June 16, 2006
How is it already mid-June? It is hard to believe that tomorrow (Saturday) marks one month from the day we arrived in India. We are already one-seventh through our journey.
I had expected that coming to India would force us to slow down our pace of life, and I was rather looking forward to that. As it turns out, we are both working with very fast-paced organizations and projects, so we are working very hard and are as busy as we have ever been.
I have a hypothesis that anyone who can effectively run an organization across all of India is likely to successfully transition to running a global organization. There is such a diversity across India's states in terms of culture, languages, customs, etc. To even run a business across a couple of states requires being able to effectively both determine the strategy for catering to customers and manage the logistics of working with employees who speak very different languages with different alphabets, have very different cultures and customs, etc. Doing business in India's large cities requires the ability to move relatively quickly, yet any aspects of a business requiring interaction with rural areas require the patience to conduct business in an underdeveloped infrastructure. India feels, in some ways, like a microcosm of the world.
Today (Friday) I am headed to Mumbai, where I will meet Rock (who is already there for data collection). I am excited to be exposed to another major Indian city.
I would like to visit the rural areas at some point too. I feel rather sheltered from the poverty in the cities. If you are not living in poverty, you can very easily live your life quite sheltered from the extent of its existence. I see some of it, but I also see wealth. Occasionally when I run across a beggar or see people living in more extreme poverty, I feel detached, and that disturbs me. It is a weird feeling. I am trying to figure out ways to connect more with the less educated population. It is hard because of the language barrier. Rock and I are hoping to find some service opportunities in Chennai where we can spend a couple of hours on weekends getting to know people. Right now I am providing pro-bono service, but I feel far removed from the end beneficiaries (rural poor women).
How is it already mid-June? It is hard to believe that tomorrow (Saturday) marks one month from the day we arrived in India. We are already one-seventh through our journey.
I had expected that coming to India would force us to slow down our pace of life, and I was rather looking forward to that. As it turns out, we are both working with very fast-paced organizations and projects, so we are working very hard and are as busy as we have ever been.
I have a hypothesis that anyone who can effectively run an organization across all of India is likely to successfully transition to running a global organization. There is such a diversity across India's states in terms of culture, languages, customs, etc. To even run a business across a couple of states requires being able to effectively both determine the strategy for catering to customers and manage the logistics of working with employees who speak very different languages with different alphabets, have very different cultures and customs, etc. Doing business in India's large cities requires the ability to move relatively quickly, yet any aspects of a business requiring interaction with rural areas require the patience to conduct business in an underdeveloped infrastructure. India feels, in some ways, like a microcosm of the world.
Today (Friday) I am headed to Mumbai, where I will meet Rock (who is already there for data collection). I am excited to be exposed to another major Indian city.
I would like to visit the rural areas at some point too. I feel rather sheltered from the poverty in the cities. If you are not living in poverty, you can very easily live your life quite sheltered from the extent of its existence. I see some of it, but I also see wealth. Occasionally when I run across a beggar or see people living in more extreme poverty, I feel detached, and that disturbs me. It is a weird feeling. I am trying to figure out ways to connect more with the less educated population. It is hard because of the language barrier. Rock and I are hoping to find some service opportunities in Chennai where we can spend a couple of hours on weekends getting to know people. Right now I am providing pro-bono service, but I feel far removed from the end beneficiaries (rural poor women).
posted by Jen at 4:12 AM
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