Take the train dude

You know that pet bone you pick with your partner all the time? The one your friends roll their eyes and refer to when they talk about you? Car vs Train travel is fast becoming one that we add to our "repertoire" as it were. Here's my case for why train travel is better ....

1. Liberation from the GPS! No anxious searching for the right street, no standing on one leg to get a satellite signal, no going round and round in circles just because "Tom" says so. Try it, it'll add a few minutes to your lifespan.

2. Catching up on your reading. A few hours of uninterrupted me time with the latest Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic and of course the latest Newsweek. Perhaps with a warm cappucino and chocolate bread. Heaven!

3. No parking hassles. True story - We were in Basel last weekend for a show, we parked at an underground parking lot at a nearby Migros. The show left at 5.30 pm, and we head to the car. Only we couldn't get inside! All the Migros entrances were shut, as it was closing time (naturally), luckily we caught the last guy working in the basement through the machine at the entrance! And it cost us an arm and a leg for the two hours we'd parked there.

We could have saved ourselves the trouble by taking the tram/bus to the station and back.

4. Its better for the environment. This one should probably be on top - . The same 150 miles travelled by train would have released half the CO2 that the car did.

5) Daydreaming! Settle back into your barca lounger on the little strip of beach at the back of your mansion, be an intrepid adventurer dashing to dark and dangerous corners of the earth, or be Beyonce.... all without worrying about getting flashed by a radar!

So if you still think Swiss train travel isn't that comfortable, I leave you with a 2 minute snapshot of travel in a local train in Mumbai. Anything will seem better after this!

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Hopenhagen 2009 - Be a thought leader

The Guardian has established a "Reader Leaders" section, inviting readers to weigh in with their indepth views on Copenhagen, climate change and the state of the green revolution

Here's my article...

The Copenhagen Summit forges on, despite Climategate. Brave attempts have been made to reestablish credibility and redirect energies to achieving positive outcomes, especially by drawing focus to pledges made by leading developing world countries (China,India, South Africa) to cut carbon emissions.... Read More Here

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Geneva in the spotlight

If you happen to travel to Geneva this week chances are you'll see a lot of what look like soup or fondue pots in the windows. If you are not a local, like me, you will probably assume this is a traditional, albeit eccentric, way of welcoming the Christmas. You would also be dead wrong.

The soup pot is called a "marmite" , and is the quirky symbol of Geneva's "independence". That's right - four centuries ago, the Genevois proudly staved off attack from the forces of Savoy, made in the dead of night, probably by three times the number of people that lived in town at that time. That day is proudly remembered today, The Fetes des Escalades is in it's 75th anniversary in Geneva. The celebrations include costumed street parades at various places in Geneva, children's events and other festivities and an running race through the city centre. (Detailed information)

The festival finishes out what has been a great month for Geneva. A few weeks ago, it was one in only three cantons that voted against the Swiss People's party's vote to ban minarets. While most right wing supporters wrote this off the to the large proportion of foreigners composing the city's population, it was clear that people here thought differently, and weren't afraid of saying so.

Geneva was top of the mind again at this year's Lyon Festival of Lights, where one of the most evocative and avant garde displays was created by a Genevois, Robert Nortik. The Geneva based actor, filmmaker and artist devised the brilliant display, projecting scenes from Fellini's La Dolce Vita at a 360 degree radius around the square at Place des Jacobins. I'm not an art film conossieur, perhaps his choice of this film will become clearer in the next few weeks - I can vouch for the visual imagery of the display - it is powerful and seeps into your subconscious.

What struck me also was that despite the obvious abundance of talent, the Festival des Arbres Lumieres in Geneva currently on, is but a pale shadow to the vibrance and sheer scale of the display at Lyon, just a few hours away. There is clearly a case to be made here for a more vibrant city, one that is open to artistic endeavour and evolution.

