10 March 1999
Copyright, 1999, Max K. Goff, all rights reserved

The event in Singapore went quite well.  My diarrhea returned with a vengeance, but another doctor in the mall adjacent to the hotel where we stayed gave me a broad band antibiotic, which did the trick.  So I was able to speak -- just barely -- and able to travel home the following day.  I left Singapore on March 3, a week ago today, and continued my journey to the east, landing in Tokyo for a respite, and then on to Portland and then home.  I arrived the day I left, crossing the international date line in the process.  All in all, I traveled 26 hours that day, but considering I was more than half way around the world from New York (if you consider both the eastern as well as the northern miles I needed to travel), it's a rather amazing thing, that we travel so fast, so routinely.

The juxtaposition of Singapore immediately after Bangalore was rather intense.  Bangalore has so many poor, so much air pollution, such a relatively sparse and crumbling infrastructure.  There are no McDonald's in Bangalore, no Wendy's, no Burger King.  I didn't get out enough to determine if KFC or Pizza Hut had made it there, but I have my doubts.  From what I could see, Coke had made some headway, English was common, but that's as far as the emerging global culture had penetrated that ancient land.  And of course, the engineers were very bright, well versed, and eager to learn.

Singapore, on the other hand, proffered at least one each of all the icons of capitalism's fast fare.  English is one of the official languages there as well.  The well lit skyline was pristine, the air fresh, the traffic ran smoothly and no one smiled.  Everyone in Bangalore returned a smile, I noticed.  Everyone.  In Singapore, they just looked away.  I wonder what that means.  Perhaps it's just me.

The engineers in Singapore didn't seem as eager to hear the messages.  That's not to say that they weren't an attentive audience, as they were.  But in Bangalore, almost everyone stayed for the entire event, which lasted over 10 hours.  In Singapore, they started to trickle out after the first few hours and by the time it was time for the Q&A session at the end of the day, not enough people remained to justify even holding the session.

Prices were lower in Bangalore, for the most part, except for international telephone rates, which were ludicrous.  India evidently needs to make considerable investment in telephony infrastructure.  I trust it will happen with the wireless revolution, and they'll by-pass copper all together.

There seemed to be a lot more intensity in India.  That's a difficult thing to measure, so my subjective read on that will have to suffice.  But it seemed to me that the engineers in India were terribly motivated, as though they understood and believed that their, at least in India, is in software.  When I speak, I often lead with the line, "If there's hope for humanity, it's in software."  In Bangalore, I expected laughter and got a solid round of applause without having to say anything more than that, which quite surprised me.  In Singapore, I got the expected nervous laughter.

In Bangalore I told the audience that India is arguably the spiritual center of the planet and as such, needs to take a leadership position in global software development.  I think they understood, and agreed.  To me, India is one of the key regions for the future of our species.  More important in many ways than Europe or China or South America or Africa.  The contribution we need from India, when it comes to software development, is vital to ensuring that there is humanity in the software we build.

I've been home a week now and have recovered quite nicely.  I'm working out normally, and eating just fine.  The illnesses I had are history.  And one of the benefits was the weight loss -- I left 7 pounds on the road, bringing me down to the very weight I feel most comfortable maintaining.  So it was a good trip in many ways, despite the problems.

I'm home now for a few weeks.  I don't anticipate any difficult trips before the middle of April.  In April, I'm scheduled to participate in a Middle Eastern version of the Technology Days tour for Sun.  Cairo and Dubai are cities I'll be seeing soon.  Perhaps Boston before then, a quick visit with some engineering teams.  But other than that, I think I'm home for a while.  And just like it says in the Wizard of Oz said, there's no place like home.  There's no place like home.  There's no place like home.

:)