Today and yesterday the people around us have been celebrating Ayudha Puja.  For us, it looked like this:

People decorate their cars and tools, smear them with sandal wood paste and rejoice.

Also, there were lots upon lots of firecrackers going off on the main street, which alerted us (hanging out in the hammocks) to check out the convoy passing our home street a block away. So out we went to see what was going on and saw these trucks:

There were people shouting slogans on the trucks, and apparently they were happy to see us there  judging by the hollering, waving of hands and smiling faces.   There was one guy who looked like he’s in charge, at least he was ushering the dancers and drummers on if they tried to stay to impress the gawking foreigners as you can see from this video. And here’s the guy with my sweetie:

In other news, we seem to have a resident falcon, who tends to perch on the palm trees on our home street. Its screech is beginning to sound familiar, as it’s telling off the rooks trying to get its food. (I’m not sure if it’s the same falcon all the time, they all look alike and there are lots of them, but I like to think it’s the same individual.) I will do my best to get some footage of the big bird.

Tags: culture, holiday, natural beauty, people in india, religion

I had an interesting discussion with the Team Leader on Thursday.  It was supposed to be a review of what has been done in the past three months (has it already been 12 weeks?), but it turned out to be something completely different.

First of all, there wasn’t much to review. All the hussle in the beginning of the assignment plus a six-week sick leave left me with about two weeks to work on something useful to do, which obviously gives me almost zero performance. Tough luck, shit happens and so on. Being young and naive, I of course assumed that project management knows what is happening and has alreay had a couple of weeks to react to this situation with sick leaves and all.

Well, no.

The TL, in all his wisdom, had decided not to inform our project manager about my six weeks of absence. He thought it made him look bad if he had to bring such negative news to anyone, so instead he decided to try to pressure me to take corrective actions. Mistake number one.

I’ve never worked with anyone so passive-aggressive in my life, and this person is no less than my manager. He “tabled” (his way of saying “bring up”) my absences, my performance figures, my future plans (wedding in Finland, honeymoon trip) and tried to make me feel guilty for being unable to work. He never said it directly, but he wanted me to cancel my honeymoon plans in order to catch up with things. Mistake number two.

It’s hard to express the body language and tone of voice he used, but these should give an idea:

“I want you to see where I’m coming from, and you have been absent a lot. Now this honeymoon leave…” (silently waits for an answer)

and

“I went on a honeymoon on the second anniversary so I knew my wife better when it happened.”

Needless to say, I wasn’t going to budge. Had he taken proper action (informed the project manager, searched for substitutes and so on) and given me a direct proposal for a schedule, I could have considered giving in a bit. Right now he is shooting himself in the leg by trying to make me guilty and pressuring me without actually saying it. He is also damaging the whole company by giving false information about the situation, but that’s nothing I should care about.

Immediately after the meeting I called up the project manager and gave him an update on what the situation really is. He thought it was best to find someone else to do the job (since I now lack some required knowledge) and promised to find a solution. I clearly have to call him more often to keep things running.

All in all: the TL fucked up, tried to make me feel guilty about being ill and passive-aggressively pressurised me to save his ass. Which I didn’t and won’t do.

On the other hand, we have a week-long reservation to Komandoo.

Tags: colleagues from India, culture, holiday, oh bugger, people in india, practical stuff, time, ways of working, what is different, why I wanted a change, work

Being out of office has left me with plenty of time to do stuff, and it has gotten to the point where I am having problems with too much time to spare. The whole thing is even worse considering that reading and long sessions on the computer are off the menu, leaving me few options that my eyes can handle. That’s why I’ve been playing Rock Band, building Legos, listening to podcasts and riding the bike a lot. An eye patch allows me to work on the computer for some time, but it’s still a strain and I would rather not do it a lot. Unfortunately the lack of entertainment keeps me coming back to the desk to read some blogs or whatever.

I like to say that there are no boring environments, only boring people, but this time it’s shooting back at me.

Or maybe it’s just lack of company and good conversation that makes me feel this way.  No matter how I try to be open, positive and all that, I just don’t find myself on the same wavelength with the locals. I especially have to supress my twisted sense of humour to avoid trouble – people have gotten fired and mobbed for a lot less than what I usually like to say and do in the free world.

And I’m not even going to start about sarcasm, a form of art all India seems to be oblivious about.

Having to watch my language and behaviour this much all the time has also given me a reason to stay at home more than before. Here I can still be fully me, but without my friends it feels… futile.

Like, what’s the point of being a clown in an empty circus tent?

Tags: culture, friends and family, oh bugger, people in india, religion, time, what is different

I got a firm reminder of being in India some hours ago at work.

One of my local colleagues had a problem he couldn’t solve by himself, so he came to me for help. I didn’t know the answer either, so he told me that he knows a technical expert who knows about these things. The expert works in Oulu, so the Indian wants to know if he can send e-mail directly or if he has to go through some process with it. Mind you, my colleague and the expert he’s talking about are on the same level in Corporation hierarchy, with similar tasks and responsibilities.

Finally the simple e-mail gets sent (with me in CC, though I don’t have anything to do with this) and a reply is received some moments later. Our primary contact doesn’t know the answer, but he gives us the names of people who do. And again the Indian dude comes to me, asking if he should e-mail these persons to ask the same question. I again try to assure him that he doesn’t have to get my permission to do his job, and he can take responsibility by sending out the e-mail without asking anyone. So why do the locals think a foreigner will EAT YOUR FUCKING HEAD every time he is bothered with questions?

Yes, yes, thousands of years in hierarchical culture and blahblahblah. But these guys aren’t stupid or anything. They can learn and communicate effectively when they want to, but something in the back of their heads still makes them afraid of us foreigners. The exact same thing happens when they communicate with their superiors, and maybe for some reason they consider every Finn and German as one. Or maybe we are scary just because they don’t know who we are? The bottom line is that I don’t know what causes this behaviour, I just know it slows down our work.

