When I was a kid, I had that great big World Atlas which I used to read like a book. It was old and politically incorrect in its boundaries. It had some pages missing, but it was otherwise just fine.

Reading it every night after dinner, I came to know of many places, places which I saw only in my mind.

I found out the Northernmost settlement in the world was called Alert. I guess you have to be alert to live a few hundred metres away from the North Pole.

I travelled around the Americas on my map, from Alaska to Patagonia. Travelled by the Danube, visited the Russian (Then Soviet) Far East, went from Cape to Cairo and many more interesting places.

There was only one area left out, South-East Asia. You see the relevant pages were missing.

Not that it mattered to me much, I had many places to explore in my mind.

So I grew up without too much fascination for what is termed as Asia-Pacific.

Almost two decades have past since I lost that great atlas during a house renovation.

Today I find that I am on another journey. A journey with people and not with maps.

I am seeing the places through my friends. And that is really great. So much so, that now I want to visit all the countries in South East Asia. Australia, I anyway wanted to go.

We are 57 of us from 8 different countries. All gathered in Singapore for a couple of weeks of training. The Management Associate Development Programme as Citibank likes to call it.

It is a welcome break from the monotony of work back in Chennai. It is a great time to let my life catch up with me. And I think that I am going to have a great time out here.

I hated Dubai, but looks like I am going to love Singapore….