Learning India

Neil Miller May 1, 2014 Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, Into India

States of India Song

It was a moment of inspiration.

I was trying to calm my nerves the morning before one of my first big training sessions in front of Indians. As I looked over my notes, I came to the part where I would quiz participants on how many states there are in India. (You don’t usually get a uniform answer for this one from Indians.)

Then I started thinking, What if they challenge me? What if they demand to see a list? I can only name about five states off the top of my head!

It was too late to get something printed. To add to it, this was the first training I had done for this company and one of my bosses was going to be there in the session. I had to think of something fast.

Ok, I’ll memorize them.

Seriously? You’ll memorize 28 state names in 30 minutes?

Yup, and I’ll even do it alphabetically. [Read more…]

Neil Miller April 24, 2014 Filed Under: Be Prepared

Filling Out Your Online Indian Visa Application

After you choose the right visa, the first thing you must do is complete the online Indian Visa Application form. If this is your first interaction with the government of India, you should refresh yourself on How to Please the Babu. This will get you in the right frame of mind.

The form seems easy enough, but a simple mistake can lead to your application being rejected, which means you lose your application fee, and you have to start the process over again! So, it’s best to get it right the first time.

Before you begin

Two things to remember:

1) Filling out the Indian Visa Application form online does not mean you have submitted it. The purpose of the online form is to make sure you have filled in all the correct information in the right format for easier processing. If you make a mistake, you can start over and it will not affect your application. No one is looking through all this data and cross-checking it. The only form that matters is the one you print out when you finish.

2) You may not alter the application after you print it. This includes handwriting answers. Once you print it out, if you want to make any change at all, you must start the application form over again.
[Read more…]

Neil Miller April 21, 2014 Filed Under: Be Prepared

Comprehensive Guide to Indian Visas

When you are searching for the right Indian visa, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

Everyone seems to say something different, and you may feel the need to hire an immigration lawyer just to make sure you don’t get arrested for filming a family video at the Taj Mahal.

Here’s an easy-to-understand comprehensive guide for you, covering all the visas for India. [Read more…]

Neil Miller April 18, 2014 Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #ThinSkinned, Cultural Adaptation

Why You Should Embrace Cultural Generalizations, Not Stereotypes

Everyone loves to hate generalizations. In fact, they might be the easiest target for the cross-cultural police, who think everyone is the same (deep down), and everyone is unique (deep down).

This kind of thinking might work in some cultures, but won’t last five minutes in India. As soon as you get here, you start making generalizations because it is so “other”, and you don’t have a mental category for what you are experiencing.

But in a country filled with so many sensitive paradoxes, nothing will get you into trouble faster than making a blanket generalization (#Thinskinned).

This is the tension you face as you try to make sense of the new world you are working/living with. What are you allowed to say? What is true? Don’t all generalizations break down anyway? Should we just abandon them altogether?

No. Generalizations have a lot to offer us.

[Read more…]

Neil Miller April 16, 2014 Filed Under: #See1See100, On the Job

Publicity and PR Issues in India

Here’s a real story with some fictionalized details:

Two North Americans (Ryan and Joel) had come to India to establish some connections for their new NGO/non-profit (FreshMedics) that markets medical device innovations for rural villages. They had some large financial partners waiting in the background, but wanted to time any announcements of public support with the launch of the product and the plan. Their partners understood this, but were eager to be on the forefront of the launch.

On this trip to India, they were looking to make contacts and meet some manufacturing partners. Knowing the importance of relationships in India, they took advantage of any opportunity they had.

They were introduced to a man named Ganesh, who had done a lot of work in a local village. Most of his work had been through an internationally recognized service organization called SERVIndia.

Ganesh showed Ryan and Joel around the village. They met with the villagers and even participated in a special festival that happened to be that day, including some folk dancing. Everyone had a great time, and Ryan and Joel left extremely thankful for the first-hand look at the village.

The next day, Ryan and Joel opened up their laptops to find an email from Ganesh thanking them for coming to the village. He attached 50 pictures he had taken of the event. In the mail trail, Joel noticed that Ganesh had put together a five-page bulletin about their visit for SERVIndia with the headline “SERVIndia welcomes FreshMedics to Village!” The bulletin had been sent to the national director of SERVIndia, who had already commended Ganesh for his excellent work in the matter. Ganesh had posted the photos on Facebook and tagged Ryan and Joel in all of them in an album titled “SERVIndia and FreshMedics partnering to uplift villages!” [Read more…]

Neil Miller April 14, 2014 Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #ThinSkinned, Indias By...

Indias By Region

If you want to start a lively and quickly tense discussion among Indians, have them start talking about regional differences.

Along with religion, this is a highly sensitive topic that is guaranteed to get lunch tables and chat rooms flowing with all sorts of interesting comments. Coming in as an outsider, it is important for you to build some awareness of the different regions, and what they think of each other.

There are no set boundaries for the regions of India, nor are there a set number of them. Some will say anything below Mumbai is South India and everything above it is North India. Others say there is a North, South, East, and West India.

For the sake of discussion, I will use six regions, adding Central and Northeast India to the above list.

Here are some necessary disclaimers, as this article is likely to offend someone: (#ThinSkinned)

I’ve opted to use entire states to talk about regions (with a few exceptions), but the regions are undoubtedly more porous than that, and these regions are not universally accepted.
I’ve added a section on *generalizations of the different regions. This is not to promote, justify, or validate the generalizations, but to inform you about what Indians think of each other.
Indians feel passionate about these things and are comfortable talking about them with each other, but not always with foreigners, so be sensitive about bringing it up in conversation.
I’ve spent most of my time in the south, and the comments about other regions are more anecdotal or researched.
Keep in mind the other divisions of India (class, rural vs. urban, age) that are also at play. What is true about an urban Dehliite might not be true of the mountain people in Himachal Pradesh, even though both are in North India.
Let’s make this a dynamic document. If you feel you have some useful (but not derogatory) insights to share about a particular area, please leave them in the comments and I will add them to the article.

[*Editor’s Note: I changed this term from “stereotypes” to better reflect the view of this article on generalizations and stereotypes]

Away we go…
[Read more…]

Neil Miller April 11, 2014 Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Can You Try to Fit In Too Much?

There comes a point when you have to decide who you are.

Are you a Frenchman temporarily living in Mumbai? Or are you an Indian who happens to have roots in France?

How far do you let your new culture impact your life? Do you simply wear kurtas around the house? Do you decide only to eat Indian food? How much of their mindset will you adopt? Do you go beyond understanding hierarchy to actually participating in and leveraging it?

How strongly should you hold on to your home culture? When is it appropriate to be your “normal Australian self”, and when are you being culturally insensitive?

Everyone must answer these questions individually, but the answer might be, “it depends.”

In an article I submitted to InterNations Magazine, I examined some times when it is better to adopt the new culture and when it is best to stay the same.

You can read the article here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3.

For those living abroad, or preparing for a move, InterNations can be a great resource. It is a vibrant, informal network of expats around the world. No matter where you are going, you are likely to find some events where you can meet like-minded people. They also have some really good, quality information on their website for those needing a global perspective.

Photo Credit: Prince Roy on Flickr

Neil Miller April 9, 2014 Filed Under: #CustomerIsAlwaysThere, Transportation

Airport Fun

Fancy new airports seem to spring up about every month in India. While a lot of the new amenities are really nice, there are still a few things to iron out.

Here are two of my favorite shots from some recent travels.

This first one is for a water fountain. I’m glad they gave plenty of options for where to press the button, but I’m doubtful how effective each of them are.