We take decisions first and then we come up with reasons to convince others.
When I got enrolled to Cross cultural class many were asking me the relevance of doing it dropping HRM. ( I dropped HRM as it was clashing with CCM )
I gave an answer to all-“See, My research topic is Employee Burnout. In today’s context we need to know about the cultural difference before studying burnout”.
Either the one who questioned me might have got convinced or they might have thought there is no point in arguing with me that they didn’t bother to question any further.
After the CCM classes were on, I changed my research topic from Employee burnout to students stress (Aye, It’s not because of the stress I faced by preparing for CCM class. I promise! :P).
Though my well wishers stop questioning, It is my responsibility to keep convincing them that I am studying something worth, right? I came up with new thoughts-“ I am learning life from CCM”. I started talking philosophy after CCM sessions to reinforce the same.
Was it really true? May be, Yes.
During my so called philosophy sessions with my friends, below mentioned examples are the ones I used the most.
While reading Chinese negotiation, story of Cheng Han Cheng was mentioned to detail the importance of hierarchy in Chinese society. According to Chinese scholar Dau-lin Hsu, in 1865 Cheng’s wife had the insolence to beat her mother-in-law. This was regarded as such a heinous crime that, among other punishments, Cheng and his wife were both skinned alive, their flesh displayed at the gates of various cities and their bones burned to ashes. Neighbors and extended family members were also punished. This might be considered as an extreme cruel act by us, but this is considered normal by them. Is there any point in arguing with them that what they did is wrong? Even now women are not treated equal to men there. What if an Indian lady gets married to a Chinese and settles there. Here, we hold the right to express our views even to elders. If she does the same there, she might be perceived bad. Isn’t the same is happening with older generation and us? They were born and bought up in different culture, thus fails to understand us.
Another incident is from a guest lecture. He was associated with Japan for a longer time. According to him, Japanese talks in an indirect manner so that they won’t hurt anyone. As part of their pleasing manner, they express NO in 40 different ways. One way of telling NO is YES. Even a straight forward YES is having dual meaning. Funny world!
When asked to explain the experience of being in India, one guest lecture expressed a concern of moving around a retail shop for multiple times to pay the bill and getting goods delivered. Sounds OK for me, but that drives a foreigner go CRAZY.
Apart from lectures and materials provided, we had a collaborative learning with class participants sharing their rich experience about various cultures being from different parts of India and world.
In a consolidated manner, what I learned from CCM class is- “It is better to appreciate and accept the difference of another individual or culture in all its form than complaining about it. It makes us feel good and gave a feel of completeness”. (Again philosophy!)
Keeping all in mind, I didn’t see anyone quoting that Smile is interpreted differently in any place. I feel that is the best language anyone can learn to adopt irrespective of culture.
KEEP SMILING
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Deeru’s Investigation continues
One of my student kauth is doing his hotel business together with the studies...
He is bit poor in his communication.. But he will be communicating whatever he wants to through one or two words..
For example.. If he wants permission to go out, he will tell... Me, go out, permission.
Once he was not attending the class and was roaming around..
Dheeru came to know this and was very angry. How can students be so indisciplined under his guidance?
Kauth was asked to meet Dheeru.
Venue: Dheeru's room
Dheeru : What are u doing man, roaming without attending classes?
Kauth : Drinking Water, Sir
Dheeru : What you think about yourself? My foot..(Dheeru will be telling that very often whenever he gets angry)
Kauth didn't think twice. He replied : Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian, sir??
Dheeru couldn't answer to that. He smiled. Others might have felt Dheeru laughed for the ignorance of Kauth.
I wish to reframe it as- Dheeru smiled because he found his successor from this college.
He is bit poor in his communication.. But he will be communicating whatever he wants to through one or two words..
For example.. If he wants permission to go out, he will tell... Me, go out, permission.
Once he was not attending the class and was roaming around..
Dheeru came to know this and was very angry. How can students be so indisciplined under his guidance?
Kauth was asked to meet Dheeru.
Venue: Dheeru's room
Dheeru : What are u doing man, roaming without attending classes?
Kauth : Drinking Water, Sir
Dheeru : What you think about yourself? My foot..(Dheeru will be telling that very often whenever he gets angry)
Kauth didn't think twice. He replied : Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian, sir??
Dheeru couldn't answer to that. He smiled. Others might have felt Dheeru laughed for the ignorance of Kauth.
