No, we've focused a month or so earlier, on the day when Hong Kong returns to China's fold. There's a popular perception here, right or wrong, that that will signal the end of Hong Kong's position as a global financial hub. I am quite certain that not one day has gone by in 1997 without someone or the other in our political firmament muttering fond hopes about how Bombay is going to turn into the next financial capital of Asia, the world's new Hong Kong. It's enough to get a mere columnist positively shaking in his boots with excitement. Then there's an experience on a train station.
Reality hits with a thud and a whole host of questions start asking themselves.
Try them the next time you have two hours to kill waiting for a train. But they are more than compensated for by corruption and inefficiency from those who rule us. Left New Hong Kong at 0730'.