JUST MY IMAGINATION

“ What do you even research in law? ” This is the question I’ve been regularly getting ever since I moved here. I wasn’t aware that the law is seen as such an “unresearchable” area. Probably my bad. Being surrounded by lawyers in the UK, I thought what we were doing made sense, and honestly, I never really questioned it. But in Singapore, being surrounded by engineers and other sciencey types, my poor little subject has been subjected to so many questions, and as a lawyer, frankly, I’m not doing a great job defending it. Usually, when people find out that I do law, or maritime law, they act surprised. They ask why . I thought it was common knowledge that Singapore is one of the best in shipping, but clearly not. I’ve met some Singaporeans who didn’t even know that their country excels in shipping. Then, when they hear what exactly I do for my PhD research, they act impressed. “Autonomous ships” and “cyber risk” are two fancy phrases that sound “unknown” enough to make people feel int...

Having decided to spend a chill day today, I was blissfully scrolling through Instagram, knowing that my only workout of the day was going to be walking across the road to grab myself an oat latte later in the morning. I was scrolling and scrolling when I saw one of my favourite influencers (this term somehow strikes me — don’t we all influence someone one way or another?) share in her story the new book by Cat Stevens, “On the Road to Findout”—  an autobiography. Coincidentally, I had been listening to Cat every day that week,  songs from Muslim Cat and before. Also, coincidentally, a few weeks earlier at a BBQ party, someone I met asked if I knew him. I nodded, thinking to myself, “Who doesn’t?” So, I had a Cat theme going on in my life for the last few weeks. And when I saw that his autobiography had just come out, fresh off the press, I had to have it. But I had little patience to wait days for it to arrive from Amazon. Plus, it was a hefty book, and I wasn’t sure how ...

   “ May God rescue you from this mall with a death sentence soon.” I’ve been thinking about this line since yesterday, that someone dropped it in a group chat. The funny thing is, it’s not untrue. But there’s still something disturbing about it that has been occupying my mind. There are two types of people here. One type absolutely hates Singapore; they feel trapped and want to move toward the West. The other kind absolutely loves it here: good salary, better quality of life, higher standards in everything, a travel hub in the heart of Southeast Asia where you can just hop on a flight and be at a spectacular beach within a few hours, the most beautiful nature when it’s green and the most stunning buildings when it’s not. The gap between the two kinds seems huge. I’m yet to figure out which type I belong to. But also — why on earth do we have to make everything black and white? Like, why can’t it be something like, “ It’s good here, except for the weather,” for exa...

In a world where everyone can be anything they want, I just want to be this coffee, dripping my way away from it all. The overthinking and stress I had made me share these lines a couple of days ago. Respectfully, in a world where anything can happen, who the f*ck cares? When I was a young university student, I read something that stayed with me all these years. It said: If you learn a foreign language, you double your value. I didn’t quite understand it back then, but over the years, I came to experience it very closely. When you know only your mother tongue, you’re somehow confined — by your country, your job options, your way of living, even your dating life. But when you break those barriers of language and set yourself free, the sky truly becomes the limit. You can go anywhere, do anything, and be with anyone — no limits whatsoever. Then why are we punishing ourselves just because we’re actually able to do that? We live in a world where borders don’t really feel like b...

Now that a month has passed (and more), I would like to talk a little bit about how I am coping with the social aspect of living in Singapore. I think when someone moves to a different country, people tend to think that it’s all glamorous, shiny, and exciting. It could be, but usually this is not the case when you move for the first time. It’s typically depressing, lonely and miserable. These feelings usually come from dealing with paperwork, admin stuff, buying things for the new house, trying to adjust to a new workplace, building a routine, and, more importantly, trying to make friends. There’s a great deal of pain in leaving your existing social circle and building a new one. It takes a couple of seconds to meet a new person, but a couple of years to really accept that person into your life. Of course, the exception proves the rule. In my first two weeks, I met a few people. In the last two weeks, I met a lot of people. When you’re new in the city, it’s easier to meet new peopl...