Working from India's Silicon Valley
I worked the last week of September in Hyderabad (HITEC City) and Bangalore (Silicon Valley of India). Both areas have very interesting cultures with the intersection of IT.
Living in India for 11 days, working with people, and then traveling and really talking and interacting with people, what I found was a lot different from what I’ve read or seen about India’s high tech economy, like in Tom Friedman’s visit to India or the TV show Outsourced.
After working from India for a week, the stereotypes covered in the American TV show Outsourced don’t adequately capture the complexity that is Indian culture. First off, the show's premise that the American boss keeps embarrassing himself because his lack of knowledge of Indian culture and customs isn't really a big deal when you're over there. People seeing that it's your first time in India are very forgiving if you don't fully understand the customs, know all the Indian holidays, and aren't an expert on Hinduism. All you need to do is show respect, and show that you're open to learning about their culture.
People, especially those working in the IT sector, are very knowledgeable about American culture, and aren't going to be offended if you make an Indian etiquette gaffe. Some Indians even attend classes at executive finishing schools to learn how to best interact with businessmen from around the world, learning things like how you interact with German vs. Japanese clients.
Indians working in the high tech industry are very knowledgeable of Western culture, so playing the "3rd world card" as many of the characters in the show Outsourced do, doesn't really exist with the Indians I encountered. Unfortunately, the US/UK export some of the not-so-great parts of our culture (like this Simon Cowell on X Factor billboard ad I saw in Hyderabad proclaiming "Simon is back!").
Yes, there are differences between Indian and American culture, especially in the villages, and I had some very interesting discussions on things like the caste system, arranged marriage, Hindu/Muslim relations with my tour guides and various people I spoke with in India. Although India is half a world away from the U.S., the differences between us aren't as great as the media often portrays them.
The most noticeable differences I found weren't in culture and interacting with people, but the amount of traffic getting to and from work, and an average of 4 brief power outages per day in Bangalore, which lasted until the backup generators started.
The most noticeable differences I found weren't in culture and interacting with people, but the amount of traffic getting to and from work, and an average of 4 brief power outages per day in Bangalore, which lasted until the backup generators started.
Deconstructing the "Tiger Economy"
Tom Friedman calling India a “Tiger economy” and soon to be the world's 3rd largest economy glosses over the fact that there’s a rising difference between the rich and extreme poor. I saw a lot of construction, mobile phone towers, and wealth in India, however, many in India still farm by hand using traditional methods, build their homes from clay bricks, and rely on animals for hauling and transportation.
A government minister wants the poverty line in India to be 32 Rupees per day for people living in the city, and 25 rupees for the countryside. That’s 65 cents U.S. per day for city and 50 cents U.S. for rural residents! That’s an unbelievably low amount. The Times of India says that if India adopted the UN’s international poverty line of people living off of $2 per day or less, half the country would be below the poverty line. The article says that Aruna Roy challenged the minsters to try to live off of 32 Rupees a day.
Amid this great poverty, there's a lot of construction and development in Hyderabad and Bangalore. People, especially the government ministers taking money from things like the 2G Scandal, are making large sums of money in India. It will be interesting to see how this great divide between the rich and poor plays out in India, and what the response will be from residents in the world's largest democracy to the rampant government corruption that many people I met talked openly about.
There is a lot of growth in India, however, I don't know if the term "tiger economy" is appropriate, perhaps a "lopsided economy," where there will be a lot of winners, but even more losers in the great push for development. Tom Friedman's exploration of India is framed at looking at how Indian call centers are taking American jobs. However, it would be interesting if Indians get angry at Americans now going to India to take Indian jobs. Read more about this trend at Western economies in deep freeze, expats look at India for jobs.
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