Daily Living Archives - Page 2 of 9

Neil Miller September 14, 2015 Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, Daily Living, On the Job

How to Squeeze a No into a Yes

No, sir. You can’t come in here.

I left some papers at my office inside one of those huge IT buildings and wanted to pick them up on a Saturday. I didn’t have a parking permit, since I usually came on a two-wheeler, but I knew the parking lot would be nearly empty and I only needed about 10 minutes to go in and out.

As I pulled in, I came to the place where you wave an electronic card to lift the gate. I pulled up, showed my ID card and asked the security guard if he would let me go through.

No, sir. You can’t come in here.

“Please, sir” I said, closing one eye and cocking my head to the side. “Just 10 minutes.”

No, sir. He seemed like he had been through this before.

“Ok, then please let me park here by the entrance; I’ll go in quickly and come back.”

No, sir. Visitor parking is outside.

By “outside” he was referring to the 6 meter wide service lane that was supposed to accommodate two lanes of traffic. I pulled around, found a place to park and started to walk inside.

Sir! Sir! Hello! Sir! Hello! I tried to ignore the calls as I was walking to the office, but I knew they were after me. [Read more…]

Neil Miller September 7, 2015 Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Questions to Ask Your Cross-Cultural Trainer

I’ve already stated my opinion about the questionable value of cross-cultural training sessions, but there is a lot to be gained from sitting across from anyone who is there to teach you about another culture.

To distinguish between the good and the mediocre, you should take control of the session. A great coach/trainer will come prepared, but will focus on your needs and be willing to dive deeply into questions that mean the most to you. Don’t let a trainer scroll through all of their slides and semi-humorous illustrations and leave you five minutes for questions at the end. You are there to learn, not sit through a presentation. [Read more…]

Neil Miller August 31, 2015 Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Why I Wouldn’t Spend $500 on a Cross-Cultural Training Session

I spent a few years doing cross-cultural training for corporations. It was fun and I can see why people enjoy doing it. What can beat getting paid to talk about obvious cultural differences and give people a few nuggets of advice that make their life easier?

However, not everyone thought it was such a great thing. Getting a company to use their budget for something ‘soft’ like cultural training was hard enough – showing that it was actually worth the money is another thing. Now that I’ve had a bit of time outside of that world, I think the business was right to question the value they were getting.

The mainstream model of cultural training is to bring in an expert to talk to either an individual or a small group. The expert generally comes equipped with a full slide deck and a thick notebook to leave with participants. There has been some effort to digitize this experience in recent years, but the model is largely the same. Companies will pay upwards of $2,000 to a training company for this kind of training for an individual and even more for a small group.

Here are some of my more pressing doubts about this model and why I don’t think cross-cultural training has been worth the investment so far.

1. Anyone can be an expert

[Read more…]

Neil Miller August 17, 2015 Filed Under: Be Prepared

Get It Together

One quick way to tell if an outsider has been in India a long time? Ask him/her if they have a favorite place to get passport photos.

You don’t have to be in India long to realize that you need to have a lot of documents ready to go at any time. Whether it’s something heavy-duty like a visit to the FRRO or just getting an internet connection, every service seems to have their own unique list of forms to get what you want. You’ll never know exactly what you need for every situation, but most services in India require some blend of the documents listed below.

Keep the physical copies in a safe, accessible place. Also keep an updated digital file with scans of everything. You will never regret the time put into this exercise. You will either do it now, or wish you had done it at some point in the future.

1. Passport

You will obviously have the physical passport in a safe place, but make sure all of these scans are ready to go in your digital file:

Scan of the first page that shows your picture
Scan of your Indian visa
Scan of any previous visas
Scan of the last entry stamp you got into India

[Read more…]

Neil Miller July 27, 2015 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, #GreyIsWhite, Be Prepared

Indian FRRO Registration Overview

One common rite of passage for long-term outsiders in India is a trip (or trips) to the FRRO. It is probably too much of India to throw on a newcomer, but many must visit within the first 14 days. Here is an overview of what the Indian FRRO is and why FRRO Registration might be important for you.

What is the FRRO?

The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) handles all the services related to foreigners living in India.

Do I have to register?

It depends on your visa and how long you plan on being in India. Your printed Indian visa may mention if you need to register and under what terms. If your visa says you must register, then you should. Otherwise, you can follow these guidelines:

Category 1 (Need to Register): If you are on an Employment, Student, Research, Project, or Medical (and attendant) visa, you must register regardless of the length of your stay (provided the visa is valid for at least 180 days).

Category 2 (Maybe Register): If you are on a Business, Entry, or Journalist visa, you must register if you plan on making one continuous stay for more than 180 days OR wish to extend your validity.

Category 3 (No Register): Foreign Diplomats and OCI cardholders do not need to register. Tourist visas are not valid for a single visit of more than 180 days, and therefore do not need to register.

Failing to register is illegal and can get you in big trouble when you try to leave the country (up to 5 years in prison and a fine upwards of Rs. 10,000). [Read more…]

Neil Miller July 21, 2015 Filed Under: #See1See100, Cultural Adaptation, Podcast

Episode 10: Sven and Charlotta

Some paths in India are straight, others are squiggly.

Sven Brandelik and Charlotta Osterberg-Mohandas both started their journeys in India with internships through AIESEC in 2007. Eight years later, Sven helps German-speaking companies create the right strategy for deeper engagement with India and Charlotta teaches yoga to individuals and corporations. Both of them have great stories of how they got to this point and open up on this episode of Working with India.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why comparing cultures is terrible for your cultural adjustment
What Charlotta means when she tells people that “Yoga is not for health”
How Indians really don’t need to be taught how to be direct
Important tips for maintaining relationships in India
Sven’s easy-to-remember model for networking in India

You can contact Sven on his LinkedIn page, and also check out his website, Nimble Networker where he created a complete training course for how to build relationships in India. (Only a German could create such a precise science out of something so intangible!)

Check out Charlotta’s pages under the brand name YogYug: Blog, Instagram, Facebook.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Neil Miller July 13, 2015 Filed Under: Daily Living

How To Avoid Exploding when Eating with an Indian Family

One of the great honors in India is getting invited home for a meal. It is a sincere expression of friendship and a fantastic way to build some high-level relational capital.

But getting invited is just the first step. Now an even bigger challenge awaits you, one that no one has ever conquered before in the India experience.

Eating enough food to make your host happy.

When you eat with an Indian family, and especially when the mother, or woman of the house, has prepared the meal, you want to make her happy. She is very happy when you eat plenty of food.

But this brings up one of the most difficult Catch-22’s I’ve ever encountered. The host is happy when you eat all the food on your plate. But if you eat all the food, you immediately get another full plate. However, if you do not eat all the food, the host is sad because it suggests you don’t like the food.

To make it worse, the host has an extremely short memory. Even if you are working on your fourth plate, and you can’t finish it or your stomach will burst, the host may still think you didn’t like it. The number of plates you eat doesn’t count. The only plate that matters is the one in front of you. If it’s empty, you get more. If it’s not empty, you didn’t like it. (This is an extreme generalization.) [Read more…]

Neil Miller July 6, 2015 Filed Under: Be Prepared

India Vaccinations – Suggestions for Travel

Depending on your personality you will either start worrying about your India vaccinations the moment you think about coming, or three days before you leave.

If you are searching for an authoritative list of vaccinations required for India, there isn’t one. Aside from Yellow Fever (see below), no one will force you to decide which vaccines you need and which ones you can do without.

Here are some tips to help you decide which vaccinations you need before you come to India (even if you are leaving in three days): [Read more…]