From India to Singapore | Here To Stay - video Dailymotion

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'How can you be a Singapore citizen if you've not even tried durian?' quipped a friend and Pankaj never looked back. Alongside Alka, they reminisce on the never-ending joy of exploration that has spanned 30 years in Singapore, their love for its culture and people, and what it means to be truly Singaporean.   Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00This place, geographically, was wonderful.

00:02All sorts of people in the same office.

00:05I mean, we had like 500-600 people and then 31 nationalities.

00:08There were many festivals which were...

00:10I had not even heard of like Thaipusam.

00:12I had never heard of Thaipusam.

00:14Yeah, that was a new thing for us.

00:23Namaste, my name is Alka.

00:25And this is Pankaj.

00:27And we both came to Singapore 30 years ago.

00:30We both are from India and we belong to Delhi.

00:33I am Pankaj, she is my wife Alka.

00:35I am 56 and she is 55.

00:38We came from India, Delhi to Singapore in 1995.

00:42And it's been 30 great years since then.

00:45I was born and brought up in Delhi all my life.

00:48I did my schooling, O levels, A levels

00:51and my engineering degree back in Delhi.

00:55In the mid-90s, there was a lot of construction going on

00:58in the Middle East as well as Singapore's economy was booming.

01:02I think at that time I had an opportunity to move to Middle East.

01:05Quite a few job offers from Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat in Oman.

01:10Also, I had an opportunity to work in Singapore in engineering construction.

01:15And I chose to come to Singapore because I felt this was a more open

01:20and more accepting society than the other offers that I had.

01:24And then I moved to Singapore in 1995.

01:27I really wanted to move with him, but there was some anxiety

01:31that I will be alone and the kid is really, really small

01:35and how I will take care of him because there is no extended family there.

01:39Initially, you don't have help.

01:41There were some questions that I don't know whether I will be able to work

01:45again in Singapore with the kid.

01:47But when I came here, I was very fortunate to manage to get a job.

01:51So I was happy that I'm managing both.

01:53And it has been proven right after 30 years here.

01:57It was the wise move.

02:00When I came to Singapore, my parents and family and brothers back in Delhi

02:04were like kind of very concerned.

02:05Why are you going out?

02:07You have a very good job in India itself.

02:09And I said that, look, there is no harm.

02:11I mean, you know, it's a two year contract.

02:14I'll probably make a little bit of money, see another place and culture.

02:17And I've heard Singapore is a great place to live.

02:20And little did I know that it will not be two years,

02:23but a lifetime of love with Singapore.

02:26I decided to continue after my contract.

02:29I absolutely started liking the ease of living

02:34and the predictability of the work environment

02:37and the social environment in Singapore,

02:40which made life rather easy and comfortable.

02:43So the challenges in Delhi, like those large countries,

02:46can be really unpredictable.

02:47There could be many things happening in other places.

02:50But Singapore still remains like a really peaceful, predictable

02:54and live in a reasonably comfortable environment.

02:58When we shifted here, we don't have much friends.

03:01Challenge was like socialization due to

03:04not a lot of Hindi speaking people in Singapore,

03:07but I was able to communicate well in English

03:09and I picked up local slangs and dialects together with them

03:12very easily and comfortably.

03:14As the time passed, I became much more comfortable

03:16to communicate with the local Chinese and Malay and Tamil.

03:21In fact, I never felt out of place because the culture was almost the same.

03:25There was no fundamental difference in thinking

03:27in terms of the values, the value system, respect for elders.

03:32Actually, I felt very nice.

03:34And the first day, first hour, I decided this will be my home.

03:41In our science textbook in primary two,

03:44and they would say, it is a larva.

03:48Let's find out.

03:50So that exploratory trait stayed with us.

03:53I would drive to a place or go to a food court and say,

03:57hey, what is this?

03:59So this quest of let's find out has kept us busy for almost 30 years.

04:05Initially, when I came, I was not driving,

04:07but on a weekend, all three of us would take double-decker bus,

04:10sit on the top of it, air-conditioned, nice,

04:13and would take right from last stop to last stop.

04:15If we find something really, really nice, then we just get down there.

04:19Yeah.

04:19And take our lunches at lunchtime,

04:21then go back again and then explore some more.

04:24We do it even now.

04:25Even today, it was quite enjoyable.

04:28Then I bought my first car and that was in the year 2001.

04:32So what we started to do is that on the weekend,

04:35get into the car and drive without any agenda.

