[dadu]

This was the last farewell mail to one of the teams I know, from a European who had come here to work for 3 months.

Read on:

Hello,

Unfortunately, it is time for me to say goodbye and it is very difficult for me.

I have spent 3 unforgettable months in your beautiful country. I have learnt a lot.

Now I know
- why there is a horn in the car. I was wondering why we had to pay for this stupid accessory as it is forbidden to use it in Europe. Now I know. It is just in case I would have to drive to India.

- the IST (Indian Std time) is not the same than the European one

• Back in 5 minutes means: I should be back in 30 minutes
• Could we have a 15 minutes break means: I will never come back
• I am on my way means : I am still at home having my breakfast, I still have 30 minutes driving. Should be there in an hour or two.

- an Indian Yes means No or may be and sometimes Yes

- the red light (on the road) is just for information

- what spicy food means

- what speaking fast means.

But it was great and I know I will miss India very soon and I will miss my Indian colleagues.

This was a great experience.

Reading this mail I couldnt stop laughing and also ashamed about how we indians are, professionally and in our basic behaviour.

But I was also amazed on how well she could judge people here.

[whatcanthisbe]

After working in the us for about 6 yrs and then coming back I had the same reaction this is very true especially for the work ethic of a lot of people

[ashthedivx]

Exactly the same stuff my korean bosses cribs about.... They are always thier juniors life for the said things...

Koreans are very much prominent about timing and placement of stuffs on-place..

[revved_up]

oh.. this was a good one, but also tells the sad part.
But India still remains one of its kind in the whole wide world, you can get everything here, from a Bentley to Tata Nano and wat not!!!

[zenx]

Without elaborating too much on this, its yet another copy of the same simplistic reduction of an entire civilization and its complexities into a few anecdotally supported "facts" viewed in isolation, and from the perspective of a very different world. Its a good read and a laugh, but I'd rather not read anything more serious into it, except the part that many miss it once it isn't around, and quite a few long to be back.

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by zenx

few anecdotally supported "facts" viewed in isolation, and from the perspective of a very different world.

They havent really seen the "new" India, which is improving certianly, and I have seen lot of my colleagues who visited India over a period of time commenting that we are changing rapidly, and it is for good.

I often times hear that, on the first visit while they say that traffic is chaotic, and no one seems to follow rules,
the same person on the second visit says
Not that people donot follow rules, and even in that chaos, there are some unwritten rules and understanding which works on the road, and you have to be here for a while to understand that.


Things are not as bad as they look.
Yes, there are areas of improvement, and we(as a country) are doing that.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by dadu

Reading this mail I couldnt stop laughing and also ashamed about how we indians are, professionally and in our basic behaviour.

But I was also amazed on how well she could judge people here.

Why should you be ashamed?

Every civilization has its quirks and traits - understanding those quirks and working around them takes more effort than merely observing those traits to put down in a travelogue or, as in this case, an email later.

There are many western idiosyncracies that we find laughable too. The tendency to have meetings for every little issue, the tendency to discuss an issue to death for months instead of getting down to actually carrying out the tasks.

Be aware of your strengths, because others will remind you of your weaknesses. Similarly, be aware of their weaknesses as they will only project their strengths to the outside world.

There is no need for being apologetic for what we are. Yes there are a lot of areas to improve on, but blind criticism of your own is not a solution.

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Why should you be ashamed?

Every civilization has its quirks and traits - understanding those quirks and working around them takes more effort than merely observing those traits to put down in a travelogue or, as in this case, an email later.

Perfect...
Very well said.

[Jaggu]

have a funny feeling that i have read the email somewhere else, before

[diabloo]

Intro into Greek Culture - My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

How is that different from Indian?
BTW, both have few thousand years of civilization.

[bharanidharang]

every country has it own way of living (be it driving or coming to office ) ...

we indians tend to stay long in office (long after office hours) to complete/support other countries (IT sector).... i have found very few people staying late abroad...

[dadu]

The reason being because there is no excuse for lack of commitment (as an eg.) and similar such things which are human traits which everyone including civilizations should improve on.

Apologetic, thats the point we dont want to be apologetic for something we know is wrong but still we dont want to/ haven't improved on them too.

Its like saying we are, what we are in some matters. But civilizations who have accepted these and corrected them have moved on and rest are still following.

Not that any particular civilization is perfect.

But I saw it, more as an Anecdote on us.

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Why should you be ashamed?

Every civilization has its quirks and traits - understanding those quirks and working around them takes more effort than merely observing those traits to put down in a travelogue or, as in this case, an email later.

There is no need for being apologetic for what we are. Yes there are a lot of areas to improve on, but blind criticism of your own is not a solution.

[rjstyles69]

Go abroad and try getting yourself a chai with smokes or even a veg puffs from a bakery. You will learn to appreciate India.

[linuxtechie]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Why should you be ashamed?

Every civilization has its quirks and traits - understanding those quirks and working around them takes more effort than merely observing those traits to put down in a travelogue or, as in this case, an email later.

There are many western idiosyncracies that we find laughable too. The tendency to have meetings for every little issue, the tendency to discuss an issue to death for months instead of getting down to actually carrying out the tasks.

Be aware of your strengths, because others will remind you of your weaknesses. Similarly, be aware of their weaknesses as they will only project their strengths to the outside world.

There is no need for being apologetic for what we are. Yes there are a lot of areas to improve on, but blind criticism of your own is not a solution.

You may not like the sound of it, but irrespective of what you said, there are very few souls out there who feel about it that way. Most of the souls have never had a chance to compare with other civilizations and hence really are not aware of wrongness with what is going on. Most of them, may never get a chance. You wont like the tone of it but Indians have a bad reputation. Have seen it at the airport/ cafe's / restaurants. The ground work needs to start at home, however must of the communities are not even aware if things are wrong. If you ain't aware then u can't be told to fix it.

~LT

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by dadu

The reason being because there is no excuse for lack of commitment (as an eg.) and similar such things which are human traits which everyone including civilizations should improve on.

I doubt if we are trying to say that we are perfect. Nor should we be saying that they are.

Evaluate yourself against your own yardsticks, not those set by another people.

When we evaluate them against our yardsticks, they come short on several grounds too. So the feeling is mutual.

It is very easy to go to another country and pick on their perceived weaknesses against your standards. It takes a lot more effort to understand why they are the way they are, to appreciate their strengths and tolerate or forgive their weaknesses.

What surprises me however is the fact that such a message is picked up at face value and distributed as an example to others of your own kind.