I wish to reframe it as- Dheeru smiled because he found his successor from this college.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Deeru’s Investigation
Day 1
A program was supposed to happen the very next day in our organization. A well known person named Balak was supposed to be there by next day, 2pm to address the gathering. My colleague is co-ordinating the event. By around 9 pm. she gets a call from Balak informing that He won’t be able to come the next day and if we can arrange the same in the very next week. She informed this to CEO and he asked her to inform the same to Deeru. Deeru got the details from her and said, he will do the necessary.
Day 2
Deeru made a call to my colleague by 10am asking-“What did Balak tell you yesterday?”
She replied-“ He wont be able to come today, He will try to make it in next week”.
Deeru asked her to come to his cabin.
When she entered, he could see student named Balak sitting with Deeru.
Deeru started investigation.
Deeru-“You told me Balak called you yesterday?”
My colleague- “Yes, he called me”
Balak(with a confused expression)-“When did I call you?”
My colleague- “You didn’t call me”
Deeru- “You only said, Balak called you”
Now she understood what was happening. She explained- “Sir, Yes, Balak did call me......."
Deeru: "But, he says....."
My Colleague: "Balak did tell me. .... But, it is our chief guest sir... Not this Balak"
Deeru started laughing to hide his ignorance.. And he regretted inside thinking- All his investigation plans went vain.
One word to Deeru.. Deeru, Best wishes… You can do even better with a little more effort…
A program was supposed to happen the very next day in our organization. A well known person named Balak was supposed to be there by next day, 2pm to address the gathering. My colleague is co-ordinating the event. By around 9 pm. she gets a call from Balak informing that He won’t be able to come the next day and if we can arrange the same in the very next week. She informed this to CEO and he asked her to inform the same to Deeru. Deeru got the details from her and said, he will do the necessary.
Day 2
Deeru made a call to my colleague by 10am asking-“What did Balak tell you yesterday?”
She replied-“ He wont be able to come today, He will try to make it in next week”.
Deeru asked her to come to his cabin.
When she entered, he could see student named Balak sitting with Deeru.
Deeru started investigation.
Deeru-“You told me Balak called you yesterday?”
My colleague- “Yes, he called me”
Balak(with a confused expression)-“When did I call you?”
My colleague- “You didn’t call me”
Deeru- “You only said, Balak called you”
Now she understood what was happening. She explained- “Sir, Yes, Balak did call me......."
Deeru: "But, he says....."
My Colleague: "Balak did tell me. .... But, it is our chief guest sir... Not this Balak"
Deeru started laughing to hide his ignorance.. And he regretted inside thinking- All his investigation plans went vain.
One word to Deeru.. Deeru, Best wishes… You can do even better with a little more effort…
A Brand New Hero-Deeru
Let me introduce a new character to you.. Deeru..
Have you heard this-
“Since light travels faster than sound,
some people may appear bright until you hear them SPEAK!!!”
This lines were just meant for Deeru. Before having an encounter with Deeru, I had gone through his profile.. My God!!! So many qualifications and work experience.. I was longing to meet him and to work under his guidance..
The very first meeting made me wonder if this is the same person whose profile I glanced through???
The way he talk, his pronunciation, everything had a local tone which I could associate to the ones we have heard in movies.. I kept ignoring my intuition..
Then happens an event in our organization.. For the prize distribution ceremony, Collector was invited. Collector before the ceremony wish to motivate the audience by his short speech. It was a gathering of hundreds of students. In between, to inspire the audience, he asked a question-“Do you know what is the distance between you and success?”. The whole audience went silent. I looked at the audience to check-Is there any brilliant one to answer this?
Suddenly, a hand got raised.. It was Deeru.. Then I felt- May be this is where the qualification and experience counts!!! Collector had a smile in his face. He asked Deeru to proceed..
Deeru with full confidence and in a childish voice shouted pointing his index finger up-
ONE FEET???
"WHAT???.. , !@#%^&*)()_+(Y&%$#@ " was the expression on Collector's face..
I burst to laughter…And many in the crowd were controlling theirs
And Collector controlling his laugh, answered-“ It’s the same distance between your thought and action”
The rest of the crowd understood the distance between them and success. Deeru still wonders "Why cant it be 1 feet?"
Have you heard this-
“Since light travels faster than sound,
some people may appear bright until you hear them SPEAK!!!”
This lines were just meant for Deeru. Before having an encounter with Deeru, I had gone through his profile.. My God!!! So many qualifications and work experience.. I was longing to meet him and to work under his guidance..
The very first meeting made me wonder if this is the same person whose profile I glanced through???