04:38I mean, there's no map.

04:40Sometimes I will not even know where I'm going,

04:42whether it is Bukit Panjang or Bukit Timah.

04:45I mean, it does not matter.

04:46We are driving to a new place that I found.

04:51If you can find a nice place to go, go there.

04:54No, there is really so much to explore.

04:58Can never be enough.

04:59Sometimes when we don't know where we have to go,

05:02we just make a list of all the temples.

05:04Then we tick-mark it.

05:06Okay, this, all Chinese temple done.

05:08Now, all Indian temples done.

05:09All churches done.

05:13I was 25 when I came, I'm 50, 55, 56 now.

05:17And we have almost explored the whole island.

05:21And now, even other islands also,

05:24nearby islands, we have done that.

05:26You know, at that time, there was no Google.

05:28So asking somebody, what plant is this?

05:30What does it like? What does this food taste like?

05:32So there were, I mean, there were many tropical fruits

05:35which we had not tasted in India.

05:37Things like mangosteen, longan.

05:41Dukku.

05:42Yeah, I had never even heard of dukku back in India.

05:46So people used to scare, you know,

05:47durian is like a very strong smell and don't try,

05:50you know, kind of.

05:51So for the first time,

05:52I think there was a birthday party in the office

05:54and somebody brought a durian cake.

05:57I ate it and it was like not too bad.

06:00Then somebody said that,

06:01okay, would you want to try a durian?

06:03And we had become Singapore citizens by then.

06:05So he says, how can you be a Singapore citizen

06:07if you've not even tried durian?

06:08So I took the challenge

06:11and we went to eat our first durian

06:13somewhere in Geylang area.

06:14And I think ate three or four durians that night.

06:17I mean, two people.

06:18And we absolutely love it.

06:20Absolutely, absolutely.

06:22Now if you ask me, you give me mango,

06:24you give me durian, I will choose durian first.

06:29In last 30 years in Singapore,

06:31we have lived in many locations.

06:33The first time I came, I lived in Wampoa.

06:36Nice, old, very beautiful estate.

06:39And I used to like chicken rice.

06:41I still go there.

06:42Even 30 years after, I still go there.

06:45And then after that, we moved to a rented house

06:47in Ang Mo Kio.

06:49So we would watch the traffic on the city

06:53for hours together.

06:54Yeah, because the cars approaching you

06:56are seeing white light

06:58and the cars which are going away from you

06:59will see the red light.

07:01So you will see the sea of red on one side

07:03and sea of white on the other.

07:04It was so beautiful.

07:08But we really have some good memories.

07:10When we go in a bus,

07:12we used to see old houses

07:15where we have to live before.

07:17Like Ang Mo Kio and Balestier.

07:20Still feel nostalgic about it.

07:22Living in a melting pot of Singapore was wonderful.

07:27It opened your minds to completely new ideas

07:31and areas which I would have never been able to do

07:35if I had lived all my life in India.

07:37Now we have more Chinese or Malay friends than Indian.

07:44Everybody says that Singapore is a small dot

07:46or red tiny dot,

07:48but I totally disagree with this

07:50because the last 30 years,

07:51we are trying to explore the place,

07:53but still we haven't done the full job yet.

07:56And Singapore offered such wonderful opportunities for us

08:01to explore its people, its cultures, places,

08:05its geography, its topography, its food,

08:08fruits that we have been in love since then.

08:12The decision to come to Singapore

08:15probably was the best decision of my life.

08:17The place gave me a close bonding with the family,

08:21multiple friends of various races

08:24and I think it has been a blessing for us.

08:28What I would say to ourselves,

08:30thank God.

08:33Dear Singapore,

08:34Even after 30 years,

08:35it doesn't feel like we have seen the whole of Singapore.

08:39Singapore, you have given us everything.

08:42A good, happy, prosperous life,

08:44a happy family and many friends.

08:48In reality,

08:49we have got everything we have always wanted in life from Singapore.

08:54Our Singapore life exploration has been going on for the last 30 years

08:59and it still feels like there is still a lot left to do.

09:03In Singapore, we got to meet people from various communities

09:08and along with that, our life was enriched with various traditions,

09:11food, culture, and culture.

09:15We made a lot of progress in Singapore

09:18and reached the top positions in our respective fields.

09:21And our son, who came here for 6 months,

09:24is now a successful engineer and a startup entrepreneur.

09:28Singapore, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

From India to Singapore | Here To Stay

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