Just wrote an email to my sister-in-law her father-in-law and thought i might as well share it with the rest of the world. I had been discussing the fact that in India it is very common to arrange a marriage with a lot of influence by the parents. Actually, the parents arrange it... Wouldn't go to well in the Dutch/Western context. He could not believe ha as a father could tell his sons who to marry and who not, as it is so foreign.
Regardless what is better or right ways or wrong ways (I lean towards parents having more influence by the way) it has been an eye opener to discover that arranging a mariage could easily be normal for MOST marriages in the world today. The population in India is about 2 times larger than Europe and the USA combined :).
For an office it's quite a shock when a staff persons wedding is being arranged as she might move within a few months to the place where her husband lives. A part of HR to take into consideration when hiring staff!
We are always making fun on how we would get our daugther and son marriaged in India by writing the add in the newspaper. It could go like this in a few years from now where Nicole and I would write the add for Justin, our son:
Business and Social Entrepreneur from Pune looking for a match for his VERY handsome son, CEO of an international design company, MBA Harvard. Girl has to be 22 years + and 5'5" tall and equally well educated. No divorcees apply; vegetarian oriented. Caste no bar. Prospects kindly mail to obviouslythispartisnotserious@geemail.com (Justin our son is just 3 years old...)
For more information: http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/
(The Most Trusted Matrimonial Sites Over 20 Million Brides & Grooms)
We once joked at a birthday party of a friend of ours who has a daugther, not yet married. We joked right there that Theo, one of our Dutch singles would be a perfect match for his daughter... well, that was not really received as a joke at all... It took some cultural management from our wise friend Kshitij to explain that marriage was not an option and it was just a joke...
How easy mistakes are made in different cultures, ahum, thinking we are funny... Contextualization got a whole new meaning!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
No Problem
If there are two words spoken I hear every day it are these "No Problem". It's almost a denial of the fact that a lot of things change for the better if you just say those two magic words. The reality does not change though.
When my daughter almost gets run over by scooter on the way from home from tennis practice it is "no problem".
When a supplier delivers materials which were not ordered it is "no problem, please pay now".
When the local city planners don't do what they promise it is not a problem.
I am learning these days that what "no problem" really means is that the person stating it is saying "it is not MY problem".
The fact that it is somebody else's problem not always occurs in the mind of the people we have to work with. Guess that's why one needs a lot of patience do get things going here. I am about to get out of a Riksjaw now and let's see if we get cheated this time. Often bargaining is a game... It is a problem and I'll have to deal with it!
CGCE P LTD
Managing Director
(M) +919890100298
(O) +912064781565
www.cgcengineering.com | "exporting tons of trust"
Sent from my BlackBerry® on Airtel from India
When my daughter almost gets run over by scooter on the way from home from tennis practice it is "no problem".
When a supplier delivers materials which were not ordered it is "no problem, please pay now".
When the local city planners don't do what they promise it is not a problem.
I am learning these days that what "no problem" really means is that the person stating it is saying "it is not MY problem".
The fact that it is somebody else's problem not always occurs in the mind of the people we have to work with. Guess that's why one needs a lot of patience do get things going here. I am about to get out of a Riksjaw now and let's see if we get cheated this time. Often bargaining is a game... It is a problem and I'll have to deal with it!
CGCE P LTD
Managing Director
(M) +919890100298
(O) +912064781565
www.cgcengineering.com | "exporting tons of trust"
Sent from my BlackBerry® on Airtel from India
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Pune blast
Pune times...
8 confirmed dead, 33 injured in blast at Pune bakery - Pune - City - ...
At least eight people have been confirmed dead and 33 injured in a blast at the German Bakery in Pune's Koregaon Park, an area frequented by foreigners. The police suspect it to be bomb blast.
We are doing fine and so are the interns and staff.
Please keep the people of Pune in your prayers.
CGCE P LTD
Managing Director
(M) +919890100298
(O) +912064781565
www.cgcengineering.com | "exporting tons of trust"
Sent from my BlackBerry® on Airtel from India
8 confirmed dead, 33 injured in blast at Pune bakery - Pune - City - ...
At least eight people have been confirmed dead and 33 injured in a blast at the German Bakery in Pune's Koregaon Park, an area frequented by foreigners. The police suspect it to be bomb blast.
We are doing fine and so are the interns and staff.
Please keep the people of Pune in your prayers.
CGCE P LTD
Managing Director
(M) +919890100298
(O) +912064781565
www.cgcengineering.com | "exporting tons of trust"
Sent from my BlackBerry® on Airtel from India
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Member of Parliament at the New Factory
"The way of the future"... was the title of the presentation on business in India 2010. The reason for making this presentation... well....we had the piviledge of receiving a delegation from the Netherlands Parliament at our new manufacturing location in Pune.
The purpose of their visit was to broaden the horizon in the area of outsourcing and corporate social responsibility. After traditional flowers at the entrance we had a great time of interaction and getting to know eachother. To talk about 7 years of sweating it out in the Indian environment comes pretty easy and we all hope that the experience will help others in their journey as well.
Mw. A. Timmer (PvdA, delegatievoorzitter), Dhr. J. ten Hoopen (CDA). Mw. E. Blanksma-van den Heuvel (CDA), Mw. P. Linhard (PvdA), Mw. P. Smeets (PvdA), Mw. C. Ortega-Martijn (CU), Dhr. B. van der Ham (D66), Mr. Bob Hiensch (Ambassador), Mrs. Marijke van Drunen-Littel (Consulate General).
Also friends from our new Dutch venture were present (Henk Bakker, Ron Verleun, Patrick de Groot, Gertjan van Ravenswaaij) as well as our Indian Super Hero,who makes India so much more livable....
The purpose of their visit was to broaden the horizon in the area of outsourcing and corporate social responsibility. After traditional flowers at the entrance we had a great time of interaction and getting to know eachother. To talk about 7 years of sweating it out in the Indian environment comes pretty easy and we all hope that the experience will help others in their journey as well.
Obviously we were all impressed and honoured when people, who often earned their stripes in the economic realm already, are proud of what we have been doing in India so far. Most of them understood the difficulties of living and doing business internationally. Quite an encouragment to be honest with you!
The time and discipline it takes to overcome the hurdles to get this far was more than we had ever expected as well... but the more we press in and develop the strategy t bring a bit more discipline the our environment to more opportunitities arise to do even more! We plan the official opening in a few months from now as the factory is getting ready.
The following delegates were present from the Netherlands Parliament (2e kamer):
Also friends from our new Dutch venture were present (Henk Bakker, Ron Verleun, Patrick de Groot, Gertjan van Ravenswaaij) as well as our Indian Super Hero,who makes India so much more livable....
.... Kshitij Zende! (Love you bro!)
for more pictures of this event please follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48154&id=1033809141&l=d3b3522df9
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