Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, Daily Living, On the Job

What Indians Wish You Would Start and Stop Talking About

Mastering Small Talk in India

Small Talk Indians

In the West, small talk serves the same purpose as the kiddie side of a cold swimming pool. You wade in slowly, throwing around meaningless comments about the weather and sports until you reach an equilibrium and then dive in to the deep stuff.

Not so in India.

In India, small talk is an investigation. Your conversation partner is trying to piece together something about you. Who are your parents? What do they do? Where do you work? Where did you go to college? How many children do you have? What is your wife’s name? Do you have brothers and sisters?

These are not just polite conversation starters; these are interrogation questions.

Your Indian partner has two goals in this interrogation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Into India

What you can learn about India from Ads

Indian Advertisement Lifebuoy Gundappa

No one knows a culture better than a good marketer.

Once you know what appeals to the heart of a culture, you can get them to do (or buy) nearly anything you want.

In some cultural training programs I put together for a specific culture, we would often show advertisements and then discuss the embedded cultural values and themes that emerged. Participants would learn four to five significant cultural truths from one commercial alone. Ads not only show the major values of a culture, they also show trends of how these values are changing. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, Book Reviews

Book Review: Culture Shock! India

Culture Shock India Gitanjali Kolanad

Marshall Cavendish, 2012 (latest edition)

 

This book is in the Culture Shock! series of books that covers many different countries.

It is a good choice for someone with a very light understanding of India who is getting ready to spend a lot of time here. Its best quality is how comprehensive it is. It is partly a book about general Indian topics (e.g. food, festivals, family relationships) and partly advice for people coming to live in India (househelp, entertaining, communication). The information is about as accurate as you can be when speaking about such a large topic as India, though you should make sure to get the most updated edition (currently 2012). [Read more…]

Filed Under: #CustomerIsAlwaysThere, #ThinSkinned, Communication

Are All Indians Indirect?

It is standard practice in the world of cross-cultural knowledge to say Indians are indirect in their communication. And it is true. Sometimes.

You have likely interacted enough with India to know that such a simple and generalized statement will break down eventually.

Indians can be very direct and very indirect, all depending on the context.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s hear from one of the great modern writers on India.

 

Craig Storti’s Model

In 2007, Craig Storti gave the world an extremely helpful framework for understanding the differences between communication in India and the West. His book, Speaking of India
described a communication spectrum with indirect communication on the left, direct communication in the middle, and rude or blunt communication on the right side. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, Be Prepared, Daily Living

How to Please the Babu

Your Guide to Filling Out Forms In India

 

Jan Banning People At the office

Photo Credit: http://www.janbanning.com/

 

You will spend most of your first three months in India filling out forms: visa, immigration, customs, mobile connection, internet, lease agreements, etc. Every country has its own peculiarities when it comes to filling out forms, but in India it is all about pleasing the Babu.

Babu is a term given to a government official who sees a lot of papers going across his desk. He signs it or stamps it and passes it along to the next person. If you know how to make your Babu happy, he will pass along your form. If you don’t, he may decide not to approve it.

Before we begin, here’s a story to introduce the topic: [Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #IndiasNotIndia, #See1See100, Daily Living

Getting Advice on India

Getting Advice on India

On your way to an Indian wedding and not sure if you brought the right gift?

Don’t know how to make it up to your colleague that you missed his son’s first birthday party because you booked a last-minute pleasure holiday to Goa?

There is really only one great way to get the best advice on India.

Ask an Indian.

Then ask a different Indian.

Reading articles (like this one) online, purchasing books on India, taking cross-cultural training courses, joining online expat forums, and many other options can be helpful, mostly in that they make you aware of everything you don’t know and offer some nice principles and guidelines.

However, India is nearly always different in practice than in theory. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Visa Information

Indian Medical Visa and Medical Attendant Visa Information

Medical Visa (Med) and Medical Attendant (MedX)

This visa is given to people seeking medical treatment in India. Each patient can have up to two attendants helping them.

 

Approximate processing time:

Two to four weeks

Difficulty to get:

Moderate

Maximum validity:

One year, or the duration of treatment, triple entry, can be extended

Maximum continuous stay:

180 days, unless registered

What you can do:

  • Get medical treatment at a recognized institution

What you cannot do:

Rules:

  • You must have a letter saying that you have been advised to pursue specialist treatment in a significant area of treatment.
  • You must register at the FRRO within 14 days, unless your stay is less than 180 days.
  • If you are coming for surrogacy, this is the visa you should have.
  • If you are on a longer term visa and you fall ill after coming to India, it is possible to convert your visa to a medical one.

 

Back to the full list of visas here

 

Filed Under: Visa Information

Indian Project Visa Information

Project Visa (P)

This is a new visa that is a subset of the employment visa. It is given to skilled workers coming to execute projects in the power and steel industry.

 

Approximate processing time:

One to two months

Difficulty to get:

Moderate

Maximum validity:

Usually valid for one year, multiple entry, can be extended

Maximum continuous stay:

180 days, unless registered

What you can do:

  • You can work on one specific project in a specific location in the steel and power industry

What you cannot do:

  • Work on any other project

Rules:

  • Extensions must be approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • It is only given to skilled workers (often from China).
  • The Project Visa is not subject to the same salary requirements as the Employment visa.
  • You may not take up employment in that Indian company for a period of two years from the date the project is commissioned.
  • There are ceiling limits to the number of visas issued per project.
  • You must register at the FRRO if your visa is valid for more than 180 days.

 

Back to the full list of visas here

 

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© Neil A. Miller, LearningIndia.in, and Madras Media Marketing LLC 2013-2015. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.