While it is clear then that the people of Geneva are proud of their history, tradition and the essential character of their culture and values, it is not so certain however, whether they are able to see the way forward for their city as clearly.

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Lyon-Festival of Lights 09

I have to say I was astounded at the sheer scale, number of people and the spectacle of the Festival of Lights in Lyon. The installations were the best of modern art in themselves, but the city of Lyon is an icing on the cake  - vibrant, diverse, cultural - the best of what Europe has to offer.

An hour and a half drive from Geneva, this French city is a must visit for anyone looking for a short break from Switzerland. Apart from the sights the shopping and the food are outstanding.I recommend half a day spent at Part Dieu - the largest mall, with a must do lunch at Rouge Tendance, a hip, multicuisine cafe tucked away at the base of the mall.

If boutique shopping is what interests you, check out the interesting stores at the 6th arrondisement.For some amazingly funky hangouts, head to the back lanes running upwards from the Rue de la Republique. There are a number of small art galleries and cafes here, with loads of restaurants and a variety of cuisines.

This was as much as we could do in a day and a half, but watch this space for more details on Lyon- a followup trip is definitely on the cards!

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Job hunting in Switzerland - the saga continues..

Today marks the four month anniversary of my unemployment. Being a  scarred veteran of the job hunting scene in Geneva, I thought I'd share with you some of the most common types of personalities  that I've encountered so far.

1) The Con Artist Recruiter - These are the guys who make sure they post a position sound that sounds attractive, urgent and important. This ensures they recieve hundreds of applications. They then use the forthcoming months to sift through these applications and identify the best resumes for their data banks.  Most good recruiters let you know one way or another, so if you haven't heard from these guys for a few weeks, assume you've been scammed.

2) The Slow Movers - These are guys who take between 2 -3 months to open a file that has been emailed to them. This seems to include most of the international organisations here in Geneva. True Story - I applied for a position to one such organisation two months ago, they just emailed me last week, saying they had recieved my documents and are now processing them for the position! What is ironic is that most of these guys list "agility" and "speed of response" as standard hiring requirements.

3) The Opportunist Employer - These are employers who will try and get the best possible resource at the cheapest possible price. They use the desperation of candidates in the current market situation to pay less, or hire overqualified candidates for a role.

4) The Circling Vultures - Unemployment seems to hurt only the person  out of work, everyone else is making a killing out of it. Consultants, networking organisations, advice groups, resume writers ... you name it, there is someone offering a service to help you get through it. Having closely worked with a couple of these guys however, I've reverted back to the "help yourself" policy. Its cheaper and saves you a lot of unnecessary irritation.

5) The Employer with a God Complex - True story - I spent three weeks interviewing for a multinational organisation that, in the name of professionalism, put me through four rounds of interviews, including a day long, torturous psychological assessment. They then took another week to tell me I'd done well and they would like to make an offer. Next, they took another week to "get approvals" from their head office. After which they told me that they had decided not to hire for these positions till next year.

The common theme that all of the above display is a startling lack of respect for the candidate's time,money and state of mind. There is a cynicism and a lack of concern here, the candidate is most times reduced to nothing more than a circus monkey jumping through the hoops, in the hope of getting employed.

The job market is the toughest its been in decades, especially in Europe; but what recruiters and employers seem to have lost sight of is that this will not always be the case. When economies boom , the shoe will firmly be on the other foot. It is when they will have to chase good talent that  equity will come into play, then perhaps, they will wish they had behaved with more integrity when they could have.

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The World's Friendliest Expat Cities

HSBC released the results of its Expat Explorer survey this week, covering 26 expat locations across the globe. Not surprisingly, Switzerland places at the bottom of the table on the friendliness index. South East Asia comes out on top on this score. Switzerland comes in ninth among established/developed markets, with Canada topping the list.

Overall, Switzerland ranks 13, with high rankings for healthcare, family life, commuting and transport. The overall league table can be found here. 

The full report can be found here.

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