Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation, Mark Twain

Mark Twain on Cultural Adaptation

Zenana

 

A good lesson in trying to use our own cultural rules to judge someone else’s. In this story, Twain recounts how some Europeans tried to ‘liberate’ some women in India who were used to going around fully covered.

 

[Taken from The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Following the Equator, Volume 2, Harper and Brothers: New York, 1925.]

 

While we were in India some good-hearted Europeans in one of the cities proposed to restrict a large park to the use of zenana ladies, so that they could go there and in assured privacy go about unveiled and enjoy the sunshine and air as they had never enjoyed them before. The good intentions back of the proposition were recognized, and sincere thanks returned for it, but the proposition itself met with a prompt declination at the hands of those who were authorized to speak for the zenana ladies. Apparently, the idea was shocking to the ladies–indeed, it was quite manifestly shocking. Was that proposition the equivalent of inviting European ladies to assemble scantily and scandalously clothed in the seclusion of a private park? It seemed to be about that. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Into India, Mark Twain

Why Mark Twain thinks India is Amazing

Amazing India

[Taken from The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Following the Equator, Volume 2, Harper and Brothers: New York, 1925.]

There is only one India! It is the only country that has a monopoly of grand and imposing specialties. When another country has a remarkable thing, it cannot have it all to itself–some other country has a duplicate. But India–that is different. Its marvels are its own; the patents cannot be infringed; imitations are not possible. And think of the size of them, the majesty of them, the weird and outlandish character of the most of them!

…India has 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.

With her everything is on a giant scale–even her poverty; no other country can show anything to compare with it. And she has been used to wealth on so vast a scale that she has to shorten to single words the expressions describing great sums. She describes 100,000 with one word –a ‘lahk’; she describes ten millions with one word–a ‘crore’.

In the bowels of the granite mountains she has patiently carved out dozens of vast temples, and made them glorious with sculptured colonnades and stately groups of statuary, and has adorned the eternal walls with noble paintings. She has built fortresses of such magnitude that the show-strongholds of the rest of the world are but modest little things by comparison; palaces that are wonders for rarity of materials, delicacy and beauty of workmanship, and for cost; and one tomb which men go around the globe to see. It takes eighty nations, speaking eighty languages, to people her, and they number three hundred millions.

On top of all this she is the mother and home of that wonder of wonders–caste–and of that mystery of mysteries, the satanic brotherhood of the Thugs.

India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soil. It would seem as if she should have kept the lead, and should be to-day not the meek dependent of an alien master, but mistress of the world, and delivering law and command to every tribe and nation in it. But, in truth, there was never any possibility of such supremacy for her. If there had been but one India and one language–but there were eighty of them! Where there are eighty nations and several hundred governments, fighting and quarreling must be the common business of life; unity of purpose and policy are impossible; out of such elements supremacy in the world cannot come.

Even caste itself could have had the defeating effect of a multiplicity of tongues, no doubt; for it separates a people into layers, and layers, and still other layers, that have no community of feeling with each other; and in such a condition of things as that, patriotism can have no healthy growth. (71-73)

 
Click here for all of the Mark Twain Selections on India.

Filed Under: Mark Twain, Transportation

Mark Twain on an Indian Train

Twain Railroads

 

[Taken from The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Following the Equator, Volume 2, Harper and Brothers: New York, 1925.]

 

January 30. What a spectacle the railway station was, at train-time! It was a very large station, yet when we arrived it seemed as if the whole world was present–half of it inside, the other half outside, and both halves, bearing mountainous head-loads of bedding and other freight, trying simultaneously to pass each other, in opposing floods, in one narrow door. These opposing floods were patient, gentle, long-suffering natives, with whites scattered among them at rare intervals; and wherever a white man’s native servant appeared, that native seemed to have put aside his natural gentleness for the time and invested himself with the white man’s privilege of making a way for himself by promptly shoving all intervening black things out of it. In these exhibitions of authority Satan was scandalous. He was probably a Thug in one of his former incarnations. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Transportation

Tips for Train Travel in India

Credit: Jeremy Vandel on Flickr

Credit: Jeremy Vandel on Flickr

 

Do not leave India without riding a train at least once. Nothing will help you identify more with the people around you than taking a train ride to a nearby city. Trains are the preferred mode of travel for Majority Indians, Classic Indians, and some New Indians, or basically about 90% of the country. They are fun, mostly reliable, cheap, and worth the experience. Plus, it will really impress your Indian friends.

When it is the best option:

  • If you’ve never done it before
  • If you have some extra time
  • If you are short on cash
  • If you are traveling overnight
  • If yourfinal destination is in the middle of the city
    • Train stations are more centrally located than airports

[Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, On the Job

How to Ruin Your Relationships in India

Runining Relationships

 

You repeatedly email and call an old contact who won’t reply or pick up.

The manager of your Indian operations suddenly quits for no apparent reason.

