As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, 4 months away from my life has really allowed me to look inside and regain perspective. It’s allowed me to subconsciously re-examine who I am and be critical about life in the past, present and the future. This isn’t to say I feel like a horrible or bad person or that I don’t enjoy my life at home. Its just that we all have personality flaws and sometimes it takes something significant to recognize them and have the courage to make change.
Last night, I continued to feel ill and had a late and stressful Friday. At 10:30pm, after my last call, I went down stairs to get dinner and be away from the PC. Arun noticed I was alone again and stopped at my table. I needed the space as Gulshan is in Delhi and Mike was tired. He wanted to apologize for the man’s behavior from the morning. I explained to Arun that I wanted the man to stay so I we could chat. Arun smiled and said, “you are truly a unique individual“. He went on with kind words saying that I seem to greet everyone and he finds that I am much friendlier than their typical guest. I appreciated his compliment and recognize this recent change in my behavior. Arun then mentioned a new guest sitting around the corner and wondered if he could sit the guest with me for company. I agreed, and with in a few minutes, I met Evan.
Evan, is a woman from the UK who works in Saudi Arabia. She’s here for a week with her Fiancé who is a pilot for SpiceJet “one of India’s top rated airlines”. We talked for an hour and a half about travel, culture and work. It was fascinating and led me to this post.
Last week, Mike wrote about an observation we’ve had and that he and I have been talking about for weeks. In India, they commonly use the phrase “5 minutes sir”. This is a euphemism that takes some time to recognize. When you hear this in India it literally means “As soon as I can”. I shared this with Evan and she chuckled. She mentioned that in Saudi, they have a similar cultural euphemism. The locals will respond to a time bound request with “Inshala”. She also explained that literally translated it means “God Willing” or “In Gods Time”. We laughed about this for a good 5 minutes and shared related stories.
I was very happy to hear that this isn’t unique to India. Finding these cultural Easter eggs, learning from them and finding ways to adapt has been a challenge. It is however, a challenge I was sent here to overcome and pass the wisdom of how, on to my peers in the US.
So today, Mike and I were fitted for custom suits as we’ll again be Key Note speakers next week. We’re flying to Delhi, to a subdivision called Gurgon. We’ll be there to deliver a message about the organization we work for to many of our new associates. I look forward to meeting them, learning their stories and sharing more of them with you.
Please keep me in your thoughts as I continue to fight through what appears to be a weak immune system and “Inshala” you’ll see another update next week before next weekend.
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( 2.9 / 17 )While I haven't been jet-setting around India, I feel like the pace of my life in the last 3 months has been extreme. I do long for the comfort of my home, the love of my family & the embrace of my wife. I'm not sure how I'll adjust to slowing down when I do finally regain these blessings. The last few months, aside from the varied and frequent illnesses, have helped me feel more alive than I have in years. This opportunity has brought me closer to my company and provided me time to think about who I am and what significant goals I would still like to accomplish in my life.
It's interesting how fluid, dynamic and unpredictable life is. I had no idea I would be India 4 months ago and I have no idea what awaits me when I return. A quote from French author François de la Rochefoucauld is often used in our company; The only thing constant in life is change.
Those who are flexible, will embrace change, adapt and find success. This applies to corporate life as well. Mike and I have passed this concept on during several speaking sessions recently through the quote, "It's not wrong, it's just different". This was a quote Mike picked up years ago in his own travels and I just can't stop using now.
This line of thought led me to think about India and the rich history of religion and philosophy that are derived from it. I'd like to share a few of my favorite quotes from this region as well as some pictures I've recently taken.
Mahatma Gandhi
Be the change you want to see in the world
- This is what drives me. Not only my children but all children and innocence. I truly believe we fail as a generation if we leave the world worse off than when we were handed the keys. I hope my life has value when measured by this standard and that what I do in it touches others.
Nobody can hurt me without my permission
- I've taught my daughter this concept for years. School can be tough on kids and wisdom like this has had a significant impact on her personality and how she's dealt with difficult situations.
Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it
- This is Hyderabad, this is me. I can't explain how or why but my choice to be here was a necessity. It may be insignificant in the diary & timeline of my life, but it will be important without question.
Mohandas Gandhi
A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble
- This reminds me of my companies CORE Values. We strive to be good at what we do and hold each other to Higher Standards.
Here are some nice pictures I've taken over the past week
A really neat picture outside of our rooms
Waterfall from 2 weeks ago
Mainland China Restaurant
- Mike & I love this place. I decided to snap a shot of our table. Boring maybe but man is it an authentic and beautiful restaurant.
I snapped this photo @ Charminar last weekend
- This stylish shot belongs on a Sunglasses Billboard :)
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( 2.8 / 85 )Well, i'm officially sick for the 4th time now. At first, for 3 days, I felt tired fighting off a mild head cold. This morning I woke up and it had advanced to the point that I need to call the doc.
I'm sure he'll get a kick out of my call.
I really appologize for not writing more frequently. I do have a lot to say but I'm working 10-12 hours a day on average and with how frequently I'm fighting off illness here, I just don't have the energy to compose my thoughts in a way I feel is valuable (I don't like brain dumps or rants).
For now, you can read about my adventures at Mike's site as he and I spent some time out last weekend.
http://mckennon-blog.spaces.live.com/
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( 2.7 / 46 )One of the many challenges on this assignment has been the lack of familiarity with anything in India. A nice break from the 4 month realities of my cultural submersion has been the US associates traveling over to perform knowledge transfer. I’ve met many people whose names I’ve known for years but never had the opportunity to meet in person. New friends like Jeff Richardson & David Johnson have made the trip a lot easier. These short 1-2 week trips were expected to become more frequent as the year and our assignments started to wind down. Unfortunately, we received news today that the international travel budget has been eliminated for the 4th quarter of 2007.
Today Mike and I planned to meet one of the mainframe engineers traveling for knowledge transfer and show him around the city. It’s a 3 day weekend as you know and we really need the break from our jobs and the reality of our situation. Again, unfortunately, it looks like this trip has been impacted by the budget so here I am again, in my room, feeling like my mind and body are rotting away for 2 more months. Free time is a valuable commodity when on this type of assignment and as you can tell, my frustration related to this decision is obvious. I think the isolation from all things familiar and the lack of ability to travel or experience things outside of Hyderabad is the hardest part. We had planned to travel around India, see various cities and aspects of the Indian culture but our work schedule and these trips have kept us square in Hyderabad. As we play host to our guests and deliver our own form of knowledge transfer, we at least get a break from the monotony and vicariously re-live our first weeks here.
I’m a bit down today about the decision and am wondering what the last 50 days of my journey will be like. Well, I guess, stay tuned and find out!
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( 2.8 / 16 )It's been a very busy week with about 13 US bank associates in town. I'm exhausted as my schedule here continues at a busy pace. Since I continue to be short on time, I thought I would post some links to sites in India I've come across that either provided information or entertainment.
http://www.fullhyd.com
- Hyderabad City Portal
http://www.yatra.com
- India Online Travel agent
http://www.airtel.in
- India's biggest mobile phone
http://www.indianrail.gov.in
- India's Train
http://tollywoodentertainment.blogspot. ... udent.html
- Local movie reviews
http://voicevibes.net
- Online stream radio from India
http://www.singhanias.in
- A local high-end clothing shop I've visited
Enjoy!
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