East Meets West: A Canadian in India

By Zoya Zayler

It was 2am on Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 when I first set foot on Indian soil. I was immediately confronted with dozens of Indians yelling at me chaotically with offers for guided tours, taxis, and camel rides. The aroma of Indian spices was overpowering, and the absence of personal space was apparent. “Welcome to India, land of the holy cow,” yelled a woman dressed in a gorgeous purple sari. “I will tell you your future for 200 rupees only! 100% accurate! I guarantee”. I proceeded to walk to the taxi stand. “Ok 100 rupees! 50 rupees! Ok only for you, 30!” I believe 10 rupees was the last offer I heard as I boarded the taxi that took me from Mumbai to Pune, a city I would call my home for the following year.

India had always excited me, despite lacking any first-hand experience with the country or the culture. Perhaps that’s precisely why it excited me. I found it mysterious, intriguing, and unique in ways that peaked my curiosity. This personal interest combined with India’s increasing global importance made my decision to accept a job offer in Pune an easy one. What’s a better way to learn about the country and its business practices than to work in the Human Resources department of an Indian IT services firm?

On my first day on the job I realized I was the only foreigner in the entire company. This was apparent by the incessant stares, whispers, and questions from my new coworkers. None of these actions were malign in any way; people were simply curious and genuinely unaccustomed to interacting with foreigners, especially ones who looked like me with pale skin and blonde hair. I was also part of the 20% of the company that was female, which is fairly typical in the IT industry. Very quickly, however, I became just another coworker and found it relatively easy to adjust to the local business culture, despite numerous idiosyncrasies that characterized the Indian work setting. My first experience that clearly exemplified a distinct difference occurred on my second day at the office, when I was invited to attend a meeting at 2pm in room 224. At 1:55pm I arrived in the meeting room, and discovered I was the first one there. Great, I thought, I will make a good impression by being on time and eager to discuss the topic at hand. 5 minutes went by, and still no one arrived. I got up to check the room number on the door, and indeed I was in room 224. I checked the invitation, and it was in fact for 2pm in room 224. Where was the rest of the team? I waited for a few more minutes, and then my heart began to race. Had I missed an announcement? Or worse, was this some sort of cruel joke my new coworkers were playing on me? Being in a completely new environment where you’re not yet sure how to read people’s motives lends itself to all sorts of paranoid thoughts, as I discovered. As I sat in the room and conjured up numerous explanations for the situation that was taking place, one of my coworkers walked in. It was 2:15pm. “Oh wow, you’re here already,” he said in a pleasantly surprised tone. “Wasn’t the meeting for 2pm?” I responded. “Yes,” he said, as he checked his watch, “but it’s only 2:15pm”. As I very quickly learned, Indians do not have the same conception of time as many other cultures, and scheduling a meeting for 2pm means most participants will likely be there by 2:30pm. Meetings also don’t end on time, undoubtedly making those in attendance late for their next meetings and therefore perpetuating the cycle. While I initially found this practice somewhat irksome, I realized it’s ingrained in the culture and soon found myself strolling in to meetings 20 minutes or so after the scheduled start time. While waiting for others to join, coworkers generally catch up on personal matters, updating each other on births in the family, vacation plans, or the purchase of a new home. This brings up another very important aspect of Indian business culture. Relationships among colleagues generally transcend the office, with coworkers often engaging in common social activities and attending each other’s family events. Socializing in the office is largely accepted, which is apparent when one walks around and sees numerous people chatting at each other’s desks or enjoying coffee breaks. People are largely quite serious about accomplishing their tasks, however, and will stay until the wee hours of the evening to ensure their work is complete. This is usually preferred to being productive the entire day and missing out on the social aspect of the work environment, even if doing so would allow them to leave at 5pm.

While there are numerous other interesting aspects of the Indian business climate, one particular nuance that’s worth highlighting has to do with the way in which information is communicated. While North American culture is more “low-context”, meaning that explicit verbal statements carry a given message, Indian culture is more “high-context”, meaning that the message is understood by reading between the lines and is determined by the nature of the situation, rather than by what is explicitly stated. My first encounter with this difference was when I asked an analyst to complete a report for me. “Do you think this can be done within 5 days?” I asked him. “Of course,” he responded, “No problem.” When 5 days went by and I still hadn’t received the report, I asked the analyst about the progress, to which he responded, “Almost done”. Another 2 days later I asked him again about the progress, at which point he said, “How do you expect me complete this when I have another major project I’m working on right now? I’m too busy and I can’t work 24 hours a day!” “But couldn’t you tell me this from the beginning?” I asked him, puzzled. “I didn’t want to disappoint you,” he responded. As I discovered then and there, Indians truly subscribe to the age-old proverb that “it’s better to say something nice than something truthful”. Hence, it becomes extremely important to develop the ability to discern when a “yes” truly means “yes”, as opposed to a “maybe” or a “no”.