The way he talk, his pronunciation, everything had a local tone which I could associate to the ones we have heard in movies.. I kept ignoring my intuition..
Then happens an event in our organization.. For the prize distribution ceremony, Collector was invited. Collector before the ceremony wish to motivate the audience by his short speech. It was a gathering of hundreds of students. In between, to inspire the audience, he asked a question-“Do you know what is the distance between you and success?”. The whole audience went silent. I looked at the audience to check-Is there any brilliant one to answer this?
Suddenly, a hand got raised.. It was Deeru.. Then I felt- May be this is where the qualification and experience counts!!! Collector had a smile in his face. He asked Deeru to proceed..
Deeru with full confidence and in a childish voice shouted pointing his index finger up-
ONE FEET???
"WHAT???.. , !@#%^&*)()_+(Y&%$#@ " was the expression on Collector's face..
I burst to laughter…And many in the crowd were controlling theirs
And Collector controlling his laugh, answered-“ It’s the same distance between your thought and action”
The rest of the crowd understood the distance between them and success. Deeru still wonders "Why cant it be 1 feet?"
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Help me please..
A girl is free of tension once she gets married, And
A boy is free of tension till he gets married.
Have you ever heard this lines???
Guys, let me ask you- What you have thought about girls??? Guys think like- We are too happy marrying a stranger.. No way...
Atleast you guys wont lose your friends after marriage.. But we do.. You need not leave your house, But we have to.. You may try to change yourself to impress your wife, But we lose many things in life after marriage, and still we shouldn't express that, and should impress you...
And hence, I feel marriage will make a girl lose her identity.. And she should find new ways to make herself happy.. So I ask my mother to postpone my marriage as much as possible.. But society wont leave us.. They are behind us asking all sort of stupid questions.. As I dont want her to feel sad, I agreed.. But I shared my grief with everyone who are close to me...
And a worthy advice from someone I know well was( He is elder to me) "Go for love marriage".. Yeah, Even I thought about it.. My Mother is very open minded.. She said to me- "She's ok for love marriage, as far as the guy is from same caste and is of similar financial background as ours".. Is this the way we fall in love??? Leave it. They cant understand all these.. So that plan wont work..
Now I am in search of genuine reasons to postpone my marriage.. Am hearing rumours- The world will end by 2012.. Is it true??? If so, Why should I sacrifice my freedom and happiness in the last 2 years of my life by getting married... So my friends, what can you do for me is - send me those details supporting this rumour.. So I can make my statement more clear to my mother with evidence..
Please...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Life in Bangalore
When we were in campus, there were always hot discussions on specific topics. One day, the topic was- Life in Bangalore. We’ve never had a good opinion about that. One of my close friend,Mummu with the eagerness to contribute more points to our discussion said “I will not marry a man, who has ever stepped foot in Bangalore”. On hearing that, I felt- “Yeah, if she can take such a strong decision, why cant I?” I also took a decision- Never to visit Bangalore.
It's said na- “Man proposes, God disposes.” That happened in my case. When I took the decision not to visit Bangalore again, God wanted me to be in Bangalore. That came in the form of a campus placement. In the last week of our college days, I got an offer from a company based in Bangalore.
I shifted with my friends to Bangalore and I start living here. Although I had a fear inside me during the initial days, slowly I realized that- “Even here, life is just like the one we had over there in campus.”
One day, while returning to my PG, I was going through my mobile pics. When I saw Mummus photo, I recalled the talk we had in our college and the decision I took that day. . I smiled to myself.
Suddenly a question flashed through my mind...
Will boys ever take any decision like “We will not marry a girl who is in Bangalore!”?!
It's said na- “Man proposes, God disposes.” That happened in my case. When I took the decision not to visit Bangalore again, God wanted me to be in Bangalore. That came in the form of a campus placement. In the last week of our college days, I got an offer from a company based in Bangalore.
I shifted with my friends to Bangalore and I start living here. Although I had a fear inside me during the initial days, slowly I realized that- “Even here, life is just like the one we had over there in campus.”
One day, while returning to my PG, I was going through my mobile pics. When I saw Mummus photo, I recalled the talk we had in our college and the decision I took that day. . I smiled to myself.
Suddenly a question flashed through my mind...
Will boys ever take any decision like “We will not marry a girl who is in Bangalore!”?!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Tutu and exams
Yes.. Finally I am back with another exam story- Tutu and exams..
It was Business Environment Exam for us after a day..
This time Tutu decided not to go for group study..