I’m trying to figure out an incentive to my teammates so that they could communicate more easily, without the unnecessary burden of asking for permissions every time they need to contact someone. Apart from saving their efforts, it would leave me and their managers more time to concentrate on something relev- no, wait: that could leave one level of managers completely useless. What would happen to them?

Tags: colleagues from India, culture, time, ways of working, what is different, work

Last night I came back to the hotel after going bowling and, despite the brilliant brunch at Olive Beach, hungry like a wolf. So I paid a personal visit to the reception and told them to order a pizza for me. And so they did.

Guess how long it took for a small topped bread to arrive?

Three bloody hours, but it was still warm.

Tags: culture, food, time, what is different

Today I found out one of the difficult things in countries such as India, namely coping with the huge gaps in income. As a Finnish professional with enhanced salary and all the benefits I’m in the better end of the scale, but will also interact with people from all the steps of the economic ladder below me. This is not a problem as long as we are talking about random rikshaw drivers or beggars, but already I find myself a bit attached to the driver we’ve had for two days. He is polite, does his job well and clearly does his best to make our lives easier. All of these are qualities I respect in a person regardless of their occupation or social status.

I am not that used to keeping distance from people I find respectable, so I find it a bit hard interacting on a daily basis with someone whose financial problems I could easily solve for months by skipping a brunch or two. I have to wrap my head around the fact that his life is separate from mine and our relationship is purely professional, but I still have some thinking to do with that. Still it’s a must if I’m going to cope in this promised land of drivers, maids, personal chefs, guards, MacD doormen and toilet assistants (luckily they only hand you the paper towel after handwash). If I’m going to keep my place, I’ll always have to remember to keep the distance.

And it’s a lot harder than it sounds.

Tags: culture, driving, money, people in india, previsit, what is different, work

I just keep marvelling at the trees that are everywhere. They’re absolutely huge, and what’s best, they haven’t been cut down to make room for the city to expand. And boy does the city expand. There are building sites everywhere, noises of banging and building are all around. The Finnish officials would have a heart attack if they’d see the working conditions, but hey, this is India.

One of the things that’s sort of difficult to grasp for a Finnish woman is that if you are with a male companion (husband, boyfriend, whatever), chances are you won’t be addressed directly especially by native men. They will ask everything from the guy in your company, and sometimes even ignore if you speak. Needless to say, this can feel very, very annoying indeed.

Of course there’s the language barrier even with people who speak fairly good English. Luckily it’s not rude to ask for clarifications if you don’t get something for the first or even the second time.

It’s scorching hot, +35 in the shade, and we’re about to hit the pool. Brilliant!

Tags: culture, people in india, previsit, ways of working, what is different

The previsit is now confirmed and I have the tickets in my pocket. My contact person in Bangalore is hunting houses according to my requirements (4+ bedrooms, fully furnished, peaceful location) and we’ll get to choose from a number of alternatives when we’re there. There will also be some cultural training during the visit, butI doubt if it has much to offer me after my last visit. What I’m expecting the most is information on driver’s licenses and bikes in India, but we’ll see what they have to offer.

It’s a pity that Bullet Classic is not available in India.

Tags: accommodation, culture, motorbikes, previsit, travel

It has been more than a week since the salary offer should have been on my table already. Actually it should already be in a contract paper, but I heard some disturbing news through the grapevine.

Take a typical Indian IT worker with a couple of years of experience and mark his/her salary with x. Then take the Finnish equivalent of the Indian worker, fly him to India and pay his salary with all the allowances. Remember that the Finnish guy has to support his apartment back in Finland and his wife is unemployed for the whole time. Now add all these expenses together and have a guess: can this possibly cost more than x?

Yes, the answer is just as obvious as you think it is, but apparently not for everyone. Seems like the salary offer has taken the whole Bangalore department by surprise and with their pants down. There are half a dozen Finnish expats in the building already, all the relevant people know the ballpark of my current salary, but still they somehow manage to dodge all possibilities to have even a faintest idea of the expenses. How the hell do they do that?

While the Indians run in circles with their asses on fire, I sit here like a duck and just wait for it. The last official information I have received is that the salary offer has been sent for review to the Team Leader & co. on 5th of March, and I was told it will be handled “ASAP”. Their “ASAP” is now two days short of two whole weeks, during which I have been asking for information several times, but received nothing but excuses and vague promises. Open communication my clenched buttocks.

And as if this wasn’t all: I’m almost certain that when I do receive an offer, it will be a heavily stripped one with reduced salary and benefits. Even though they surely know I can’t be ripped off in this, I’ll be damned if they don’t try to do that. It’s not their own money, it doesn’t take anything away from them, but still they have to try and strip off every luxury I am entitled to. The vast majority of Indians don’t seem to have any understanding about the diversity outside their own confined space, let alone the requirements a typical European has for his living. Somehow it just doesn’t compute for most of them that someone could want something different from their desires.

So here I am, with nothing in my hands, but even that isn’t the end of this story. I know that my deal is crucial for our business, so I have no concerns about the trip being cancelled. What drives me nuts right now is that our department in Finland is undergoing a re-organisation and there are tons of interesting positions available for internal applicants. I would immediately apply to several ones if the India situation wasn’t on. Even now I’m tempted to apply and forget the whole expat thing since it all seems to be so difficult for the Indians.  On the other hand, here’s my fifteen minutes in the spotlight to help them do a decent job in the future. Right now it just seems like teaching an elephant to scale walls.

Tags: colleagues from India, culture, oh bugger, people in india, planning, practical stuff, ways of working, work