Making sense of the subcontinent
“I can’t understand your accent.”
It’s easy to imagine someone from Detroit, Berkshire, or Melbourne saying that when talking to an Indian counterpart. But could you imagine this coming from an Indian talking about you?
Probably not in that direct of a sentence (it would sound too offensive), but they would tell their friends as they are walking out of the teleconference, “I can’t understand anything he says – it’s impossible!”
Paul Davies, Nicholas Brealey Publishing , 2004.
If you are one of those people who thinks all India does is customer support call center work, this book can really open your eyes to what is actually happening in India. It will show you the depth of services India is ready to provide, and will really broaden your mind…and it is ten years old.
If you have been actively engaging with India for the last several years, you might not get a lot out of this book. But if you are behind the times, this might be the perfect primer for preparing you for the world of Indian business. India is well beyond the services discussed in this book, but those services still make up a lot of its foundational business.
[Read more…]
…is loyalty.
And the most important way your Parent Leader will evaluate your loyalty is…
availability.
You get no awards in India for having great time management. You get no praise for submitting weekly reports on all your tasks. No one will mention you at a celebration if you manage to save an hour a day by not checking email until noon. Time is not something that can be spreadsheeted.
The only truly important question about time in India is:
Were you there in the Moment of Need?
What is the Moment of Need? It’s the moment when your boss or your team members are freaking out because something has gone terribly wrong and the world might end.
Here’s a recap of the largest democratic exercise in the history of humanity, also known as India’s national election.
This election was for Members of Parliament (MPs). Each voter had a list of candidates to choose from to represent his/her district.
The Prime Minister is not an elected position. He/She is selected by the party or alliance that has a majority of seats in Parliament.
Flickr: Tim Whelan
I started this list recently, but I figured it would be better if everyone contributed instead of just me. Please share some of your own ideas and I’ll add them!
Dancing – I have yet to meet a young Indian man who is not both willing and able to break into smooth dance moves at any moment of the day.
Singing in Public – Similarly, it takes very little coaxing to get any Indian aunty or uncle to break out in a classic film song.
Giving an impromptu one hour speech – No preparation, no notes, no slides. Just talking. I can’t make it more than 5 minutes.
Making children laugh and feel comfortable – Every Indian feels it is his/her duty as a citizen of the country to make every child within a 1 kilometer radius have a smile on their face. [Read more…]
Games Indians Play: Why We Are The Way We Are
V Raghunathan
2006, Penguin.
This book has some good insights, but it is not for you.
The author starts off the book with this soliloquy: [Read more…]
About the time you start packing your bags for your trip to India, the question dawns on you.
What am I doing?
Maybe it’s clear for you. You are training some colleagues. You are finding some suppliers. You are volunteering. You are choosing a vendor. You are attending a conference. (Do make sure you have the right visa for each of these!)
However, when you return and start unpacking your bags, you might suddenly realize the trip wasn’t as obviously successful as you thought it was. No one seems to be doing the things you trained them on. No one is replying to your repeated emails. All the processes you put in place seem to be falling apart.
You are left with a few pictures and a sinking feeling in your stomach that the trip was wasted. [Read more…]
*This article has been updated to reflect the removal of the PIO status as of 9 January 2015. If you currently hold a PIO card, it will be treated as an OCI card. Updates are marked in blue.
For many Indians, moving out of India is a symbol of status. It is a matter of pride for a family to be able to say their son is working in the US and their daughter is in Dubai.
However, Indians who live abroad also work very hard at maintaining a strong connection to India.
This creates trouble for the Indian government in figuring out how to deal with the more than 22 million Indians living in another country. What about land ownership? Voting? Taxation? While many have renounced their Indian citizenship, they still want to be active in India.
There are three terms you should be familiar with that categorize Indians who live abroad: NRI, PIO, and OCI.
NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) are Indian Citizens who live in another country.
PIO (Person of Indian Origin) used to be a 15 year visa for non-Indian citizens, but it has since been removed.
OCIs (Overseas Citizen of India) are non-Indian citizens who have a lifetime visa to live and work in India with fewer restrictions.