no cops. Why i might just even start a rally one day for the kicks.
And if you do ever prowl late at night for a leisurely stroll sometimes, you can see the workers picking up the garbage silently, carefully scrubbing the bus-stops clean, covering up the pot holes on the road and carrying away the rubble from a hard day's work- Almost as if they're constructing and deconstructing the image of an ever efficient Singapore.
Benign Manipulation? LKY would like to believe he built this city on plug 'n' play. I dare think the people might just prove him wrong. i hope they do, really.
posted by yudi at 8:57 PM
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