You get a legal notice in your office mailbox.

 

Even though Relational Capital can be straightforward to build, it can be a pain to maintain. And worse, it can all come crashing down very quickly. Months or years of effort can be reduced to nothing in what seems like an instant.

Sometimes it is necessary to intentionally end a business relationship in India, such as calling out a vendor who is using unscrupulous practices. But more often, you will find yourself bankrupt in Relational Capital with someone without a clue as to why. Relational Capital is high-risk/high-reward and can be a dangerous game to play.

Thankfully, there are patterns in the ways that outsiders lose all their relational investments, and you can learn from those of us who have lost more than we have gained. The following items are character traits that most Indians hate about other people, particularly outsiders. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #See1See100, #TimeIsEternal, On the Job

10 Ways to Get Rich Quick in Relational Capital

Building RC

I knew I had to have a lot of Relational Capital with this guy.

As a foreigner coming into a new company who was likely to shake things up a bit, it was imperative that I had a large pool of Capital coming from the CEO.

We sat down at a coffee shop. I guessed from his name that he was the kind of South Indian that only ate vegetarian, so I refrained from the Spicy Chicken entrée. He casually mentioned that he had visited an Ayurvedic retreat center with his wife, and I mentioned all the ways that the ancient Indians seemed so much more advanced than us today. I asked what his kids were studying in college and what he hoped their futures looked like. When talking about ethics, I mentioned a few things I had learned in a book about the Mahabharata.

Sooner or later you will realize that building Relational Capital is essential for doing business in India.

Although Relational Capital is present in every culture, different cultures put different weight on how important it is to do business. There are some pockets in my home in the US where Relational Capital means a lot (getting a job through an alumni network at a business school) and others where it doesn’t mean as much (getting a job at Walmart). [Read more…]

Filed Under: #See1See100, On the Job

You need to start thinking about your Relational Capital

Why build RC

Why should I care about talking about cricket with my colleagues?

What difference does it make if I remember the names of my client’s kids or not?

Who cares if I know the important celebrities in India? Or all 29 states?

These are just nice add-ons that will make business go slightly smoother, right? Cute, but not necessary to make good business happen.

 

…said people who have never actually done business in India (or most of the rest of the world).

 

There is no way to overstate this. Either you understand that the quality of your relationships is the largest factor in your ability to do good business, or you will understand it later after you screw it up. [Read more…]

Filed Under: On the Job, Team Management

Introducing Culturally Agile Discussion Guides

Discussion Guides

As a savvy cross-cultural worker, you already know the importance of learning about new cultures. You pick up a few books. You subscribe to some interesting blogs. You rent a few movies about the culture. You might even call up a friend who has worked in that culture before.

These are all helpful for your learning and will give you important insights, and they are a good starting point towards becoming the kind of person you want to be.

But do you see something missing? Any valuable resources you are leaving out?

 

Like the people you are actually going to be working with?

 

The people you work with hold the deepest insights to the culture. They live in the middle of it and see complexities that you are blind to. As I always say, when you have a question, ask an Indian. With so many Indias to deal with, the things you learn in the books and movies might have no application in your unique situation.

But you already know it’s not that easy. You can’t just call up Vikas, your lead engineer in Bihar, and say, “Tell me about your culture.” Good luck with that one. Most people in the world (not just India) do not have the ability to intelligently talk about their own culture in a way that helps people on the outside.

And having a cultural anthropologist come in and do a study of your team members and return with actionable insights in the business world is probably not in the budget for this year.

So what you need is a way to learn the deep parts of a culture on your own that doesn’t break the bank.

 

 

Culturally Agile Discussion Guides

I’m pleased to announce Culturally Agile Discussion Guides as the first in a series of tools you can use to become a much smarter cross-cultural manager.

The Guides are simple:

  • Schedule a 20-30 minute slot with your team once a month
  • Pre-read the questions that are sent to your email
  • Get into a great conversation with your team and take some notes
  • Get smarter

Each guide focuses on a particular topic such as family structures, educational systems, small talk, or celebrities. Along with questions, the Guide also gives you specific insights to listen for and ways to interpret the answers you receive.

Here are a few of the benefits you will get if you commit to doing this for a year:

  • You are going to be a much better cross cultural leader
  • You will understand what they look for in a leader
  • You will have a toolbox full of ideas on how to motivate people from that culture
  • You will make all your colleagues look silly at their lack of understanding of basic elements of the culture
  • You will start your own blog with all the insights you get

 

Here’s a free sample to download so you can see how simple and easy they are to use:

Sample Discussion Guide on Education

 

The Culturally Agile Discussion Guides are $7/month. Much cheaper than your anthropologist, and more guaranteed insights than any movie or book.

 

Start today, you won’t regret it.

 

[fullstripe_subscription form=”CA_DG”]

 

Image Credit: vk wadhawan on Flickr