On Home(Singapore) & Migration

Having got bored of my usual repetoire of songs in my Windows Media Playlist, I chanced upon the FM Yes933 online webcast this late night. Reception is very clear. And soon, I knew which parts of the PIE & ECP were congested, I heard Cruz Teng & Bukoh Mary reading the daily horoscopes, playing the "Harvey Norman" game, chatting about the just released PSLE results. I never felt closer to home. Not even the webcam conversations with my family, not the meetings with my Singaporean friends here in the UK; have I felt so close to home.

And I realised, that perhaps, there is more to being homesick than missing the people. I think the more you actually involved yourself in the place, the transport networks you have been on daily (be it the Mass Rapid Public Transport or the Major Expressways), or the local Radio Station you tuned in to on the way to school or work, or the General Singaporean events that you always thought did not involve you.

The songs played may not be all to my liking (Jacky Cheung over Jay Chou, anytime), the jokes told may be lame; I never had any special feelings for the transport system in Singapore (transport was only a medium to get to places I wanted to be at). Why then does this really heartwarming feeling come over me?

I think the more a person immerses himself in a place, intentionally or otherwise; subconsciously, he becomes familiar with the place. (Note that this is completely seperate from any interaction with people) Following this train of thought, I feel that the personality of a person very much affects if such immersion occurs. A person who lives his life as a routine and accepts things as they are,(tunes in to the same station, takes the same route to work on the same MRT line or expressway)will obviously have developed a sense of familiarity; but a person who either changes his tastes frequently, or completely detests a place such as to critize everything, will not.

Now, I will conclude that the very people who will not be attached to the "hardware" of places, are the very same people that are unlikely to be affected by the "heartware", because it is in their personalities to have a lesser need for high levels of familiarity, a greater need for refreshing change, and a belief that life can always be better in the future if they make changes. Ultimately, what the "heartware", the family & friends give is a sense of familiarity, a protection against loneliness, a reminder to appreciate life as it is in the present! So why would people unfeeling to the "hardware" (be it however not to their tastes), be any more tied back to the "heartware"?

They will not. Those that stay will stay, those that leave will leave. Only with the passage of time may they return. Because with time, people feel more insecure and need more familiarity. Because with time, people start appreciating the present more (perhaps because there isn't much of the future left to look forward to?)

Ps. Please be clear that this article carries no moral judgement of people who leave their home countries. As I've tried to be clear on, this is necessarily a personality difference, and who are we to judge how others think, as long as what they think or do doenst specifically harm anyone else?