[Forbes India] The Expat Diary

Going through the acculturation experiences of foreign nationals who have taken up residence in India is always amusing and refreshing. In some ways its like seeing oneself through the looking glass, but this time the other way round.
The Expat Diary on Forbes India records such several short personal anecdotes of expats who have made India their workplace and consequently their home. In one such piece titled 'India is Not a Country Made for Everyone', SAP Labs’ Clas Neumann writes on what he has learned here and about how different it is from the country which he came from :

"...I learned more about how to conduct meetings, expectations, and I learned not to take things personally. I found this out well in my first meeting I did here with my own little management team at that time. I said let’s start at 9 a.m. I was in the room at 9 a.m. and nobody else was there. Then at 9:05 a.m. the first guy walks in and says, “Hi Clas, nice to meet you,” with no apologies for being late. By 9:20 a.m. we were complete and still chatting. In Germany the meeting would have been over by then and my boss actually would have left the room if no one appeared on time. But this is not meant as a sign of disrespect. People from my culture would easily see this as disrespect — if you’re not on time you’re not respecting my time, and it would be taken as an insult to the person you are meeting. "

Spot on! That's exactly how we are. And then he testifies to our unflinching commitment to the Great Indian 'Nick of Time' Finish.

"As recently as a month ago, I saw my incoming German colleagues who were very worried looking at how preparations were going for our TechEd conference. One day before the conference, my colleagues said, “They will never finish. Look at what state this is in, and they haven’t even put up the backdrop!” And I was thinking, “They still have one night to work.” So I said: “Relax guys, it’s just the way things go, and I can tell you it’s going to be okay by the end of the day. Tomorrow 9 a.m. it will be finished.” The next day at 8:59 a.m., it was all done and so you have to be very trustful, but usually it works."

By now you are positively giggling. But hang on, there's more. How can our tendency to mix all aspects of life effortlessly, work or personal, and to involve everyone around us in them, sometimes even before they know it, not  have manifested itself amply to him. And then how could he have resisted such temptations that we Indians dole out by giving a say to almost everyone whom we see often, in the most significant of our decisions.

"For example, there was this one incident where two colleagues fell in love, and their families did not agree and it was very tense. We sent them to Germany on assignment to get them out of the tension zone, so they could rethink things and communicate with their families from a different perspective. In Germany, people would not even approach the company with things like this."

And finally a sort-of-compliment. Yes, we are competitive and fond of degrees.

"A couple of years ago I saw so many of my engineers do their MBA and they came back knowing more than me, so I became a little competitive. I did an executive MBA from INSEAD; in Germany I would have never done this. Ten years after you start working, you would never take time during your career to pursue any sort of studies, as it puts a lot of stress on your family, and your job."