She woke up early in the morning and sat with the syllabus…
She went through the textbook and realized most of the topics were not there in the text..
She blamed the Professor and the college authority for giving us such a bad book..
She thought of getting Putu’s Assistance and went to her room..
Tutu asked Putu- “ Presently, Which Five year plan is going on and what are the amendments in it?”
Putu was perplexed.. She answered- “ What?? Five year plan?? What amendment??”
Tutu felt pity for Putu.. And replied- “ You haven’t gone through the syllabus till now”
With disappointment and anger, Tutu banged the door and went..
Putu couldn’t understand what had happened to Tutu..
Later when Putu went to take water, She peeped into Tutu’s room.. Tutu was happy to see Putu as she thought she can clarify her doubts with her..
She asked- “ Can you explain me Doha agreement?”
Putu couldn’t answer that.. And asked back- “Ah, Doha agreement?? It’s not in our syllabus”
Tutu got angry to the core and bounced back- “You are not familiar with the syllabus.. Hah.. Better I will seek the help of internet” And again shut the door with a loud noise..
The day went with so many unanswered queries..
The very next day morning, Putu and Tutu went to the foodcourt as usual. Before taking food, As usual Tutu raised her eyebrows and asked the question-“What are the implications of external affairs ministry?”.. This time Putu got really shocked.. And she felt something is wrong somewhere.. She asked Tutu for the syllabus.. Tutu proudly presented the syllabus to Putu..
And said-“ Here it is.. Atleast now you have a glance”
Putu went through the syllabus.. All the topics sounded alien to her.. And she took her syllabus out..
Tutu exclaimed- Which syllabus is this!!!
Putu- “ This is the one that sir gave us”
Tutu- “ Then, which is this syllabus?”
Putu realized that Tutu was referring to the age-old syllabus of MBA(1993)..
And shared this shocking news with Tutu..
They started comparing the syllabus for Tutu’s comfort..
And realized that only one unit was in common between the two syllabus..
Tutu started laughing.. And it ended only after entering the exam hall..
God Knows What she wrote for that university exams..
But when results came, Tutu had good marks…
Thank You Bharathiar University…
P.S.. Once again, thank you Putu for sharing your moments with us!
It was Business Environment Exam for us after a day..
This time Tutu decided not to go for group study..
She woke up early in the morning and sat with the syllabus…
She went through the textbook and realized most of the topics were not there in the text..
She blamed the Professor and the college authority for giving us such a bad book..
She thought of getting Putu’s Assistance and went to her room..
Tutu asked Putu- “ Presently, Which Five year plan is going on and what are the amendments in it?”
Putu was perplexed.. She answered- “ What?? Five year plan?? What amendment??”
Tutu felt pity for Putu.. And replied- “ You haven’t gone through the syllabus till now”
With disappointment and anger, Tutu banged the door and went..
Putu couldn’t understand what had happened to Tutu..
Later when Putu went to take water, She peeped into Tutu’s room.. Tutu was happy to see Putu as she thought she can clarify her doubts with her..
She asked- “ Can you explain me Doha agreement?”
Putu couldn’t answer that.. And asked back- “Ah, Doha agreement?? It’s not in our syllabus”
Tutu got angry to the core and bounced back- “You are not familiar with the syllabus.. Hah.. Better I will seek the help of internet” And again shut the door with a loud noise..
The day went with so many unanswered queries..
The very next day morning, Putu and Tutu went to the foodcourt as usual. Before taking food, As usual Tutu raised her eyebrows and asked the question-“What are the implications of external affairs ministry?”.. This time Putu got really shocked.. And she felt something is wrong somewhere.. She asked Tutu for the syllabus.. Tutu proudly presented the syllabus to Putu..
And said-“ Here it is.. Atleast now you have a glance”
Putu went through the syllabus.. All the topics sounded alien to her.. And she took her syllabus out..
Tutu exclaimed- Which syllabus is this!!!
Putu- “ This is the one that sir gave us”
Tutu- “ Then, which is this syllabus?”
Putu realized that Tutu was referring to the age-old syllabus of MBA(1993)..
And shared this shocking news with Tutu..
They started comparing the syllabus for Tutu’s comfort..
And realized that only one unit was in common between the two syllabus..
Tutu started laughing.. And it ended only after entering the exam hall..
God Knows What she wrote for that university exams..
But when results came, Tutu had good marks…
Thank You Bharathiar University…
P.S.. Once again, thank you Putu for sharing your moments with us!
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