Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Cant think of any title

When I was about to leave for US, my boss told me that if you want to meet anyone in the US office you will have to set up a meeting with them, else they are not going to meet you. I find it very odd, and I also find it very time wasting effort of syncing up time zones and playing around with outlook calender and trying to set up meetings and then rescheduling and more rescheduling.

I keep wondering that are people in US so impolite that they would not want to chat up with someone who has come from so far off for brief fifteen minutes, what kind of work makes you so busy that you cannot even spare time for fifteen minutes, What kind of planning is that, which does not allow you to share a joke with someone. yups you can be in one of those days, but that does not happen everyday. Contrast this with the case when these people come to India, most of us are like take out time to make sure that he/she is comfortable, and I was wondering why would US folks not do the same. Did they not care?

I wonder why should we when we come from India should start behaving differently when we are in US office, why should we try to dress up, and talk like the way other people do here. I think it is ok if I dont know that freeways means roads where there are no signal, it is ok not to be able to distinguish between different coins. Not to know that coffee generally here means no milk inside, and that most people here call milk the cream, and brinjal the egg plant, and the closest thing to rotis is burritos, and that I have to press the button when I want to cross the road.

But since the time I have come here, things have been very different from what people in India told me. People are as eager to chat without calenders, people are keen to accompany you for lunch, and even sponser it for you most of the times, eager to spot you that difference between octopus, and chicken, (that day the guy told me that the stuff I eat was octopus, I did not believe him though), order the taxi for you or to drop you to the place you want to go.

The other day, I went to this mexican dance festival, it was over air amphitheater, and it was dance based on themes, and the guy was speaking everything in Spanish, but thankfully the lady next to me was Mexican (And I guess most mexicans speak Spanish) and I kept bugging her, and she kept translating each and everything from Spanish to English. I even sang her "La Bamba" for her, with which she was very impressed :).

I actually dont remember why I started writing this post, but I get irritated when people try to be what they are not and expect me to do the same, because I am what and how I am, and I cant be otherwise, else I will cease to be me.




6 comments:

Pavitra said...

Awesome diary ur keeping of your trip abroad! And your making us proud to be known as Indians...
You don't have to...people tell you many things...but u have to keep your heart open and create your own experiences and learn yourself. See they aren't very different from us are they...but they are in different ways which u gotts feel for yourself!
Have a gr8 time!! :)

Balachandra said...

Looks like you are having a nice time. Enjoy your stay. As for meeting with appointment only, it is with people whom you don't know very well and trying are to be formal. Mostly I just go and knock.

lohith said...

Since i have been here for past 2 months, i have seen ppl here co-operative.. i observe that they are very much like us.. one gets to see varierty of behaviours in India as well, ranging from arrogant ones to friendly, serious, mild... i can sense the same here ..

Priyanka said...

Nice

Ree said...

so they actually eat octopuses....euggghhhh!!!

broca's area said...

awesome man......u make us proud!!!.........real Dale Carnigie follower!!!!